Dr. James Sexton is in his 38th year of teaching anthropology here at NAU. He holds the title of Regents Professor and has published more than 40 books, articles and journals on Latin American and Southeast Asian culture.

The Lumberjack was able to secure an interview withSexton following a book signing at the NAU Bookstore for his most recent book, The Dog Who Spoke and More Mayan Folk Tales.

The Lumberjack: Why did you decide to major in anthropology for your undergraduate degree at UCLA? What aspects of the subject did you find interesting? Did you always have an interest in the subject?
James Sexton: As an undergraduate major in English at UCLA, I took a course by the great lecturer William A. Lessa, who had just co-authored a classic text with Evon Z. Vogt of Harvard University, entitled Reader in Comparative Religion. I was expecting a course on the great religions of the world, but the focus was on the indigenous religions of the world, which was utterly fascinating. After I had been teaching at NAU for a number of years, I met him at the Preservation Hall in the French Quarter in New Orleans during the American Anthropological Association meetings, and I told him how much I had enjoyed his course and that he was the reason I changed my major from English to anthropology.

LJ: You have traveled all over the world and experienced countless cultures. Is there one country or culture you are particularly fond of?
JS: There is nothing comparable to travel as an educational experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the countries that I have visited, but I am especially fond of
Guatemala, which I have visited 18 times over the past 40 years.

LJ: You have been collaborating with Ignacio Bizarro Ujpan for more than 40 years now. How crucial of a role has he played in helping you compose your books? How did you two meet?
JS: Ignacio Bizarrao Ujpán, who elected to use his real name Pedro Cholotío Temó in the most recent book, has played an indispensable role in all of my books. When I was living with an Indian family in San Juan la Laguna in 1970, he agreed to be my native research assistant for a major project studying development, modernization and cultural change directed by Professor Clyde M. Woods, the chair of my doctoral thesis committee at UCLA. During my third season in Guatemala, while I was collecting the quantitative and qualitative data necessary for a comparison of San Juan and Panajachel, I asked Pedro to write his autobiography and to begin keeping a diary. This led to the first volume of his life history, titled Son of Tecún Umán: A Maya Indian Tells His Life Story. It also led to our first book of folklore, entitled Mayan Folktales: Folklore from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, which Doubleday Anchor published.

LJ: Tell me a little bit about your latest book The Dog Who Spoke and More Mayan Folk Tales.
JS: Fredy Rodríguez-Mejía, whose master’s work at NAU I supervised, and I are the editors and translators, and Pedro and Alberto are the story tellers of the 33 absolutely delightful stories that appear in this book. We present the free translation of each story first in English and then immediately afterward in Spanish. We also provide a glossary, which defines local Indian and Spanish Guatemalan expressions that are not found in standard Spanish dictionaries.

LJ: How did you collect the many stories found in The Dog Who Spoke and More Mayan Folk Tales?
JS: The stories are a combination of folktales that I tape-recorded in Panajachel and that Pedro, Alberto, and Alberto’s son Carlos either wrote by hand or typed for me in Spanish.

LJ: When you are not teaching or composing books, what do you like to do in your spare time?
JS: My favorite extracurricular activities are downhill skiing, mountain biking, growing roses and walking our two Schnauzers.