Mayan voices for human rights : displaced Catholics in highland Chiapas / Christine Kovic.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kovic, Christine Marie.

Series:

Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ; bk. 9.

Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ; bk. 9

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mayas--Mexico--Chiapas--Religion.

Mayas.

Mayas--Civil rights--Mexico--Chiapas.

Mayas--Mexico--Chiapas--Social conditions.

Indian Catholics--Mexico--Chiapas--Social conditions.

Indian Catholics.

Human rights--Religious aspects--Catholic Church.

Human rights.

Church and social problems--Mexico--Chiapas--Catholic Church.

Church and social problems.

Catholics--Mexico--Chiapas--Political activity.

Catholics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the last decades of the twentieth century, thousands of Mayas were expelled, often violently, from their homes in San Juan Chamula and other highland communities in Chiapas, Mexico, by fellow Mayas allied with the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). State and federal authorities generally turned a blind eye to these human rights abuses, downplaying them as local conflicts over religious conversion and defense of cultural traditions. The expelled have organized themselves to fight not only for religious rights, but also for political and economic justice based on a broad understanding of human rights. This pioneering ethnography tells the intertwined stories of the new communities formed by the Mayan exiles and their ongoing efforts to define and defend their human rights. Focusing on a community of Mayan Catholics, the book describes the process by which the progressive Diocese of San Cristóbal and Bishop Samuel Ruiz García became powerful allies for indigenous people in the promotion and defense of human rights. Drawing on the words and insights of displaced Mayas she interviewed throughout the 1990s, Christine Kovic reveals how the exiles have created new communities and lifeways based on a shared sense of faith (even between Catholics and Protestants) and their own concept of human rights and dignity. She also uncovers the underlying political and economic factors that drove the expulsions and shows how the Mayas who were expelled for not being "traditional" enough are in fact basing their new communities on traditional values of duty and reciprocity.

Contents:

Introduction

Exodus and Genesis : leaving Chamula, creating community in Guadalupe

Opting for the poor : the Catholic Diocese of San Cristobal and human rights

The sin of Westernization : power, religion, and expulsion

Defining human rights in context : anthropological, legal, and Catholic perspectives

Respect and equality : practicing rights in Guadalupe

"Our culture keeps us strong" : conversion and self-determination

Working and walking to serve God : building a community of faith

Conclusion.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-228) and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79700-1

OCLC:

191931020