Converting Words, by William F. Hanks

The title of the book I’m reading is Converting Words. Maya in the Age of the Cross. It was published in 2010 and was written by William F. Hanks, who is a professor of Linguistic Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is interested in the ethnography and history of Yucatan, and has written other books and articles about Yucatec Maya language, history and culture. 

In this book, Hanks shows us how, after the Spanish conquest of Yucatan, the process called Reducción modified the space, conduct and language of maya people. It was a project of  the Spaniards that sought “to inculcate a coherent set of mental habits and practices” in order to convert Maya people into christians and "ordered Indians". Nevertheless, this changes did not occurred in the way the Spaniards had thought, but in an unexpected and uncontrollable manner in which Maya people could express their creativity and resilience. I had already read one chapter of this book and it made me wonder what happened with other indigenous peoples, since the Reducción was implemented in all the regions of New Spain, so I wanted to know more about this research.