Beyond Refusal: Balancing Colonial Thinking in Planning with Mayan Ixil Knowledges

The assimilation the coloniality of power exerts on Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala, as in other geographies, goes beyond explicit forms of land control, labor, policy, or decision-making. Notably, coloniality is present in subtle forms, prescribing intersubjective relationships and knowledge production, influencing the epistemes of Indigenous Peoples. In planning, an increasing body of literature on refusal unveils the colonial violence in cities and regions as a result of assimilation and hostile planning practices. While refusal pays attention to Indigenous positioning between settler states and Indigenous communities, it is unclear how it operates within contexts where Indigenous people play both the role of the colonizer and the colonized. I build on this literature to understand how Indigenous People plan for their futures and advance its application through the "planning in re-existence" framework for a nuanced explanation of the ways Indigenous people bring balance to their lives.

I draw on the example of the Mayan Ixil from Chajul. In this town, 95% of the population identifies as Maya, including governmental authorities or the public education system, which operates under western/colonial framework. While struggling and thriving, the community develops its own schools of thought to challenge settler states imaginaries. Through critical place inquiry, I describe three levels of training where Maya Ixil women engage in the community, mainly through the Asociacion Centro de Educacion Maya Ixil for youth, the Universidad Ixil for young adults, and the political school of the Consejo Nacional de Viudas de Guatemala for women. The three stages conceptualize the elaborated mechanisms that foster critical thinking through Maya cosmovision and a political agenda preparing the future leaders of Chajul. By applying territory and body-land as a relational system that brings balance to their lives, the educational spaces where Ixil women engage contribute to developing a holistic approach to Indigenous community planning.