Cultivating Marginality: The Process of Reconstructing Identity and the Development of Xinka Cultural Activism in Southeastern Guatemala. In: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Pierre Robert Colas; Helmke, C. & F. Sachse (eds.):353-374. Acta Mesoamericana; 27. München: Saurwein, 2014 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Representing Mayas: Indigenous Authorities and the Local Politics of Identity in Guatemala
2008
Against the backdrop of emerging indigenous movements in Latin America, the Maya Movement appeared as a political actor in the 1980s, bringing “the Indian Question” to the fore in Guatemalan politics. Rejecting racism and assimilationalist State policies, the Maya Movement seeks to recapture indigenous community organizing and indigenous law in her imagination of the multicultural nation-state. This has resulted in, among others, recognition of indigenous authorities in the Peace Accords as an indigenous right. Indigenous rights have futhermore been laid down in different international agreements. This book, based on extensive research in Santa Mar�quimula and Quetzaltenango—two municipios in K’iche language territory—explores the processes that take place behind those national discourses and legislation that tend to portray the indigenous population as static and homogenous. Considering local government as an arena where indigenous identity and the constitution of multicultural democracy is constantly contested, the book focuses on local contentious practices that surround the constitution of (local) multicultural democracy in the two localities studied: the election of Quetzaltenango’s first Mayan mayor and the abolition of one of the traditional community services in Santa Mar�quimula. This approach allows exploring the multilayeredness of universal and ethnic citizenship claims, not only disclosing differences between national and local indigenous identity constructions, but also revealing the many faces of indigenous identity at the local level, shaped by socio economic positions and religion, showing that the articulations of indigeneity are very fragmented and multifaceted. This makes the constitution of multicultural democracies a complicated and dynamic process.
Becoming Maya? The Politics and Pragmatics of "Being Indigenous" In Postgenocide Guatemala
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology …, 2009
This paper contrasts the way “Mayan” identity is conceptualized by NGOs and intellectuals in Guatemala with the everyday practices and material conditions influencing perceptions of identity in the rural town of Guaisna. The “truth” of past genocide and the experience of ongoing harsh socioeconomic inequality take on different meanings from these two perspectives. And yet inhabitants of Guaisna and Mayan intellectuals share an awareness of past and ongoing oppression, and an understanding of flexible identity as crucial to cultural survival. Thus Indigenous people can simultaneously claim some features of “Mayan” identity while also distinguishing it from aspects of local everyday practice.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2011
Since the 1990s Latin America has witnessed the emergence of ethnic, often social movement-based, political parties. Within this context Rigoberto Quemé Chay became the first indigenous mayor of Quetzaltenango, the second-largest city of Guatemala, a place that until then had been marked by indigenous political exclusion and racism. This article seeks to explain why Quemé was victorious in 1995 and also why he subsequently lost the election in 2004 through an analysis of the ideational struggle within the (indigenous) political organisation, Xel-jú, which backed Quemé's candidacy twice. I use the movements of ‘departure’, ‘manoeuvre’ and ‘arrival’ in the process of the constitution of hegemonic visions of power to analyse Xel-jú's rise to political power.
Journal of World-Systems Research, 2012
Analyzing various authors that contribute to the debate surrounding interculturality, del Valle Escalante, a Maya K'iche intellectual, critically engages with other indigenous intellectuals arguing that the intercultural project is merely a recycling of the coloniality of power. While remaining within the text's stated objectives, del Valle Escalante leaves the reader desiring a deeper analysis of how the coloniality of power pertains to the situation of the Maya movement beyond the discursive level. However, this only comes out in the conclusion. Confronting capitalist tensions and the coloniality of power, del Valle Escalante argues "the Maya movement should articulate a critical perspective that organically ties its situation to the historical processes that have produced the conditions of inequality we have been confronted with historically" (p. 158), which is consistent with the structure of this brief text. This text highlights the ways indigenous intellectuals are engaging in the discursive transformation of Guatemalan society through the Maya movement. Through a critical analysis of literary texts, del Valle Escalante contributes to the reappropriation of Maya history by Maya peoples. Challenging the coloniality of power and those indigenous intellectuals whose imaginations conform to the patterns of knowledge of the dominators, del Valle Escalante offers the Maya movement a framework for decolonizing knowledge through historical analysis on the origins of inequality.
Back to the Future: The Autonomous Indigenous Communities of Petén, Guatemala
Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 2020
Abstract: James C. Scott’s (1976) classic work on the Chayanovian logics of peasant economy argued that less important than the amount taken was how little might be left. A similar awareness about the paucity of the “leftovers” (li xeel, in Q’eqchi’ Mayan) has inspired a peasant federation in northern Guatemala to embrace its indigenous identity through scores of village declarations of autonomy. Albeit born from a class-based organizing repertoire, the new political trajectory of this Q’eqchi’ organization still reflects Via Campesina’s broader conceptual umbrella of peasant rights, good living, indigenous spirituality, gender equity, agroecology, and the ancient right to save seed. Drawing from a participatory mapping project, fieldnotes, letters, proposals, social media, texts, and other elusive “grey literature” from seventeen years of allied camaraderie, I describe how they are resuscitating and adapting an oppressive political structure from 16th-century colonial rule into a creative political mechanism to defend their territory from 21st-century neoliberal land grabs. Keywords: Agrarian Studies, Guatemala indigenous communities, indigenous identity, peasant, Petén. Retorno al futuro: las comunidades indígenas autónomas de Petén, Guatemala Resumen: la obra clásica de James C. Scott (1976), sobre la lógica chayanoviana de la economía campesina, argumenta que menos importante que la cantidad tomada es cuán poco puede sobrar. Una consciencia similar sobre la escasez de las “sobras” (li xeel, en maya q’eqchi’) ha inspirado a una federación campesina del norte de Guatemala a celebrar su identidad indígena, mediante decenas de declaraciones de autonomía. Si bien nació de un repertorio de organización basado en la clase, la nueva trayectoria política de esta organización q’eqchi’ aún refleja el amplio marco conceptual de Vía Campesina, que incluye derechos campesinos, buenas condiciones de vida, espiritualidad indígena, igualdad de género, agroecología y el antiguo derecho a almacenar semillas. Partiendo de un proyecto de mapeo participativo, notas de campo, cartas, propuestas, redes sociales, textos y la evasiva “literatura gris” de 17 años de alianza y camaradería, describo cómo están resucitando y adaptando una estructura política opresiva del dominio colonial del siglo XVI, para convertirla en un mecanismo político creativo que busca defender su territorio de la apropiación neoliberal de tierras del siglo XXI. Palabras clave: campesino/a, comunidades indígenas de Guatemala, estudios agrarios, identidad indígena, Petén. De volta para o futuro: as comunidades indígenas autônomas de Petén, Guatemala Resumo: a obra clássica de James C. Scott (1976), sobre a lógica chayanoviana da economia camponesa, argumenta que menos importante do que a quantidade tomada é quando pouco pode sobrar. Uma consciência similar sobre a escassez das “sobras” (li xeel, em maia q’eqchi’) tem inspirado a uma federação camponesa do norte da Guatemala a celebrar sua identidade indígena, mediante dezenas de declarações de autonomia. Embora tenha nascido de um repertório de organização baseado na classe, a nova trajetória política dessa organização q’eqchi’ ainda reflete o amplo referencial conceitual de Via Camponesa, que inclui direitos camponeses, boas condições de vida, espiritualidade indígena, igualdade de gênero, agroecologia e o antigo direito de armazenar sementes. A partir de um projeto de mapeamento participativo, notas de campo, cartas, propostas, redes sociais, textos e a evasiva “literatura cinza” de 17 anos de parceria e camaradagem, descrevo como estão ressuscitando e adaptando a estrutura política opressiva do domínio colonial do século XVI, para convertê-la em um mecanismo político criativo que busca defender seu território da apropriação neoliberal de terras do século XXI. Palavras-chave: camponês/a, comunidades indígenas da Guatemala, estudos agrários, identidade indígena, Petén.
This paper explores the innovative rights-realizing strategies of the Historical Memory Initiative (HMI), a group of indigenous campesinos located in the northern Guatemalan department of El Quiche, as they struggle against the incursion of national and transnational mining, oil and hydroelectric projects on their land. The paper provides a detailed historical analysis of the Guatemalan laws and policies that have had an impact on indigenous organization and community structures. It focuses on a series of geopolitical re-territorialization strategies carried out by the Guatemalan government and military that caused the re-ordering and dislocation of indigenous people, clearing the land for the construction of large-scale neoliberal development projects. The paper examines the neoliberal multicultural discourse that peace-time governments mobilize in order to distract attention away from the final phases of these strategies and their present-day impact on largely indigenous communities. The paper argues that the complex and sophisticated mechanisms that HMI members use to expose the corruption and manipulation taking place at the local and national level undermines this multicultural discourse and is constitutive of an innovative political project. By emphasizing the importance of remembering the violence and dispossession that has led to their present situation, these community members are engaged in a (re)construction of their past and present. They want to ensure that this past continues to inform the socio-political and economic analyses of present-day decision-making processes regarding development and that indigenous people must play an active role.
Theorizing a third current of Maya politics through the San Jorge land struggle in Guatemala
In response to the highly exclusionary Guatemalan state and the genocide of Mayas during the 1980s, the paradigmatic currents of the Maya Movement have been engaging the state in their struggle for rights. Some have been negotiating from within the Guatemalan government by occupying bureaucratic positions within less powerful state ministries. Other Maya actors press for more favorable socioeconomic policies using social movement tactics. While most literature focuses on the above two currents as a dichotomy, I argue that a third current of Maya politics has the most political potential. One promising example emerged in the course of the land struggle of San Jorge La Laguna (1992-1999). A sector of rural Mayas (mostly poor farmers and teachers) began to look away from the state in their quest for empowerment. They became less concerned with rights granted from a distant state, and prioritized instead practices that reach towards community self-determination and ontological autonomy. This clearly represents a third current of Maya politics grounded in the social fabric of rural Maya communities and their values, social relations, and worldview. This current, which I call Tejido Social (social fabric), is also possibly present in other spaces in Guatemala and likely had existed in prior times but did not pronounce itself publicly until this period. I use Escobar’s theorization of postliberal, postcapitalist politics of relationality to analyze the significance of this third tendency of Maya politics. This study contributes to the theorization of emerging third current / Afro-indigenous movements in the Americas through an ethnographic approach which focuses on political interventions that are lived principles embedded in socio-political practice.