There's a discussion on a history academic listserv, H-Latmam, that should be of interest, scholars giving their recommendations on how to deal with the 2012 hoax among the general public, lots of sources.
Start here and then go to the relevant posts.
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=lx&list=H-LatAm&user=&pw=&month=1003-------------------
Hello,
I would like to call upon the help of my fellow H-LATAM members once
again. I have been charged with giving a talk for the "folks on the
street" about the Mayan calendar and 2012 (the talk is in late May).
This talk will be for a group of "interested residents" and museum
personnel. I am one of the only Latin Americanists/Mayanists in the
area so this one fell to me. I have given some basic lectures on the
Mayan calendar to my undergraduate classes (relying heavily on
Leon-Portilla and Michael Coe), but I need some help pulling together
materials that (visual, audio, etc...) that may appeal to those who
are consumed by the 2012 hysteria. Any and ALL ideas, advice would be
greatly appreciated.
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For a superb study of the Maya concept of time see Barbara Tedlock,
Time and the Highland Maya (Rev. ed., Albuquerque, 1992),
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My starting point would be the following:
http://anthonyfaveni.com/I was fortunate to have listened to one of his lectures last year. It was
excellent.
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I would consult Barbara Tedlock's Time and the Highland Maya, and look
over Linda Schele's work with all her other co-writers.
Success!
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One of the counselors in our student psychological services told me that the
greatest number of student complaints they've had lately have been from
students stricken with anxiety over fear of 2012.
There is a good and witty article on-line from the Houston Museum of
Natural Science, :
2012: It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)
http://www.enhouston.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1482&catid=40:houston-museums-----
Too detailed perhaps for a public presentation but good for your prep:
http://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/index.htmlI also highly recommend Anthony Aveni. He has a version of his talk in
Archaeology magazine:
http://www.archaeology.org/0911/2012/Good luck!
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May I suggest Anthony Aveni's new book: The End of Time. Here is a link
to a review I wrote for AZTLAN: The FAMSI Jurnal online
http://research.famsi.org/aztlan/uploads/reviews/Aveni_2012_rev.pdfThere have also been many heated discussions of the topic on the
discussion list AZTLAN. You can look through the archives by entering
2012 as the topic:
http://www.famsi.org/pipermail/aztlan/-----
The mythic time of the Mayan religious calendar is an interesting
subject - its been great to receive all of these resources. Thank you.
I'd like to add a different twist on the subject as it relates to the
mythic time of the Andean indigenous nationalities' concept of the
'pachakuti' (pachacuti) [a short spanish description bellow]. I think
the similarities of a cyclical time in Andean and Mayan conceptions of
history are an important contrast to the linear history of western
minds. The pachakuti is similar to '2012' in that it suggest the
'destruction' of the world as we know it, but as a result it also
suggests the opportunity for a rebirth. For indigenous peoples this is
not something to be feared, but is a mythic 'return' to the
potentialities of an indigenous world. For this reason the indigenous
movement party in Ecuador is named Movimiento de Unidad Plurinacional
Pachakutik Nuevo País (MUPP-NP). I wonder if for contemporary Mayans
the mythic time of their calendar similarly also suggests a hopeful
new beginning rather than just an 'end', which would be an important
comment for an audience with a western-european perspective.
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Regarding Craig Hendricks' response--a source that might help--I don't
think he mentioned the Maya specifically, but Stephen J. Gould's
_Questioning the Millenium_ is a short, engaging read that could
provide multiple examples of humans working themselves into a tizzy
over interpretations of their own, arbitrary counting!
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As has already been pointed out, Tony Aveni's book is an excellent
starting point. Here is a review of that book by our own John
Schwaller:
http://research.famsi.org/aztlan/uploads/reviews/Aveni_2012_rev.pdfAnother resource on the FAMSI website is by Mark Van Stone (someone
you may wish to contact directly):
http://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/index.htmlAnd there is Dr. John Hoopes, who has been studying the 2012
phenomenon from many angles. As a mesoamerican archaeologist he is
well versed in the scholarly literature. However, he is also studying
the modern cultural phenomenon and what it may represent from an
anthropological perspective.
You asked for audio materials, here is an NPR segment on 2012 that has
a brief comment by Hoopes at the end.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111341700And here is John's blog:
http://people.tribe.net/hoopes/blog/1d95e99a-6805-45b2-b746-fca06c27d20eAgain, you may wish to contact him directly for useful tips.
I have a few other names of scholars that would be open to direct
communication if you contact me off-list.
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After 52 moons cast up on these coasts among historians, I have
learned that, before one consults the wisdom of the crowd or the
oracle on the pyramid, one consults the archives.
The H-LATAM archive includes a helpful quick outline by Quetzil
Castañeda, posted in 2007 (to be precise, Sat, 08 Jun 2007 18:14:17
-0400), of the diverse artifacts and texts (from souvenir t-shirts to
thickly-documented New Age books to gonzo movies) that contribute to
the current harmonic convergence of American anxieties upon "the"
Mayan calendar. For those who have to give an outreach talk, it
suggests an approach. The post itself may be too social
constructionist for an outreach talk; but I think that "interested
residents" might be relieved to hear about the contemporary sources of
the prophecies.
