“Silence Without Borders” : Cross-Border Maya Resistance in Chiapas Maya Awakening : Contemporary Poems and Short Stories
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Chiapas Maya Awakening: Contemporary Poems and Short Stories (2017) edited by Sean S. Sell and Nicolás Huet Bautista is a rare collection presenting remarkable examples of contemporary Maya writing that contest the perception of Maya as silenced and submissive peoples. This unique multilingual edition gives readers the opportunity to read the works in the Mayan languages of Tsotsil and Tseltal as well as in Spanish and English. The choice to publish the original version alongside their translations (and have them always come first) is a significant acknowledgment of the importance of the thriving Mayan languages that have survived countless efforts of the colonial authorities to eradicate them and to silence their speakers who nevertheless resisted and kept their languages alive. Moreover, the book’s multilingualism allows for the works to transcend borders and spread their messages beyond Chiapas. The paper introduces the collection as a whole but also looks at a selection of individual pieces that shape the work in order to underscore the unifying themes and characteristics that, as the paper argues, make Chiapas Maya Awakening a unique example of a cross-border literary artivist (art + activism) initiative. |
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