Historical Maya Culture in Guatemala: Post-Classic to Post-Modern

George L. Scheper, PhD, Johns Hopkins University

THIS IS A ZOOM EVENT

This presentation will be an overview of episodes of Maya history and culture from the time of the 16th century Spanish encounters through the periods of Spanish colonialism and Guatemalan nationalism to the present, with a focus on the radical changes to Maya lifeways brought about by laissez-faire government policies from the late 19th century to the 1954 coup and subsequent violence and repression, and the emergence of Maya intellectuals, poets and writers in the present day, and also questions involving cultural survivalism and religious syncretism.

Dr. George L. Scheper holds a PhD in English Literature from Princeton University. He has been Director of the Odyssey Program and is currently Senior Lecturer in the Master of Liberal Arts Program, both of Johns Hopkins University. His teaching and research focus on cultural studies and religious studies, with a particular emphasis on the cultural history of cities, and of indigenous cultures of the Americas. He has been project co-director, along with Dr. Laraine Fletcher, of numerous National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institutes for college and university faculty, including on-site Institutes on "Maya Worlds," as well as faculty Institutes on Andean Cultures, on the Cultures of Mesoamerica and the Southwest, and Native Cultures of Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast.

The June member-support meeting will be presented on Zoom. It will be free and open to the public but you must pre-register .