Inside the Maya storyworld

The Maya have a rich and varied story world, shaped by diverse traditions and communities. In this episode of the History Extra podcast, Emily Briffitt speaks to Mallory E. Matsumoto about her recent book, The Maya Myths, to find out more. They explore stories of destruction and rebirth, journeys into the underworld, and tales of people made of maize dough, revealing a living tradition that blurs the lines between history and storytelling. Mallory, thank you so much for joining me on the History Extra podcast.

In this episode, we're delving into the myths of the and stories of the Maya people. But first to situate ourselves, would you mind describing Mayan society to us, Mayan history? And who do we mean by the word Maya? Yes, you're starting with the easy question.

So what do we mean when we use the word Maya or Mayan? We mean a lot of different things. And sometimes we don't always mean the same thing, which is why it's great that you're asking this. So we're sort of on the same page to start out with. At the most micro level, the word Maya refers to one of the approximately 30 languages from the Mayan language family that's spoken, or it's the emic word that Yucatec Maya speakers use.

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