A Wīnak Perspective on Cosmovisíon Maya and Eco-Justice Education

Authors

Arcia Tecun, Utah Valley University

Author Bio(s)

Arcia Tecun is the pen name of Daniel Hernandez. Tecun has many lineages, which include K'iche', Tz'utuhil, Kaqchikel, and Mam, which he collectively expresses in the English spelling of Wīnak (Mayan for person, people). They are a son, brother, partner, father, relative, and homie to many people who all comprise a rich range of life experience prior to and beyond academic training. He was a Pouako (Lecturer) at Waipapa Taumata Rau (University of Auckland) before taking on an inaugural position as director of culture for Tracy Aviary and the Nature Center at Pia Okwai. During his tenure as the cultural director for Tracy Aviary he was also the 2023 fall semester community practitioner in residence for the Environmental Humanities. Tecun is now an assistant professor of anthropology at Utah Valley University.

Publication Date

12-11-2024

Keywords

Indigenous mobility, Cosmovision Maya, Eco-Justice education, Indigenaitiy, Wīnak Mayan-ness

Abstract

This article responds to questions of relational ethics in Indigenous mobility with a critically conscious approach to cosmovisíon Maya in Soonkahni (Salt Lake Valley). An urban and mobile Mayan positionality, identified as Wīnak, guides an analysis of complex Indigenous experiences, and possibilities found in Eco-Justice. The limits from the prevailing and dominant colonial logics of conservation and environmentalism are re-imagined through Indigenous approaches to ‘Earth Wellbeing’. The application of critically conscious cosmovisíon Maya reveals a simultaneous challenge to systems of power, and to formations of an Indigenous relational ethic that is both locally meaningful and globally relevant. This essay concludes with examples of eco-justice community education events in Soonkahni that fused together different yet related knowledges to place and food.

DOI

10.62915/2688-9188.1167

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.