Speaker: Francisco Díaz, Ph.D. (Penn)

As a celebration of Maya culture and the Indigenous within Hispanic Heritage, this lecture and workshop will focus on what Native scholars like Stephen Augustine, Gregory Cajete, and Robin Kimmerer have characterized as Traditional Knowledge (TK), or Indigenous ways of knowing, as they are embodied in the production of the tortilla. From the agricultural knowledge that comes from propagating and preparing corn to the techniques that come to the actual shaping of tortillas to the significance of the act to the importance of ancient Maya beliefs, the process is a reflection of knowledge that is at the same time practical, scientific, and cultural.

This hands-on participatory experience is an entryway into exploring Maya beliefs, struggles negotiating colonial systems, and a celebration of deep and unrecognized knowledges within Maya traditions, which we will see are overlooked in Western Knowledge production along with the labor and participation of Indigenous people in Western ways of producing knowledge like archaeology and anthropology.

This event is also available via Zoom!