Invited Talks
October 2023. Book Presentation: "From Tz'ib' to Kematz'ib': Decolonial Ontologies of Maya Orality, Recorded Knowledge, and Digital Media in Indigenous Guatemala." Digital Humanities Lecture Series, California State University, Chico.
March 2023. "Maya Women and Postwar Indigenous Activism in Guatemala." Westridge School Study Abroad Program, Antigua, Guatemala.
February 2023. Book Presentation: "Ruchuq'a' ri Ixoqi': Gendered Maya Activism and Bilingual Education Initiatives in Iximulew (Guatemala)." CU-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
November 2022. Book Presentation: “Rejqalen Qach’ab’äl: Decolonial Ontologies of Orality and Textuality in Contemporary Guatemala (Iximulew).” Williams College, Massachusetts.
November 2022. Book Presentation: “From Tz’ib’ to Kematz’ib’: Rethinking Kaqchikel Maya Orality, Recorded Knowledge, and Digital Media.” California State University – Northridge, via Zoom Webinar.
September 2022. Book Presentation: “Yojch’o’ Qach’ab’äl: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Bilingual Language Classroom in the Guatemalan Highlands.” University of Maine.
July 2022. Book Presentation: “The Maya Art of Speaking Writing: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Digital Age.” XV Jornadas Andinas de Literatura Latinoamericana, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, via Zoom.
Feb 2022: “Decolonizing and Diversifying World Literatures and Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Roundtable.” School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Maryland.
July 2021: “One Size Does Not Fit All: Finding Your Institutional Fit.” New England Future Faculty Workshop, Northeastern University, ADVANCE Office of Faculty Development. Boston, Massachusetts.
April 2021: University of Texas-Austin, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. Virtual Event: "Qatijonik Chupan ri Pach’un Tzij: Nuestros Aprendizajes por Medio de la Poesía.”
April 2021: Book Presentation, Poetry Reading, and Discussion with Contributors: Ta ko’ontontik, edited by Xun Betan, Ediciones Sna Ta Jk’optik. San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.
Nov 2020: Universidade do Estado da Bahia, UNEB, Brazil. Virtual Event: Brasil in Teias Culturais: Relações Internacionais sob o crivo da crítica cultural. “‘Kixajo’, k’a k’o na winaqi’ yech’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: La revitalización lingüística Tz’utujil por medio de la música hip hop y rap en Guatemala.”
July 2019: Tulane University, presentation in Oxlajuj Aj in Antigua, Guatemala. “Nuevas aproximaciones a la auto-traducción de literaturas escritas en idiomas indígenas de Abiayala.”
July 2018: Tulane University, presentation in Oxlajuj Aj in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala. “Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ pa tijonïk: Canciones infantiles como herramienta para la adquisición del idioma kaqchikel.”
April 2017: Elon University, Human Rights Colloquium.
“Indigenous Rights in Guatemala: Kaqchikel Children’s Songs and Pan-Maya Activism.”
Invited Panelist for Rountable Discussion of Ixcanul (Kaqchikel Maya-language film, dir. Jayro Bustamante 2015).
Sept 2015: Western Carolina University Fine Arts Museum. “An Introduction to Taller Leñateros and Their Book Arts from Chiapas, Mexico.”
Invited Guest Lectures
Nov. 9, 2022: "Ixcanul: Ecocritical Approaches to Kaqchikel Cultures and Peoples in Iximulew (Guatemala)." Upper-Division Spanish Course: Género, Raza y Naturaleza: Exploraciones ecocríticas de la cultura latinoamericana, Williams College. Williamstown, Massachusetts.
April 23, 2022: "Jun tzijonem pa ruwi' achike roma k'atzinel ri ch'ab'äl Kaqchikel." Guest Lecture in Kaqchikel Maya class, Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala, ALMG.
May 3, 2021: “‘Kixajo’, k’a k’o na winaqi’ yech’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: La revitalización lingüística Tz’utujil por medio de la música hip hop y rap en Guatemala.” St. Olaf College (via Zoom)
April 5, 2021. “Queering Abiayala: The Personal and Political Cartographies of the Indigenous Americas,” Languages, Literature, and Culture Department, Marquette University (via Zoom).
Jan 25, 2021. “500 Years (2017, dir. Pamela Yates) and Contemporary Guatemalan Maya Communities,” Department of World Languages & Cultures, Elon University (via Zoom).
Oct 27, 2020. “Contemporary Pan-Maya Movement in Guatemala,” Department of World Languages and Cultures, Whitworth University (via Zoom).
Oct 2015-Present. “Wuqu’ Kawoq: El cuidado de salud en las comunidades mayas de Guatemala.” Brown University (via Zoom: Oct 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), Colby College (via Zoom: Sept 2020), University of Kansas (via Zoom: April 2015, April 2021, March 2022)
Feb 2019 “The Politics of Indigenous Language Use in Global Health,” Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Albion College (via Zoom).
Selected Conference Presentations
July 2022: “Remediaciones contemporáneas de la oralidad maya de Guatemala.” XV Jornadas Andinas de Literatura Latinoamericana, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala.
May 2022: “The Maya Art of Speaking Writing: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Digital Age.” Latin American Studies Association, San Francisco, CA.
March 2022: “Guatemalan Ecologies of Indigenous Media: Online (Re)Mediations of K’iche’ Maya Orality on YouTube.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, IL. March 2022.
October 2021: “Painting Qatinamit (Our Town): Remediations of Oral Histories and Tz’ib’ in Poetry and Images in the Murals of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.” Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present, ASAP/12, Virtual Conference.
September 2021: (Co-Presentation with Joyce Bennett). “The Importance of Indigenous Languages: Solidarity, Appropriation, and Ethnographic Reality.” Raising Indigenous Voices Conference, University of Montana. Virtual Conference.
July-August 2021: Roundtable Participant, “Decolonial Criticisms in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Sponsored Panel by the “Ecocriticisms of the Américas” Stream). Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Virtual Conference.
June 2021: (Co-Presentation with Joyce Bennett). “Rejqalen qach’ab’äl: El uso del idioma indígena Kaqchikel como práctica de alianza en la investigación interdisciplinaria.” Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Virtual Conference. June 14-21.
May 2021: “Queering Abiayala: The Personal and Political Cartographies of the Indigenous Americas in Performance Art by Manuel Tzoc Bucup.” Latin American Studies Association 2021, Virtual Conference.
May 2020: “La autotraducción y el ‘kaxlan na’oj’ en Pach’un tzij kichin ak’wala’ del poeta kaqchikel Kaqjay Juan Yool Gómez.” Latin American Studies Association 2020, Virtual Conference.
January 2020: “‘Kixajo’, yojch’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: Youth-Driven Language Revitalization Initiatives in Hip Hop and Rap in Mayan Languages in the Guatemalan Highlands.” Modern Language Association, Seattle.
July 2019: “(Des)encuentros de la oralidad maya y japonesa y la (re)construcción de un imaginario colectivo alternativo en Ovillo de seda (2001) de Humberto Ak’abal.” III Conferencia Internacional sobre Literatura Centroamericana Contemporánea: Literaturas Indígenas y Afrodescendientes. Feria Internacional del Libro en Guatemala (FILGUA) / Runimaq’ij ri Wuj chi Iximulew. Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 2019.
July 2019: “Kinqaasaaj ri tziij, xa man ronojel taj: La política de la (auto)traducción y la oralidad k’iche’ en la poesía onomatopéyica de Humberto Ak’abal.” Guatemala Scholars Network (GSN), Antigua, Guatemala.
July 2019: “Ri tijoxela’ yeb’ixan pa qach’ab’äl: Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ chuqa’ ri b’anob’äl kaqchikel.” Congreso de Estudios Mayas, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
May 2019: “Kaqchikel Ajq’ij and Poet Calixta Gabriel Xiquín’s Gendered (Re-)Mappings of the Four Cardinal Points and the Sioux White Buffalo Calf Woman.” Latin American Studies Association, Boston.
March 2019: “Tsotsil Maya (Net)working: Digitally Archiving the Politics of Collaboration in Taller Leñateros’s Facebook Account.” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, Oaxaca, Mexico.
October 2018: “Uk’u’x kaj, uk’u’x ulew: Ecocritical and Ecofeminist Kaqchikel Maya Epistemologies in Ixcanul.” Association for the Study of the Arts in the Present, ASAP/10, New Orleans, Louisiana.
May 2018: ““Xib’e pa El Norte”: Ethnographic Encounters with Kaqchikel Maya Transnational Migration from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.” Latin American Studies Association, Barcelona, Spain.
March 2018: “Orality and Translation in Print and Digital Recordings of Humberto Ak’abal’s Sound Poetry.” American Comparative Literature Association, Los Angeles, California.
July 2017: “Aproximaciones pedagógicas a los murales de San Juan Comalapa por medio de las epistemologías mayas del “tz’ib’.” Guatemala Scholars Network, Antigua, Guatemala.
April 2017: “Ri ak’wala’ yeb’ixan pa tijonïk: Contemporary Kaqchikel Maya Language Instruction Initiatives.” Latin American Studies Association, Lima, Perú.
October 2016: “K’iche’ Poet Humberto Ak’abal’s Appropriation of Japanese Poetic Forms in Ovillo de seda (2001).” Symposium on Indigenous Languages and Cultures of Latin America, Columbus, OH.
November 2015: “Painting Qatinamit (Our Town): Destabilizing Maya-ness in the Poetry and Images in the Murals of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.” South Atlantic Modern Languages Association, Durham, NC.
October 2015: “Transnational Maya Experiences in Florida and San Juan Chamula, Mexico in Workers in the Other World by Sna Jtz’ibajom.” Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples, Richmond, Virginia.
September 2015: “‘As pedras gritarão’: (Re)Writings of the History of the Massacre in Eldorado dos Carajás in Brazil.” Association for the Study of the Arts in the Present, ASAP/7, Greenville, SC.
July 2015: “‘Ri tijoxela’ yeb’ixan pa qach’ab’äl: El papel de las canciones infantiles en las aproximaciones pedagógicas a la revitalización cultural y lingüística kaqchikel.” Guatemala Scholars Network, Antigua, Guatemala.
March 2015: “Kaqchikel ajq’ij and Poet Calixta Gabriel Xiquín’s (Re)mappings of the Four Cardinal Points of the Twenty-First Century Mayan Universe.” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, Charleston, SC.
October 2014: “Pach’un tzij pa ruwi’ ri violencia: Negotiations of Maya-ness during the Guatemalan Civil War in Tejiendo los sucesos en el tiempo (Weaving Events in Time).” Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, Greenville, SC.
May 2014: “Marginalized and Marginalizing Maya: Conflicting Versions of Maya-ness and Subalternity in Victor Montejo’s Testimonios of the Guatemalan Civil War.” Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, IL.
May 2013: “Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ pa qach’ab’äl/Children’s Songs in Our Language: The Politics of Oral Discourses in Kaqchikel in the Highlands of Guatemala.” Latin American Studies Association, Washington D.C.
May 2012: “‘Kinyaa jubiq’, k’u man ronojel taj’: Negotiating K’iche’ Orality and Mayan Agency in Performances of “Xalolilo lelele’” by Humberto Ak’abal.” Latin American Studies Association, San Francisco, California.
October 2023. Book Presentation: "From Tz'ib' to Kematz'ib': Decolonial Ontologies of Maya Orality, Recorded Knowledge, and Digital Media in Indigenous Guatemala." Digital Humanities Lecture Series, California State University, Chico.
March 2023. "Maya Women and Postwar Indigenous Activism in Guatemala." Westridge School Study Abroad Program, Antigua, Guatemala.
February 2023. Book Presentation: "Ruchuq'a' ri Ixoqi': Gendered Maya Activism and Bilingual Education Initiatives in Iximulew (Guatemala)." CU-Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
November 2022. Book Presentation: “Rejqalen Qach’ab’äl: Decolonial Ontologies of Orality and Textuality in Contemporary Guatemala (Iximulew).” Williams College, Massachusetts.
November 2022. Book Presentation: “From Tz’ib’ to Kematz’ib’: Rethinking Kaqchikel Maya Orality, Recorded Knowledge, and Digital Media.” California State University – Northridge, via Zoom Webinar.
September 2022. Book Presentation: “Yojch’o’ Qach’ab’äl: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Bilingual Language Classroom in the Guatemalan Highlands.” University of Maine.
July 2022. Book Presentation: “The Maya Art of Speaking Writing: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Digital Age.” XV Jornadas Andinas de Literatura Latinoamericana, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala, via Zoom.
Feb 2022: “Decolonizing and Diversifying World Literatures and Cultures: An Interdisciplinary Roundtable.” School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Maryland.
July 2021: “One Size Does Not Fit All: Finding Your Institutional Fit.” New England Future Faculty Workshop, Northeastern University, ADVANCE Office of Faculty Development. Boston, Massachusetts.
April 2021: University of Texas-Austin, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. Virtual Event: "Qatijonik Chupan ri Pach’un Tzij: Nuestros Aprendizajes por Medio de la Poesía.”
April 2021: Book Presentation, Poetry Reading, and Discussion with Contributors: Ta ko’ontontik, edited by Xun Betan, Ediciones Sna Ta Jk’optik. San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.
Nov 2020: Universidade do Estado da Bahia, UNEB, Brazil. Virtual Event: Brasil in Teias Culturais: Relações Internacionais sob o crivo da crítica cultural. “‘Kixajo’, k’a k’o na winaqi’ yech’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: La revitalización lingüística Tz’utujil por medio de la música hip hop y rap en Guatemala.”
July 2019: Tulane University, presentation in Oxlajuj Aj in Antigua, Guatemala. “Nuevas aproximaciones a la auto-traducción de literaturas escritas en idiomas indígenas de Abiayala.”
July 2018: Tulane University, presentation in Oxlajuj Aj in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala. “Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ pa tijonïk: Canciones infantiles como herramienta para la adquisición del idioma kaqchikel.”
April 2017: Elon University, Human Rights Colloquium.
“Indigenous Rights in Guatemala: Kaqchikel Children’s Songs and Pan-Maya Activism.”
Invited Panelist for Rountable Discussion of Ixcanul (Kaqchikel Maya-language film, dir. Jayro Bustamante 2015).
Sept 2015: Western Carolina University Fine Arts Museum. “An Introduction to Taller Leñateros and Their Book Arts from Chiapas, Mexico.”
Invited Guest Lectures
Nov. 9, 2022: "Ixcanul: Ecocritical Approaches to Kaqchikel Cultures and Peoples in Iximulew (Guatemala)." Upper-Division Spanish Course: Género, Raza y Naturaleza: Exploraciones ecocríticas de la cultura latinoamericana, Williams College. Williamstown, Massachusetts.
April 23, 2022: "Jun tzijonem pa ruwi' achike roma k'atzinel ri ch'ab'äl Kaqchikel." Guest Lecture in Kaqchikel Maya class, Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala, ALMG.
May 3, 2021: “‘Kixajo’, k’a k’o na winaqi’ yech’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: La revitalización lingüística Tz’utujil por medio de la música hip hop y rap en Guatemala.” St. Olaf College (via Zoom)
April 5, 2021. “Queering Abiayala: The Personal and Political Cartographies of the Indigenous Americas,” Languages, Literature, and Culture Department, Marquette University (via Zoom).
Jan 25, 2021. “500 Years (2017, dir. Pamela Yates) and Contemporary Guatemalan Maya Communities,” Department of World Languages & Cultures, Elon University (via Zoom).
Oct 27, 2020. “Contemporary Pan-Maya Movement in Guatemala,” Department of World Languages and Cultures, Whitworth University (via Zoom).
Oct 2015-Present. “Wuqu’ Kawoq: El cuidado de salud en las comunidades mayas de Guatemala.” Brown University (via Zoom: Oct 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), Colby College (via Zoom: Sept 2020), University of Kansas (via Zoom: April 2015, April 2021, March 2022)
Feb 2019 “The Politics of Indigenous Language Use in Global Health,” Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Albion College (via Zoom).
Selected Conference Presentations
July 2022: “Remediaciones contemporáneas de la oralidad maya de Guatemala.” XV Jornadas Andinas de Literatura Latinoamericana, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala.
May 2022: “The Maya Art of Speaking Writing: Remediating Indigenous Orality in the Digital Age.” Latin American Studies Association, San Francisco, CA.
March 2022: “Guatemalan Ecologies of Indigenous Media: Online (Re)Mediations of K’iche’ Maya Orality on YouTube.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, IL. March 2022.
October 2021: “Painting Qatinamit (Our Town): Remediations of Oral Histories and Tz’ib’ in Poetry and Images in the Murals of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.” Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present, ASAP/12, Virtual Conference.
September 2021: (Co-Presentation with Joyce Bennett). “The Importance of Indigenous Languages: Solidarity, Appropriation, and Ethnographic Reality.” Raising Indigenous Voices Conference, University of Montana. Virtual Conference.
July-August 2021: Roundtable Participant, “Decolonial Criticisms in Latin America and the Caribbean” (Sponsored Panel by the “Ecocriticisms of the Américas” Stream). Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Virtual Conference.
June 2021: (Co-Presentation with Joyce Bennett). “Rejqalen qach’ab’äl: El uso del idioma indígena Kaqchikel como práctica de alianza en la investigación interdisciplinaria.” Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Virtual Conference. June 14-21.
May 2021: “Queering Abiayala: The Personal and Political Cartographies of the Indigenous Americas in Performance Art by Manuel Tzoc Bucup.” Latin American Studies Association 2021, Virtual Conference.
May 2020: “La autotraducción y el ‘kaxlan na’oj’ en Pach’un tzij kichin ak’wala’ del poeta kaqchikel Kaqjay Juan Yool Gómez.” Latin American Studies Association 2020, Virtual Conference.
January 2020: “‘Kixajo’, yojch’o’n pa qach’ab’äl’: Youth-Driven Language Revitalization Initiatives in Hip Hop and Rap in Mayan Languages in the Guatemalan Highlands.” Modern Language Association, Seattle.
July 2019: “(Des)encuentros de la oralidad maya y japonesa y la (re)construcción de un imaginario colectivo alternativo en Ovillo de seda (2001) de Humberto Ak’abal.” III Conferencia Internacional sobre Literatura Centroamericana Contemporánea: Literaturas Indígenas y Afrodescendientes. Feria Internacional del Libro en Guatemala (FILGUA) / Runimaq’ij ri Wuj chi Iximulew. Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 2019.
July 2019: “Kinqaasaaj ri tziij, xa man ronojel taj: La política de la (auto)traducción y la oralidad k’iche’ en la poesía onomatopéyica de Humberto Ak’abal.” Guatemala Scholars Network (GSN), Antigua, Guatemala.
July 2019: “Ri tijoxela’ yeb’ixan pa qach’ab’äl: Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ chuqa’ ri b’anob’äl kaqchikel.” Congreso de Estudios Mayas, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
May 2019: “Kaqchikel Ajq’ij and Poet Calixta Gabriel Xiquín’s Gendered (Re-)Mappings of the Four Cardinal Points and the Sioux White Buffalo Calf Woman.” Latin American Studies Association, Boston.
March 2019: “Tsotsil Maya (Net)working: Digitally Archiving the Politics of Collaboration in Taller Leñateros’s Facebook Account.” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, Oaxaca, Mexico.
October 2018: “Uk’u’x kaj, uk’u’x ulew: Ecocritical and Ecofeminist Kaqchikel Maya Epistemologies in Ixcanul.” Association for the Study of the Arts in the Present, ASAP/10, New Orleans, Louisiana.
May 2018: ““Xib’e pa El Norte”: Ethnographic Encounters with Kaqchikel Maya Transnational Migration from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.” Latin American Studies Association, Barcelona, Spain.
March 2018: “Orality and Translation in Print and Digital Recordings of Humberto Ak’abal’s Sound Poetry.” American Comparative Literature Association, Los Angeles, California.
July 2017: “Aproximaciones pedagógicas a los murales de San Juan Comalapa por medio de las epistemologías mayas del “tz’ib’.” Guatemala Scholars Network, Antigua, Guatemala.
April 2017: “Ri ak’wala’ yeb’ixan pa tijonïk: Contemporary Kaqchikel Maya Language Instruction Initiatives.” Latin American Studies Association, Lima, Perú.
October 2016: “K’iche’ Poet Humberto Ak’abal’s Appropriation of Japanese Poetic Forms in Ovillo de seda (2001).” Symposium on Indigenous Languages and Cultures of Latin America, Columbus, OH.
November 2015: “Painting Qatinamit (Our Town): Destabilizing Maya-ness in the Poetry and Images in the Murals of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.” South Atlantic Modern Languages Association, Durham, NC.
October 2015: “Transnational Maya Experiences in Florida and San Juan Chamula, Mexico in Workers in the Other World by Sna Jtz’ibajom.” Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples, Richmond, Virginia.
September 2015: “‘As pedras gritarão’: (Re)Writings of the History of the Massacre in Eldorado dos Carajás in Brazil.” Association for the Study of the Arts in the Present, ASAP/7, Greenville, SC.
July 2015: “‘Ri tijoxela’ yeb’ixan pa qach’ab’äl: El papel de las canciones infantiles en las aproximaciones pedagógicas a la revitalización cultural y lingüística kaqchikel.” Guatemala Scholars Network, Antigua, Guatemala.
March 2015: “Kaqchikel ajq’ij and Poet Calixta Gabriel Xiquín’s (Re)mappings of the Four Cardinal Points of the Twenty-First Century Mayan Universe.” Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies, Charleston, SC.
October 2014: “Pach’un tzij pa ruwi’ ri violencia: Negotiations of Maya-ness during the Guatemalan Civil War in Tejiendo los sucesos en el tiempo (Weaving Events in Time).” Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, Greenville, SC.
May 2014: “Marginalized and Marginalizing Maya: Conflicting Versions of Maya-ness and Subalternity in Victor Montejo’s Testimonios of the Guatemalan Civil War.” Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, IL.
May 2013: “Ri taq b’ix kichin ri ak’wala’ pa qach’ab’äl/Children’s Songs in Our Language: The Politics of Oral Discourses in Kaqchikel in the Highlands of Guatemala.” Latin American Studies Association, Washington D.C.
May 2012: “‘Kinyaa jubiq’, k’u man ronojel taj’: Negotiating K’iche’ Orality and Mayan Agency in Performances of “Xalolilo lelele’” by Humberto Ak’abal.” Latin American Studies Association, San Francisco, California.