Preserving the Ch'ol language through theatre and digital media
My language is planted in a seed
Originally published on Global Voices
#StoriesThatInspire. Meet 10 activists who use digital media to strengthen and promote Mayan languages in Mexico.
Photo by Marlene Sanchez, used with her permission.
Learn about the inspiring story of one of the grantees selected for the 2024 Mayan Language Digital Activism Fellowship organized by Rising Voices. In this personal essay, the author shares about her experience in activism and the project through which she seeks to promote her native language, within her community and in digital spaces.
My name is Marlene Sánchez Guzmán, I am 28 years old and I graduated from an agri-food engineering program. I currently work in the production of organic vegetables that is environmentally friendly, which allows me to offer healthy food and strengthen the local rural economy. I am a woman who speaks the Ch'ol language and I have the ability to write in my language. I am proudly from the communal land of Hidalgo Joshil, Municipality of Tumbalá, Chiapas, Mexico.
In my community, almost everyone speaks the Ch'ol language. We grow coffee, corn and beans, we keep much of the empirical knowledge of our grandparents and the custom of greeting each other in our language. There are different ways of greeting, for example: “como latyo ñumikoñ majlel (I'm passing by here), “koñix kermañu” (see you brother), “latyomajlikoñ” (goodbye). The way we express ourselves in Ch'ol is very beautiful and unique.
My language is my identity, it is the connection to the place where I come from. The word Ch’ol comes from cholel (milpa, a corn crop) and it is a legacy that our parents left us and that we will leave to our next generations. Knowing how to speak my native language helps me so that the people of my community trust me to express themselves without fear, and the most beautiful thing of all is that it allows me to converse with our elders, who express to me their feelings, their knowledge and the worldviews that they have of our community. My language is a wealth planted in a grain.
Hidalgo Joshil ejido, Municipality of Tumbalá, Chiapas, Mexico / Photo: Marlene Sánchez. Used with permission.
Theater as an opportunity to strengthen the Ch’ol language
The community work I do promotes and revitalizes the Ch'ol language in my community, because I want more people to see it as a privilege and not as a limitation. In my experience, speaking my language is not an obstacle, since I have had to work with communities that speak Ch'ol and for them it is a great relief to share knowledge in their own language.
As part of the 2024 Mayan Language Digital Activism Program, I am carrying out a community project so that more youth and children in the community become aware of the importance of their language. Among my activities is teaching workshops to create and write theater scripts in Ch'ol. The characters will come to life through puppets, which will be handled by the participants.
The plays will be recorded on videos and broadcast on different digital platforms, and we will also make short videos of the activities so that they can continue to be replicated later and so that our roots stay alive.
Comedy play in Ch'ol with puppets / Photo: Marlene Sánchez. Used with permission.
Keeping alive the roots of Indigenous peoples through language
For me, it is very important to create projects that help my community, especially in the cultural field, since many young people are interested in doing this type of activities.
One of the aspects that motivated me to do this project was the little value that is given to the mother tongue. Sometimes, out of shame or embarrassment, children begin to speak Spanish first and then they are taught their native language. Migration has also had an influence, since families go to work in the city and children grow up outside their community, and when they return, they come back with the idea that they are not from the same roots as their parents.
Given this situation, it is essential to rescue and revitalize our Ch'ol language as a first language, through activities that help understand its importance and its link to our identity.
I would like there to be more cultural spaces in my community where children, youth, mothers and fathers can participate, and that there are projects focused on the Ch'ol language in all communities and ejidos (communal lands), not just in towns. In the future, I would like to have a cultural space where our stories, worldviews and the knowledge of our people can be documented and represented; a space to promote culture and traditions so that our language remains alive in the hearts of future generations.
As part of my activism, I seek to ensure that all people have the same rights, including that of speaking our language. We must recognize that we are one spirit, we are brothers. In my language we say that “añ lajwuty” (we have fruit), “añ laj kuxtyälel” (we have spirit) “yik'oty añ la yäxñälel” (we also have an identity). Maintaining the cultural and linguistic diversity of our country is in our hands.
My connection with other Ch'ol-speaking communities / Photo: Social Service Team. Used with permission.
I want to send a message to the children and youth of my community and of different regions. I want them to know that we can begin to take action in our communities by using digital media and technology as tools to promote our language. Let us be an inspiration and join forces so that no one is ashamed of speaking an Indigenous language.
It is important to use the technology that has reached so many places, even in the most marginalized rural areas. Today, technology has advanced and will not cause us harm as long as we can use it and it allows us to continue being who we are. Therefore, I would like more people to join digital activism so that we take digital media and technology into our hands, because we have the capacity and an identity to promote, without having to be ashamed of speaking our language in public.
I will continue working so that there is respect for all peoples, without discrimination, because all people have the capacity to create and develop actions for our communities. Let us recognize our value and the knowledge that lies in our thoughts and in our hearts.
Wokox awälä piälob muk´bä a kajel a pejkañ ilij tsijbuyaj yom milaj chäñ chaleñ tyañ tyi ch’ol. (Thank you very much to everyone who is going to read this short story, let's continue speaking in our Ch'ol language)