Good Maya Women
Regular price
€49.99
Regular price
€52.99
Sale
Sale price
€49.99
14 days return policy
Shipping & Delivery
A01=Joyce N. Bennett
activism
affect theory
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
anthropology
Author_Joyce N. Bennett
automatic-update
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=JBFH
Category=JBSF1
Category=JBSL
Category=JBSL11
Category=JFFN
Category=JFSJ1
Category=JFSL
Category=JHM
Category=JHMC
Central America
clasping
clothing
code-mixing
COP=United States
cultural anthropology
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
education
education for girls
El Salvador
enregisterment
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnic reproduction
ethnicity
ethnography
feminism
feminist anthropology
feminist theory
gender relations
Guatemala
handicrafts
highland Guatemala
human rights
indigenous
indigenous activism
Kaqchikel Maya
ladino society
language revitalization
Language_English
Latin America
linguistics
Maya
migration
national culture
neoliberalism
PA=Available
pan-Maya activism
Pan-Maya Movement
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
queer theory
racism
relays
Santa Catarina Palopo
sexual harassment
softlaunch
Spanish language
structural violence
traje
violence
weaving
What is a good Maya woman?
What is the clasping process?
Product details
- ISBN 9780817321161
- Weight: 481g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 15 Feb 2022
- Publisher: The University of Alabama Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Good Maya Women:Migration and Revitalization of Clothing and Language in Highland Guatemala analyzes how Indigenous women’s migration contributes to women’s empowerment in their home communities in Guatemala. This decolonial ethnographic analysis of Kaqchikel Maya women’s linguistic and cultural activism demonstrates that marginalized people can and do experience empowerment and hope for the future of their communities, even while living under oppressive neoliberal regimes. Joyce N. Bennett contests dominant frameworks of affect theory holding that marginalized peoples never truly experience unrestricted hope or empowerment, and she contributes new understandings of the intimate connections between Indigenous women, migration, and language and clothing revitalization.
Based on more than twenty months of fieldwork, the study begins with an ethnographic investigation of how economic policies force Indigenous women into migration for wage work. To survive, many, like the three young women profiled in this ethnography, are forced to leave their schooling, families, and highland homes to work in cities or other countries. They might work, for example, as vendors, selling crafts to tourists, or as housekeepers or waitresses. Their work exposes them to structural violence, including anti-Indigenous slurs, sexual harassment and violence, and robbery.
Furthermore, the women are pressured to wear Western clothing and to speak Spanish, which endangers Indigenous culture and language in Guatemala. Yet the Indigenous migrant women profiled do not abandon their Indigenous clothing and language, in this case Kaqchikel Maya. Instead, they find inspiration and pride in revitalizing Kaqchikel traditions in their hometowns post-migration. As women attempt to revitalize Kaqchikel Maya language and clothing, they seek to earn the title of “good” women in their home communities.
Unpacking women’s daily activisms reveals that women attempt to retain their language and clothing and also collectively seek to make space for Indigenous people in the modern world. Bennett reveals that women find their attempts at revitalization to be personally empowering, even when their communities do not support them.
Based on more than twenty months of fieldwork, the study begins with an ethnographic investigation of how economic policies force Indigenous women into migration for wage work. To survive, many, like the three young women profiled in this ethnography, are forced to leave their schooling, families, and highland homes to work in cities or other countries. They might work, for example, as vendors, selling crafts to tourists, or as housekeepers or waitresses. Their work exposes them to structural violence, including anti-Indigenous slurs, sexual harassment and violence, and robbery.
Furthermore, the women are pressured to wear Western clothing and to speak Spanish, which endangers Indigenous culture and language in Guatemala. Yet the Indigenous migrant women profiled do not abandon their Indigenous clothing and language, in this case Kaqchikel Maya. Instead, they find inspiration and pride in revitalizing Kaqchikel traditions in their hometowns post-migration. As women attempt to revitalize Kaqchikel Maya language and clothing, they seek to earn the title of “good” women in their home communities.
Unpacking women’s daily activisms reveals that women attempt to retain their language and clothing and also collectively seek to make space for Indigenous people in the modern world. Bennett reveals that women find their attempts at revitalization to be personally empowering, even when their communities do not support them.
Joyce N. Bennett is assistant professor of anthropology at Connecticut College.
