The photo above is what the documents in the
Historical Archives of the National Police of Guatemala look like before the archivists take care of them. You simply cannot imagine the height of this mound of paper! You have to see it to actually
grasp the immensity of it all. It is
rooms and rooms and rooms of just unbelievable stacks of mildewing documents!
All the documents in the archive stacked into a tower would reach a height of more than 8 kilometers. The project has cleaned, cataloged and digitalized about 10% of the documents in 4 years. This amounts to millions of folios with many more still ahead.
The National Police was disbanded after the Peace Accords (there is now a
Civil Police) and when the archives were found, abandoned in a huge labyrinth of bat and rat infested rooms, human rights activists immediately intervened before they could be conveniently "disappeared." After all, the president and ministers had already publicly denied the existence of any archives.
The amount and quality of information in the currently digitalized documents awaiting scholars or families of victims of murder, genocide and disappearance is just unbelievable. The files date back to 1882 and through all of the dictatorships. It is supported by funds from Sweden, Holland and Switzerland, with US (non-profit) state-of-the-art technology, all administered via the United Nations. Otherwise, it wouldn't exist. The labor of all the staff is ... I have got no words to describe it. Amazing.
Today, only accredited and credentialed research scholars and family members of disappeared victims are allowed to research information. Only documents which have been digitalized can be researched. This is going to be an ongoing project for many years ahead.
I will write more on this (I gathered so much information!), but today I want to talk about a recent academic fight I witnessed, which was really interesting. Mind you, I too get riled up sometimes myself, quite into bitchiful mode, so I shouldn't be gossiping about it, but what the hell.
It all started on a rainy Guatemalan afternoon at the distinguished
Academy of Geography and History, when
Dr. Daniele Pompejano, professor at the
University of Milan and the
University of Palermo, was presented his hot-off-the-press book,
Popoyá, History of a Mayan Town, 16th - 19th Centuries by the
San Carlos University Press.
After this ceremony, Dr. Pompejano (photo below) expounded in Spanish on his research on the history of this Mayan town, which was destroyed by an avalanche in the 19th Century, and which is today the town of San Miguel Petapa. Okay, so up to then everything was flowing smoothly.
The premise of Pompejano's book, from what I gathered, is that throughout the history of the place, Mayan elites would part ways with their more commonplace brethren and sort of side with colonizing authorities. It's more complicated than this, of course, as the power plays of the Catholic church and local
caciques get involved, but for the purposes of this post, that would be it in a nutshell.
THEN...
It was
Dr. Jorge Luján Muñoz's turn. He had been listening to Dr. Pompejano with this expression that ... I think the compound adjective of
stony-faced comes to mind. Let's just say that Dr. Lujan was, how shall I say this,
pissed. In the most respectful meaning of the term, of course (being that Dr. Luján is the former president of the
Academy of Geography and History, one wouldn't want to disrespect).
Luján began by excoriating the San Carlos University Press for producing "such a sloppily translated book" which, in his view, was "unworthy" of academia. The translation, that is. We all were like,
dang! Because the university press representative was there and all.
He then proceeded to blast Dr. Pompejano for his use of the term
Mayan in reference to this town, "when it is well known" as anybody who had ever read his (Lujan's) research would know, that there was never
(
never, never!) such a people as
Mayans during the Colonial era, and that this particular town was inhabited by
Pokomams. Dr. Pompejano, as you can see below (Lujan being at his left), was listening with his head on his hand, sort of like,
okay, what-evah!
THEN ... 
Came the time for
Licenciado Carlos Fredy Ochoa (in middle, top photo), who holds the equivalent of a B.A. in Anthropology and who looks--I venture it safe to say--Mayan himself, to respond to Dr. Pompejano.
Just picture this. Two clearly upper class white guys with doctorates were going to be responded to by a darker-skinned, much younger man, with only an undergrad degree. I knew this was going to be interesting. Pompeyano and Luján looked uninterested throughout, though.
Ochoa did some basting himself, mainly at Dr. Pompejano.
His argument was that
a) The town was not destroyed, as the inhabitants--towns are made of people, not buildings--survived, re-built and it still exists;
b) It should not be surprising that Mayan elites do not share the same interests of the common people, yet that doesn't make them collaborators with the oppressors;
c) Colonizers were guilty of fragmenting Mayan communities;
d) Pompeyano's book raises important questions that should be discussed but sadly, lacks imagination in actually raising a discussion and falls back on old tropes
.Finally, Ochoa turned to Pompejano and with a sardonic smile and a biting tone of voice, finished his presentation by stating "The best I can say about you, Dr. Pompejano, is that you are one of the upholders of tradition!" (or something like that). In short, Pompejano was called unimaginative and old school.
So there!
In the photo above, you can see Dr. Lujan staring stonily ahead while Ochoa gives his speech. He's a very, very formal man, Luján. Plus, he likes to scold. He scolded us, the audience, before the presentation, for taking all the aisle seats first. I felt, as he scolded us, as if I were in my middle school uniform ... yet, I don't know why, I sort of like him. He reminds me of some of the older uncles in my family, I guess.
Aaaanyhow.At his point, Dr. Pompejano gave a good-humored response stating that he greatly respects Dr. Lujan, has used a lot of Lujan's research, and that truly his book's translation
is terrible as it was made by several different pals of his out of friendship, but that he still hopes we'll purchase it. Even though the crappy translation "makes it confusing, one gets the gist of it," he claimed.
He was actually funny and even sort of endearing. He stood by his use of the term
Mayan, though, and that was that as far as he was concerned.
NOW...In the photo above you can see Dr. Luján
totally loosing it! Hilarious. He started yelling, after almost grabbing the mic from Pompejano, "
Never, NEVER, NEVER!" (
¡jamás, jamás, jamás!) with lots of gesticulation.
Jamas! had he encountered, EVER, in all his decades of research, any document, any instance,
nada, where it read that the indigenous people were called Mayans. The "Mayan thing" is a "fad." There were Pocomams, Mams, K'ekchis, etc., but . not. Mayans. not. ever.
Pompejano, meanwhile, back in his "whatever" mode (see photo above).
The audience got involved but Guatemalan audiences are not usually characterized for asking really good questions nor making very analytical observations, to put it kindly. The involvement was more in the way of haranguing or asking
non sequitur questions.
However, a well-known archaeologist in the audience, whose name I sadly forget, explained why the term
Mayan is important, (some of this was sort of lost on me, as it is
not my field), and why scholars
must use the term Mayan today. She was clear and concise.
What was greatly funny was that while she was saying this Lujan kept shaking his head angrily, red-faced, quietly spluttering "No, no, no, no!"
I have to say that during this discussion all the scholars fell back on their own research and findings and it was very illuminating and interesting. I learned a lot from all involved.
Pompejano, I guess, was just happy that his book got published, crappy translation and all, and didn't seem at all annoyed by the criticism. I wish I could get his book in the original language!
In case you are interested in his stuff, he is already moving on to his next research project, which is titled
The Black God of a White People, about Guatemala's Black Christ of Esquipulas. He also has written extensively on Nicaragua's Sandinista movement, so he seems quite an eclectic scholar.
Google him!Hotel - Lofts - Parking
In the Historic Center of Guatemala
Posts
Alex with Mayan children in a rural schoolhouse 
As you can see in the photo directly above, land is at a premium and must be used for subsistence farming. Hence, the children in these communities often have to walk through really difficult and remote paths just to get to a space where they can actually play.
The informal playgrounds available to children are truly underserved.
Things change, however, if there is a good space cleared and leveled close to home (see above).
I really love that picture above of the little goalie, encumbered by her wrapped around "corte" (traditional Mayan dress) yet so ready to stop that ball I can just feel the intensity of her coiled-up energy! I am sure she was actually gritting her teeth.
Photo above is of a cleared field with backdrop of beautiful mountains. The beauty of the Guatemalan highlands is really breathtaking. I plan to visit soon myself.
Above you can appreciate one of the lovely multipurpose fields already finished. Right by the schoolhouse, it provides a space for physical education and other activities central to the community. Alex tells me that what they see happen often, is that the children--especially girls--start asking for basketball hoops. Thus, when they return a year or so later, the community has raised basketball hoops as well.
Above, I suppose, a Mayan girl team soccer team!
