THE FRIENDS OF THE MAYA, INC.: 
A NEW ORGANIZATION!

BACKGROUND.  Begun in 1977 by Dr. Linda Schele, the annual Maya Meetings at the University of Texas are a unique educational opportunity for everyone involved.  Dr. Schele, an artist who became intrigued with the Maya culture and hieroglyphic writing system on visits to Mexico in the early 1970s, was one of the true pioneers of Mayan hieroglyphic decipherment.  As something of a scholastic "outsider" herself, she found that astonishing discoveries could be made about this mysterious ancient culture by bringing together people with remarkably different perspectives who would be able to see problems from very different points of view.  The open, collaborative interchange she fostered has manifested itself in a uniquely generous scholastic attitude among those scholars and interested individuals who have been exposed to the process.  The study of Mayan hieroglyphic writing and ancient culture as it is explored in Texas is dynamic and innovative.  Attendees of the Texas Maya Meetings and Workshops are simply expected to share their information and knowledge with the greater public.

Despite centuries of political, social, and religious persecution, the approximately 7 million ethnic Maya of southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras have managed to maintain substantial remnants of their ancient cultural heritage.  Only recently, however, have they been granted the political freedom to openly explore their indigenous culture.  Their involvement in the exploration and understanding of the ancient Mayan writing systems and culture has been invaluable.  Many of the cultural features that they have fought so hard to preserve have direct links to very ancient times.  In 1987,  Dr. Schele was introduced to a group of Maya linguists at Copan, Honduras, by her friends Dr. Kathryn Josserand and Dr. Nicholas Hopkins.  Together they produced a workshop on Mayan hieroglyphic writing.  Since that time, interested Maya scholars and individuals have sought any opportunity they could find to learn more about the ancient writing so that they could share the information within their communities and reach into their ancient past to build a platform to understand and enrich their present culture. 

After 1987, Dr. Schele personally arranged to include a number of indigenous Maya in the Texas Maya Meetings.  Since then, their interaction with scholars and interested people from all over the world has been an enormously enriching experience for all involved.  It was only in late 2004, that a handful of Maya Meeting attendees discovered that the process of helping the indigenous Maya attend the Maya Meetings was in no way assured or institutionalized.  That group took it upon themselves to see that two former Maya attendees were able to attend the 2005 Maya Meetings.  At that 2005 session, a meeting with other interested people encouraged an effort to bring more Maya to the Meetings.  Though informally, at that time, The Friends of the Maya organization was established then.  By 2006, the informal group was able to sponsor ten Maya attendees from Mexico and Guatemala and to help many others with official invitations that aided their visa application process.  In 2007, the group sponsored twelve attendees.

OUR PURPOSES AND ROLES.   Although The Friends of the Maya were initially formed for the sole purpose of helping the Maya attend the Texas Maya Meetings, we have found that we can be helpful in the following ways:

By fostering teaching opportunities,

By fostering interpersonal interaction with the Maya,

By sharing teaching and educational materials concerning Maya culture,

By aiding translation of teaching materials from English and/or Spanish into Spanish and/or indigenous Maya languages,

By aiding the instruction of tour guides who are sharing Mayan archaeological sites with visitors from all over the world,

By making teaching materials available electronically to interested people from all over the world, and

By allowing the participating Maya world-wide exposure for the work that they are doing to explore their own cultures. 

The prospects for sharing educational possibilities from this platform are only beginning to be explored.

HOW WE EXPECT TO FUNCTION.   With a potential membership of interested persons from all over the world, we will communicate electronically through most of the year, via a website and email.  We will expect to meet officially as a group once a year at the Texas Maya Meetings.  We see the potential for helping to sponsor public workshops and lectures at venues throughout the world.  As we initiate this process, we do not see our role as a sponsor of conferences, but rather as a potential sponsor of indigenous scholars who might add important information to these conferences, workshops, and lectures.  We hope to permit the interpersonal contact that is so important.

It is an electronic era.  Only a short time ago we might have focused our attention on publication of papers, books, and documents that would have been difficult for our constituents to afford.  In today's world, the internet reaches into even the most remote locations.  We will focus our attention on producing useful educational materials that can be available for free and downloadable on-line.  It is our hope that we will be able to translate useful materials into as many languages as will be useful.  There is no reason why educational text materials about ancient Maya culture cannot be available in English, Spanish, K'iche', Kaqchikel, Q'eqchi', Chol, Yucatec, or any other language.

ANTICIPATED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FRIENDS OF THE MAYA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS.   We expect to maintain an independent but supportive relationship with the University of Texas for limited aspects of the Texas Maya Meetings and the Mesoamerican Center.  As we have explained, we are focusing on interpersonal relationships with and among the indigenous people of the Maya area.  It is possible that we will be able to serve some communication and organizational functions more nimbly than can be done through the huge, bureaucratic University of Texas structure.  Because we are bringing the scholars to the Meetings, the University is providing official invitations for them, free access for them to the lectures, workshops, and free workbooks and teaching materials.  If the Mesoamerican Center opens a study facility in Guatemala, we will attempt to coordinate learning activities and resources with them there, as well.

OUR FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS.  Our initial Board of Directors includes Beth Spencer (Chicago, IL), Karon Winzenz (, WI), Dr. Bruce Love (, CA), Dr. Albert (Al) Meador (Palm Bay, FL), Dr. Nicholas (Nick) Hopkins (Tallahassee, FL), Dr. Nora England (Austin, TX), Federico Fahsen (Guatemala City, Guatemala), Alfonso Escobedo (Mérida, Yucatán, México), and Sue Glenn (Blowing Rock, NC).

ARE DONATIONS TAX DEDUCTIBLE?   Not yet.  Although we are incorporating as a non-profit corporation, we must receive acknowledgement from the Internal Revenue Service to become a 501 (c)(3) entity in order for your donations to be tax deductible.  Their review process is lengthy, and we will let you know when our status becomes "official."  Though your donations for the February 2008 Maya Meetings probably won't be tax deductible, we hope to they will be deductible for the 2009 Meetings.  Please don't let that discourage you now!