Histories and stories from Chiapas : border identities in Southern Mexico / by R. Aida Hernandez Castillo ; translated by Martha Pou ; foreword by Renato Rosaldo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hernández Castillo, Rosalva Aída.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mam Indians--Mexico--Ethnic identity.

Mam Indians.

Indians of Mexico--Mexico--Chiapas--Ethnic identity.

Indians of Mexico.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (318 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The 1994 Zapatista uprising of Chiapas' Maya peoples against the Mexican government shattered the state myth that indigenous groups have been successfully assimilated into the nation. In this wide-ranging study of identity formation in Chiapas, Aída Hernández delves into the experience of a Maya group, the Mam, to analyze how Chiapas' indigenous peoples have in fact rejected, accepted, or negotiated the official discourse on "being Mexican" and participating in the construction of a Mexican national identity. Hernández traces the complex relations between the Mam and the national government from 1934 to the Zapatista rebellion. She investigates the many policies and modernization projects through which the state has attempted to impose a Mexican identity on the Mam and shows how this Maya group has resisted or accommodated these efforts. In particular, she explores how changing religious affiliation, women's and ecological movements, economic globalization, state policies, and the Zapatista movement have all given rise to various ways of "being Mam" and considers what these indigenous identities may mean for the future of the Mexican nation. The Spanish version of this book won the 1997 Fray Bernardino de Sahagún national prize for the best social anthropology research in Mexico.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Foreword by Renato Rosaldo ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction I

First Border Crossing.

Don Roberto: Working for Change in the Sierra 12

1. The Postrevolutionary National Project

and the Mexicanization of the Mam People 18

Forced Integration into the Nation 21 Mam Women and the Myth of

Mestizaje 26 Federal and Local Indigenismos 30 From the Finca

to the Ejido: Economic Integration 33 Presbyterianism and a New Mam

Identity 42

2. The Modernizing Project:

Between the Museum and the Diaspora 49

The "Stabilizing Development" 51 Anthropologists in the Sierra: The

Mam People as Health Problem and as National Heritage 54 Diaspora

to the Rain Forest '72

Second Border Crossing. Pedro:

Searching for Paradise on Earth 76

3. Mam Jehovah's Witnesses:

New Religious Identities and Rejection of the Nation 81

In Search of Paradise 83 Everyday Life at Las Ceibas 87 The

Strength of Utopia and Antinational Discourse 90 Diferent Contexts,

Different Identities 95

4. From Mestizo Mexico to Multicultural Mexico:

Indigenismo in the Sierra Madre 100

Two Struggling Perspectives 102 From San Cristobal to

Pdtzcuaro 105 Participative Indigenismo 110 The CCI

Mam-Mochd-Cakchiquel 114

Third Border Crossing. Don Eugenio: "Rescuing" Mam Culture 122

5. Mam Dance Groups:

New Cultural Identities and the Performance of the Past 129

The Mam Supreme Council 130 Mam Dances 133 Memory and

Performance ofEveryday Life 137 Dispute in the Construction of Mam

Traditions 151

Fourth Border Crossing. Doha Luz: Organizing for Women's Rights 156

6. Organic Growers:

Agro-ecological Catholicism and the Invention of Traditions 161

The Forania de la Sierra: The New Social Ministry 163 Globalization

and OrganicMarkets: Mam Identity and Agro-ecological Discourses 169

New Cultural Discourses and the Reinvention of Mam Utopia 174

Collective Reflection and New Spaces of Organization 178 Mam Women

and Gender Demands 181

From PRONASOL to the Zapatista Uprising 187

Salinismo: The Administration's Two-faced Policy 188 PRONASOL

Indigenismo 194 The Impact of the Zapatista Rebellion on the Life of

Mam Peasants 203 Claiming the Power to Name: The Struggle for

Autonomy 214 The Voices of Women 219 Again a Two-faced

Policy: EconomicAid and Paramilitarization 224

Conclusion 233

Notes 243

Glossary 257

Bibliography 261

Index 279.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-278) and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79833-4

OCLC:

55889852