Shifting perspectives. Representations of the Maya in modern Mexican and Guatemalan narrative

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the dominant literary tendencies in the 20^th and 21^st century Mexican and Guatemalan narrative, which depict the Maya in their social and cultural environment. From indigenismo, through a hybrid genre known as testimonio, to indigenous literature, the Maya have been present over the last century in literary production, in which several important changes in narrative voice and perspective can be observed. Initially represented by the paternalistic indigenista narrative, which is compliant with the government-endorsed ideology, the Maya have gradually regained their own unmediated literary voice, which enables them to speak for themselves rather than be spoken for. Literature, with its ability to question established paradigms, becomes a place of resistance and decolonising praxis. Due to the scope of the subject matter, only the most representative and innovative novels written by both non-Maya and Maya authors will be analysed. The article will focus primarily on narrative voice, perspective and agency.