in Tucson’s Discontinued Mexican American Studies Program

Rhetorical, Cultural, and Textual Borderlands

Amy T. HamiltonUniversity of Northern Michiganamyhamil@nmu.edu

Kim Hensley OwensUniversity of Rhode Islandokhensley@gmail.com

Michael FloresUniversity of Northern Michiganmflores@nmu.edu

Image source: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2012-09-28-bookban.jpg

The banned (boxed) books

Clip of In Lak’ech recitation from Precious Knowledge

http://www.preciousknowledgefilm.com/

In Lak’ech as recited in MAS classes

Tú eres mi otro yo/You are my other me. Si te hago daño a ti/ If I do harm to you, Me hago daño a mi/ I do harm to myself. Si te amo y respeto / If I love and respect you, Me amo y respeto yo / I love and respect myself.

Former MAS teacher Alexandro Escamillo on the Chicano clap

“an energetic way to start class.”

“kinda like a sports team.”

“You do stuff like that to get people together.”

neplanta

Neplanta is “the overlapping space between different perceptions and belief systems,” where one is “aware of … changeability” and categories that “render[] the conventional labelings obsolete” (541).

-Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge We Call Home

Former MAS teacher Maria Federico-Brummer on In Lak’ech

The In Lak’ech, it’s just an excerpt from the poem, and, um, it’s a Mayan philosophy…it’s kind of like our bell work—have the kids, y’know, get ready to go. They do the recite the poem piece […] and then they get to work. […]

For me, I want our students, for their own growth, it’s for them. So it, this space: This is In Lak’ech. […] [T]his is the expectation. So I don’t have anywhere, like, “These are the Rules, and this is how you’re going to behave in here.”

In Lak’ech in Luís Valdez’s poem, “Pensamiento Serpentino”

“just look at their moral concept/ IN LAK’ECH: Tú Eres Mi Otro Yo” (173)…“Si te amo y te respeto/ a ti, me amo y me respeto yo;/ si te hago daño a ti, me hago daño a mí.” (174) …“IN LAK’ECH: Tú eres mi otro yo (191)

In Lak’ech (1) in Domingo Martínez Parédez’s Parapsicología Maya

[Q]ue tú eres yo, y yo soy tú. Que si te respeto me respeto yo, y si te hago daño me hago daño yo, a la altura de amaos los unos a los otros.

(19, his italics)

[Such that you are me, and I am you. Such that if I respect you I respect me and if I do harm to you, I harm me, to the height of loving one another (my translation)]

In Lak’ech (2) in Domingo Martínez Parédez’s Parapsicología Maya

Tú eres yo y yo soy tú, si te respeto me respeto, si te hago mal, me hago mal. Todo lo que haga repercute en mí, sí […] (84)

[You are me and I am you, if I respect you I respect me, if I do something bad to you, I do something bad to myself. All that is done has repercussions on me, yes […] (my translation)]

In Lak’ech recitation(with some changes marked)

Tú eres mi otro yo/You are my other me. Si te hago daño a ti/ If I do harm to you, Me hago daño a mi/ I do harm to myself. Si te amo y respeto a ti / If I love and respect you, Me amo y respeto yo / I love and respect myself.

-Valdez, qtd in Huerta 10

Blue = words Valdez added to the Martínez Parédez “original” Italics = English translations added to Huerta’s quoteGray = Stanza that appears last in both “original” and in “PS”Strikethrough = words that appear in PS but not Huerta’s quote

In Lak’ech: You are my other me

Image source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/files/2008/06/l1213297792.jpg

In