A conversation with Maria Tulia

Recently, I had the privilege of talking to Maria Tulia about the reality of life for Guatemala's indigenous population. They are far and away the majority, but like many minority controlled countries, receive far less services in respect to schools, transportation, and the like. Throughout recent history, their languages, traditional dress, and cultural practices have been discouraged by most established institutions.

As per her own experiences as a Mayan woman living in Guatemala her entire life, when Mayan children have occasion to leave their small farming communities they are programmed from a very young age to be ashamed of their skin, hair, clothes, and language. Sometimes it is overt - denial of entry to a restaurant or nightclub. More often it is subtle - backhanded references to their lifestyle as ignorant or backwards.

Maria has recently finished her thesis on the psychological effects of discrimination and racism on Mayan women in Guatemala. She focused on her life as a child in an indigenous (Mum) village, and her 18 years as a guerilla in the Civil War, where she states to me very succinctly that she obtained her real education (often times girls stop school at a very young age and even with schooling the history of 'her' Guatemala had been systematically removed from the curriculum).

She spoke to me of a Mayan history that I learned in school as a child - one with great scientific achievements, vibrant arts, and amazing music. But this, suprisingly, was not the Mayan history taught in schools 30/40 years ago, in their own backyard nonetheless.

Enter 30+ years of painful and divisive civil war between the indigenous guerillas, their allies, and the Guatemalan Army. In short, 1996 brought the 'Acuerdos de Paz' and an end to the violence. When I asked her what was the most important thing to take from this fight for equality and respect, she said it is the power of a 'public discussion' because without an issue out in the open certain people can still deny its existence. And we can't give them the opportunity.