Le Maya Q'atzij/Our Maya Word

Emil’ Keme (a.k.a., Emilio del Valle Escalante) is an Indigenous K’iche’ Maya scholar and associate professor of Spanish at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is author of Maya Nationalisms and Postcolonial Challenges in Guatemala. In 2020, he was awarded Cuba’s Casa de las AmÉricas literary criticism prize for the Spanish version of Le Maya Q’atzij / Our Maya Word.

• ContentsIntroduction: Iximulew’s/Guatemala’s Indigenous Poetry since 19601. Kaqchikel Maya Identity: Francisco Morales Santos and Luis de LiÓn2. Strategic Essentialism against State Terrorism: Humberto Ak’abal, Victor Montejo, and Gaspar Pedro GonzÁlez3. Xib’alba and Globalism: Rosa ChÁvez, Pablo GarcÍa, and Sabino Esteban Francisco4. Maya Feminism and Queer Poetics: Maya Cu and Manuel TzocConclusion: The Maya Word Will Never DieAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

"This book offers brilliantly conceptualized and well-grounded readings on the work of Maya poets in times of colonial, patriarchal, and racial violence in Guatemala. Emil’ Keme's critical journey is permeated by a powerful sense of anti-colonial resistance and an imaginary of Indigenous liberation that is both poetic and political."-Luis E. CÁrcamo-Huechante, founding member of the Comunidad de Historia Mapuche "With Le Maya Q’atzij/Our Maya Word, Emil’ Keme has given us a brilliant analysis of how Maya literary production constitutes resistance to the ongoing imposition of settler capitalist colonization in Iximulew/Guatemala. From the perspective of a Maya scholar, Keme offers a sophisticated and insightful read of works by K’iche’, Kaqchikel, Q’eq’chi’, Q’anjob’al, and Pop’ti poets in their political context, guided throughout by a clear and decisive love of le Maya tzij, or the Maya word. This book makes a valuable contribution not only to Maya studies and literary studies, but also to Native and Indigenous studies hemispherically and globally."-Shannon Speed (Chickasaw), University of California, Los Angeles   "Le Maya Q’atzij / Our Maya Word is an energetic attempt to recover and promote Mayan identity, culture, and language from over five hundred years of encroachment. The author critically analyzes poetry that delves into the challenges of the Mayan people in the land claimed as Mayan: Iximulew "-Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature   "It is clear both from the studied works and from Keme's analysis that contemporary Mayan literature has a complexity that seems not only to evolve but is constantly differentiating and diversifying itself."-The Canadian Journal of Native Studies