NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt archaeologist Arthur A. Demarest will
give a public lecture on his efforts to restore a Maya royal palace in
Guatemala and make it into an ecotourism resort run by the modern-day
Maya villagers who live nearby for their economic benefit. The story
that Demarest, who is the Ingram Professor of Anthropology, tells
interweaves modern science, ancient mysteries and modern politics,
including snake pits, death threats, looters and sacred midnight
rituals.
The lecture is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 11, at 3:10 p.m. in Wilson Hall Room 126 on the Vanderbilt campus.
In his talk, titled “Ancient Secrets and Modern Struggles of the
Maya Peoples: Vanderbilt Archaeology, Looting, the Drug Wars and the
Battle for Indigenous Rights,” Demarest will discuss the Vanderbilt
University CancuÈn Archaeological and Indigenous Development Project,
which he directs in Guatemala.
“Professor Demarest‘s Guatemala project is a remarkable case study
in economic development,” says James Foster, director of Vanderbilt‘s
Graduate Program in Economic Development. “It also illustrates how the
pursuit of first-class research can be synergistic with broader social
goals.”
The archaeologist will detail how the CancuÈn project has uncovered
sprawling buried royal palaces, hieroglyphic monuments, royal tombs and
workshops rich in jade and other precious goods. This research is
revealing the unusual nature of the Classic Maya kingdom of CancuÈn and
its control of wealth and power through trade and alliance in the
eighth century A.D. He will also describe the successful efforts to
recover a stolen altar stone and convict the looters.
In addition, Demarest will describe Vanderbilt‘s more controversial
and innovative work with indigenous rights, Maya site management and
economic and political development. The latter is a long-term program
of ecological conservation, humanitarian aid, legal support, cultural
and religious rights and sustainable economic development undertaken in
collaboration with the Q‘eqchi‘ Maya villages of the region. Now, the
project has become directly engaged in the politics of Guatemala and in
the lives of the Maya of today as they confront the effects of looting,
drug-trafficking and political oppression on their communities.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Americas, the Center
for the Study of Religion and Culture, the Center for Latin American
and Iberian Studies, the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies
and the Center for Research on Economic Development and Information
Technology. It will be videotaped for broadcast on community access
channels 9 and 10.
Media contact: David F. Salisbury, (615) 343-6803
David.salisbury@vanderbilt.edu