Guatemalan Maya Q’eqchi’ Seasonal Calendar

Methods to Monitor Climate Change Locally

Bibliographic Data

ID19004518
AuthorsAmanda M Thiel (Washington State University, corresponding author), Armando Medinaceli (Northern Arizona University)
Year2023
Volume43
Issue1
Pages69-80
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnobiology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0278-0771 • E-ISSN: 2162-4496
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/02780771231165834
OpenAlexW4378843709
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited38

Maya Q’eqchi’ villagers of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala fathom local indicators of climate change keenly. In a small-holder, maize-based, horticultural village, ethnographic interviews with village experts in hunting, agricultural production, and animal husbandry, and with non-expert/lay villagers recounted that many local climate- and subsistence-related activities and some traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) correspond to annual cycles or seasons. This research documents the local queues and timing of residents’ practices as a baseline for monitoring subsequent years’ activities and climate-related observations based on our interpretation of emic views, practices, and traditions. Using focus groups, we collected such traditional indicators to design a visual representation of a seasonal calendar, which we present herein. This seasonal calendar is a locally accessible tool to document monthly climate observations, agricultural and home garden activities, hunting, animal raising, and cultural activities during a complete annual cycle. We supplement observational and focus group data with semi-structured interview data about subsequent changes in weather patterns, which villagers identify as resulting from climate change. We suggest that Maya Q’eqchi’ villagers are active in their acknowledgment of climate change and are taking steps to document its effects on locally significant cultural activities, exemplifying Q’eqchi’ cultural capacity to adapt to ecological changes and to promote local resilience and cultural vitality. We demonstrate how seasonal calendars and the methods to create them may contribute to local and global understandings of TEK and climate change and annotate conventional anthropological methods as considerations for creating seasonal calendars in other cultural and ecological communities

Agriculture · Archaeology · Climate change · Environmental resource management · Ethnobiology · Focus group · Geography · Indigenous · Maya · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · Traditional knowledge · Anthropology · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability · Ecology