Lorena Pool Balam

I am an Indigenous woman and a native Maya speaker from Chemax, Yucatán, Mexico. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master of Arts, both with a specialization in Linguistics. My interests as a researcher and activist include linguistics, the intersection of language, culture, cognition, and the human rights of Indigenous peoples.

I have participated in linguistic documentation projects, such as the Yucatec Mayan Sign Language (YMSL) from 2012 to 2018. Also collaborated in the construction of Maya-Spanish Parallel Corpus at the School of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, in 2019. Although my formal training is academic, I have consistently sought community engagement opportunities to bridge theory and practice—documenting linguistic projects like the Yucatec Mayan Sign Language (YMSL) from 2012 to 2018, and collaborating on the Maya-Spanish Parallel Corpus at UNAM's School of Engineering in 2019.

This evolved into training students in transcription, audiovisual translation, and Maya-Spanish/Spanish-Maya interpretation, always prioritizing participants' cultural backgrounds to foster intercultural exchange. Over time, my passion for community work grew stronger, leading me to prioritize hands-on impact. In fact, I believe my academic knowledge can be enriched by my community-based learning, and vice versa, thereby generating intercultural forms of knowledge.

Leader - Jats’uts collective at UNAM - Mexico City

(2017)

United 15 Maya language students to promote language diversity and Yucatec Maya through workshops and public outreach, fostering cultural diversity and deepening linguistic knowledge via collaborations with Mexico City institutions. Its name, meaning “Nice or pretty,” reflects the positive feelings students experience while learning Maya. Currently, four girls from the original Jats'uts group are carrying out activities in the state of Yucatán.

Initiator - Jats’uts t’aan Collective - Yucatán Peninsula

(2020)

Bridging native Maya speakers, heritage learners and indigenous women to create job opportunities in interpreting and community research, linking language to linguistics, ethnobiology and health for epistemic justice. Currently, we have a team of 10 translators, interpreters, and documenters who can carry out this work effectively and professionally. Additionally, some of them are examples of heritage language revitalization of the Maya language.

Developer - Chak Tuun

(2023)

Developed autonomously to formalize efforts from Jats’uts and Jats’uts t’aan. Chak Tuun is envisioned as a knowledge hub designed to advance intercultural dialogue and epistemic justice by centering indigenous perspectives. It recovers ancestral knowledge from indigenous populations, aim to generate new data-driven solutions to contemporary challenges, and builds bilingual capacities among indigenous girls, boys, youth, women, and men—enabling them to master Spanish while preserving their native languages, thereby unlocking better labor opportunities without sacrificing their linguistic identity or cultural heritage.

Translator and Interpreter (Maya-Spanish/Spanish-Maya) in the legal field - NGO Intercultural Interpreters and Indigenous Language Promoters (OTIGLI A.C.)

(2018-05)

Providing services to support vulnerable indigenous populations.

Independent Interpreter and Translator (Maya-Spanish/Spanish-Maya) - Jats’uts t’aan Collective

Adhere to a policy of contributing flexibly to limited budgets—particularly for indigenous organizations, women-led groups, or those aiding populations in vulnerability.

Researcher, “El Acceso a la Justicia de los Pueblos Indígenas [Indigenous Peoples’ Access to Justice]” project - Centro Profesional Indígena de Asesoría, Defensa y traducción (CEPIADET)

(2020-05)

Associate Director in the Area of Health for Indigenous Peoples [Subdirección de Salud para los Pueblos Indígenas] - Dirección General de Planeación y Desarrollo en Salud (DGPLADES) - Mexico City

(2019-05 - 2020-03)

Responsible for Maya-Spanish Parallel Corpus - National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), School of Engineering, Linguistic Engineering group - Mexico City

(2019-03 - 2019-09)

Researcher, co-coordinator and trainer in transcription and translation of audio-visual material of Yucatec Mayan Sign Language - Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) and National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INALI)

(2011 - 2017)

Documentation project of the Maya Sign Language.

Field assistant, “Language and Cognition” group - Max Planck Institute - Nijmegen, the Netherlands

(2007 - 2012)

Teacher - Normal Superior School in Valladolid Yucatán - Valladolid Yucatán

(2025-02)

• Dialogue of Knowledge in Intercultural Education
• Inquiry into the Community and Educational Context

Yucatec Mayan instructor - Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA) - Mérida Yucatán

(2024 - 2025)

Yucatec Mayan - basic conversation for English speakers. Summers, 2024 and 2025.

Teacher - National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), BA in Intercultural Development and Management, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters - Mexico City, distance learning mode

(2021-08 - 2022-02)

• Mayan Language I
• Expressions and Documentation of Cultural and language Diversity 3

Teacher - National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), BA in Intercultural Development and Management, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters - Mexico City, distance learning mode

(2020-08 - 2021-02)

• Expressions and Documentation of Cultural and language Diversity 3

Mayan Language I and II instructor - National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) - Mexico City

(2014-08 - 2019-02)

Methodology Seminar – Mayan Language I instructor - National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Graduate Studies Division, Graduate Program in Mesoamerican Studies

(2012-08 - 2019-02)

At Master’s / Doctoral Degree in Mésoamerican Studies.

BA - Anthropology—specialization in Linguistics and Literature - Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY), Mexico (2008)

Master of Arts - Linguistics - Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (2011)

Phd - Linguistics - Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)