For the past 15 years, thousands of indigenous Maya immigrants from Guatemala have settled in Oakland and the wider Bay Area. While exact numbers are hard to come by, schools, health clinics, and courts attest to the growing demand for Mam speakers. Those institutions have also indicated a need not only to be able to communicate with our community, but to better understand who we are and where we come from. The Mam community is still new enough that there is no local organization to promote our culture, advocate for our people, and act as a bridge to the wider Bay Area community. Through The Maya World we aim to provide one platform to facilitate cross-cultural understanding and the visibility of the Mayan people.
As one of the newest immigrant communities in Oakland, Mayan indigenous people face great barriers to prosperity and power. Those barriers include language, as many people speak Mam, a Mayan dialect, and are not fluent in Spanish or English. They include literacy, as many adults never attended or completed school because they come from impoverished backgrounds where work was prioritized over education. The barriers include oppression, as we come from a place where, as indigenous people, we were discriminated against. Many Mayan people are afraid to raise their voice due to these various challenges. By providing an opportunity for Mayan people to practice and celebrate their cultural traditions, we aim to foster a sense of pride among our community, and help Mayan people recognize their own strength, beauty, and power.
Another challenge our community faces is ignorance about our community among non-Mam people. We are regularly thought of as part of Oakland’s Latino community--described as “Latinos,” even though we identify as indigenous people, and spoken to in Spanish, even though we speak our own indigenous language. We know that ignorance breeds fear, and this ignorance about us and our culture must be disrupted if we want to be accepted, understood, and respected as a unique community within the wider Bay Area. The Maya World will provide a welcoming place for all Bay Area residents to learn about the Maya people, and provide a springboard for cultural exchange.
As one of the newest immigrant communities in Oakland, Mayan indigenous people face great barriers to prosperity and power. Those barriers include language, as many people speak Mam, a Mayan dialect, and are not fluent in Spanish or English. They include literacy, as many adults never attended or completed school because they come from impoverished backgrounds where work was prioritized over education. The barriers include oppression, as we come from a place where, as indigenous people, we were discriminated against. Many Mayan people are afraid to raise their voice due to these various challenges. By providing an opportunity for Mayan people to practice and celebrate their cultural traditions, we aim to foster a sense of pride among our community, and help Mayan people recognize their own strength, beauty, and power.
Another challenge our community faces is ignorance about our community among non-Mam people. We are regularly thought of as part of Oakland’s Latino community--described as “Latinos,” even though we identify as indigenous people, and spoken to in Spanish, even though we speak our own indigenous language. We know that ignorance breeds fear, and this ignorance about us and our culture must be disrupted if we want to be accepted, understood, and respected as a unique community within the wider Bay Area. The Maya World will provide a welcoming place for all Bay Area residents to learn about the Maya people, and provide a springboard for cultural exchange.