Alexandra Corbett Allweiss

This Maya Chuj-led collaborative project builds on a decade-long collaboration with members of the Chuj organization, Ajpop Wajxaklajuhn, and centers transnational Chuj sovereignty. The study explores the educational experiences, insights, and desires of Chuj people and fosters culturally- and linguistically-sustaining curricular frameworks and materials for Chuj young people in Guatemala and the United States. Maya nations have a long history of struggle for culturally and linguistically sustaining education and against material and knowledge extraction. Maya Chuj elders, students, and educators have long raised concerns about the ways popular discourses and current schooling models undermine and marginalize Chuj knowledges, culture, and language. This community-driven research project centers Chuj knowledges to combat these processes of Indigenous erasure in and through schools by exploring, developing, and sharing digital curricula guided by oral history interviews. By drawing on the knowledge and materials generated from the collaborative research, this project will contribute theoretical, empirical, and methodological insights that offer Chuj-centered and transformative research and education possibilities grounded in transnational Maya sovereignty.