Regarding the recent assassination of Maya teacher and artist Lisandro Guarcax —

Why you should care / to demand a full investigation of his death:

The significance and brilliance of Sotz’il:

Embodying Maya Liberation

Czarina Aggabao Thelen, M.A.

University of Texas at Austin

“Sacred fire of the Serpent’s dance …

After so many waves of destruction and death, Sotz’il’s experience illuminates the miracle of fertility and regeneration—to transcend physical limitations, continue the ancestral line, and inspire new births and creations, in art and elsewhere—touching us with the brilliance of life itself.”[1] 

SOLOLÁ, GUATEMALA—Leonardo Lisandro Guarcax, 32 years old, was kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated on August 25, 2010, en route to the school where he served as principal.  Lisandro was an artist and a Kaqchikel spiritual guide who was coordinator of Sotz’il Jay Cultural Center.  The group promoted and investigated pre-Columbian Maya art through theater, music, and dance.  Lisandro and his companions in Sotz’il are credited with energizing a new movement of Maya youth with pride in their culture and way of life through investigating and developing ancestral expressions of Maya art.

            Lisandro would say, “We don’t do art for art’s sake; we do it to recover the dignity of our people.”

            What did Lisandro mean by this?  What is the force of art in Maya society in Guatemala?  Why did Sotz’il’s theater and musical productions have such profound resonance for cultural activists, social movements, and youth alike, that it inspired a generation of Maya youth community artists?  Why in recent days has at least one spiritual guide linked Lisandro to the great Kaqchikel ancestor Kaji’ Imox?

            “This system was not made for us Mayas….”[2]

            Born during an era of state-sponsored massacres targeting Maya peasants, several Maya rural youth created the theater group Sotz’il about ten years ago.  They aspired to breathe new life into aspects of Maya culture that the dominant society had been subjugating through everyday racism and coerced assimilation. (Please see attached essay for a more complete discussion.)  Activists in the generation before them had identified Maya language and cultural revitalization as important terrains of struggle in the wake of the Guatemalan army’s 1980s “scorched earth campaign” that directly sought to uproot the foundations of Maya culture.  In the municipality of Sololá, a local current of the Maya Movement combined social movement strategies and concerns with organizing around Maya identity.  They decided to further develop the ways that public social institutions would reflect Maya subjectivity and worldview.  Rather than accede to the dominant cultural, political, and epistemological models that marginalize Maya ways of being, they empowered their communities to shape their own decolonizing sociopolitical visions and localized institutions.  Some examples are: coordinating councils and community consultation mechanisms in official municipal government based on Maya social organization, the promotion of Maya justice systems, and the development of schools and curricula more closely aligned with Maya teachings.   Rooted in the social fabric of the rural areas, these Maya groups prioritize projects of cultural restoration through their daily practices and lived experiences of indigeneity.

            “‘Protesting’ through art is different … 

… It’s visual, and aural.  It’s much more complete.  In art, you can’t walk around with a combat-hardened face saying, ‘I am strong!  We must do this!’  No.  One must have even deeper feelings about the injustice to protest through art.”[3]

            Coming of age during the height of diverse local projects of cultural restoration, and having been shaped by this approach through their parents and the Kaqchikel community-run schools they attended, the youth of Sotz’il brought the movement for social and cultural revitalization into the realm of theater and the arts. Over time, their project became one of decolonization, infusing new life into Kaqchikel society by re-grounding it in Maya epistemology and spirituality via the arts.  These youth offer an original, visionary, compelling, and touching contribution to the other local projects of building semi-autonomous spaces of Maya life.

            “We have our own stories. …

… We have a history that we’ve been prohibited from seeing and hearing.”[4]

            Sotz’il’s second major contribution to the Maya Movement and Guatemalan society as a whole is in the realm of representation and performance, given that these are highly potent sites for the construction of identities and the contestation of oppressive racialized hierarchies.  Mayas’ historical positioning of servitude in Guatemala has been maintained and naturalized through disparaging images of Mayas in the national imaginary.  In particular, national narratives have represented Mayas as backward–as a hindrance to the ladino (“non-indigenous”) national project of modernization.  At the same time, the state and other national actors selectively appropriate and folklorize markers of Maya culture to pander to the international tourist economy and/or to reaffirm Guatemala’s national self-image.  Through this appropriation, Guatemalan political and business elites earn tourist dollars and international diplomatic approval while masking continuing repression, violence, and social inequalities that especially afflict poor Mayas.  Sotz’il was founded to challenge and critique folkloric groups and degrading tropes through theater.  By performing their silenced histories, Sotz’il members enact liberating identities to build a better future.

            Theater is a perfect space to do this:  Sotz’il has brilliantly used their theater and dance performances to not only challenge racist stereotypes, but also to think through, create, explore, and share their holistic and multi-dimensional visions of Maya cultural, social, spiritual, and political ideals.  Their performances provide a rich, multi-textured, multi-sensory drawing board for thinking outside the repressive and genocidal social scripts that have dominated Guatemala since the Spanish invasion in 1524 – and instead to center Maya sacred understandings of the universe.  They present an alternative space for Maya youth and communities to freely envision for themselves the possibilities of their identity: What does it mean to be Maya?  What would indigenous sovereignty look like and entail?  What if Mayas did not have to subscribe to the disempowering models offered by the state?  What would this liberated Maya world feel like, and how would we move in it?

            Rich artistic work such as this exposes the superficiality of the policies of appeasement that the Guatemalan state – in fact, many nation-states — offer to indigenous peoples, because those still fall under Western conceptualizations of development, modernization, “basic needs”, politics, and governance.

            Instead, artists like Augosto Boal theorize that theater and performance can be transformative, due to the openings they provide to suspend the dominant order “on stage.”   Social justice transformation can then be envisioned and enacted through theater techniques.

            Through their theatrical productions, Sotz’il has created Maya utopias – virtual sovereign spaces – a significant act of recovery and decolonization for historically subjugated peoples.  They creatively re-imagine what is available in the present for Maya peoples, presenting the glory of Maya ways of life directly in the midst of violence which in recent years has ever more intimately touched them personally.  Yet, through the arts, they keep on dreaming … imagining… constructing and embodying those dreams for their people, the Maya peoples, through their theater work.  And in their performances, it is not only Maya peoples who get a glimpse of what liberation looks like.  It is all of us, implicated in and affected by violence in Guatemala and in our world, who begin to see spaces of transformative possibility, decolonized wholeness, just and harmonious relations, and hope – the promise of new and renewed life where each of us can grow into our own promise.  Lisandro would say that in the Maya worldview, “we need everyone’s unique energy” and balanced growth for life on this planet to move forward.  Under this vision, we can dream together.

            The assassinations of three family members of Sotz’il in the past eighteen months is a tragedy, injustice, and inexpressible loss.  Yet, learning from their inaugural theater masterpiece based on the resistance, execution, and ultimate liberation of Kaqchikel leader Kaji’ Imox, death itself can be transformed into new life.  It is up to each of us…

            Ma Lisandro, now an ancestor:  Matyox chawe for your visionary work and the legacy you have bestowed for us to continue.  Those of us who have felt your presence and energy in flesh will remain inspired.  May your spirit continue to guide and provide courage and vision to future generations, hacia la reivindicación del gran pueblo Maya.  In times of difficulty and struggle, may we remember your example–Sotz’il’s breathtaking acts of creation and re-generation that are reminiscent of the miracle of Life itself.

“Telling this ancestral story [of Kaji’ Imox] in a public forum is a forceful declaration of the Mayas’ existence as a people with their own culture, ways, and history.  This is exactly what genocidal forces seek to deny and repress—because they cannot extinguish nor completely suppress a people if they are loudly proclaiming their right to exist and practicing their power of regeneration.  Lisandro concludes, ‘Because Kaji Imox did this, the Maya have never accepted a new way of life.’”[5]

In Humble Memory Of:

Ma Ernesto Guarcax, respected community leader, teacher, and school director.  In response to the prior kidnappings for ransom in Sololá township, he helped community members safely recover their loved ones and he organized the township-wide protest march in 2008.  He also founded the community radio program “Siwan Tinamit”, which explored and valorized Kaqchikel language, culture, and practices.  He was kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated in February 2009 en route to the radio station.  He was a father of three.

Ma Emilio Guarcax, a language revitalization activist who worked with the Kaqchikel branch of the Guatemalan Maya Language Academy.  His linguistic work enriched Maya pedagogy as well as the development of the “Siwan Tinamit” radio program.  He was poisoned in February 2009, twenty days after his brother Ma Ernesto Guarcax was killed.  He was a father of three; one daughter was born after his death.

Ma Leonardo Lisandro Guarcax, artist/poet, teacher, school director, and spiritual guide.  He was coordinator and co-founder of Sotz’il Jay Cultural Center and an innovator of Maya theater arts, inspiring a generation of community-based Maya youth artists.  (For more on Lisandro and Sotz’il’s theatrical production Kaji’ Imox, please see attached essay.)  He was kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated on August 25, 2010 en route to the school where he served as principal.  He was a father of two; his daughter was born a few days before his death.

**  HOW TO HELP:  **

Please stay tuned for more information on writing letters to demand a full investigation of the assassinations of the Guarcaxes.  

Attached photos: 

(1)  Lisandro Guarcax is the middle marimbista.  © Czarina Aggabao Thelen 2006.

(2)  Sotz’il – Danza de los Nawales.  © Centro Cultural Sotz’il Jay 2009.

  http://www.gruposotzil.org/

[1] Thelen, Czarina Aggabao.  “Our Ancestors Danced Like This: Maya Youth Respond to Genocide Through the Ancestral Arts.”  In Telling Stories to Change the World: Global Voices on the Power of Narrative to Build Community and Make Social Justice Claims, ed. Rickie Solinger, Madeline Fox, and Kayhan Irani. New York: Routledge, 2008, p40, 43.  (Essay is attached.)

[2] Ibid., p43, quoting Lisandro Guarcax.

[3] Ibid., p48, quoting Lisandro Guarcax.

[4] Ibid., p 48, quoting Lisandro Guarcax.

[5] Ibid., p54.

Of course not!!

And yet most of us are quite happy to rely mainly on our cognitive intelligence and leave our emotional, intuitive and kinaesthetic intelligences on the sidelines when we manoeuvre through our days, facing challenges and solving problems. Why is that?

We are then disappointed when we are trying to change certain behaviours or be more creative and we fail again and again.

Likewise, organisations trying to implement change fail again and again. At present even the most unlikely of organisations are investing heavily on ways to generate more creativity and innovation from their employees. Some are having great success; however many have great starts but cannot sustain the momentum.

Why not?

As Peter Senge explains in Dance of Change, ‘…it is not enough to change strategies, structures and systems, unless the thinking that produced those strategies, structures and systems also changes.’

So how do we change the thinking?

INVOLVE ALL THE PEOPLE                                

 ‘The fantasy that somehow organisations can change without personal change, and especially without change on the part of the people in leadership, underlies many change efforts from the start…’ says Pamela Meyer, author of From Workspace to Playspace.

Everyone must have stakes in the changes wanted – feel accountable and engaged.

INVOLVE THE WHOLE PERSON                                     

This means, for starters, the whole brain. We know that creativity requires engaging both the left AND right sides of the brain. A great metaphor was used in the Newsweek article below when it described creativity requiring ‘…blender pulses of both divergent and convergent thinking…’ Left brain AND right brain.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

Most of us are quite practised at convergent thinking – analysing, sequencing, gauging, categorising, generating criteria, selecting the logical solution. It’s what our education prepares us to do.

However, when it comes to divergent thinking – imaginative, associative, metaphoric, out-of-the-box, original, outrageous and unhindered by judgment – most adults need help. Children don’t, we do.

That’s one area where play comes in.

PLAY

The importance of play in giving people access to deeper, innate knowledge and creativity cannot be stressed enough.

Activities that allow people to take on different roles; to imagine, improvise in unusual situations, use their whole bodies and step out of comfort zones, have a lasting, transformative impact.

Not only on the individual, but on the way they relate to their families, their jobs, their colleagues; to the meaning they give their lives, therefore the meaning they give their work.

If the whole of the person is not involved then, as Meyer points out, ‘knowledge is reduced to data and people are reduced to data processors.’

And we know data processors are not what we need in organisations to make them more dynamic and creative!!

The aim is to bring the participants into a space where they can explore, identify and rehearse alternative ways to deal with the issue. This is done not solely through cognitive learning but through a learning that encompasses a range of intelligences including kinaesthetic, emotional, sensory and intuitive. With all these involved in the process the individual has the opportunity to reach into his or her highest creative potential to find directions and possibilities.

Mowanjum women during a workshop early 2010

With this premise in mind, there a few practitioners who ask, if this is true for people who are experiencing injustice or exclusion, could it not be true for the wrong-doers; the offenders; the ‘oppressors’?

Act Out’s work at Communicare’s Breathing Space with men who have been violent to their partners and families exemplifies the important complimentary role these techniques can have in bringing awareness of

their behaviour to perpetrators of domestic violence. For some of the men, seeing and acting out the scenarios suggested by the other men, raised some awareness:

‘There were a few times when … somebody’s acted something and you sat there and watched and thought well, I used to do the same thing, so it opens your eyes up to actually sit there and think…some of the boys say that half the shit they’ve never done, you know what I mean? But if you sit down and watch the looks on their face when it gets acted out and you can see that somewhere along the line they’ve done it and they just don’t want to admit to it…’

Another participant explained:

 ‘I never saw it as abuse that sort of stuff, even like the way I talk and that, when I sit back and watch everyone else do it , I say f—, it’s like…I never thought of that as abuse’

While there are many layers to the issue of DV of which behaviour is only one, engaging the men in an honest introspection and allowing them to rehearse non-violent actions which they have identified, creates a strong platform for transformation.

Similarly, when working for the Department for Corrective Services with young offenders in juvenile detention and remand centres, engagement constitutes a large part of the Act Out process.

Some young detainees have been excluded so much in their lives that they don’t really feel they have anything to contribute. Boal and other techniques engage them in a creative space that separates them from their behaviour and allows them to express themselves without being judged.

They are then able to explore the painful AND the positive in their lives; the dynamics and the influences that have got them into trouble and the potential for non-offending behaviour. They are able to access their deeper knowledge of ALL they are capable of being.

Some of these ‘truths’ may make us cringe, but how many of them do we hold? Or should I say, how many have a hold on us?

The effectiveness of using Boal theatre techniques to transform organisations, communities and individuals lies in three key components:

1. The ability to involve the collective in exposing the ‘truths’ that hold us back. When working on issues that affect a group of people someone’s individual story is the springboard for the collective examination of what is holding people back and what is blocking a desired action. (Santos, 2010) It allows a group to understand an individual story in relation to the rest.

   ‘We do not interpret, we explain nothing, we only offer multiple points of reference.’ (Boal, 1995) This is what makes the work therapeutic but not therapy!!

   1. Aesthetics - the use of a creative medium such as theatre but also other media such as painting, writing and sculptures, to shift the brain from a survival, left-brain, linear pattern to a more imaginative, metaphoric, right-brain pattern that allows a playful yet deep examination of that which may be painful or unpleasant.
   2. The reconnection of the whole body – working with the whole person, their senses, their minds, their emotions. When a challenge is examined using the whole of our bodies there is greater clarity and honesty. Similarly, when alternatives are rehearsed in this empowered state this rehearsal leaves a profound imprint which is the beginning of transformation.

    

Barbara Santos at recent PTO conference in Austin, Texas

There are many tools for generating ideas, one of my favourites is SCAMPER.

I first came across SCAMPER in Michael Michalko’s, Thinkertoys, a ‘must-have’ book about innovation. You can also google SCAMPER and see for yourself.

SCAMPER was created by Bob Eberle who combined a set of characteristics found in most innovations. SCAMPER assumes that most new ideas are modified versions of old ones. SCAMPER is an acronym, each letter representing a way of rethinking certain aspects of the existing challenge.

We only have to look at some objects from our daily lives to find that one of the following was used in its creation:

S – Substitute – What can be substituted? e.g., a lot of coffee shops have substituted cow’s milk for soy milk and created the soy latte. Do you use travel agents or book and buy flights and hotels direct from the Internet?

C – Combine – What ideas can be combined? e.g., my latest asset is a combination of an IPod, a mobile phone and the Internet, yes! I have recently got an IPhone! Last year I bought a head torch; combination of headband and a torch.

A – Adapt – What is it like? e.g., when was the last time you saw a cyclist stop her bike to unscrew the lid off a water bottle? The squirt top has made drinking on the go easy. And what about the fabulous neck cushions for sleeping on airplanes?

M – Magnify/Minify – What can be made bigger/smaller? e.g., have a look at your camera today and think back to the camera you had in the 80s! Big difference! And what about your television?  

P – Put to other uses – What else can it be used for? e.g. who has not seen a tyre turned into a swing? Or a shoe as a doorstop? Or books for pressing flowers?

E – Eliminate – What can be removed? e.g., we have wireless access to Internet and I can’t wait to buy a wireless mouse and a wireless printer.

R – Rearrange (Reverse) – How can it be rearranged? e.g. nowadays we are more likely to pay for photocopies first then make them.

These are just some quick examples that I came up with for this article but if you think about your own life, how many objects or processes can you think of that have undergone one of the SCAMPER modifications to be what they are today?

The way to use it is to clearly state your challenge or area you need ideas in. Then, ask questions relating to each of the SCAMPER characteristics to generate new ideas or solutions. Try this website for more questions relating to each characteristic. http://litemind.com/scamper/

A salesperson has trouble resolving a customer’s problem with a mobile phone. The customer does not have the time to wait for the administrative steps necessary to replace the faulty phone. The shop assistant is growing more and more frustrated – he wants to do the best for the customer but must follow protocol.

The spect-actors getting up on stage to replace the frustrated salesperson in trying to positively influence the client are also not having much luck. The client is not happy and wants a result NOW.

This is one of the scenes performed in a project, Communication and Conflict Resolution in Working Life, conducted by theatre practitioner Rikke Gjærum and psychologist Gro Ramsdal between 2005 & 2006. The project combined the Forum Theatre pedagogy with Psychological Dialogue Analysis to train employees from 5 regional industrial enterprises from a variety of sectors. These included transportation, mobile phones and electronics, petroleum, logistics and manufacturing. The goal was to measure the success of using these tools in improving self-esteem and responding to conflict by developing more positive communication strategies.

Participants used real event from their working lives, creating 23 dramatisations which fell under 4 different themes.

The practitioners established a context for participants to analyse conversations – for this project it was that the maintenance of self-esteem and the protection of identity are key components in communication.

The customer, participants were reminded was buying the phone for his wife, ‘his identity as coping husband could be threatened is he failed to buy her a proper gift…’, moreover, he would also have to deal with his self-talk about the reaction his wife might have.  When the spect-actors returned to the stage their new interventions reflected a ‘new identification with and understanding of the customer’s problem’. Solutions that involved how he might take care of his wife were now offered too.

1. Associating – this is when what appear to be unrelated ideas or problems from different disciplines are brought together to create something totally new. For example, eBay, the idea for which was the result of associating the wish to establish more efficient internet markets with the wish to get hold of rare Pez dispensers with the failure of classified ads in helping find them. The magic of connecting sure paid off!

2. Questioning – constantly asking questions that challenge the status quo. Did you know that the idea behind Dell computers came when Michael Dell asked himself ‘why does a computer cost five times more than all its parts?’ He clearly asked the right question!

3. Observing – watching closely what people (potential customers) are doing; how they are behaving and what they are struggling with. The Nano, at $2,500 the world’s cheapest car, was developed in India from regularly observing the difficulty a family of four was having riding on a scooter!

4. Experimenting – trying out new paths without the fear of failure or reprimand. Amazon.com has made experimenting part of its working ethos so that employees are expected to experiment. That is how Amazon.com has gone from selling books, to selling equipment to becoming an electronics manufacturer!

5. Networking – getting out there and listening to other people in other industries with different ideas and ways of working.  Did you know that both the idea for the Blackberry and for JetBlue (satellite TV in every seat on planes) came to the creators while attending conference on totally different themes? Attending had great returns!

I read the HBR article excitedly as I realized how useful theatre techniques and activities we use at ACT OUT are in stimulating exactly all these qualities!

Associating is about getting the brain to reach into its stores of experiences and knowledge and connect what it has not yet connected. This happens in so many of the non-linear, creativity activities used in theatre. Questioning happens all the time when a particular theatrical image is constructed and deconstructed. It is how alternatives are rehearsed as they are put forward by participants. Similarly, observing other participants closely, mirroring and mimicking exercises train specifically for this skill. And using theatre in organisational development is experimenting at many levels, especially when it is a form not common to those participating. Finally, when a workshop is conducted with participants from different departments, companies and organisations the result is some serious networking in very safe settings.

The participants looked around at each other a little confused.

 ‘You can put your pens and paper away too.’

With a few mumbles, groans and raised eyebrows, people slowly stood up and put the chairs away.

The reluctance did not last long. Within 10 minutes the whole group was smiling, had forgotten all about chairs and was fully engaged albeit in a new and unfamiliar method.

Choosing a method for community development or engagement is key to the success of any project that genuinely wants to access a community’s concerns.

Enhancing the sense of touch and trust at Mowanjum Community

This is particularly true if the issues at hand are tough and emotionally charged. People want to talk about them honestly but they CAN’T. And our methods sometimes don’t help.

The theatre-based activities used in this recent workshop in WA’s northwest, quickly created a safe yet playful space which allowed ALL OF US, facilitators included, to participate fully and wholly. So that it was not just our intellects running the show, with the same old, sometimes useful, often tired lines and insights; but our emotions and our creativity had a big say too.

a scene depicting 'lack of communication' between agencies

 And it was all playful - this not only gave the interaction greater depth it also made the human connection more authentic.

The response from the group reflected this: ‘Really enjoyed the laughs and the insight provided because everyone embraced the method…’

‘Great to have play instead of Power Point’ wrote one participant.

Another wrote ‘very innovative workshop…lots of fun and laughter…’

Creativity at Work guru, Linda Naiman, (www.creativityatwork.com) lists some reasons to bring play into the office. Here are my top five:

1.Play = Fun = Profit: The more creative we are the more satisfied. This means we feel better about our colleagues, our work and our organisation in general. Naiman quotes research from Fortune Magazine (1998) that shows that employees with high levels of motivation show 127% more productivity that those with average motivation.

2. “Play is good corporate strategy for problem solving”: When we play we relax, when we relax we are more creative, when we are more creative we can solve problems and generate ideas – it’s very simple!

3. Work / Life balance requires play: this is the most important element listed (surprise! not money!) by employees. Being able to balance the two can be the single most important reason for an employee staying or leaving a job.

4. Fun is the new status symbol: Naiman refers to studies that show that if an organisation wants to keep their talent they need to foster a fun, creative and challenging environment at work. And talent, as we know, is what makes one company stand out from the rest.

5. Workaholic = LOSER:  Being addicted to non-stop, fast-paced work without breaks for play and rest is a sign of low-self esteem. What is more, performance suffers.

I have been told on a number of occasions not to mention the word play too much in relation to business because it turns people off. I challenge that. The days of Henry Ford walking around the factory floor grimly picking on people for telling jokes are far gone.

Good leaders are fun; good leaders understand the importance of play and of laughter. Good leaders know that play and laughter bring people closer. They know that when people feel good and motivated they work well together.

Good leaders understand that laughter ‘…is the closest distance between two people,’ as Victor Borge so wisely said.

Who does not know that to lose weight you need to take in less calories than you burn?  Or that the best way to stop wasting away hours in front of the TV is to turn it off? Who has not said to themselves every so often, I really want to take up sailing, or samba dance class or guitar, but has not done it yet? 

developing the power of observation

There are many techniques used by Act Out that aim at gently moving participants into such a space.

Firstly, tactile sensitivity exercises stimulate the sense of touch by awakening the feeling of what we touch. Similarly, they challenge ways of moving that are mechanized, bring up emotions that are not externalised and new ways of using muscles and expressing. Different parts of the body are disassociated from each other.

Then there are the activities that aim at recreating listening sensitivity and finding ‘inner rhythms’. Rhythms can often represent emotions better than words or faces.

The next category is the visual sensitivity during which participants create ‘visual dialogues’ by mirroring each other. Without verbal cues the power of observation is developed as well as a connectedness to the other.

The last group of activities I always use are the sensory sensitivity activities that enhance other senses by taking away our reliance on sight to perceive the world around us.

Blind Cars - participants receive messages through tactile signals while their eyes are closed. Another element arising through these exercises is trust.