The Mayan People and Sandy (Shelton) Davis: Memories of an Engaged Anthropologist

Authors

J.P. Linstroth, The Guatemalan-Maya CenterFollow

Keywords

Shelton Davis, Mayan Indians, memory, trauma, narratives, indigenas maya, memoria, trauma, narrativas

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to highlight the activism of Shelton Davis and his involvement with the Mayan people during the 1980s. Of particular importance is the portrayal of an immigration hearing of nine Kanjobal Maya defendants in 1983 and the circumstances surrounding the problems of immigration in the state of Florida at that time. The article also explores how Shelton Davis helped save a village of Kaqchikel Maya in the Department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Of importance is how to represent varying narratives from three close colleagues of Shelton Davis to an overall conceptualization of the epistemology of narrative formulations. One finds that dispersed memories and aspects of synchronic trauma provide some avenues of forming a picture about Davis’ activism with the Mayan people. Likewise it is significant to realize that histories and memories are not confined to specific structural agencies but rather may be regarded as multifaceted expressions of pastness through an individual’s memories and narratives.

El propósito de este ensayo es poner en relieve el activismo de Shelton Davis y su participación con los mayas durante la década de 1980. De importancia particular es una retrata de una audiencia de inmigración con los nueve acusados Kanjobales en 1983 y las circunstancias que rodean a los problemas de la inmigración en el estado de Florida en ese momento. El artículo también explora cómo Shelton Davis ayudó a salvar a un pueblo de los mayas Kaqchikel en el departamento de Chimaltenango, Guatemala. De importancia es la forma de representar las narrativas que van desde tres colegas cerca de Shelton Davis a una conceptualización general de la epistemología de las formulaciones de la narrativa. Del mismo modo es importante darse cuenta de las historias y los recuerdos no se limitan a determinados organismos de estructura, sino más bien puede considerarse como la expresión multifacética de lo pasado a través de las memorias individuales y relatos.

Recommended Citation

Linstroth, J.P. (2011). "The Mayan People and Sandy (Shelton) Davis: Memories of an Engaged Anthropologist", Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America: Vol. 9: Iss. 2, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/tipiti/vol9/iss2/7