The Survival Of The Yucatec Maya Culture - 1490 Words

The era of Spanish Conquest often serves as an archetype for a clash of cultures and civilizations, sparking a myriad of intellectuals spanning the humanities to attempt to discern the most salient characteristics and processes that define the period. Historians Inga Clendinnen and George Lovell, both focus on the effect the landing of the conquistadors had on the indigenous Mayans, with their respective focuses standing in diametric opposition to one another. In â€Å"The Survival of the Yucatec Maya Culture,† Clendinnen stresses the importance of how Mayan tradition persisted through the traumas of conquest and the ruthless conversion campaign imposed by colonial leaders. Furthermore, she argues that despite the slaughters and disease that†¦show more content†¦The indigenous leader’s willingness to show these sacred texts to the Spanish, lends great insight into how the Mayans rationalized Spanish conquest - the landing was not viewed as an unprecedented, for thcoming cultural calamity - but one that was forecasted within the cyclical framework of Mayan culture. Furthermore, this idea of the cyclical relationship between prophecy and history, enabled the Mayans to interpret Spanish dominance as something temporal. A provisional â€Å"eclipse† that they only needed to endure, in order to survive and reach the part of their historical cycle where â€Å"they would rule again.† This necessity to endure trying times in a cyclical process, was a mindset that enabled Mayan religious resilience to Spanish conversion (Clendinnen, pg. 384-85). Moreover, Clendinnen explains how culturally subjugated Mayans sought to endure the historical determined Spanish landing, through rebellion. When the indigenous population was required to both teach and learn Christian doctrine in schools - often times teachers â€Å"persisted in their traditional rituals†¦pretend[ing] to teach the Christian doctrine.† Furthermore, Clendinnen cites the research of historian Alfredo Barrera Vasquez, a 20th century Mayan scholar, in explaining how Mayans quickly adapted to the confiscation and subsequent burning of their sacred books by friars, by â€Å"transcrib[ing]†Show MoreRelatedMayan Civilization and Culture1077 Words   |  5 PagesMayans used in their respective territories for food, shelter, home remedies and medications, and water. We will also discuss how the Mayans marked and defended their territories, their political views, and their subsistence strategies. The Mayan Culture and Subsistence Farming Slash-and-burn farming is the process of chopping down any vegetation in a specific plot of land, setting fire to it, and using the ashes as fertilizer for future crops that will be used for food (Rice, 1983). Also referredRead MoreEssay on Maya2969 Words   |  12 PagesMaya The ancient Maya were a group of American Indian peoples who lived in southern Mexico, particularly the present-day states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo, and in Belize, Guatemala, and adjacent Honduras. Their descendants, the modern Maya, live in the same regions today, in both highlands and lowlands, from cool highland plains ringed by volcanos to deep tropical rain forests. Through the region runs a single major river system, the Apasion-Usumacinta and its