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Mam History: Oakland Notes on the History of Mayan-Mam Language.
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August 16, 2025This book should seriously be required reading for educators in Oakland, because it does such a great job of showing where the large population of Mam speaking migrants of Guatemala are coming from. Not just Spanish colonialism, but influence from the USA and fruit companies have severely damaged indigenous Mam speaking populations to the point that recently many have deemed it a genocide. And yet the Mam language lives on!
This book wasn't quite what I hoped for, in that I wanted to learn more about how the language works, details about how the language specifically affects thoughts and the society in general. For example, it's stated several times in the book that there are words in Mam that can't be translated, but nothing more is said about that. Would have a loved a few examples!
Still, this book is great in that in the history it briefly and clearly outlines, and its showing how that history affects the present population in Oakland. I hope it opens up the door to future research!
This book wasn't quite what I hoped for, in that I wanted to learn more about how the language works, details about how the language specifically affects thoughts and the society in general. For example, it's stated several times in the book that there are words in Mam that can't be translated, but nothing more is said about that. Would have a loved a few examples!
Still, this book is great in that in the history it briefly and clearly outlines, and its showing how that history affects the present population in Oakland. I hope it opens up the door to future research!
October 26, 2026
Interesting to hear a little
About the formation of Mam and how it is a much older language than European ones. Oakland has the largest Mam speaking population outside of Guatemala.
Some personal interviews tossed in.
About the formation of Mam and how it is a much older language than European ones. Oakland has the largest Mam speaking population outside of Guatemala.
Some personal interviews tossed in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews