The Journey Of A Tzotzil Maya Woman Of Chiapas Mexico

Most recent books about Chiapas, Mexico, focus on political conflicts and the indigenous movement for human rights at the macro level. None has explored those conflicts and struggles in-depth through an individual woman's life story. The Journey of a Tzotzil-Maya Woman of Chiapas, Mexico now offers that perspective in one woman's own words. Anthropologist Christine Eber met "Antonia" in 1986 and has followed her life's journey ever since. In this book, they recount Antonia's life story and also reflect on challenges and rewards they have experienced in working together, offering insight into the role of friendship in anthropological research, as well as into the transnational movement of solidarity with the indigenous people of Chiapas that began with the Zapatista uprising. Antonia was born in 1962 in San Pedro Chenalhó, a Tzotzil-Maya township in highland Chiapas. Her story begins with memories of childhood and progresses to young adulthood, when Antonia began working with women in her community to form weaving cooperatives while also becoming involved in the Word of God, the progressive Catholic movement known elsewhere as Liberation Theology. In 1994, as a wife and mother of six children, she joined a support base for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Recounting her experiences in these three interwoven movements, Antonia offers a vivid and nuanced picture of working for social justice while trying to remain true to her people's traditions.

International Latino Book Award finalist, “Most Inspirational Fiction Book” 2020 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, Multi-cultural Silver in Multicultural Fiction, Independent Publisher Book Awards Zia Book Award finalist Balcones Fiction Prize finalist Starred review from School Library Journal Magdalena summons the soul of her friend, Lucia, who migrated north to find work and disappeared. She tells daughter Veronica how they yearned to be teachers. How poverty and gender roles stole away their dreams. Yet, each woman remained true to herself, Lucia as a Zapatista leader and curandera; Magdalena as a weaver and community organizer. But poverty is cruel.

The forty-two stories presented in this book were told to Robert Laughlin in Tzotzil by Francisca Hernández Hernández, an elderly woman known as Doña Pancha, the only speaker of Tzotzil left in the village of San Felipe Ecatepec in Chiapas, Mexico. Laughlin and Doña Pancha’s running conversation is the source for the stories, which means they are told in much the same way that stories are told in traditional native settings. Doña Pancha is bilingual in Tzotzil and Spanish, and the stories are presented here in English, Tzotzil, and Spanish. They range from mythological sacred stories to quasi-historical legends to historical accounts of life in the twentieth century.

In the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, a large indigenous population lives in rural communities, many of which retain traditional forms of governance. In 1996, some 350 women of these communities formed a weavers’ cooperative, which they called Jolom Mayaetik. Their goal was to join together to market textiles of high quality in both new and ancient designs. Weaving Chiapas offers a rare view of the daily lives, memories, and hopes of these rural Maya women as they strive to retain their ancient customs while adapting to a rapidly changing world. Originally published in Spanish in 2007, this book captures firsthand the voices of these Maya artisans, whose experiences, including the challenges of living in a highly patriarchal culture, often escape the attention of mainstream scholarship. Based on interviews conducted with members of the Jolom Mayaetik cooperative, the accounts gathered in this volume provide an intimate view of women’s life in the Chiapas highlands, known locally as Los Altos. We learn about their experiences of childhood, marriage, and childbirth; about subsistence farming and food traditions; and about the particular styles of clothing and even hairstyles that vary from community to community. Restricted by custom from engaging in public occupations, Los Altos women are responsible for managing their households and caring for domestic animals. But many of them long for broader opportunities, and the Jolom Mayaetik cooperative represents a bold effort by its members to assume control over and build a wider market for their own work. This English-language edition features color photographs—published here for the first time—depicting many of the individual women and their stunning textiles. A new preface, chapter introductions, and a scholarly afterword frame the women’s narratives and place their accounts within cultural and historical context.

"A landmark achievement that will no doubt be cited again and again for years to come. It is a thoroughly-researched and authoritative work."--Allen J. Christenson, author of Art and Society in a Highland Maya Community "While this book explains what brought about the Maya uprisings in Chiapas and Guatemala and answers questions about the role of the Catholic Church in the development of the uprisings, the heart of the book is about the Mayan quest to live with dignity as Maya in the modern world."--Christine Gudorf, author of Catholic Social Teaching on Liberation Themes In his most recent book, The Maya and Catholicism: An Encounter of Worldviews, John Early examined the relationship between the Maya and the Catholic Church from the sixteenth century through the colonial and early national periods. In Maya and Catholic Cultures in Crisis, he returns to delve into the changing worldviews of these two groups in the second half of the twentieth century--a period of great turmoil for both. Drawing on his personal experiences as a graduate student, a Roman Catholic priest in the region and his extensive archival research, Early constructs detailed case histories of the Maya uprisings against the governments of Guatemala and Mexico, exploring Liberation Catholicism’s integral role in these rebellions as well as in the evolutions of Maya and Catholic theologies. His meticulous and insightful study is indispensable to understanding Maya politics, society, and religion in the late twentieth century.

"This book explores how Indigenous people in Mesoamerica use social networks to alter, enhance, preserve, and contribute to self-representation"--Provided by publisher.

In the #MeToo era, US women continue to struggle with whether or not to report sexual harassment, while women living in parts of rural Pakistan and Mexico try to pursue educational and employment opportunities without directly refusing parental wishes for them to marry. Despite rapidly changing social and economic conditions worldwide, patriarchal practices remain remarkably widespread and persistent. Noting the need to move beyond a dichotomy of accommodation and resistance, the contributors to this volume draw upon field research and in-depth qualitative data from different parts of the world to explore the reasons for women’s varied psychological responses to patriarchy. These feminist scholars bridge preexisting divides between bio-psychological, sociological, and cultural perspectives to explain the ways that women’s desires, goals, and identities interact with culturally situated systems in order to develop more complex theories about the psychological underpinnings of patriarchy and to inform more socially progressive policies to improve the lives of women and men globally.

"This volume provides a decolonial framework for reading Maya and Indigenous texts"--Provided by publisher.