Rethinking Maya Heritage: Past and Present

In this hybrid lecture on Thursday, Oct. 20, Richard Leventhal will discuss the importance of and role that the nineteenth-century Caste War—one of the largest and most successful Indigenous rebellions—is playing in the Maya’s contested heritage. Richard M. Leventhal is a professor in the department of anthropology and the executive director of the Penn Museum's Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This free event is presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

The story of Maya culture as a once-great civilization that built towering pyramids in the jungles of Central America was developed and popularized by national governments, anthropologists and archaeologists. Previously unable to control the story of their own culture, Maya communities today are actively reframing their heritage and centering their most recent history—not the distant past—to regain power and self-determination.