The 31st Annual European Maya Conference is organised by Wayeb – the European Association of Mayanists – in cooperation with Paris Nanterre, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Sorbonne University, Centre André-Chastel, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Centro de Estudios Mexicanos UNAM-Francia, and Archaïos in Paris. The conference will begin with three days of workshops, held from Monday 7th–Wednesday 9th December, and will conclude with a two-day symposium, taking place from Thursday 10th–Friday 11th December 2026. As part of the symposium, we also plan to organise a poster session.

The theme for the 31^st European Maya Conference is AGENCY IN MESOAMERICA. The topic will be explored from a variety of perspectives.

During the symposium, we will explore the nature and dynamics of agency in Mesoamerica. The study of agency analyses the mechanisms through which diverse entities gain the power to act, how that power is distributed, and the ways it manifests – from attributing responsibility for actions to its effective execution and impact. It examines the forces at work in societies, their dynamics, and the gradual or abrupt processes of transformations they generate. The notion of “agent” is not restricted to human but extends to non-human entities, including spirits, ancestors, deities, animals, plants, stones, and artefacts.

Drawing on diverse socio-political, domestic, agricultural, artisanal, and everyday contexts – from settlement patterns and (cosmo)diplomatic negotiations embedded in ritual practices and in magical spells to the fabric of collective memory – this meeting explores how the power to act is impulsed, constituted, channelled, contested, and controlled across Mesoamerica. It assesses the sources of these powers, both diachronically and spatially, along with their intensities, directions, and spatiotemporal properties.