Meet the 2024 participants of the Ancient and Colonial Heritage in Latin America: Cultural Treasures of the Maya study abroad program!
Hello! My name is Hudson Day, and I am majoring in art history focused on the ancient Americas. This trip is meaningful to me because I have previously studied the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultural groups and am now getting to experience the space and place that I have spent so much time in through text. Also, I love plants and gardening, so Antigua and its lush courtyards and the foliage of the lowland rainforests is extremely intriguing to me. My research while in Guatemala, Belize, and after the trip will look at how Mesoamerican antiquities are collected, displayed, and used as tools for nationalism, commodification in the art market, and tourism.
Hi, my name is Yves Alvarez-Santoy and I am a rising senior majoring in Anthropology with a minor in Art History and a Museum Studies certificate. My current interests and learning goals revolve around the art of the ancient Americas as well as non-western art, particularly Mesoamerican and Andean visual and material culture. I am fascinated by the analysis of epigraphic and iconographic styles in various regions of Mesoamerica and the Andes. Having studied abroad before in several countries like Mexico, Sweden, and India, this program offered a unique opportunity to travel more and learn more immersively about Maya ancient and contemporary history and culture.
Hello, my name is Jordan Alvis and I am a first-generation public health major in my third year at UT Austin. I am immensely privileged to partake in this study abroad experience as I am the first in my family to travel outside the United States! Although I have lived in several locations across South Texas, my family is mainly settled in South Houston. Traveling the world to experience and learn from various cultures and landscapes has been a long-term goal of mine for many years, so I am very eager to soak up every experience this program has to offer!
Hey y’all! My name is Jaiden Walker and I’m a rising senior from El Paso Texas! I am a Biology major with a certificate in Spanish for medical professions. I am part of the Longhorn band and the new drum major, but I love playing my flute and piccolo when possible. During my free time, I enjoy running around town lake in Austin, thrifting for unique clothes, and reading suspenseful novels about crime! During my time in Guatemala, I want to explore modern Maya birth traditions and the way Western medicine has played a role in diminishing these traditions. I am specifically interested in the role that comadronas, or midwives, play in this as their role is often divinely prescribed by God. This is directly related to my future goal of attending medical school and becoming an OB/GYN physician. Furthermore, with my goal of being a bilingual physician, I hope to practice my Spanish in Guatemala and improve my fluency through this full immersion. I look forward to trying new and flavorful foods, listening to the marimba in the central park, and having good conversations with locals.
Hola! My name is Adrian Fernández, and I am a rising senior double majoring in History and Latin American Studies with a minor in Spanish. While my research interests are primarily focused on the intellectual history of Uruguay and the Southern Cone of South America (consisting of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and sometimes also Bolivia, Paraguay, and Southern Brazil) in the latter half of the nineteenth and early-to-mid-twentieth centuries, the history of the pre-Hispanic worlds of the Americas has always been particularly appealing.
In the future, I would like to be a historian or archivist of Uruguay and the Southern Cone. By applying my understanding of intellectual history in Latin America with architecture (imparted by my father and Professor Larry Speck at the University of Texas), I intend to examine how the Maya perceived space in the construction and development of their architectural exteriors. I am incredibly excited to learn more about the Maya of Guatemala and Belize in the coming weeks through this program’s focus on the art and architecture of the Maya across time. In my free time, I also love to go geocaching! I hope to share this amazing hobby with some of my peers on this spectacular trip.
Hi! My name is Shiang and I am an upcoming senior double majoring in IRG and Sustainability Studies! My hobbies include lifting, running and cooking, I also recently got into crocheting but that’s still a work in progress. My studies in Guatemala will be centered on the importance of maize as a food source and the implications of maize trade on food prices, biodiversity and cultural practices. I am very passionate about development in a global context, and I believe health of the environment and people are integral to sustainable development, which is why I want to study how international trade has affected Guatemala in these areas.
¡Hola! ¡Buenos días! Me llamo Ainsley and I am rising junior majoring in Biology and Plan II at UT Austin. My long-term plans are to get a Ph.D. in human genetics with the intention of working in cancer research. Outside of the lab, I love reading and writing and studying the perspectives of people across time and place. I am also OBSESSED with good coffee and good conversations (hence my picture in front of some beautiful coffee trees at Finca La Azotea–my new favorite place). While in Guatemala and Belize, I am studying the Popol Vuh (the religious text of the Maya) and how its portrayal of female characters translates to how women are seen and valued in Maya societies past and present. I am so excited to be immersed in Guatemala and Belize and learn new perspectives on my first trip abroad!
¡Hola! My name is Neona, and I just finished my freshman year at UT Austin. I am majoring in Biology with a minor in Malayalam and a certificate in Pre-Health Professions. I love to dance, work out, and try all sorts of exciting new things. I am on the pre-medical route in the hopes of being able to provide healthcare for underserved communities. While in Guatemala and Belize, I will research how the Maya provided medicinal care through rituals and ecology. The Maya are an excellent group of people who have a relationship with the world that sets them apart from how we would normally interact with the world today and I am excited to see that through this program. I cannot wait to experience a new culture and get a different perspective on how to live with the world!
Hi my name is Bibi Macias and I am from Austin, Texas. I just graduated from UT where I majored in Sustainability Studies, Economics, and Latino Studies and I am very grateful to be wrapping up my time through this program. In the fall I will head to Ann Arbor for grad school to pursue my masters in Environment and Sustainability on an Environmental Justice track. While here, I will be researching the visual experiences with maize through the Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, and contemporary present by Maya communities. I am uber excited to be witness to the incredible countries of Guatemala and Belize, grow in my research abilities, and to experience maize foodways firsthand!
My name is Jenn Guerrero! I am senior, majoring in International Relations, with a focus on international security and Latin America, and minoring in Portuguese and Mexican American and Latina/o Studies! I have decided to participate in this program because I was introduced to Maya culture in my Human Geography (GRG 305) class, where my professor, Dr. Thompson, had a primary focus on ancient Maya and had been doing field work in Belize for the last few years. Taking that class and engaging with Dr. Thompson piqued my interest in Maya culture, specifically ancient Maya during the pre-colonial period, and how it related to human geography concepts. During my time here, I will be researching Maya resistance and activism, the causes of resistance, what it looks like, how it has changed, and what the impacts are. Throughout our excursions, I will be looking for aspects of indigenous Maya culture whether through clothing, traditions, art, etc. which represent Maya perseverance despite cultural erasure and genocide. I am excited to be here, to learn about Maya culture, and hope to gain as much knowledge as possible!
Hello everyone! My name is Tatiana Briones and I recently graduated from UT Austin this past spring 2024 semester and am now officially a Texas Ex! I graduate with a degree in Human Development and Family Sciences along with a Ethics and Leadership in Health Care BDP Certificate. I grew interested in this program because I had never traveled outside the country alone and I have always wanted to explore new places around the world. I am also half Belizean and I am excited to learn more about the Maya culture. After this program, I plan to take a gap year to prepare for graduate school and afterwards apply to medical school! While in Guatemala and Belize, I plan to observe and research the nutritional diet of the people and its implications for public health. Through this program I hope to become more culturally competent, closer to my Belizean roots, create unforgettable memories with others, and conform my knowledge to actions that will help improve the health of people everywhere.
Howdy! My name is Gabriel, and I am a rising senior at UT Austin. I am majoring in anthropology with a history minor, and I am specifically interested in Mesoamerican societies and ways of thinking. My project is focused on cacao’s role and importance within the Maya cosmos. I am an avid traveler and love exploring new places, and I have been fortunate enough to have traveled to Guatemala and Belize. However, this level of immersion is a completely new experience for me. In just a few days I have learned an incredible amount and look at these interactions with what feels like new eyes. This program holds something special for everyone, and I feel that these experiences will impact our perspectives for the rest of our lives. I look forward to everyday we have here, as we enjoy the beauty of the land and culture.
Hey y’all, my name is Chisom Anaejionu and I recently graduated from UT with my bachelor’s in human development with a minor in Educational Psychology. I am beyond excited and blessed to have been able to be on this trip. Looking at my major you’re probably wondering why art and architecture when you’ve been focused on science and medicine. I felt my whole college career that I knew what was next and what I needed to do, so it was not as challenging. Don’t get me wrong organic chemistry is not to be messed with. It did have me in a loop at one point, but art is something growing up was a taboo. Therefore, making this adventure a wild one some may say. Hopefully by the end of this journey I would have been challenged quite a bit and exposed to things I would have overlooked in the past. Before coming to Guatemala, I did not know that my homestay would open me up to different lives and different perspectives. Well let me take that back because I knew but this week so far has been so enriching. Every time the house is having a meal we are engaging in deep conversations about various topics. I learn a new word in another language, I learn about different hormones in your body, marriage in different countries, gender roles etc. I am just truly blessed to see where the end of this trip leads all of us not just me.
Hello! My name is Ethaniel, and I am an aspiring psychology major minoring in entrepreneurship. And I am entering my third year this fall. I am thrilled to be a part of this study abroad as it allows me to delve deeper into my connection with my research topic on the impacts of globalization on Maya cultural identity. With my maternal lineage dating back to Belize, I have grown up with a sense of connection with the identity of Maya, and now that I can be here and learn so in-depth hands-on, I love it. This is my first time traveling out of the States, and I am excited to live this experience with such a welcoming community, learning and reconnecting with this topic!
Hello! My name is Julia Cohen and I am the TA for the 2024 May Term. I am an MA student in Art History studying termination rituals of the Maya with a focus on Classic Period Naranjo. This is my second time to Guatemala, and first to Belize, and I couldn’t be more excited for this experience!