海角社区

海角社区 students and Cho'rti' community members

Dr. Richard Sandoval | Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Ch’orti鈥� Project travel to Guatemala and Honduras

During Spring 2024, members of the Ch鈥檕rti鈥� Project (faculty and current and former students), traveled to Guatemala and Honduras to conduct meetings and research for the Ch’orti’ Project website, further develop Ch鈥檕rti鈥� community relationships and collect photographic data and survey artifacts in a variety of museums and archeological sites on ancient Maya writing and art.

Two images 鈥� Image 1 (Left): Sophia Gordon and Lucien Herzog at the MSU Undergraduate Research Conference standing in front of a poster presentation; Image 2 (Right): Richard Sandoval and 海角社区 Student Sophia Gordon at the Copan Sculpture museum
Image 1 (Left): Sophia Gordon and Lucien Herzog at the MSU Undergraduate Research Conference; Image 2 (Right): Richard Sandoval and 海角社区 Student Sophia Gordon at the Copan Sculpture museum

For the past three years, Lucien Herzog, 海角社区 ’23, Linguistics, B.A. and Emma Britt, 海角社区 ’23, Anthropology B.A., served as primary developers of the project website which serves as a resource for hosting and maintaining previously undigitized and unprepared legacy texts (mostly traditional Ch鈥檕rti鈥� stories) and pedagogical materials as well as linguistic scholarship on Ch鈥檕rti鈥� that is otherwise difficult to access for those without the privileges of Western academia. On the trip, Lucien and Emma were tasked with showcasing the website and eliciting feedback during community meetings.

Sophia Gordon, 海角社区 ’24, Anthropology, B.A., who works in 海角社区’s Anthropology Ethnography Lab (directed by Dr. Rebecca Forgash) served as one of the main student research assistants on the trip, and was charged with taking hundreds of photographs at the ancient Maya site of Cop谩n (Honduras).

A group of people sitting together talking

Project Outcomes and Highlights

All project goals were achieved beyond expectations. Most importantly, this trip provided practical research opportunities for three students researchers. They gained valuable field experience in collecting data, developing collegial relationships, and building local-community relationships. Moreover, students used problem-solving approaches to real-world and global situations, and gained professional, intercultural, and cross-linguistic communication skills all while increasing knowledge of the Ch鈥檕rti鈥� community and, more broadly, Guatemala and Cop谩n (Honduras). This practical, hands-on learning experience was also well-documented as both Lucien Herzog and Sophia Gordon, presented at 海角社区’s Undergraduate Research Conference in April 2024.

  • Lucien’s presentation summed up the trip with respect to the website, outlining next steps with respect to the feedback the team received with a focus on implementing these improvements and expansions to the website over the next year.
  • Sophia highlighted the photographic materials that were gathered during the trip and future plans for the materials. Photographs will be used to create 3-Dimensional computer/video models using photogrammetry techniques and applications, and both聽 will be published on the Ch’orti’ Project website.
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海角社区 students and Cho'rti' community members

海角社区 students sitting at a group meeting and discussing the Ch'orti' website with the CONNIMCH organization of Copan Honduras