Using a socio-ecological and an intersectionality framework, this cross-national study examined the perceived discrimination experiences of U.S.-based diasporic Yucatec-Maya Mexican students (n = 66), U.S.-based non-Yucatec-Maya (non-indigenous) Latinx students (n = 65), and Mexico-based Yucatec-Maya students (n = 70). U.S.-based Yucatec-Maya…

Purpose: Meeting the needs of Maya children in U.S. schools requires extensive training. Research is lacking in best practices to support students with intersectional identities. This article provides a roadmap centralized on Maya children's experiences, acknowledging the linguistic diversity of Maya immigrants, their language and cultural…

This article describes the journey I embarked on as a teacher-researcher to better understand the realities of two of my Maya English learners (ELs) in our learning environment. This yearlong (2018-2019) study took the form of a qualitative case study inquiry whose purpose was to explore how two Maya migrant youth from Guatemala experienced and…

This article analyzes the construction of sign names in an emerging sign language from Mexico, the Yucatec Maya Sign Language (YMSL). Data comes from elicited interviews as well as natural interactions collected by the authors and signers from two different villages, Chicán and Nohkop. Despite YMSL being an isolate language, sign name construction…

Language revitalization efforts have been critiqued for creating and reproducing linguistic, epistemological, and pedagogical hierarchies that might run counter to a community's needs and interests. Drawing on a seven-year ethnographic and collaborative research with the Maya cultural promoters of the Caste War Museum in Tihosuco, Mexico, we…

Syntheses of analogues of historical indigo and Maya blue pigments using an inquiry-based approach are presented. Derivatives of indigo were synthesized (in particular Tyrian purple) and used as vat dyes for dyeing cotton or wool fabrics or mixed with a sepiolite clay to create new hues or colors of Maya blues using a green chemistry hydrothermal…

Children's development of executive function is a good candidate for studying cultural differences because it is a necessary capacity for becoming competent participants in cultural activities, and yet it is also likely to be shaped by culturally organized everyday experiences, with potential consequences for children's development and learning.…

Analyzing three sets of video data collected in one Maya community, we examined apprenticeship and learning of backstrap loom weaving over three generations spanning the years 1970 to 2012. Like many cultural groups, the Maya of Chiapas are experiencing rapid sociodemographic shifts. Three generations of girls (N = 134) were observed at their…

This essay explores how stories of Tecum, Maya K'iche' warrior, and the quetzal can serve as creative entry points to contextualize the racialization and ideological positioning in Guatemala of Maya migrant youth who are now in U.S. schools. As we work on radicalizing possibilities and re-imagining liberatory futures, our efforts lie in crafting…

Yucatec Maya theory of learning may be thought of as Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours. Children learn everyday and specialized tasks by observing and pitching in. This mode of learning is embedded in children's developmental niche in which parental ethnotheories play the central role. I present results from…

In this paper, I discuss methodological and ethical issues that arose in the process of documenting lexical variation in Yucatec Maya Sign Languages (YMSLs). YMSLs are indigenous sign languages used by deaf and hearing people in Yucatec Maya villages with a high incidence of deafness in the peninsula of Yucatán, Mexico. The documentation of rural…

In most cultures, but particularly among Indigenous communities of the Americas, children help extensively with household work. However, less is known about the role of maternal ethnotheories as cultural organizers of the family environment and children's helping. We explored Maya maternal ethnotheories about children's learning to help in two…

Relatively little research has focused on the experiences of students and families of Yucatec-Maya origin in the U.S., and even less has focused on Yucatec-Maya youth and resilience, a normative process of positive adaptation despite exposure to adversity. Using Critical Latinx Indigeneities, which centers on Indigeneity across multi-national…

Language learning and the development of language proficiency are central concerns in the study of immigrant adaptation. This paper analyzes the social construction of language proficiency among Indigenous Guatemalan Maya youth in the United States--specifically, undocumented young adults who migrated to Los Angeles, California as unaccompanied…

This article describes a three-dimensional 5E (Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, Evaluation) lesson that investigates 3-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived. A phenomena-based approach was used to engage third graders in the story of Maya, who…