Centre for Language Education Research
Queen’s University Belfast  

Seminar Series - all welcome!

Title: Revitalization of the Mayan Language

Abstract:  
There are many bilingual and bicultural schools in Yucatán, Mexico. However, there is a new drive to revive the Maya language by integrating instruction into all the schools in the state.   Politically and socially, most indigenous languages (and to some extent people) in Mexico have been treated as second class.  Even though bilingual education is available in most places with an indigenous majority, it does not have the resources that Spanish-speaking schools have, and, bilingual education only covers early years and primary schools, so communities are suspicious of sending their children to school, arguing that the schools are there to turn the children into Spanish-speakers and lose their identity.  

The talk will address how bilingual schools fared during the pandemic.  Private schools in Mexico had Zoom and other technological solutions while in lockdown (from March 2020 until November 2022), public schools used the national television channels to transmit lessons.  However bilingual schools did not have much support.  

The talk will also address research shift in policy in Yucatán, it was one of the last states to adopt laws for indigenous rights, and now is promoting the Maya language in all schools.  It is a case of constructing identity in an area that has sought differentiation from the rest of the country.  It is not clear yet if the government policy followed reviving of the language at a cultural and colloquial level, (looks like) or if the revival of the language at the colloquial followed government policy.  

Speaker:
Dr Alina Gamboa Combs is a researcher at the North Campus of the University of Anahuac in Mexico City.  She is the author of- Regional Integration, Development and Governance in Mesoamerica (2020) published by Palgrave Macmillan.  She also teaches modules in International Political Economy.

For further information contact Dr Caroline Linse at c.linse@qub.ac.uk