Tsotsil Maya social anthropologist Miguel Sánchez Álvarez of Huixtan, Chiapas, is a Professor at the Intercultural University of Chiapas. His books include Jok’osik una comunidad tsotsil en transición, 1997; Los tzotziles-tzeltales y su relación con la fauna silvestre, 2000; Sistemas y tecnología de producción agrícola en Huixtán, Chiapas, 2006; Territorio y culturas en Huixtán, Chiapas,2012, as well as numerous manuals and glossaries in Tsotsil, Tseltal, Ch’ol, Tojol-ab’al and Zoque.
“It Begins with Respect”
As sumak causay was brought to the awareness of the non-indigenous by Andean social movements a few years ago, now in Chiapas a generation of Indigenous scholars is bringing to light – theorizing, they would say – the local understanding of buen vivir: a concept articulated in Tseltal and Tsotsil as el lek’il kuxlejal.
August 23, 2019