Concurrent Session 3-A

Location

Bryant Hall, Room 111

Start Date

15-3-2025 9:00 AM

End Date

15-3-2025 10:45 AM

Description

  • Remembering Maya ancestors: Interpreting Ancient Burial Practices
    Carolyn Freiwald, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Mississippi
    Cemeteries may be the most widespread and oldest types of memorials, meant to connect the living to the dead over many generations. Burial practices, however, can be imbued with complex and multi-layered meanings that change over time. A 1300-yr-old residential burial ground at the Maya archaeological site Actuncan, Belize shows how treatment of ancestors evolved and what that might have meant to members of the city’s oldest household. The earliest burials connected families to land and focused on specific ancestors placed in well-prepared graves with burial goods in the patio at the center of the residence. It appears that only some of the household members were selected for burial in this important place. Over time, the space was increasingly re-used, disturbing the bodies within it. Why desecrate the graves of revered ancestors? The concept of partibility, where key parts of a person represent the whole, is a useful interpretive mechanism. Among the ancient Maya, funerary rites during extended burial processes were meant to transform the deceased into their new roles as ancestors who remained connected to living household members. Perhaps once the burial rites were complete, the ancestors became part of a collective burial ground, and subsequent generations increasingly interacted with the place more than any one person buried within it. Some burial locations were so powerful that people returned to abandoned cities to perform rites centuries later. This example is useful for understanding memorials among the past Maya peoples, but also cross-culturally as we try to understand complex and often contradictory meanings of memorials today.
  • Gail Stratton, Effie Burt, Alonzo Hilliard, Terry Hilliard, and Carmen Martin
    Lafayette Community Remembrance Project
    Since 2017, the Lafayette Community Remembrance Project (LCRP) has been a grassroots effort to confront the history of lynching in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Our diverse coalition of community members, including descendants of lynching victims, works to uncover and memorialize the lives of Black men who were victims of racial violence. By engaging with this painful legacy, LCRP fosters awareness, promotes racial justice, and contributes to collective and familial healing. This panel will feature LCRP members discussing our methods, goals, and ongoing memorialization efforts. Key topics will include historical research, community engagement, and ethical approaches to working with descendants of lynching victims to address intergenerational trauma and promote healing. Panelists, some of whom are descendants themselves, will share personal reflections on the intersection of public memorialization and familial history. The panel will also explore practical strategies for initiating similar memorialization efforts in other communities. We will provide guidance on working with local officials to establish support for projects such as historical markers and other forms of public memory. Participants will gain insights into the logistics and community collaborations necessary for these initiatives, including the installation of markers honoring lynching victims and soil collections from lynching sites, which LCRP has conducted in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama. LCRP’s partnerships with organizations like EJI and the Alluvial Collective highlight the importance of collaborative and ethical practices in memorialization. By sharing our successes, challenges, and lessons learned, we aim to inspire attendees to embark on their own journeys of truth-telling and justice while providing practical tools and approaches to engage in this critical work. Together, we can expand the reach of memorialization to foster greater understanding and healing.
  • Chair: William Jade Langley, MA Candidate, Philosophy, University of Mississippi

Relational Format

Conference proceeding

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Mar 15th, 9:00 AM Mar 15th, 10:45 AM

Concurrent Session 3-A

Bryant Hall, Room 111

  • Remembering Maya ancestors: Interpreting Ancient Burial Practices
    Carolyn Freiwald, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Mississippi
    Cemeteries may be the most widespread and oldest types of memorials, meant to connect the living to the dead over many generations. Burial practices, however, can be imbued with complex and multi-layered meanings that change over time. A 1300-yr-old residential burial ground at the Maya archaeological site Actuncan, Belize shows how treatment of ancestors evolved and what that might have meant to members of the city’s oldest household. The earliest burials connected families to land and focused on specific ancestors placed in well-prepared graves with burial goods in the patio at the center of the residence. It appears that only some of the household members were selected for burial in this important place. Over time, the space was increasingly re-used, disturbing the bodies within it. Why desecrate the graves of revered ancestors? The concept of partibility, where key parts of a person represent the whole, is a useful interpretive mechanism. Among the ancient Maya, funerary rites during extended burial processes were meant to transform the deceased into their new roles as ancestors who remained connected to living household members. Perhaps once the burial rites were complete, the ancestors became part of a collective burial ground, and subsequent generations increasingly interacted with the place more than any one person buried within it. Some burial locations were so powerful that people returned to abandoned cities to perform rites centuries later. This example is useful for understanding memorials among the past Maya peoples, but also cross-culturally as we try to understand complex and often contradictory meanings of memorials today.
  • Gail Stratton, Effie Burt, Alonzo Hilliard, Terry Hilliard, and Carmen Martin
    Lafayette Community Remembrance Project
    Since 2017, the Lafayette Community Remembrance Project (LCRP) has been a grassroots effort to confront the history of lynching in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Our diverse coalition of community members, including descendants of lynching victims, works to uncover and memorialize the lives of Black men who were victims of racial violence. By engaging with this painful legacy, LCRP fosters awareness, promotes racial justice, and contributes to collective and familial healing. This panel will feature LCRP members discussing our methods, goals, and ongoing memorialization efforts. Key topics will include historical research, community engagement, and ethical approaches to working with descendants of lynching victims to address intergenerational trauma and promote healing. Panelists, some of whom are descendants themselves, will share personal reflections on the intersection of public memorialization and familial history. The panel will also explore practical strategies for initiating similar memorialization efforts in other communities. We will provide guidance on working with local officials to establish support for projects such as historical markers and other forms of public memory. Participants will gain insights into the logistics and community collaborations necessary for these initiatives, including the installation of markers honoring lynching victims and soil collections from lynching sites, which LCRP has conducted in partnership with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama. LCRP’s partnerships with organizations like EJI and the Alluvial Collective highlight the importance of collaborative and ethical practices in memorialization. By sharing our successes, challenges, and lessons learned, we aim to inspire attendees to embark on their own journeys of truth-telling and justice while providing practical tools and approaches to engage in this critical work. Together, we can expand the reach of memorialization to foster greater understanding and healing.
  • Chair: William Jade Langley, MA Candidate, Philosophy, University of Mississippi