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By Jeremy Carter - Guest blogger traveling in Merida, Mexico.
While the foreign language program at the university I attend is very strong – with incredible instructors from all over the world as well as US-born instructors who have spent extensive time abroad – there's so much I've experienced in the past two weeks that I could never get from a classroom in North Carolina.
The program I'm attending here in Merida is divided into three parts: the first hour is devoted to Mayan culture, the second hour is about Latin American literature, and the third hour is about Yucatecan literature. Learning about Mayan culture and the literature of the peninsula is given an entirely new dimension when classes are taught by people who have been immersed in this culture their entire lives.
For example, we read part of "Popol Vuh," the sacred book of the Maya, in a university class in North Carolina last fall. But last week, our literature instructor here in Merida taught us another part of the book, and she was able to give us so much insight into the symbolism in the book and how it can be found in Mayan culture today. To her, these legends are part of her history, not something she studied for a few days as part of a larger curriculum.
Last Friday, our Mayan culture instructor, who works as an archaeologist for the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH), took us to the office where he works, and we were given a tour of places few people get to see. As its name implies, INAH is devoted to excavating, restoring and interpreting historic sites throughout Mexico. Armando took us into a room filled with rows upon rows of drawers containing literally thousands of artifacts that have been recovered from sites such as Uxmal, Chichen Itza and even the city of Merida. Some artifacts were scraps of pottery, while others were highly detailed statuettes. By just glancing at a piece, Armando was easily able to tell us which time period it came from, what part of the peninsula it was from, what it was used for, what the designs represented, and more.
The past two weeks have been filled with experiences such as these…opportunities to experience the culture through the eyes of people who live it every day. It brings a new dimension to learning the language and history of Latin America, and it reminds me of why I love this culture so much and chose to study it in the first place.
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