The contemporary literary movement of Maya writers of Chiapas and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (or EZLN) insurgency are intricately intertwined. Even as each has forged its own path, they are bound by a shared commitment to rescuing, reclaiming, and recentering Maya worldviews.

This shared vision emerges in Caracoleando Among Worlds, which provides an in-depth analysis of poetry, short stories, and one of the first novels written by a Maya Tsotsil writer of Chiapas alongside close readings of the EZLN’s six declarations of the Lacandon Jungle. Themes echoing ancestral connections, informing epistemologies, and sustaining cultural and spiritual practices emerge and weave the texts to each other. The work brings into the conversation literature that has been translated into English for the first time and places Maya writers of Chiapas in discussion with other Native American and Indigenous scholars.

This work shows how literature, culture, and activism intertwine, and offers a compelling narrative that transcends boundaries and fosters a deeper understanding of Maya identities and resilience.

Silvia Soto is associate chair in Native American Studies and an assistant professor in Chicano and Latino Studies at Sonoma State University.

"A deep dive into the Maya literatures produced in the Mexican state of Chiapas, this book builds important connections between Indigenous literatures and scholarship from throughout the hemisphere.”—Paul Worley, author of Unwriting Maya Literature:Ts’íib as Recorded Knowledge

“In this timely book, Silvia Soto closely examines the ways Maya writers, visual artists, and revolutionaries in Chiapas, Mexico, assure the continuances of their peoples through the reconstruction of a collective memory. This book is an indispensable read for those interested in Indigenous and Latin American studies as it is incisively attuned to hemispheric Indigenous land struggles and resistance movements.”—Alicia Estrada, co-editor of U.S. Central Americans— -