A pan-Mayan Nation

When I read "A Dialogue on Indianness," I first thought: How is it possible to accomplish pan-Mayanism? There are so many small Mayan communities, each with their own culture, traditions, and languages. How can we unify so many different communities? This sounds like an extremely difficult task to me, but I think the main goal of the pan-Mayan movement is “reversing the historical oppression and silencing of the Indian communities” and changing the image of the Mayan people (154).

But I wonder, if pan-Mayanism is more of a new religion than anything else. Especially the PLANTAS community. As first they were focused on health and illness, as opposed to the “more contentious issues of language, rights, or justice” (161). However, under the lead of Gasper, who possess a very ironic appearance, the community promoted a return to the roots of Mayan culture by participating in ceremonies and rituals. In one way, this religious approach to life seems to provide comfort for the suffering Mayans and give them hope. It also provides them with understanding, a sense of identity, and a revival of what was once lost. The concepts presented by PLANTAS indicate that in order to be Mayan, one must speak the language, practice the rituals, and also wear traditional clothing. PLANTAS gives the Mayans freedom to express their culture, whereas before, the Ladinos labeled the Mayan culture as inferior.

On the other hand, I found it interesting that Virgilio took a more modern approach to the pan-Mayan movement. His way of reversing the oppression dealt more with creating opportunities for the Mayan population. He really believes that Spanish is the language of power and that it is necessary for moving forward in life. Spanish equals education in his mind, and education equals opportunity, which leads to power in a Ladino controlled state.

The clash of these two drastically different views really make achieving a pan-Mayan nation difficult, but I think the important thing to consider is the effort being made to establish a Mayan identity. One day perhaps, when we hear the word Mayan we will not associate oppression with it.