Mesoamerican Literacies - Ancient Writing Systems and Contemporary Possibilities by Robert T Jiménez & Patrick H Smith (2008).pdf

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Mesoamerican Literacies: Ancient Writing Systems and Contemporary Possibilities
Robert T. Jiménez
Vanderbilt University
Patrick H. Smith
University of the Americas, Puebla
Running Head: Mesoamerican Literacies
Contact author: Robert T. Jiménez
(615) 343-8444
Peabody #330
230 Appleton Place
Nashville, TN 37203-5701
robert.jimenez@vanderbilt.edu
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This paper introduces the ancient Mesoamerican writing systems developed by the Nahua,
Mixtec, and Mayan peoples to those interested in literacy and its social, economic, and political
effects. We describe the ideological and philosophical bases of these systems for the purpose of
comparing them with contemporary forms of writing. Our examination of these earlier systems
highlights some of the enduring effects of these forms of writing on the alphabetic practices
found in Mexico today. We suggest ways that educators can explore these ancient and
contemporary forms to promote new possibilities with students of indigenous and Mexican
origin.
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In this paper, we describe and consider Mesoamerican literacies, particularly those
developed and employed by the Mixtecs, Nahuatl-speaking groups, and that of the Maya.
Although we cannot present a detailed and comprehensive exposition of these literacies—others
have done this— (see Boone 2000, Coe 1999, Houston, 2004), we will attempt to accomplish the
following objectives. First, we will describe some of the more salient ideological and
philosophical underpinnings embedded within Mesoamerican literacies. Our goal for doing so is
to provide a point of comparison with contemporary forms of literacy, most specifically
alphabetic literacy. By comparing and contrasting ancient Mesoamerican systems with more
contemporary forms of literacy—forms that are so prevalent, they are largely taken for
granted—our hope is to move toward a deeper understanding of literacy in general.
Our second purpose in writing this paper is to provide an introduction to these ancient
literacies, particularly to literacy researchers and educators, and especially those concerned with
the literacy learning of Mexican origin students. We highlight the features that distinguished
these literacies from other systems of writing, and some of the purposes they served. We sketch
out a description of what these literacies might have looked like when put into practice. In other
words, we use what is known concerning these literacies--current scholarship as well as the
accounts of 16 th century indigenous individuals and European observers—to construct a portrait
of how these literacies were related to their respective societies. For this, we make use of
concepts from critical applied linguists “to draw relations between micro relations of language
and macro relations of society” (Pennycook, 2001: p. 82). We end by considering points of
connection between our work and that of teachers and others concerned with the literacy learning
of Mexican origin students in both Mexico and the U.S.
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We situate our work into what has been called ‘new literacies’ research (Cope &
Kalantzis, 2000; McCarty, 2005; Street, 1984). With backgrounds in literacy and applied
linguistics, disciplinary influences on our thinking have been multiple and eclectic. Research
from the fields of anthropology, applied linguistics, history, sociology and the very broad field of
literacy studies has helped us think about the issues presented in this work. The field of
anthropology has correctly identified literacy as an important human invention and technology
comparable, perhaps, to other important cultural achievements such as agriculture and complex
socio-political forms of organization. Some claims for the consequences of literacy have
overstated its effects claiming that it is a cause of human progress, particularly in the sciences,
and also in terms of historical consciousness (Havelock, 1986; Ong, 1982; Goody, 1977). On the
other hand, some in the field of linguistics have relegated the study of written language to an
almost negligible place, not worthy of study alongside that of oral language (c.f. Daniels and
Bright, 1996; Pinker, 1994).
Our position views written language of all types—and in particular, Mesoamerican
instantiations—as notable human achievements worthy of study in its own right. Collins and Blot
(2003) ask “why literacy matters in the way that it does in the modern West” [?] (p. 65). These
writers answer that the key to understanding why literacy is so highly valued is rooted in
questions of power. We ground our work in the belief that writing, like oral language, is value
neutral in the sense that it is what we do with it that has the power to enslave or liberate. Clearly,
claims that literacy alone can liberate individuals or communities are simplistic and reductionist
(Gee 1996/2001; Rogers 2001) . Indeed, literacy may enslave much more than it liberates, but, as
educators, we are interested in both issues of access as well as the social stigma ascribed to those
who are denied that access.
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We also understand, following Bourdieu (1991, 1998) and others that literacy, or rather,
literacy practices, play a role in structuring society and are in turn, shaped themselves by that
same society. Following social practices theory (Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999), specific
historical antecedents, political arrangements, and economic structures influence predispositions
to value distinct aspects of literacy that vary from group to group. As a result, we reject ‘Great
Divide’ theories of literacy that posit either literate or oral cultures. We also reject its
contemporary manifestations, or views that make distinctions between alphabetic and non-
alphabetic forms of literacy and those that privilege English-only forms of literacy. Here we are
following the work of anthropologists, epigraphers, and archeologists who, in seeking to
understand the origins and meanings of texts produced by Amerindians in Mesoamerica, have
increasingly turned to the social contexts in which they were produced and used, including
exploration of links to the lives of contemporary groups in the region (Medina Hernández 2004).
Theoretically then, cultures rooted within and built upon the foundations of Mesoamerica--the
site for dozens of cultural groups that developed several intriguing writing systems--ought to
prove fruitful as sites for research on questions of interest to literacy researchers.
Closely related to the concept of social practices is that of literacy practices. Barton
(1999: 32) claims that “... literacy [is] a set of social practices associated with particular symbol
systems and their related technologies. To be literate is to be active; it is to be confident within
these practices.” Barton has also called for an ecological approach to the study of literacy. This
approach depends upon documentation of “the ways that literacy is historically situated,”
because “We need a historical approach for an understanding of the ideology, culture and
traditions on which current practices are based” (Barton & Hamilton, 2000: 13). Some scholars
believe that the “messages of the old systems” can yet be discerned in the “bruises and shapes of
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