Ismael holds a Bachelor’s in Education and a Master’s in Social Anthropology both from la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY).

Since 2002, he has worked as a professor teaching a variety of classes in Mayan linguistics in a variety of national and international institutions such as el Centro Peninsular de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the Institute for the Development of Mayan Culture in Yucatán, Duke University and University of North Carolina.

He has coordinated and spoken at a variety of national and international conferences on themes within Mayan language and literature. In 2010, he was a member of the organizing committee for the “Symposium on the Politics of Language: Linguistic Processes and Globalization,” organized by UNAM in Mérida.

In 2012, he was awarded the first place in the Alfredo Barrera Vásquez prize in Mayan Language Narrative for his short story “U ja’il cháak,” as part of the National Literary games organized by the UADY.

Ismael is the author of the book Kan Maaya yéetel mejen tsikbalo’ob, published by UNAM and Consejo Nacional de Cultura y Artes (CONACULTA). He has also written book chapters, and been published in journals and magazines, including his article “Written Mayan language through electronic means of communication: localizing the global,” in the book, Etnia, Lengua y Territorio: El sureste ante la Globalización, published by UNAM in 2002.

Ismael collaborates with PICY in the development of our cultural immersion programs in Mayan language and Mayan cosmovision.