Current Status

The long anticipated DVD En el Camino de Nuestros Antepasados (On the Road of Our Ancestors) was received by its first audiences in January and February of 2009 in the state of Yucatán. MACHI and Kaxil Kiuic, A.C. launched a four month pilot program, distributing approximately 90 DVDs and teacher’s guides around the state. With each DVD/teacher’s guide packet, 20 copies of the Yucatecan version of “Soy Maya,” the bilingual MACHI coloring book, were also distributed.

Distribution took place in two ways: 1) through governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations, and 2) to specific communities through direct contacts. Among the institutions and organizations participating in the pilot program are the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán (UADY), Niñas y Crías, the Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán, the division of Educación Indígena in the Secretaria de Educación Pública, the Universidad Autonoma de México (UNAM), the Comisión para el Desarrollo de Derechos Indígenas (CDI), and the Universidad del Oriente (UNO). In the months to come, materials will be introduced to schools, libraries, and museums in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the state. Teachers and facilitators are encouraged to use the materials in their classrooms between February and June and to assist in the collection of data about the effectiveness of the program by administering three surveys to their students and audiences. In June, MACHI will return to Yucatán to collect the surveys and conduct more in depth evaluations with institutions represented by each of the umbrella partners. The goal of the pilot program is to evaluate the usefulness of the marionette-based documentary on Yucatec cultural heritage in communicating information about the prehispanic past, the importance of archaeological conservation, and the promotion of Maya culture and language. The pilot program will also measure which institutions are most effective in distributing and employing the materials and those within which the materials can become a sustainable part of the educational system in the future.