Testimonial texts of contemporary Mayan educators are at the heart of this study about
K ’iche ’ Mayan education in the highland area of Totonicapan in Guatemala. I use Schrag’s
(1986) framework of communicative praxis to provide a lens of critical hermeneutics or an
informed reading of the filmed and audiotaped testimonies of two contemporary Mayan
teachers/daykeepers. I use communicative praxis to provide a method of interpreting texts
as discourse: about something, by someone, and for someone. Each of the texts is
interpreted using the following questions: What is occurring in this person’s testimony?
What is this person’s experience being a Mayan educator in contemporary Guatemala?
How is that experience disclosed through the text? The first five chapters outline the
historical circumstances and describe some of the cultural practices and traditions within
which the teachings of the Mayan educators are rooted. This portion of the dissertation is
based on an action research project which I coordinated in 1996. The themes of place and
respect arose from interviews I conducted with 15 educators and provide the background
for an informed reading of the two texts of the Mayan elders.
Chapters 6 and 7 focus on an interpretation of each text, what each person referenced in
his 'lived' world, and what their testimonies signify about that world, using the lens of
communicative praxis. This section explores the backgrounds of the two educators, what
they were saying, and how they were saying it. The interpretation elucidates the Mayan
educators’ notions of place and respect for the individual, the community, and all living
things, as well as heaven and earth. In poignant testimonies, the elders employed personal
stories, poetry, metaphors, and ancient texts which call for the return to a Mayan
curriculum that is grounded in spiritual ecology. They question the morality of the
Guatemalan state and they make an impassioned plea for the creation of a culture of peace.
The study concludes in chapter 8 with an examination of the interface between
contemporary Western curricular discourse and that of these K’iche’ educators. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/10059 |
| Date | 13 September 2018 |
| Creators | Hood, Robin June |
| Contributors | Fowler, Robert, Walker, Marilyn |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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