Museo Comunitario de Morocoy: su importancia como lugar de sociabilidad cultural para la comunidad y para el turista

The Morocoy Community Museum (Quintana Roo, Mexico) is a cultural spot since 2015. The goal of this paper is to develop a visitor’s study, analyzing its function as a means of cultural and educational socialization through the record book and its written mentions about the museum, from January 2019 to January 2020, with 306 individual registers including sex, place of origin and opinions. Crosstab tabulations, hypothesis tests, and logistic regression were performed to compare the characteristics of the visitors categorized by sex, procedence, and five categories of opinions. The main results have shown that locals see the museum as an important space for the knowledge of their historical and cultural heritage, meanwhile foreigners have shown more interest about museum exhibition, and the documentation presented there. There is not a statistical difference in the assistance between sexes. The final reflection is about the importance to develop an institutional policy, from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, to support the logistic of creation of these kind of museums, in view of the interest to create them along the route of the Maya Train system.

Ciudades mayas en el norte de Petén, Guatemala: cuatro conjuntos palaciegos

Special features in the urban structure of the Central Maya Lowlands are the palace complexes. They function as a symbolic scheme that represents the center of the city and the power of its rulers. In other contributions, the author has studied the urban composition of various Maya cities in Northern Petén. On this occasion, the study of two elements is deepened: first, the palace complexes, and second, the plaza that precedes them. We compare these elements in four cities with similar characteristics of chronology and cultural region: the Central Acropolis of Tikal, and the palace complexes of Nakum, San Clemente and La Blanca. In the analysis of these relationships we consider, in addition to the concept of the initial study, other methodological aspects that help us to identify and typify a building pattern for the palace complexes in Northern Petén, Guatemala.

Los bienes de comunidad en Yucatán al final del siglo XVIII: el caso de Izamal

In this paper, we study the administration of the community goods of yucatec towns during colonial period and we analyze the “Matricula y cuenta de comunidad de los indios de la cabecera y pueblo de Izamal de 1795”, document located in the Archivo General de la Nacion of Mexico. “The Matricula y cuenta” is along with Buczotz and Pixila (previous documents in the same record), the only ones of its kind that we had been found for the yucatec towns of the eighteenth century. With this work, we contribute to increase the researches of this topic, and we corroborate the general interpretations proposed about the administration of those gods; also, we present the particularities of Izamal “community found” and we understand the ties of community identity of this town during this period.

Fray Diego de Landa, obispo electo de Yucatán, según su información de legitimidad y nobleza de 1572

The purpose of publishing this document is to contribute to the knowledge of the fray Diego de Landa’s biography, with the aim of enlightening his election as Yucatán´s Bishop, according to the Trento's Council and in regard to the political guidelines of the Council of the Indies, in spite of his controversial role as a peninsular Maya’s evangelist, during the second half of XVI century.

La historia de un expediente de litigio de tierra en Chiapas. Una propuesta metodológica

In Chiapas, and particularly in the Highland region, few colonial indigenous documents have been found that are similar to those produced by the neighboring Maya peoples of the Guatemala Highlands and the Yucatan Peninsula. The question of whether or not such sources exist is an legitimate one, considering the importance of these testimonies for linking Postclassic historical processes to the development of indigenous societies in the Colonial era. In this respect, the Chiapa Title is an exception. It is a record that gives us a glimpse of the dynamics and conflicts that unfolded between two large political centers: Chiapa and Zinacantan. Thus, the objective of this article is not to reexamine the content of the document, whose classification as a ''title'' is erroneous, but to analyze the nature and form of this fragment and contextualize it in the framework of the legal discourse of the era and the conflicts between the so-called ''pueblos indios''. To this end, we set forth the methodological guidelines used in our examination of the document, as well as reflections on its complex connection to the still fragmentary archeological corpus from the Postclassic period and its transition to the Colonial era.

Los debates sobre la justicia en Guatemala 1797-1820

The application of justice was the basis of the legitimacy of the Spanish monarchy in its different territories. The central figure of the King as a distributor of justice has been one of the keys to the study of colonial justice in historiography, building a consolidated field in recent decades. For this reason, some aspects of the debate on the nature of justice in a period of general crisis in the Kingdom of Guatemala (1797-1820) will be addressed. This will allow us to see, in the future, the forms of appropriation and reinterpretation by the population.

The Making of a Plaza: Public Spaces and Marketplaces at Tenam Puente, Chiapas, Mexico

This study investigates the shifting meanings and practices inscribed on the Main Plaza at the ancient Maya city of Tenam Puente. Plazas are fundamental features of ancient Mesoamerican cities that were important sites for civic activities such as mass spectacles, ceremonies, private rituals, feasting. More recently, certain plazas have also been documented as permanent or periodic marketplaces. New radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic test excavations provide evidence for several important transformations in the built landscape of Tenam Puente’s Main Plaza, including renovations to the site’s principal ballcourt, a large filling and resurfacing event, and a significant addition to the plaza’s volume for the purpose of building a semi-enclosed marketplace plaza. These results provide insight into the evolving nature of public space at the site, from a focus on private rituals and dynastic rule, to an emphasis on mass spectacle, commercial activity, and civic engagement.

Jóvenes mayas o de origen maya hacia la universidad: desigualdades, agencia y movilidad social

In recent years, the indigenous population in Mexico increased their access to higher education. From an analytical perspective on social inequalities, this article approaches the educational trajectories of Maya or Mayan origin youths who have accessed at the university in Yucatan. It shows how a restricted access to the structure of opportunities based on social origin and a precarious school environment translates into the perpetuation of educational disadvantageous conditions up to the university level. However, it is also identified that in these environments, the interaction with social agents is a key factor in favoring a change of direction towards more favorable educational contexts. It also identifies a privileged sector of young people from families who have experienced processes of social mobility, that makes their educational trajectories a more stable path with less obstacles.