Indigenous Archives

Floridalma Boj Lopez is Assistant Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Foreword / Oscar Ubaldo Boj ChojolAn ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1. Contesting the Logics of Displacement in the Production of the Indigenous Migrant 33 2. Weaving Maya Geographies, Textiles, and Relationality in Diaspora 53 3. La Comunidad Ixim and Organizing in the Maya Diaspora 81 4. Returning the Gaze, Reclaiming the Image: Contemporary Photography as Archive Making 111 Conclusion 137 Notes 143 Bibliography 159 Index 175

"Hope, love, and joy fill the pages of Indigenous Archives, capturing the creative ways children of Maya immigrants affirm their collective dignity. Boj Lopez provides an expansive vision of how Indigenous diasporas learn and remix ancestral spirituality, knowledge, and technologies for survivance in the face of continual displacement. With original insights on Latinidades, Indigeneity, and more, it is a vital new point of reference for scholars and organizers."-Leisy J. Abrego, co-editor of We Are Not Dreamers: Undocumented Scholars Theorize Undocumented Life in the United States "Indigenous Archives addresses important issues concerning the historical memory, cultural production, and re/definition of Indigeneity for the Maya diaspora in the United States, particularly in Los Angeles. It cannot be read without taking necessary pauses and deep meditative breaths. For Indigenous migrants and future generations, it offers a vindication, a lifeline, a hope that Indigenous futures are possible."-Luis Urrieta, Jr., Charles H. Spence, Sr. Centennial Professor of Education, University of Texas at Austin