Ignacio Bizarro Ujpán: Themes of a Tzutuhil Maya's Life Story.

Abstract

For the past twenty-nine years, Ignacio Bizarro Ujpán (a pseudonym) has been keeping a diary about his life, town (San José, a pseudonym), and country (Guatemala). During this time, I have been translating and editing his story, and, to date, we have published Son of Tecún Umán ([1981] 1990), Campesino (1985), and Ignacio (1992). The last volume in this series, Joseño, will be published in 2001. This paper identifies and discusses prominent themes in Ignacio’s story, using examples from each of these books to illustrate the themes, and it offers insight into what it has meant to be a Tzutuhil Maya Indian living in the mid-western highlands for nearly three decades.