INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND HISTORY

Amazing Twins: Ancient Maya Tales from the Popol Wuj
These resources were created as a companion to The Amazing Twins: Ancient Maya Tales from the Popol Wuj, a puppet show that follows the adventures of twin gods Junajpu and X’balanke, whose triumphs against powerful forces make way for the creation of man from corn. Written in the Western Highlands of Guatemala around 1550 and translated into Spanish in the 18th century by Friar Francisco Ximenez, the Popol Wuj is one of the most important indigenous texts of the New World.
Center for Latin American Studies, Vanderbilt University

Signs of Change: A K-12 Curriculum on the Contemporary Maya
This curriculum packet, developed by participants in the Stone Center’s 2012 Summer Teacher Institute in Guatemala, includes art, English, and Spanish curricula for K-12 students about the ancient and modern Maya. Please also see the materials from the 2013 Tulane Maya Symposium Teacher Workshop which presented information about the curriculum writing process and the trip on which the curriculum is based.
Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University

Introducing the Ancient Maya to the Classroom
This curriculum packet, developed by archaeologist Diane Davies in 2010, provides an introduction to the study of the Ancient Maya and suggests several classroom activities as well as additional resources.
Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University

Mixtec Culture Boxes
The “Mixtec Cultural Discovery Box” is a collection of fifteen items of realia and ancillary instructional activities. It has two versions: a physical set and a virtual representation. Developed by ISTEP and the Center for Latin American Studies at San Diego State University, the box was created to present the rich and proud heritage of the Mixtec, one of Mexico’s sixty-four distinct indigenous peoples, and to help dispel the erroneous perception of Mexico as a single, homogeneous culture.
Center for Latin American Studies, San Diego State University

Una América Oculta/A Hidden America: Scientific and Technological Contributions of South American Pre-Hispanic Societies to Modern Life *
Explore the scientific and technological knowledge developed by pre-Hispanic cultures in South America, focusing on agricultural, botanical, and engineering knowledge created by the Incas and indigenous groups from the Amazon.
LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies & Collections, The University of Texas

Who is Rigoberta Menchu? & the Rigoberta Menchu Controversy
Rigoberta Mench?‘s biography, “I, Rigoberta Mench?: An Indian Woman in Guatemala” (1983) has been a lightning rod for both adoration and condemnation. After winning the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize her narrative, writ large, was considered a threat to status quo stakeholders from academia to neoconservatives, and beyond. While it is tempting to reduce this response to hysterical hyperbole this lesson is intended to contextualize the Rigoberta Mench? controversy and by extension generate lasting interest in Guatemalan history, historiography, and human rights.
Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Dos caras de Potosi: Jigsaw Reading and Discussion
The lesson was created for upper level Spanish students in a Latin American Civilization course. It is based on the colonial boom-town of Potosi, Bolivia and the complex society that quickly grew up to support the silver mining, which in turn supported the Spanish Empire. Students will work in four expert groups (Mining and Money, the Mita System and Slavery, the Commerce and Society of Potosi, and the Birth of World Trade) and then reorganize into base groups to share their knowledge and complete an exit ticket activity.
Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee