Mexicans didn’t build Chichen Itza, the ancestors of some Mexicans did. And those ancestors weren’t called Mexicans. We say Mayans built Chichen Itza because that’s the name of their civilisation. Their descendants can acknowledge that heritage by calling themselves Mayan, but what they call themselves isn’t what determines what their ancestors should be called, much less their citizenship today.
Okay, so then why does any person descended from any indigenous American group alive today have the right to call themselves indigenous or live on a reservation? Please explain it.
I really don’t get what you’re trying to get at with the reservation thing. Please explain it.
Are you making the argument that ethnic Romans should have reservations…?
I was under the impression the reservation system is far from ideal, at best executed terribly, and is a small concession for the destruction of culture hundreds of years ago from colonial endeavors.
People have lifespans, they die? As individuals they most definitely are not, and as a people they are only so long as they claim to be
Edit: what I’m trying to say is (most) Egyptians don’t even identify as Khemetians much less call themselves so. So it doesn’t make sense to retroactively call that civilisation a name only its successors are called by other people
Is that true? I thought not even the people that lived there thousands of years ago considered themselves to be the same as the old kingdom.
Regardless, the difference is that what their descendants are called doesn’t change what they were called. And by calling themselves a different name than their ancestors, their descendants are acknowledging that there is a distinction between the two peoples
Many indigenous groups now call themselves names others used to call them. Because they didn’t have a name for themselves, they were just “the people.”
There was never a united Mayan empire. It was a collection of city-states that shared a culture. Eventually the descendents of the people of those city-states were referred to by others as Mayan.
So, again, according to your own rationale, the Mayan people of today are not the same people as their indigenous ancestors despite sharing a language and many cultural links.
TIL, although Wikipedia also says Maya is derived from their historical capital Mayapan, which tracks as far as civilisations go. It’s the next best thing they can be called if there isn’t a word they called themselves.
So, again, according to your own rationale, the Mayan people of today are not the same people as their indigenous ancestors
That’s not what I wrote at all? My point is that a civilization shouldn’t be referred to by
What country exists there today
What citizenship their descendants have
What their descendants call themselves
I made no comments about who gets to claim heritage. I said you can only claim to be the same people as your ancestors, not claim your ancestors were the same people as you.
Again- it is not one single civilization. If you told someone from Tulum that they were the same as the people from Tikal, he’d kick the shit out of you for daring to say that.
And yet we call them both Mayan.
So should we actually refer to each city’s name individually? Even though we don’t actually know what some of them were?
Or maybe we should just call them collectively by the same name we call their descendants as they are inextricably linked to the point that you can say they’re as close to someone from Tikal as someone from Tulum was at the same time.
And then there’s the point when Teotihuacan may or may not have invaded and taken over Tikal and some other cities and maybe made them part of their empire for a while before they gained autonomy again.
Teotihuacan is literally in the Valley of Mexico. That would make them literally Mexican.
I really think you need to learn more about the topic of the Mayans.
This isn’t about Mayans. I don’t need to know more than the fact that historians and Wikipedia editors found it more appropriate to call it ‘Maya civilization’ instead of ‘city states around Mayapan’. If the experts decide it wasn’t a shared civilization after all, I’ll go with what they call the people that built Chichen Itza.
Or maybe we should just call them collectively by the same name we call their descendants as they are inextricably linked to the point that you can say they’re as close to someone from Tikal as someone from Tulum was at the same time.
Civilizations can have multiple descendants that claim its legacy, why call it anything other than ‘built by humans’ at that point? But that’s not useful right? Perhaps it’s best to make an effort to get as specific as possible?
No I don’t mean specific to the point of counting people’s names. Specific enough to encompass only the people who would’ve thought the structure to be an achievement of their people.
Mexicans didn’t build Chichen Itza, the ancestors of some Mexicans did. And those ancestors weren’t called Mexicans. We say Mayans built Chichen Itza because that’s the name of their civilisation. Their descendants can acknowledge that heritage by calling themselves Mayan, but what they call themselves isn’t what determines what their ancestors should be called, much less their citizenship today.
Sorry… are you saying modern Mayans are not the same people as ancient Mayans?
Is this true about other indigenous peoples in the Americas?
So the British made Hadrian’s wall and Italy built the Colosseum? Or perhaps a genetically linked but wholly different group of people made those.
Okay, so none of the indigenous people of the Americas today are of the same people who were there before European contact. I see.
I guess we should take away all those reservations. They don’t deserve them.
Edit: Also, no, the Romano-British did not make Hadrian’s Wall. Legions from other parts of the empire did. That’s a poor argument.
What a deranged take.
Edit: Nice edit. That’s the point, they’re not the same people even if map borders after conquest would lead one to believe they were.
I’m going by your own claim. Are the Mayans today of the same people as the Mayans who built Chichen Itza or not?
According to your claim, they are not. Therefore why does any indigenous person need a reservation? Or even deserve to call themselves indigenous?
Oh Squid.
The Mayans of today are as similar to ancient Mayans as Italians are to ancient Romans.
I don’t know why you keep trying to bring up reservations, not sure how that’s relevant.
Okay, so then why does any person descended from any indigenous American group alive today have the right to call themselves indigenous or live on a reservation? Please explain it.
I really don’t get what you’re trying to get at with the reservation thing. Please explain it.
Are you making the argument that ethnic Romans should have reservations…?
I was under the impression the reservation system is far from ideal, at best executed terribly, and is a small concession for the destruction of culture hundreds of years ago from colonial endeavors.
People have lifespans, they die? As individuals they most definitely are not, and as a people they are only so long as they claim to be
Edit: what I’m trying to say is (most) Egyptians don’t even identify as Khemetians much less call themselves so. So it doesn’t make sense to retroactively call that civilisation a name only its successors are called by other people
Many Egyptians today claim to be of the same people as those who were there in the old kingdom. Genetically, they are correct.
So what’s the difference?
Is that true? I thought not even the people that lived there thousands of years ago considered themselves to be the same as the old kingdom.
Regardless, the difference is that what their descendants are called doesn’t change what they were called. And by calling themselves a different name than their ancestors, their descendants are acknowledging that there is a distinction between the two peoples
Many indigenous groups now call themselves names others used to call them. Because they didn’t have a name for themselves, they were just “the people.”
Incidentally, that includes the Maya people.
There was never a united Mayan empire. It was a collection of city-states that shared a culture. Eventually the descendents of the people of those city-states were referred to by others as Mayan.
So, again, according to your own rationale, the Mayan people of today are not the same people as their indigenous ancestors despite sharing a language and many cultural links.
I think you may be a bit out of your depth here.
TIL, although Wikipedia also says Maya is derived from their historical capital Mayapan, which tracks as far as civilisations go. It’s the next best thing they can be called if there isn’t a word they called themselves.
That’s not what I wrote at all? My point is that a civilization shouldn’t be referred to by
I made no comments about who gets to claim heritage. I said you can only claim to be the same people as your ancestors, not claim your ancestors were the same people as you.
Again- it is not one single civilization. If you told someone from Tulum that they were the same as the people from Tikal, he’d kick the shit out of you for daring to say that.
And yet we call them both Mayan.
So should we actually refer to each city’s name individually? Even though we don’t actually know what some of them were?
Or maybe we should just call them collectively by the same name we call their descendants as they are inextricably linked to the point that you can say they’re as close to someone from Tikal as someone from Tulum was at the same time.
And then there’s the point when Teotihuacan may or may not have invaded and taken over Tikal and some other cities and maybe made them part of their empire for a while before they gained autonomy again.
Teotihuacan is literally in the Valley of Mexico. That would make them literally Mexican.
I really think you need to learn more about the topic of the Mayans.
This isn’t about Mayans. I don’t need to know more than the fact that historians and Wikipedia editors found it more appropriate to call it ‘Maya civilization’ instead of ‘city states around Mayapan’. If the experts decide it wasn’t a shared civilization after all, I’ll go with what they call the people that built Chichen Itza.
Civilizations can have multiple descendants that claim its legacy, why call it anything other than ‘built by humans’ at that point? But that’s not useful right? Perhaps it’s best to make an effort to get as specific as possible?
No I don’t mean specific to the point of counting people’s names. Specific enough to encompass only the people who would’ve thought the structure to be an achievement of their people.