Native America: Understanding the Past through Things

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 06.04.08

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Rationale
  3. What is a Myth?
  4. Religion and Human Sacrifice
  5. Writing and Literature
  6. Popol Vuh
  7. Brief Look at Inca Civilization 1200-1534 A.D.
  8. Inca Wealth
  9. Inca Human Sacrifice
  10. Inca Writing System—Khipu—Destruction and Impact on Literature
  11. Mythology of the Inca—Common Features
  12. Inca Myth Choice #One—"The Rod of Gold"
  13. Inca Myth Choice #Two—"The Boy Who Rose to the Sky"
  14. Inca Myth Choice #3—"Why the Fox Has a Huge Mouth"
  15. Inca Myth Choice #4—"The Mouse Husband"
  16. Other Tools Used in This Unit
  17. Fun Notes/Activities on This Unit
  18. Classroom Activities
  19. Pennsylvania Academic Standards
  20. Works Cited and Resources for Teachers
  21. Resources for Students
  22. Appendix A

Mythology of the Inca and Maya

Janelle A. Price

Published September 2006

Tools for this Unit:

Introduction

What do most high school students know about the Inca and Maya civilizations?

My guess is: human sacrifices, massive amounts of gold and silver, warriors, conquered by Spanish conquistadors, extinct like the dodo bird, and did I mention human sacrifices?

Unfortunately, the above answers are the ones that most students, and a lot of adults, would answer. But did you know that the Inca and Maya had a rich tradition of literature similar, and possibly as old as, the Greeks and Romans? The Inca and Maya golden ages are over 1,000 years apart? And that they probably knew little about each other? Or that the Inca valued cloth above gold and silver and had a unique writing system using "talking knots"?

In addition to correcting many historical misconceptions, I wrote this unit with two goals in mind. The first is to awaken high school students' interest in ancestral literature from Mesoamerica through South America. While the tales and history of many Native American Indian Nations are commonly added into the curriculum, works from Mesoamerica and South America are not. These regions are seldom addressed due to the Euro-centrism that dictates much of the curriculum mandated material leaving little time for anything else. The Maya and Inca dominated these areas and many of their descendents still remain there. More importantly, this huge swath of Central and South America is also increasing the area many new immigrants to the United States come from. Their influx will hopefully allow an inclusion of their literature for a truly American literary canon.

My second goal was to create writing assignments that students will love to engage in. Therefore, the writing assignments are not typical essays, but rather fiction and creative non-fiction works. The pieces should be able to fit into any school system's writing portfolios as students' creative or fiction works.

Comments:

Hayden O'rourke

February 28, 2019 at 3:53 am

Inca Children at Work and Play

Dear Yale National Initiative, I wanted to thank you for creating a great lesson on having students use picture analysis skills and background knowledge of children for this activity. I really think the requirements and assessment anchors are well thought out and have a clear goal in the end. My only suggestion is if there is a way to make the images bigger?

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