Ethnohistory 57:1 (Winter 2010) DOI 10.1215/00141801-2009-055 Copyright 2010 by American Society for Ethnohistory Writing as Resistance: Maya Graphic Pluralism and Indigenous Elite Strategies for Survival in Colonial Yucatan, 1550–1750 John F. Chuchiak IV, Missouri State University Abstract. This paper ofers a revisionist viewpoint on the nature of colonial Maya literacy, showing that the colonial Yucatec Maya elite utilized both the traditional hieroglyphic script and the new alphabetic writing skills taught by the Franciscan friars. By adapting and utilizing both styles of writing, the colonial Maya elite cre- ated a system of graphic pluralism that enabled the Maya nobility to better defend their elite interests in a manner consistent with both pre-Columbian and colonial forms of writing, address, religion, and government administration. In late October 1567, a Maya prophet (chilan) named Chilan Couoh preached the supremacy of the traditional ways and prophesied a war of religions around the Spanish settlement of Bacalar.1 Educated and taught the alphabetic script by Franciscan friars in the western Yucatan, Chilan Couoh spurned the teachings of the friars and their alphabetic literacy as inferior to the old ways of writing in ancient characters.2 With a large following, the Maya prophet began to bring together numerous surviv- ing hand-painted Maya hieroglyphic codices, creating a library of ancient knowledge that he argued was superior to the scribbling of the Franciscans and the Spaniards.3 As armed resistance increased around the settlement of Bacalar, the Spaniards asked the provincial capital of Merida for aid in quelling the rebel- lion. The Maya priest and his followers quickly became bold enough to raid Christian Maya settlements outside the walls of the Spanish villa of Bacalar. In one instance, a large number of apostate Maya under the leadership of their prophet captured the entire population of an encomienda town, reportedly taking their captives into the jungles and sacriicing them to their gods.4 Although he spoke openly against the Spanish religion and writing,