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Dancing in the Altiplano: K’Iche’ Maya Culture in Motion in Contemporary Highland Guatemala

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Dancing in the Altiplano: K’Iche’ Maya Culture in Motion in Contemporary Highland Guatemala UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Dancing in the Altiplano: K’iche’ Maya Culture in Motion in Contemporary Highland Guatemala A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism by Rhonda Beth Taube Committee in Charge: Professor Grant Kester, Chair Professor Steve Fagin Professor Lesley Stern Professor Roberto Tejada Professor Eric Van Young 2009 Copyright Rhonda Beth Taube, 2009 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Rhonda Beth Taube is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2009 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………..……………iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………….……………iv List of Figures………………………………..………………………………...……… vii Acknowledgements……………… ...………………………..………………………….x Curriculum Vitae……………………..………………………………………………..xiv Abstract…………………………………………………………………… ... ……..…xix Introduction to K’iche’ Maya Highland Guatemala….……………………….…...….1 Introduction to the Region and Momostenango…………………………….…….4 The Dances of Momostenango……………………………………………………9 Disfraces dances and media imagery…………………………...….…….11 Research questions on the subject of the disfraces………………………12 Previous Studies on Maya Dance and Other Festival Performances ………...….16 A Brief Summary of the Chapters……...………………………………………..18 Chapter 1: Don Roberto …………………………….…………………………....…...20 Dance as Stories That Mediate the Effects of “Others”…………………….....…21 My place in the community, why I chose Momostenango…………...............….23 Social Structure and Self-Identification – Underlying Issues that Frame the Dances …………………………………………...…………………….…...24 Don Roberto’s story as an example of self identification…………………..........26 Dance as a metaphor for social relations………..……………………………….27 Recent theory ……………………………………………………………28 Expressive Culture and Symbolic Action in Three Dances ……………………..28 Sacred dance – and dance that is commentary on the “sacred”………………….29 Disfraces: combining custom and innovation…………………………...30 Ladino pop culture convites ..................................................................................31 The Signs and Symbols of Transculturation…………………………………..…32 Power and the use of cultural icons ………………………………..……33 Responses to power………………………………………………………34 The Postcolonial, Mimesis, and Momostenango ……………………….36 Why Momos is a good place to study power/cultural icons and their use in dance……………………………………………………….38 Ladinos: race and power…………...…………………………………….40 A sense of belonging, an identification of place…………………………………40 Dances of “the sacred time of the beginning”…………………..………41 The Contingencies of Circumstance in Momostenango…………………………43 Participation in disfraces as an alternative to cargo obligations…………44 iv Chapter 2: The History of Dance in Mesoamerica……………………..…….…..….48 Dance in Spain…………………………………………………………………...50 Prehispanic Mesoamerica: The Aztec …………………………………...………54 Prehispanic Mesoamerica: The Maya……………………………………...…….59 Early Colonial New World Dance ………………………………………………63 Present Day………………………………………………………………………67 Contemporary Western Highland Danzas Tradicionales………………..72 Los Mexicanos………………………………………...…………………77 Ladino Convites in Guatemala………………….………………………..80 Chapter 3: Foreign Characters: Visualizing Identity in the Guatemalan Highlands in the 21st Century……………………………………………………………..…….... 84 Ladino Convites ..…………………………………………………………….….91 Indigenous Convites: the Disfraces of Momostenango………………………….97 Chapter 4: Introduction to the Talleres de Disfraces Costume Shops………….....118 Race and Ethnicity in Highland Guatemala…………………………….………121 The Disfraces in Society……………………………………………….……….124 The morería in Guatemala……………………………………………...128 Ladino Identity in Highland Guatemala………………………………………..136 Máscaras y Alquilar de Disfraces Toto “Masks and Costumes for Rent in Totonicapan”: Ladino Identity and Costume Shops……………………………140 Maya Identity in Guatemala…………………………………………………….147 El Trajes de Predador: Se Alquila Trajes Para Convites “The Predator Costume Shop: Costumes for Rent for Convites”……………………...………155 Maya identity and costume shops………………………………………155 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………169 Chapter 5: The Quetzal-Flower Meets Xena Warrior Princess: K’iche Performances of Female Gender in Highland Guatemala ……..….…..173 Field Notes July 20, 2005, Momostenango……………………………...……..174 “Candles for the Missing” Prensa Libre, November 3, 2004 excerpt………….174 Social Realities of Gender in Highland Guatemala…………………………….176 The gendered spheres in Maya society…………….………….………..176 Gender’s symbolic context……………………………………………..178 Gender as performance……………………………...………………….179 Xena, alcoholics, and queens: gender performed………………………180 Traditional Highland Maya Gender Relations………………………..….……..183 Patterns of Maya courtship and marriage………………………………185 Convites Femeninas, Momostenango………………………………….……….187 Widows, Collective Action, and Transnationalism………………………...…..188 K’iche’ Maya Civil War widows ………………………………………189 Maya women under the gaze of the state……………………………….190 Collective female identity in postwar Guatemala………………………191 v Female empowerment through social movements……………………...193 Transnationalism, globalization, and NGO’s…………………………...195 Cultural capital from the United States…………………………………197 Convites Femeninas: Women’s Dances and Xena Warrior Princess …...……..199 Xena, Warrior Princess in Guatemalan Popular Culture…………………...…201 Xena and the Search for Salvation…….…………………..………..….203 Xena as “Tough” Girl and K’iche’ Role Model……….......………….. 204 Cultural Logic of the Xena Dances…………………………………….206 Maya Women Reshape their Identity…………………………………..208 Shameful Behavior: Charamileras y Cama de Piedras “Female Alcoholics and Stone Beds”…………………………..…..…..209 Public Critiques Female Alcoholism…………………………………...210 Féria as a Place For Shaping Gender…………………………………..212 Irresponsible Women and the Cama de Piedra……………………...…214 La Reina de Disfraz, “The Queen of the Disfraces Dances”...…………………217 Field Notes: July 30, 2008, Momostenango…………...………………..217 Reina de Disfraz as a Statement of Maya Female Identity…….….……221 Reina de Disfraz, an International Queen……………………….…..….223 Machine-Made Blusas and Maya Female Identity…………….……….224 Conclusions……………………………………………………….…………….225 Chapter 6: Conclusions – Dancing in the Altiplano……………...……………..…..227 References…..………………………………………………………………………….232 vi LIST OF FIGURES Introduction Figure I.1 Chucky and the Bride of Chucky from Child’s Play movies Performed at a Disfraz dance, Momostenango, 2008………………………..….2 Figure I.2 Small moving theaters feature films from North America during féria. Seed of Chucky is one of the featured films………………………….…...3 Figure I.3 Map of the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Map by Karl Taube…………………………………………...……………...4 Figure I.4 View of Momostenango……………………...…………………..…………5 Figure I.5 The sacred, ancient Momoztli shrine from which the town derives its name……………………………………………………………….…5 Figure I.6 The market in Momostenango during féria………….…….…...……....….6 Figure I.7 Traditional Monkey dancers rile up the crowd, 2008…………….....…....13 Figure I.8 Tradition and technology collide in Momostenango,2006…….…………14 Chapter 3 Figure 3.1 Freddie Kruger, Momostenango, 2004…………………………………..85 Figure 3.2 Alien vs Predator, Momostenango, 2005……….………………………..85 Figure 3.3 The Mexican movie star Cantinflas, Momostenango 2005……………..86 Figure 3.4 Rugrat behind Freddie Kruger, Momostenango, 2004…………………..86 Figure 3.5 Barack Obama, Momostenango, 2009…….……………………………...87 Figure 3.6 Convite navideño, Totonicapan. Photos courtesy of Pedro Roberto Rodas ..………………………………...….93 Figure 3.7 The borracho, the drunken indigenous man from Convite navideño, Totonicapan. Photos courtesy of Pedro Roberto Rodas……...……95 Figure 3.8 Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings, Momostenango, 2005….….…96 Figure 3.9 The procession of the alter of Santiago through the streets of Momostenango, 2005…………………………………………...99 Figure 3.10 Mexicanos precede the procession……….…………………………....100 Figure 3.11 The monos y tigres, monkeys and tigers capture young boys and tie their shoes together, Momostenango, 2008………………………101 Figure 3.12 Eligio performs a Maya ceremony at the sacred site of P’Sabal, Momostenango, July 2005……………………………..........104 Figure 3.13 Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Momostenango, 2006…………….…...105 Figure 3.14 Ace Frehley from the rock band Kiss, Momostenango, 2006………....106 Figure 3.15 Alvaro Colom, President of Guatemala………….……………………..106 Figure 3.16 Harry Potter………………………….………………………………...102 Figure 3.17 Las Espias de las Mentes Siniestras, “The Spies of the Sinister Mind”, Momostenango, 2006……………………………..…….107 Figure 3.18 The most exciting moment is when the disfraces dancers reveal their identities……………………………………………………..112 Chapter 4 Figure 4.1 Nefi Poroj dressed as a North American Apache, vii Momostenango, 2005…………………………………………………..…119 Figure 4.2 Totonicapan Costume Rental Shop Mascaras y Alquilar Disfraces Toto, “Masks and Costumes for Rent in Totonicapan”…………………………140 Figure 4.3 Pedro Roberto Rojas, Proprietor of “Mascaras y Alquilar de Disfraces Toto”………………………………..144 Figure 4.4 Totonicapan furry convite costumes and bakery van. Photo courtesy of Pedro Roberto Rojas…………………………………...145 Figure 4.5 El Trajes de Predador, The Predator Costume Shop in Santa Cruz del Quiché………………...…………………………………..158 Figure 4.6 Examples of animal designs in disfraces costumes, Momostenango.…..161 Figure 4.7 Drunk women and police
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