Indigenous marginality: a historical perspective of Yucatán

Abstract

Marginalization and poverty are realities which have accompanied the Mayan population of Yucatán and which have worsened over recent decades. They can be considered as the result of two government policies which have been applied throughout the history of the Yucatecan Maya population: colonial segregation and national integrationism. Both forced the bearers of the Mayan culture to exercise their cultural wealth in the strictly local sphere, without facilitating the broad cognitive exchange with the outside . This ar ticle analyzes, over the long term, the relationship between culture and marginalization among the Yucatan Mayas, first presenting a historical overview of the group and then, through the data obtained from statistical sources, evidence of the precarious living conditions of the Yucatecan Mayas.