1 Ahaw 3 Yax English 29 Sept 2024
Announcing the Emerging Maya Scholars
Program, an Upcoming Conference, and
our Fall Fundraiser!
First of all, I want to apologize that we have not published a blog since last July. It has been a busy time of year with the start of the school year, the devastating hurricanes that have affected many of our loved ones, including our own Treasurer, Sue Glenn, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and the increasing anxieties of the news of the world and the upcoming election in our country. I have needed to take some time away from this blog to focus on teaching and reorganizing, though we have been able to carry out some new and hopeful projects. We at MAM have some announcements!
We are hereby inaugurating an Emerging Maya Scholars program to help outstanding Maya scholars to attend and contribute to international conferences on Maya writing. After decades of study, there are now many outstanding Maya scholars who would greatly benefit from attending the various, yearly, international conferences on Maya writing, while the field of Maya epigraphy would similarly benefit greatly from the participation and voices of Maya scholars. Following an inquiry, MAM recently supported Hector Xol Choc to attend the 29th Annual European Maya Conference in Perugia, Italy. Therefore, in the coming year, we will be announcing a call for applications for Maya scholars to participate in upcoming conferences, and we hope to fund at least one scholar per year.
In addition, we are continuing our work to support Maya scholars by working together with the organization of Ajtz’ib’ab’ to hold an in-person conference at the Universidad Rafael Landívar on November 8th, titled “Conferencias Sobre Los Calendarios Mayas”. Both María Beatriz Par Sapón and Saqijix Candelaria Lopez will be presenting their work on the Cholb’al Q’ij of 1722, and I will be contributing a presentation about the day sign cartouche, and the possible origins of the sign and its use by midwives. I am honored to be able to contribute, though due to my teaching schedule in California I will only be able to attend and present online via Zoom.
Here is the promotional poster for the event that we just received:
With these exiting, new projects as well as our continued mission to support Maya teachers in their efforts to teach their communities how to read and write in the Maya script, we will soon be starting our next fund drive and asking once again for financial support. Please stay tuned—we are very grateful for whatever donation you can contribute to help us reach our goals! If you would like to make a donation, please visit the following link for several easy options:
https://discovermam.org/support/
Sib’alaj Maltyox,
Michael Grofe, President
MAM