Indigenous Reading List

The Popol Vuh*

In the beginning, the world is spoken into existence with one word: "Earth." There are no inhabitants, and no sun--only the broad sky, silent sea, and sovereign Framer and Shaper. Then come the twin heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Wielding blowguns, they begin a journey to hell and back, ready to confront the folly of false deities as well as death itself, in service to the world and to humanity.

This is the story of the Mayan Popol Vuh, "the book of the woven mat," one of the epics indigenous to the Americas. Originally sung and chanted, before being translated into prose--and now, for the first time, translated back into verse by Michael Bazzett.

Black Caribs - Garifuna Saint Vincent's Exiled People: The Roots Of The Garifuna*

Written by a Garifuna, the story begins in South America, where people who spoke Arawak-an Amerindian language fashioned a culture based on yuca or cassava farming, hunting and fishing in a dense forest cut by many rivers. By the year 1000 AD some of them had moved up the Orinoco River to the Caribbean Sea and its islands, where they established a new way of life. Later other people, whom history has called "Caribs", moved into the Caribbean out of the same areas. The Caribs welcomed and protected the Black refugees, and in time allowed them to marry the Caribs. The Africans then adopted the languages, culture and traditions of the Yellow Island Caribs. The intermarriage brought about a rapid growth of hybrid mixture of African and Indigenous Caribs. From this union arose a half-bred race possessing some Caribs and African characteristics to which the name Garifuna or Black Carib was given.

FRESH BANANA LEAVES: HEALING INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPES THROUGH INDIGENOUS SCIENCE BY JESSICA HERNANDEZ*

Here, Jessica Hernandez–Maya Ch’orti’ and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Piña Soul–introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. She breaks down the failures of western-defined conservatism and shares alternatives, citing the restoration work of urban Indigenous people in Seattle; her family’s fight against ecoterrorism in Latin America; and holistic land management approaches of Indigenous groups across the continent.

La Cuarta Invasión: Historias y Resistencias del Pueblo Ixil, y la Lucha contra la Hidroeléctrica Palo Viejo en Cotzal, Guatemala/ The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractivism, and Maya Resistance in Guatemala by Giovanni Batz*

Based on more than a decade of ethnographic research, The Fourth Invasion examines an Ixil Maya community’s movement against the construction of one of the largest hydroelectric plants in Guatemala. The arrival of the Palo Viejo hydroelectric plant (built by the Italian corporation Enel Green Power) to the municipality of Cotzal highlighted the ongoing violence inflicted on Ixils by outsiders and the Guatemalan state. Locals referred to the building of the hydroelectric plant as the “new invasion” or “fourth invasion” for its similarity to preceding invasions: Spanish colonization, the creation of the plantation economy, and the state-led genocide during the Guatemalan armed conflict.

Through a historical account of cyclical waves of invasions and resistance in Cotzal during the four invasions, Giovanni Batz argues that extractivist industries are a continuation of a colonial logic of extraction based on the displacement and destruction of Indigenous Peoples' territories and values that has existed since the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The current movements in Cotzal, rooted in a long history of resistance, counter dominant narratives of Indigenous Peoples that often portray them as “conquered.”

I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchú*

This book recounts the remarkable life of Rigoberta Menchú , a young Guatemalan peasant woman. Her story reflects the experiences common to many Indian communities in Latin America today. Rigoberta suffered gross injustice and hardship in her early life: her brother, father and mother were murdered by the Guatemalan military. She learned Spanish and turned to catechist work as an expression of political revolt as well as religious commitment.

Legends of Guatemala by Miguel Ángel Asturias*

The first English-language translation of the work of a Guatemalan master, this groundbreaking achievement of "ethnographic surrealism" promotes cross-cultural understanding. A liberating, avant-garde recreation of popular tales and characters from the Guatemalan collective unconscious-including, from the Mayan sacred text, the Popol Vuh-this book contains a riot of folklore, colonial resistance, animistic nature, and the unfolding drama of hybrid ethnic identity formation.

A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya by Linda Schele and David A. Freidel

Recent interpretation of Maya hieroglyphs has given the 1st written history of the New World as it existed before the European invasion. In this book, two of the 1st central figures in the effort to decode the glyphs, Linda Schele & David Freidel, detail this history. A Forest of Kings is the story of Maya kingship, from the beginning of its institution & the 1st great pyramid builders 2000 years ago to the decline of Maya civilization & its destruction by the Spanish. Here the great rulers of pre-Columbian civilization come to life again with the decipherment of their writing. At its height, Maya civilization flourished under great kings like Shield-Jaguar, who ruled for over 60 years, expanding his kingdom & building some of the most impressive works of architecture in the ancient world. Long placed on a mist-shrouded pedestal as austere, peaceful stargazers, Maya elites are now known to have been the rulers of populous, aggressive city-states.
Hailed as "a Rosetta stone of Maya civilization" (Brian M. Fagan, author of People of the Earth), A Forest of Kings is "a must for interested readers," says Evon Vogt, Harvard anthropology professor.

Central American Mythology: Captivating Myths of Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Creatures of Ancient Mexico and Central America by Matt Clayton

This book invites you to learn about:
Olocupinele Creates the World (Dule/Cuna, Panama) Watakame’ and the Great Flood (Wixáritari/Huichol, Mexico) Yomomuli and the Talking Tree (Yoeme/Yaqui, Mexico) How the Sea Was Made (Cabécar, Costa Rica) Mother Scorpion’s Country (Miskito, Nicaragua) The Childhood of the Sun and the Moon (qne-a tnya-e/Chatino, Mexico) The Invisible Hunters (Miskito, Nicaragua) The King of the Peccaries (Bribri, Costa Rica) How Opossum Stole Fire (Mazatec, Mexico) Uncle Rabbit and Uncle Tiger (Nicaragua) And much, much more!

The stories presented in this volume are but a small sample of the abundant variety of myths and legends from Mexico and Central America.

Nevertheless, they give us important glimpses into the ways people from this part of the world see themselves, as humans trying to understand their place within a larger universe containing beings both seen and unseen, and as people doing their best to live ethical lives that respect their fellow humans and the other creatures that live alongside them.

Mayan Folktales: Folklore from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala edited by James D. Sexton

This collection of folklore offers a rich and lively panorama of Mayan mythic heritage. Here are everyday tales of village life; legends of witches, shamans, spiritualists, tricksters, and devils; fables of naguales, or persons who can change into animal forms; ribald stories of love and life; cautionary tales of strange and menacing neighbors and of the danger lurking within the human heart. These legends narrate origin and creation stories, explain the natural world, and reinforce cultural beliefs and values such as honesty, industriousness, sharing, fairness, and cleverness. Whether tragic or comic, fantastic or earthy, whimsical or profound, these tales capture the mystery, fragility, and power of the Mayan world.

Traditional Weavers of Guatemala: Their Stories, Their Lives by Deborah Chandler and Teresa Cordón

Against the backdrop of Guatemala, this book presents portraits of artisans working in the ancient traditions of the Maya paired with insights into the creation of the textiles and the events that have affected their work. Weaving, spinning, and basket making have sustained the Maya economically and culturally against the pressures of change and a 36-year civil war that decimated their population. Their persistence in continuing traditional art has created some of the loveliest, most colorful textiles the world has ever known. Artisans share their personal histories, hopes, and dreams along with the products of their hands and looms. Their stories show determination in the face of unimaginable loss and hardship which instill an appreciation for the textiles themselves and for the strong people who create them.

Buried Secrets: Truth and Human Rights in Guatemala by Victoria Sanford

Between the late 1970s and the late-1980s, Guatemala was torn by mass terror and extreme violence in a genocidal campaign against the Maya, which becameknown as "La Violencia." More than 600 massacres occurred, one and a half million people were displaced, and more than 200,000 civilians were murdered, most of them Maya. Buried Secrets brings these chilling statistics to life as it chronicles the journey of Maya survivors seeking truth, justice, and community healing, and demonstrates that the Guatemalan army carried out a systematic and intentional genocide against the Maya. The book is based on exhaustive research, including more than 400 testimonies from massacre survivors, interviews with members of the forensic team, human rights leaders, high-ranking military officers, guerrilla combatants, and government officials. Buried Secrets traces truth-telling and political change from isolated Maya villages to national political events, and provides a unique look into the experiences of Maya survivors as they struggle to rebuild their communities and lives.