Abstract: In her talk, Dr. Floridalma Boj Lopez will discuss the origins of Mobile Archives of Indigeneity (MAI) as an analytic that emerged from an engagement with Critical Indigenous Studies and her personal lived experience as a member of the Maya diaspora from Guatemala. She will also discuss the ways that MAI requires flexible methods that prioritize community centered projects and discuss how MAI is applied in her upcoming monograph. She will specifically examine how Maya textiles act as a Mobile Archive of Indigeneity in the diaspora and consider the layered gender, historical, political, and economic context of the textiles.
Floridalma Boj Lopez is an Assistant Professor in Chicana/o and Central American Studies. Dr. Boj Lopez’s work uses a community centered approach to analyze the experiences of Maya migrants as they cross settler colonial borders and encounter distinct racial hierarchies in the United States. Her research examines cultural production among the Guatemalan Maya diaspora with a particular emphasis on how Maya communities respond to structures of state violence and understand their relationship to Indigeneity in diaspora. She is connected to her K’iche’ community in Xela (Quetzaltenango) and works to share her research and resources across borders.
