Developing Language and Academic Supports for Speakers and Learners of Mam (Maya)
Patricia Baquedano-Lopez, Professor
Education
Closed. This professor is continuing with Spring 2024 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Fall 2024.
Background: Mam is one of the Mayan languages whose ancestral community spans southern Mexico and western Guatemala. According to the Censo Nacional de Poblacion y VII de Vivienda (2018), there are 842, 252 Mam speakers living in Guatemala, with the largest communities in Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Quetzaltenango. This project focuses on the Guatemalan Mam speaking population in Guatemala and the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA). While no official demographics exist, it has been reported that there is an estimate of about 30,000 to 40,000 Mam speakers now living in Oakland, one city in the SFBA (Martinez 2023). Through anecdotal evidence from Mam community members living in Oakland, the majority of Mam speakers are migrating from Xjan Xwan and another municipality close by, which are both aldeas (hamlets) in the Cuchumatan Mountains in the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. There are two parts to this project: 1) an ethnographic study on a grassroots Mam language course to teach mostly non-Mam people about the language and culture; 2) language and cultural activism in the US and Guatemala.
If these topics and issues interest you, then you are perfect for this project!
This URAP project draws on data from a qualitative project (interviews, participant observation of cultural events, analysis of artifacts from the Mam class, collaborations) focusing on Indigenous Mam communities conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area and Guatemala. The main goals of the URAP project are to understand different contexts for language and cultural activism for the Mam language, culture and community. The URAP project will focus on gathering a bibliography on related topics such as: digital activism, global Indigenous activism, language revitalization/reclamation, women’s social movements, solidarity and/or coalition, etc. Other topics may emerge from these initial fields. While this project centers on students of one particular Indigenous group, we hope the project provides a helpful blueprint to support other Latinx Indigenous communities.
Role: Research apprentices will receive training to access project data platforms and apps to organize data and begin to create literature reviews of relevant theories and research in related fields.
Research apprentices will collaborate with other students (in person/online), and at times, work independently carrying out the following tasks:
• Organize data sources (audio recorded transcribed interviews, videotaped events, online social media videos or posts, i.e. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook)
• Review relevant literature on various aspects of the research project such as Indigenous language maintenance, digital activism, history of activism in Guatemala (articles, books, etc)
• Develop and keep a bibliography of documents and sources that will be used for disseminating project materials (research and policy briefs, infographics, journal articles, books)
As part of their hour/commitment, research assistants will meet weekly (one hour per week) with the project director.
Qualifications: • Have some familiarity with topics, issues, and experiences related to Indigenous and Latinx families and migration (e.g., coursework, personal experience).
• Is able to understand written and spoken Spanish** A large portion of data will be in Spanish. It will also include Mam translated into Spanish or English.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Cristina S. Méndez, Ph.D. candidate
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Social Sciences Education, Cognition & Psychology Arts & Humanities