HECHO A MANO: THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WOMEN’S TEXTILE CO­

OPERATIVES IN GUATEMALA

A* A thesis submitted to the faculty of

'ZQ IB San Francisco State .University

M ^ In partial fulfillment of

the requirements for

the Degree

Master of Arts

In

Humanities

by

Morgan Alex McNees

San Francisco, California

Summer 2018 Copyright by Morgan Alex McNees 2018 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

I certify that I have read Hecho a Mano: The Significance o f Women s Textile Cooperatives in

Guatemala by Morgan Alex McNees, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master in

Humanities at San Francisco State University.

Cristina Ruotolo, Ph.D.

Professor of Humanities

—^ t y i t u A . to

Laura Garci'a-Moreno, Ph.D.

Professor of Humanities HECHOAMANO:

THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF WOMEN’S TEXTILE COOPERATIVES IN

GUATEMALA

Morgan McNees

San Francisco, California

2018

After the civil war Mayan women in Guatemala are utilizing their traditional skills, specifically

weaving, to rebuild communities and rediscover what it means to be Mayan today. This thesis

will explore the impact of the textile market on the social standing of Mayan women and how

weaving allows them to be entrepreneurs in their own right. I will also analyze the significance

of Mayan textiles as a unifier and symbol of solidarity among the devastated Mayan

communities, and the visual narratives depicted in the artwork and their relationship to the

preservation of Mayan heritage. This research will focus on several women’s textile cooperatives

in Guatemala. I will employ post-colonial feminist theory, in particular Dr. Chandra Mohanty’s,

“Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity”.

I certify that the abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis.

Cristina Ruotolo, Ph.D., Chair, Thesis Committee Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am indebted to the women of Guatemala who graciously offered their time to this thesis.

Thank you to the artisans of Ixoq Ajkeem, B’atx’ib’al, Corazon del Lago, Aj To’ooneel, the women of La Voz coffee house, Museo Ixkik’ del Traje Maya, The Pixan Collective, the brave women of Trama Textiles and Flavio and Cheny. This work would not have been possible without their contributions. I would also like to thank my mother, for in­ spiring this work with her case study on the education of Mayan girls in 1994, and her tireless efforts to show me the world. Finally, thank you to the wonderful professors at

San Francisco State University: Laura Garda-Moreno, Christina Ruotolo, Volker

Langbehn, and Dane Johnson. Your guidance has been the highlight of my educational experience. This thesis is dedicated to my three boys, Nikko, Skeeter and Zippy, who sac­ rificed countless trips to the dog park over the past year and kept me company while writ-

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract...... iv

Acknowledgements...... v

List of Figures...... vii

Introduction...... 1

Chapter 1 The Emerging Woman...... 10

Chapter 2: Symbolism in Santa Catarina Palopo...... 13

Chapter 3: Case Studies...... 22

Conclusion: Fair Trade Practices and Projections for the Future...... 33

Works Cited...... 37

Recommended Readings 39 LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

1. Map of Guatemala...... 9

2. Huipil 1 ...... 17

3. Huipil 2 ...... 18

4. Figures...... 20

5 • S anta Catarina Palopo Building...... 21

6. Jaspe knot tying...... 24

7. Corazon del Lago Weaver...... 24 1 Introduction:

Women's Roles in Guatemala

The goddess of the moon and creation, Ix'Chel, overturned her womb-jar and al­ lowed its rivers to flow through the land, blessing all women with the same creativity she possessed. The Mayan people know and celebrate Ix’Chel as the mother goddess of mid­ wifery, weaving, and the earth. Sometimes called grandmother by those who seek her aid, she represents all stages of a woman’s life: virgin, mother, and crone.1 She also repre­ sents an experience known to many women living in Guatemala today, stuck between the need to care for their families and the struggles of a poverty-stricken life, and just like the goddess who surrendered to a life on earth helping her children, many have chosen to em­ ploy their traditional skills as a means of survival.

In the early 16th century, Guatemala existed as a collection of twenty-three Ma­ yan tribes. The major groups discussed in this thesis are the K’iche and Mam who live in and around present-day Quetzaltenango, and the Tz’utujil people in the Lake Atftlan re­ gion. (Figure 1) Each indigenous group curated unique textile designs for their commu­ nity depicting local lore and history. Travelers could identify a stranger by their tipica2 and the narratives depicted on their traje3. After the settlement of Spanish colonizers, these communities, specifically men, were pressured to abandon their traditional dress in

'Tohveri, Pia. Weaving With The Maya: Innovation and Tradition in Guatemala. (T*ia Tohveri. 2012), 9 2Tipica: Traditional Mayan weavings and patterns 3 Traje: Traditional Mayan clothing 2 favor of European styles. Mayan traditions continued to be threatened as western ideals shaped the region into a single country, dominated by the brutal conqueror, Alvarado. In

1821 Guatemalans finally won their independence from Spain, but not before the local economies and communities had been irrevocably damaged. Because of the influx of white Europeans, indigenous Mayans had become a social minority in their own country, despite being a much larger population. Though independence may seem like an accom­ plishment for the Mayan people, it was actually the contrary. The Guatemalans who ben- efitted from independence were the members of the wealthy land-owning class, many of whom were descended from the original Spanish settlers. This small mixed-race popula­ tion separated from Spain and claimed leadership of Guatemala. Mayans forcibly re­ mained the lowest social class.4

Throughout the decades, settlers had claimed land for themselves and forced na­ tives off family farms which they had relied on for generations to grow corn, a diet staple.

Mayan men resorted to working on the “fincas” or fruit and coffee estates created by set­ tlers, for menial wages in order to support their families who were now living in poverty.

The pressures of food insecurity coupled with a degrading existence drove many to drink their salaries away. The spike in alcoholism in Mayan communities led to an equal in­ crease in marital abuse. Unlike their ancestor, the goddess Ix’Chel, the women had no­ where to go and remained with their husbands and communities.

4 Carey, David Jr.. Engendering Mayan History: Kaqchikel Women as Agents and Con­ duits o f the Past, 1875-1970. (Ho ut ledge. New York, New York. 2006) 3

La Violencia and Emerging Feminism

The purpose of this thesis is to examine women’s textile cooperatives as a post­ colonial feminist response to the recent conflict in Guatemala. “La Violencia”5, the Gua­ temalan Civil war, which spanned from 1960 to 1996. By. the mid-20th century, Guate­ mala was still a region of extreme wealth inequality. Almost half the land was used for farming but owned by just 20 percent of Guatemalas, none of whom were indigenous

Mayans.6 Until the election of 1950 and the presidency of Jacobo Arbenz, Mayans had suffered under numerous dictatorships that advocated for the wealthiest Guatemalans and plantation owners. Arbenz was a liberal. However, this was a period of Communist rheto­ ric and intense fear from western nations. With the aid of the United States CIA Arbenz was overthrown as a suspected Communist. Because he supported the working class of

Guatemala, Mayans became suspected Communists as well. By 1980 the Guatemalan army had almost full control over the government, under the leadership of Efrain Rios

Montt’s military dictatorship, and a scorched earth and ethnic cleansing policy was insti­ tuted. By 1996 over 200,000 Mayans and sympathizers were disappeared or murdered.

Though the United Nations officiated a peace accord and ended the sanctioned war, the

5 (La Violencia: A local name for the Guatemalan Civil War) Green, Linda. “The Para­ doxes Of War And Its Aftermath: Mayan Widows In Rural Guatemala”. Cultural Sur­ vival Quarterly Magazine (March 1995), 3 6 Ibid. 4 effects are still dramatically apparent, especially for women survivors. Most of those se­ lectively killed were men. Women and girls were frequently raped and abused as a method of demoralization.7

In communities all over the country women were left widowed and without sons to work on the fincas8. Additionally, women had been methodically excluded from edu­ cation and literacy for generations. If families had any resources, sons were given the privilege to enroll in elementary school. This meant that the women, who were now the sole providers in many families, were also illiterate and not fluent in Spanish, a necessity to succeed in the Guatemalan economy. To make ends meet, before La Violencia, wives and daughters began selling their textiles, even the shirts off their own backs, to textile peddlers who were taking advantage of the booming tourism in Guatemala. This tradition of resilience continued and evolved dramatically, driven by women determined to pre­ serve their Mayan heritage and protect their families.9 The textile industry in Guatemala had previously been dominated by men who had more economic opportunity in the mar­ ket place and were not expected to remain at home. Textiles were purchased from women in villages who could not accumulate the resources to peddle their own goods. The new shortage of working men allowed women to occupy this niche in the market that had pre­

7 Ibid. 4 8 Fincas: plantations owned by wealthy Guatemalans and foreigners where local indige­ nous Guatemalans work for low wages. 9 Wulfhorst, Ellen. “Indigenous and Female: life at the bottom in Guatemala”. Thomson Reuters Foundation. May 2, 2017. Web. 5 viously been closed to them. These women became the first wave of indigenous Guate­ malan feminists, emerging due to a social need for economic stability. Feminist sociolo­ gist Andrea Smith poses the question of post-colonial feminism:

“Native feminisms must be oriented less toward questions of representation and more toward questions that interrogate the material conditions that Native women face as subjects situated within a nexus of patriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy.”

(Smith)10

In 2014,18 years after the Peace Accords were signed, Mercy Corps reported,

“...half of all Guatemalans claim that the ideal woman is “meek, docile, sweet and sub­ missive.” Women will watch alcoholic husbands drink a week’s worth of goods away, powerless to stop it”11. In 2014, Guatemala was ranked 6th on a list of the worst countries in the world for women due to home environment, lack of medical care, and poverty, driven by the patriarchal structure of the state and local governments. The primary cause of this inequality is the lack of economic independence available to these women and their existence in a culture that prioritizes the male position.

In order to apply post-colonial feminism to the question of Mayan textile coopera­ tives, it is imperative to recognize the difference between traditional notions of feminism.

Mayan women, rather than attempting to apply a western mold of feminism to their cir­ cumstances, are beginning with their tradition, fighting cultural norms of oppression in

10 Smith, Andrea. “Against the Law: Indigenous Feminism and the Nation-State”. (Affini­ ties,: A Journal o f Radical Theory, Culture. 2011) 11 Morris, Katy. "10 Worst Countries to be a Woman: Guatemala Ranks 6th", (Ma- yanFamilies, August 8th 2014.) 6 Guatemala. Rather than the western feminist who fights against gender stereotypes and the superficial media-imposed expectations for women, the Mayan woman promotes safe family environments, education for women, preservation of tradition, and economic equality. The cooperatives explored in this thesis represent these post-colonial feminist foundations. Though both ends of the spectrum acknowledge that the female is underval­ ued, each has its own definition of what it means to be valued and how to create progress within each culture.

Case Studies and Chapter Breakdown

In this thesis I will investigate the significance of women’s cooperatives in Guate­ mala which I believe are a key component to the recovery of Mayan women from Guate­ mala’s violent and oppressive history, the elimination of gender inequality and patriarchal oppression, and the preservation of Mayan history. Through these cooperatives, locals are teaching vocational skills, passing down weaving traditions and visual narratives, teach­ ing literacy and business skills, and connecting with a broader community of women within and outside of Guatemala through sales and tourism. These women are no longer standing in the shadows of working men and are claiming a stake in the workforce.

In the introduction I discussed the social, psychological and financial impact of the Guatemalan civil war, on the cultural role of Mayan textiles, the traditional role of women in Mayan society, and the evolution of textile trade in Guatemala. Chapter one fo­ cuses on weaving as a feminine task and discusses when, why, what, women weave. This question will require an investigation into post-colonial effects on Mayan society, leading up to La Violencia. Chapter one will also ask what freedom the textile industry allows women financially and socially that was not available to previous generations. It con­ cludes with an introduction to the financial impact of the textile industry in Guatemala.

Chapter two will focus on the significance of the textiles themselves including symbolism of colors, images, style, and materials, and analyze the significance of the patterns, past and present, to the women’s cultural memory. I use the Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo project for this research.

Chapter three will examine several textile cooperatives in depth, including Ixoq

Ajkeem, B’atx’ib’al, Corazon del Lago, and Aj To’ooneel in San Juan La Laguna, and

Pixan and Trama Textiles in Quetzaltenango. My case study of these cooperatives will explain the impact of cultural crafts in the community and demonstrate how they are con­ tributing to the economic and social wounds left in communities after La Violencia.

Throughout my analysis of these specific cooperatives I will explain the significance of the narratives, the colors, and images in the popular weaving designs and their personal meaning among the Mayan people along with their importance to Mayan cultural memory. To aid my case studies I will employ Museo Ixkik’ del Traje Maya in Quetzal­ tenango, a non-profit female-run textile museum, and Museo Ixchel, the national textile museum in Guatemala City.

In chapter four I investigate the effect of the cooperative structure in Guatemala on a global scale and question what international struggles exist for these Mayan women.

I will discuss the opportunity gap within Guatemala for women pursuing careers in the business sector and the international limitations of these cooperatives. Chapter five will 8 conclude this thesis with projections for the future of the Mayan culture and community, and look at the impact these cooperatives and narratives have had on the next generation of women. I will explain the importance of fair trade vendors and corporations in rela­ tionship to the success of women’s cooperatives and artistic integrity.

At the heart of this discussion is the concept that Mayan women are the hearth of the home and the village, and the fact that these Mayan women, many surviving as sole income earners, are utilizing their traditional skills to rebuild communities and rediscover what it means to be Maya today. These cooperatives demonstrate how women are re­ claiming control of their lives and homes in economic terms through sales and challeng­ ing the opportunity gap by encouraging young women of the next generation through vo­ cational education and literacy. I will employ the Dr. Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s, Femi­ nism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity12, Andrea Smith’s,

“Against the Law: Indigenous Feminism and the Nation-State”13, and David Carey Jr.’s

Engendering Mayan History: Kaqchikel Women as Agents and Conduits o f the Past14, which examine postcolonial indigenous feminism, to support my argument throughout the next five chapters.

12 Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Prac­ ticing Solidarity”. (Duke University Press. 2003.) 13 Smith, “Against the Law”. 2011. 14 Carey, Engendering Mayan History. 2006. 9

Figure 1: Guatemala Map15

15 Sergio Romero, NPR News 2015 10 Chapter 1:

The Emerging Woman

“After the Guatemalan Civil War, many husbands, fathers and brothers were killed.

Many women had to take care of their families themselves. Fear and grief were still in their hearts. But these women kept their spirits up by deciding to work and help each other. Their initiative has pushed to empower the lives and work of rural women through the years. In difficult times, the women who were working alone had to sell their prod­ ucts to a middleman for a low price. By forming this association, they could share all their resources and traditional know-how. They can now sell their products for a fair price and gain a fair wage for their families.” - Trama Textiles

For generations Mayan women have risen at four or five in the morning to prepare the corn used to make tortillas. The daughters help their mother prepare the morning meal. The husband rises around six or seven, eats a simple meal of tortillas with salt, and if he is lucky, a small helping of beans. When the father leaves for work and the sons leave for work and school, the mother and daughters eat what food is left over. The daughters then assist their mother with household chores and help prepare lunch and din­ ner. If the family needs extra income, the mother will often work in the fields with the fa­ ther while the daughters care for the home. It is still inappropriate for a wife to work in the fields without her husband, making it difficult for widows to earn an income after the genocide. 11 In Mayan culture, before and after contact with European conquistadors, the man is the head of the household and responsible for the primary income. However, because of rampant poverty throughout Guatemala, this often not the case.

Because machismo deters many women from marrying or remarrying, they often find it safer and more valuable to participate in progressive organizations like coopera­ tives. Though women are starting their own businesses, they are still not considered en­ trepreneurs within their communities, based on the argument among some male business owners that women “lack the necessary talent, interest, time, and capital to be truly entre­ preneurial.”16 Additionally, women were expected to stay in the home. Any effort to sell their work in a store front was seen as simply a hobby, subordinate to a man’s busi­ ness.” 17

In the 1960s and 1970s, many women from rural towns and villages sold their wares to male-run textile businesses. These middle men sourced their textiles from those who couldn’t afford to open a shop of their own or did not have the resources to travel to the marketplace. Women who did have the ability to travel would work for the factories making machine-made textiles for tourist shops. However, as La Violencia deterred tour­ ists, the export business also waned and many factories closed. In recent years women working at these mass production factories were making around 36 USD a month, much less than the worth of their handwoven pieces.

16 Ehlers, Tracy Bachrach. Silent Looms: Women and Production in a Guatemalan Town. (University of Texas Press. 2000.) xxxvii 17 Ibid. xxxvii Ehlers believes the textile industry in Guatemala has vanished but I disagree. The popularization of authentic crafts and fair-trade goods around the world is a benefit to these cooperatives. Additionally, the innovation of social media has allowed the organi­ zations to become international much more easily than in the past. Of the cooperatives that will be discussed in this thesis, Trama Textiles and the Ara Collective have online stores as well as Facebook pages and Instagram accounts. This is a result of the younger generation of educated Mayan women becoming involved in their mothers’ cooperatives and taking an interest in Mayan culture.

Women in these cooperatives reject the notion that to be Guatemalan you have to relinquish your indigenous traditions but do have to conform to certain lifestyle changes like urban living in order to earn a living wage and feed their families. This has changed the home significantly without intention. Requirements of survival have forced Mayans to abandon many traditional and social structures that they had for centuries. But textiles have been able to evolve and keep the eye of the international market and are a feminine craft, which is one reason why Mayan women are at the forefront of cultural preservation and economic success in many communities. So, as I explore the textile industry in Gua­ temala I pose the question, what is the definition of indigenous feminism, and more spe­ cifically, what feminism or feminist qualities are the women of Guatemala employing and representing in their mission to preserve heritage and build the local community and economy? 13 C h ap ter 2:

Symbolism in Santa Catarina Palopo

Santa Catarina Palopo is not known for its textiles or as a tourist destination but has found a unique way to display its Tz’utujil heritage. It is several miles from San Juan

La Laguna in a small valley, accessible only by one road or by boat. In years past, Santa

Catarina was a center of extreme poverty and violence, deterring visitors and crippling locals. Even after La Violencia, Santa Catarina remained isolated and struggled to find a way to attract the new tourist population. In 2017 two Guatemalans began an initiative to put the village back on the tourist map. They decided to paint all 700 cement buildings, excluding the historical church, with Guatemalan tejido18 designs and corresponding symbolic colors to create a patchwork of painted textiles. The mission is, “To transform the lives of the inhabitants of Santa Catarina Palopo through an artistic intervention that generates a sense of belonging, community pride and a climate of citizen involvement.”19

With the cooperative efforts of the residents and several construction companies, Santa

Catarina has set to work creating its masterpiece.

One year later the change is evident. The images on the buildings have served as a reminder of the regions history and have allowed it to reimagine its identity. Upon walk­ ing into the center square a young girl approached me with a pamphlet for the new village

18 tejidos: embroidered animal designs in Guatemalan textiles. 19 Unknown, Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo: Manuel Para Vecinos. (Pintando Santa Catarina. Santa Catarina Palopo. 2017), 4 14 museum, an extension of the narratives on the buildings. The museum proved to be a rich resource for textile history and Mayan symbolism.

Colors

Colors are the most important aspect of a weaving. In Guatemala, each color pos­ sesses a spirit (poder)20 based on its saturation which will determine if that color is strong or weak. If the wrong combination of colors is used for a weaving, the piece of clothing can be dangerous for the owner. First and foremost, Mayan clothing protects the wearer.

White is a color that varies greatly from culture to culture. In the case of Guate­ mala, the meanings of this staple color have varied over time. White cotton was originally a color that elders wore to show their wisdom. A young person would never wear white because the wisdom it possessed was too strong for their young minds and bodies, not yet experienced enough to bear the burden of white. After the colonists arrived with their pale complexions, white took on a new meaning. It became associated with the settlers, affluence, and wealth.21 White is still used in huipiles although it is not practical. Weav­ ers tend to use white material for items only if they are selling them to tourists.

Brown is another staple color in Guatemalan textiles and possesses the same power as white. It represents the earth and the ancestors who, in the beginning, only wove

20 Poder: power 21 Tohveri. Weaving With The Maya (Pia Tohveri. 2012. Print.) 22-23 15 with un-dyed brown cotton. Today this color is used ceremonially and is highly re­ spected. It is considered too valuable for every day clothing but is still seen in many weavings marketed to tourists.

Red is perhaps Guatemala’s most popular and well-known color and has the most varied history of all hues. In the early 1900s, women in Santa Catarina wore red huipiles with small animal figures across the chest, signifying the blood of maturity and the heat of a strong, matronly soul (figure 2). Young girls are never allowed to wear red because they do not possess enough heat in their bodies to balance its power. Once they enter pu­ berty and are considered marriageable, girls may wear a pink hue that announces their maidenhood to the eligible bachelors in town. Finally, as expectant mothers, women are considered to possess enough heat to wear rich red. This is because they receive their husband’s heat through marital relations and the baby’s heat while pregnant. Once they age, the red dye used may be even darker and stronger because of their life experience.

Men are considered to have enough poder at every life stage and often wear red to sym­ bolize their strength as well as the rising sun which is male in Mayan historical narra­ tives. This visually reemphasizes the sub-ordinance of women in Mayan society.

Red has evolved significantly in the last 100 years as seen in Santa Catarina. It has come to symbolize the violence and bloodshed among Mayans. However, rather than avoiding red during this period, it transformed into a protective shield. Red could repel 16 the evil eye and negativity. It has, for this reason, been a popular choice for baby blan­ kets; babies are particularly vulnerable to bed energy because they lack heat in their bod­ ies.22

Black, rather than blood red, is the color of suffering. As Tohveri points out, it represents the west and the colonizers that inflicted much of the pain in Mayan history,

“...black represents the suffering of the ancestors because everything was devoid of light when the ancestors suffered with the arrival of the white man.”23 Though it is considered quite beautiful, like the long flowing black hair of Mayan women, it is used very little. It is usually employed as a protective device, similar to red, to guard babies from strong forces. Not surprisingly, black is also associated with women. Black is equated to the

sunset and women while sunrise is connected to men and to light.

Blue, Green, Yellow are the last of the primary colors in the Mayan weaver’s toolbox. Blue is an extremely relevant color for Santa Catarina in particular because it possesses the power of Lake Atitlan, the community’s life source. In contrast to their an­

cestors, women in the village today wear blue huipiles and place more emphasis on the

animal figures. The new generation prefers the gentleness of blue and its connection to

prosperity rather than the powerful responsibility of red clothing (figure 3). Women in

Santa Catarina also avoid red huipiles because of its painful association to blood and the

civil w ar24 The Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo project uses blue as the base for many of

22 Ibid. 24 23 ibid. 25 24 Ibid. 26 17 the buildings because of this as well. A majority of the buildings are turquoise, which has

the same connotation, or blue. To bring the image together, “The body of a woman’s thought of as the lake and their head as the sky.” (26)25 Women often wear green skirts to

simulate the rolling slopes of the lake’s volcanoes along with their blue huipiles. Accent­

ing these colors is just a touch of yellow, bringing light, fertility, and health to the lake

and mountainsides.

Figure 2: Ancestral huipil, red, 1950

25 Ibid., 26 18

Figure 3: Modern blue huipil, date unknown

The pintando project allows residents to select from a variety of five base colors, listed in the native language, K’iche’: xar (bird blue), choi (lake blue), raxabaj (blue- green), ya’ (water blue), Tuk (purple) and sac por (white).26 Despite the strength of white and its rarity the town has decided to use it because it stands out strikingly against the mountains, making Santa Catarina more visible to visitors.

26 Unknown, Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo (Pintando Santa Catarina. Santa Catarina Palopo. 2017.) 9 Figures

Once the buildings are painted, the figures or tejidos are selected. Santa Catarina has selected seven traditional figures from the huipiles worn by local women: nimaqo’l

(live turkey), si’an (cat), palamax (butterfly), q’uq’ (quetzal), masat (deer), ixcot (twin birds), and awan (corn stalk).27 The figures are stenciled and painted in two shades of green (ch’upup and juju), orange (koj), yellow (q’ij), and pink (roxna). Orange has a sim­ ilar strength to yellow and is typically used only in detail design rather than as a main color. These geometric designs and accent colors have been used on huipiles for genera­ tions, making it obvious to visitors that the women artisans of Santa Catarina were a sig­ nificant inspiration behind the pintando project. Other popular figures that are sewn as tejidos are toads, a symbol of fertility, and the jaguar, for protection.

Band Designs

Santa Catarina is part of the Solola region of Guatemala, one of the few areas that embroiders tejidos on their clothing. Many Mayan groups practice pattern design but are not trained to embroider the fabric as the Tz’utujil Maya are. These designs are equally complex but are woven into the fabric as it is stretched on the loom. The most frequent for the Lake Atitlan region are the ixcanul (volcano), kajtz’ik (diamonds), tzalan xalq’at

(x pattern), ruchiq’a ruwi’ ya (waves), k’uxaj (heart), and kotz’ijal (flowers).

27 Ibid. 11 20 When combined the rich colors, tejido symbols, and scenic band designs create a narrative that, read from top to bottom, tells the weaver’s story. However, because each color, symbol and shape have several meanings, a two huipiles with the same images may contain very different histories depending on the region and indigenous group.

Himaqo'l Palamax PqyO Red Mariposa

Q"uqr Quetzal Xf \ t \ / mMas at Ixtdl fv*ta n Venado Pdjaro blctfalo Affi'Fptr 11

Figure 4: The images used for the Pintando project.28

28 Ibid. 11 21

8ure 5. A finished building in Santa Catarina Palopd, Solola. 22 Chapter 3:

Case Studies

San Juan La Laguna

San Juan La Laguna lies on the southwestern side of Lake Atitlan in the Solola department of Guatemala. The population hovers just over 10,000 and over 90 percent of residents are Tz’utujil Mayan. San Juan is known for its artisans who still practice tradi­ tional weaving. It is a popular tourist destination though it would not appear so. The shops and restaurants are humble as are the residents. The cooperatives rely on tourists for sales but also sell in bulk to vendors in larger cities in order to turn a profit. Though

Lake Atitlan does attract foreigners, it is still quite rural and the vast majority of residents live in poverty. It is not unusual to meet women who have never left the district which is surrounded by volcanoes and high mountains that are difficult to traverse even in a car.

The isolation is a primary reason why the region has remained much more indigenous and resistant to western culture. Nearly every woman in San Juan La Laguna was wear­ ing her tipica: a huipil, corte, and faja.29

B’atx’ib’al:

B’atx’ib’al is a unique cooperative composed of several families in San Juan.

Husbands and wives run the cooperative together and divide labor in a practical manner.

29 Hupil: Handwoven blouse; Corte: Handwoven wraparound skirt; Faja: Handwoven belt. 23 The cooperative specializes in a dye pattern called jaspe30 or ikat31 that is difficult and time consuming but unique to Guatemala. Rather than embroidering or weaving the de­ signs into the fabric using various threads, the thread is tied and dyed. They feel it is one of the crafts that is not being passed down and is in danger of extinction, due to its diffi­ culty. The men work in the back of the store on the hillside separating the thread and ty­ ing bunches together. They then measure out the painstaking patterns and tie the thread off accordingly (figure 6). This process requires just as much patience as the weaving itself and the constant knot tying is hard on the men’s hands.

Once the thread is tied off it is ready to be dyed and hung to dry for several days.

The women then thread their looms and begin the weaving process. Smaller pieces are created with a back-strap loom and larger widths are done on a standard loom. The tex­ tiles are then sold in a small storefront that is quite difficult to find unless you are familiar with the area. The profits are shared among the families which is uncommon in coopera­ tives. The shop does have an online presence but does not sell outside of Guatemala.

Much of their business comes from vendors within nearby cities who buy in bulk to sell to tourists. One of the men explained that their business is suffering because computer­ ized machines can now print jaspe designs and many foreigners cannot tell the difference.

They end up purchasing the cheaper option. B'atx’ib’al’s online presence serves as a way for visitors to tell their friends about the cooperative.

30 Jaspe: Guatemalan tye-dye 31 Ikat: Quiche translation of “jaspe” 24

Figure 7: Corazon del Lago artisan weaving a haspe scarf on a backstrap loom. 25

Corazon del Lago:

Corazon del Lago is a smaller cooperative made up of just 20 women but has been selling on the main street of San Juan for 22 years. One of the women explained that they are small because it is expensive to run a business and loan interests are a staggering

14 percent on average. The women were unable to take out a loan when they first opened their store and had to make do with what little capital was available. Each item in the storefront has a tag indicating the product, the price, and the woman who made it. The profits will go directly to that woman rather than a company or middle man. The weavers are then able to continue their work without having to manage the store each day. The store’s rent is paid for by all participating women, reducing the burden.

Aj To’ooneel:

Aj To’ooneel consists of 62 women and has been open since 2008. Translated into

Spanish as “apoyo a la mujer”, the name means “support for women”. Compared to the aforementioned cooperatives, Aj To’ooneel has a very large storefront. Two young women graciously volunteered to answer my questions. They were sitting behind an offi­ cial desk with computers, a highly unusual scene for an artisan shop in the village. Unlike

B atx’ib’al, their cooperative does not make much jaspe and seemed to focus on more modern designs. The method, colors, and designs still followed Mayan tradition, but it seemed that these women had investigated the international market and geared their prod­ ucts to reflect what they believed tourists wanted. The brochure offered weaving classes 26 and an opportunity to watch the dyeing process. The cooperative uses as many recycled materials as they can, in this case textiles that have been tossed aside in mass markets af­ ter years of use. Aj To’ooneel’s president states, “We are a group of workers, creative art­ ists, and entrepreneurs with the desire to improve our lives, our familys’ lives, and the community.”

In speaking with the women of Aj To’ooneel I became aware of my own skewed paradigm. I entered the store believing that Mayan women feel oppressed and inferior in

Guatemalan society. One of the weavers, Maria, claims that as artisans, men and women are equal. She feels she receives the same respect as her male counterparts, partially be­ cause of her dedication to preserving Tz’utujil weaving traditions. She feels that Mayan women today can achieve any status they choose, whether it is a business owner, or the mayor of the city. “Women today are entrepreneurs”, she says, “but we still have families and take care of the home. We can do both.” The agency the women of Aj To’ooneel have found is reflected in Mohanty’s analysis of feminine solidarity: “Women's lives as workers, consumers, and citizens have changed radically with the triumphal rise of capi­ talism in the global arena.”32

As I left the shop the women thanked me in perfect Spanish, no doubt a privilege they value dearly. Two kindergarten children ran through the store in their school uni­ forms, a boy and a girl. They will go to school in the morning and learn the trade from their mothers in the afternoon.

32 32 Mohanty. “Feminism Without Borders”, 142 27

Ixoq Ajkeem:

Ixoq Ajkeem has an incredibly large store and years’ worth of textiles. They opened in 1993 with just eight women and a small loan. Today 40 women sell their tex­ tiles in the store. The name simply means “woman weaver”. The women I spoke with were much older than many artisans and had been part of the cooperative since its initia­ tion. They had weathered the years after La Violencia when tourism was at an all-time low and sales were few. The president of the cooperative, a woman in her 80s, says that sales are easier now than they were in the past. The cooperative had to pay off their loan during a period of unrest in the mid-1990s and pay for food and shelter. Their husbands all worked in the fields nearby and could not bring home any profit during seasons of poor harvest. This is how Ixoq Ajkeem began. By renting a storefront and purchasing supplies together in bulk, the women were able to get a better price for materials. As the textiles began to fill the store, visitors and other vendors took notice. The cooperative was able to sell a small handful of items each month which made up for the losses during poor harvests. This is still the case for many of the women who are a part of Ixoq Ajkeem.

Because many of the weavers in Ixoq Ajkeem are from the older generation, many of them are not educated and do not speak much Spanish. Being part of a coopera­ tive allows them to produce but not participate in the sales process. In this sense, their in­ digenous heritage is preventing them from being full participants in the capitalist market which in Guatemala uses primarily Spanish. Though living in post-colonial times, the 28 women of Ixoq Ajkeem understand that their ethnicity is still a social detriment, regard­ less of their efforts to preserve the beauty of Mayan culture. The stigma of Mayan’s as lower-class citizens, established centuries ago, still remains and is reinforced by the struc­ ture of the economy.

Quetzaltenango

Quetzaltenango, known as Xelaju to local Mam Mayans, is a city full of colonial influence and signs of modernity. The name itself is a display of colonial dominance; it was used only after the Mayan empire was toppled by Spain. It lies nearly five hours by car from the capital and just two hours from the Mexican state of Chiapas. Today Quet­ zaltenango is a destination city for Guatemalans who are escaping life in the countryside, seeking education and employment opportunities. In contrast to the Lake Atitlan region, only some women in Quetzaltenango still wear their tipica. Young women choose to wear western clothing because of a false stereotype among employers: women in tradi­ tional dress are uneducated. Because of the wealth of social and financial opportunity and heavy western influence, Quetzaltenango seems an odd place for some of the nation’s largest women's cooperatives.

Trama Textiles:

Trama Textiles opened in 1988 and incorporates 17 women’s weaving collectives from five regions of Guatemala. Over 400 women participate in production. The organi­ zation was founded by survivors of La Violencia, women who had lived in fear for the 29 majority of their lives, who wanted to reunite their fellow women and revive their perse­ cuted culture. The president of Trama Texiles shared the horrifying experiences shared by many of the members. As children and mothers, the women watched their homes and relatives burn as they hid in the mountainside. Girls and women were frequently raped by soldiers. Women gave birth to and lost children to the violence, starvation, and chilling winters, unable to go home. The collective memory among Mayan women is distinct and the primary motivating factor behind the creation of Trama.

Trama believes that recovery begins with women taking leadership positions in the home and the economy as they push for gender equality. Trama offers women the chance to teach weaving classes to locals and travelers alike, to curate their own products and designs, to learn vital business skills, and to promote the appreciation and preserva­ tion of authentic traditional products to the local and international markets. Trama relies on English-speaking volunteers from Quetzaltenango and abroad, who manage the coop­ erative’s online store and outreach projects. These volunteers are allies who believe in maintaining the cultural history of Guatemala and in providing a space for its marginal­ ized women to earn a living wage.

Pixan:

Just a few short blocks from Trama Textiles is the Pixan collective. Pixan has been in business for just five years. It focuses on western highland designs and simpler patterns that appeal to the international market. Pixan is unique in the sense that it also cooperates with other local organizations that are striving to rebuild the community after 30 La Violencia. The group is called AMA, “Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano”, and consists of eleven other cooperatives of women including weavers, midwives, health care workers, farmers, and housewives. Pixan explains that this association of women widens community access to “programs in entrepreneurship, sustainable agriculture practices, therapeutic art classes for children, medical care and other needs-based infrastructure pro­ jects.” (Pixan)

Similar to Trama, Pixan is able to sell abroad and earn income from the interna­ tional market. They rely less on tourists and more on social media promotion than the weavers of San Juan who do not have the means to sell internationally unless they sell to corporations.

Case Study Conclusion

It is important to recognize the capacity for organization among the women and their families living and working in San Juan La Laguna. In developing nations where work for those living in poverty is limited and the prospect of unionization is irrelevant, cooperatives emerge as profitable alternatives and provide a more balanced, less patriar­ chal work environment as seen at B’atx’ib’al. Also demonstrated by the collaborative en­ vironment at B’atx’ib’al is, “an intersection of gender and work, where the very defini­ tion of [the] work draws upon and reconstructs notions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality,” and, “is grounded in the concrete realities of women's lives.”33 Indigenous

33 Mohanty. “Feminism Without Borders”, 144. feminism is most clearly seen here in the equal participation of men and women, both ac­ cepting a traditional craft as a business rather than a feminine task. Journalist and Zapa­ tista feminist Castillo declares, “Indigenous feminism is to me part of a principle— women develop and make revolution to construct ourselves as independent persons who become a community that can give to others without forgetting about themselves.”34 In­ terestingly enough, both men and women in several of the cooperatives have become a part of this cooperative revolution to reconstruct the local business and in turn, the bal­ ance between genders, all while actively pursuing a connection to their culture.

The women who coordinate and participate in these cooperatives are also experi­ encing more visibility locally, artistically, and academically as demonstrated by this pa­ per, than they would as hidden seamstresses in factories, unable to claim ownership of their work. Historically, disenfranchisement was expected. Today, women weavers rec­ ognize that standing in solidarity with one another is profitable and empowering. Mo- hanty claims appropriately that disempowered and marginalized groups in developing na­ tions have been forced to work low wage jobs with dangerous conditions and segrega­ tion,35 all experienced by Mayan men and women in the past and present.

Though all cooperatives in this analysis consist of mostly women they are gender inclusive, however it is significant to address the racial divide. The cooperative artisans are almost entirely Mayan, primarily because those who are not have much better pro­ spects in the Guatemalan economy, not because the cooperatives are decisively excluding

34 Castillo, Aida Hernandez. “Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism”. NACLA. September 25, 2007. Web. 35 Mohanty. “Feminism Without Borders”, 148. non-Mayan workers. Regardless, the autonomy lies with the directors of the organiza­ tions themselves, all women, who maintain the power to determine the structure of their own businesses, a right painstakingly earned and maintained. 33 Conclusion:

Fair Trade Practices and Projections for the Future

“As women lose their daughters to the jobs of a developing economy, they may be forced to abandon their independent businesses and may themselves become employees of more modem enterprises” (Ehlers, 5)36

In this thesis I have researched and analyzed women’s cooperatives of two major

Guatemalan regions and analyzed their uses of post-colonial feminism. Women in des­ peration to provide a safe space for their families and their children’s futures, women have occupied the textile market and fought to preserve the traditions and values their de­ signs represent. The act of weaving has connected communities and families after years of devastation, bringing a small sense of comfort to many, especially women who were personally attacked as subordinates and keepers of historical memory as the government tried to single handedly cleanse Guatemala of its Mayan population. Now I would like to explore what this means for the future of Guatemala and if the weaving tradition may in fact disappear.

Flavio Demostenes Gonzalez Miranda is a co-owner of a Fair-Trade store, Suenos de Cafe y Mas, in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua is a gorgeous and elegantly crumbling

Spanish colonial town nestled in the highlands of Sacatepequez. It is arguably the hottest tourist spot in the country which makes it an ideal location for vendors. However, Suenos

36 Ehlers, Silent Looms, (University of Texas Press. 2000.), 5 34 de Cafe y Mas is one of the only stores in the city that buys directly from cooperatives and pays craftspeople a fair wage for their work. One would assume that because his wares are handmade, Flavio would have no problem selling his goods. On the contrary.

There are so many stores in Antigua and tourists often do not know the difference be­ tween hand-made and machine made. To produce the cheapest textiles possible, compa­ nies will use acrylic string and artificial dyes, rather than cotton and natural dyes. In the market place these synthetic materials announce their presence boldly on every corner and are appealing to even the least interested passerby. If shops do sell hand-made items they are not often fair trade - the stores purchase goods for incredibly low prices that do not allow the weavers and craftspeople to earn a living wage, as discussed previously.

Flavio acknowledges that there is no malicious intent in this practice. Each salesperson is desperate to make a living. He only hopes to stay in business to help his partners put food on the table.

Suenos de Cafe y Mas has been open for ten years and is a challenge to find un­ less you’re already familiar with the store. It is located in the back of a long hallway which is occupied by two other shops with similar looking items. Because of this, many tourists end up making their purchases before reaching Flavio and are unaware that his products are unique and that a purchase from him will be beneficial to towns all over

Guatemala. Flavio opened his store with his wife, Cheny, because they admired the spirit of the Mayan culture, its diversity, and the pride of the people. Their ultimate goal is con­ servation - of the culture, the craft, and the tradition. Together they acknowledged the problem many weavers faced. They could not bring their wares into town without selling 35 them to a vendor for a massive price cut. After researching the concept of a Fair-Trade store, Flavio and Cheny decided that this was what they could contribute to social and economic reconstruction.

That being said, I interviewed Flavio for a very specific reason. I wanted to know what he believed the future of the textile industry in Guatemala would be. He is not a craftsman but a sympathetic businessman who has a strong background in the national economy and the textile industry. Unfortunately, the outlook is bleak. Despite all my re­ search and optimistic connections, the reality of Guatemala’s economy works against the cooperative structure. A term that arose frequently was lucha37. Every day in Guatemala is a struggle, even more so for women, and further so for Mayan women. Flavio states,

“Hay muchas problemas politicos. Rompen el espiritu.”38 The pressure of commercial products is too extreme and more and more cooperatives are closing or selling their goods for less than their true value. He believes that unless fair trade becomes a trend in Guate­ mala, cooperatives will not have a way to survive. They will be limited to selling what they can out of their own storefronts which are not guaranteed due to rising rent prices in tourist areas.

In recent years there have been serious concerns among women’s cooperatives about intellectual licensing. The large textile houses that are overrunning the handmade textile market and causing future uncertainties for stores like Suenos de Cafe y Mas are now trying to copyright the designs they choose to use. All are copied from traditional

37 Lucha: Spanish term for fight or struggle. 38 “There are a lot of political problems. They break the spirit.” 36 Mayan weavings. The Women’s Association for the Development of Sacatepequez and the National Mayan Weaver’s Movement have banded together and proposed a bill to prevent large corporations from trademarking their designs. Representative Juan Castro backs the movement and simply states, “We are challenging the government because it is a racist government.”39 In other words, it cares little for the quality of life among Mayans in Guatemala and prioritizes the profits of large corporations, a sentiment echoed by over a dozen more politicians in the country. If the bill fails, any use of the designs by weavers who are not employed by the company will be criminalized. Businesses will fine Mayan women for continuing to weave their own designs - their own narratives - declaring war once again on Mayan culture.

39 Kearns, Rick. “Mayan Weavers Seek Legal Protection of Their Designs: Bill would make it illegal to profit off Mayan Weavers in Guatemala without compensation to crea­ tors”. June 11, 2017. Web. Works Cited

Carey, David Jr,. Engendering Mayan History: Kaqchikel Women as Agents and Con­ duits o f the Past, 1875-1970. Routledge. New York, New York. 2006. Print.

Castillo, Aida Hernandez. “Zapatismo and the Emergence of Indigenous Feminism”.

NACLA. September 25, 2007. Web.

Ehlers, Tracy Bachrach. Silent Looms: Women and Production in a Guatemalan Town.

University of Texas Press. 2000. Print.

Green, Linda. “The Paradoxes Of War And Its Aftermath: Mayan Widows In Rural

Guatemala”. Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine (March 1995),

Kearns, Rick. “Mayan Weavers Seek Legal Protection of Their Designs: Bill would make it illegal to profit off Mayan Weavers in Guatemala without compensation to cre­ ators”. June 11, 2017. Web.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Prac­ ticing Solidarity”. Duke University Press. 2003. Web.

Morris, Katy. "10 Worst Countries to be a Woman: Guatemala Ranks 6th", MayanFam- ilies, August 8th 2014. Web.

Smith, Andrea. “Against the Law: Indigenous Feminism and the Nation-State”. Affini­ ties: A Journal o f Radical Theory, Culture. 2011. Web.

• Tohveri, Pia. Weaving With The Maya: Innovation and Tradition in Guatemala. Pia

Tohveri. 2012. Print. • Unknown, Pintando Santa Catarina Palopo: Manuel Para Vecinos. Pintando Santa Ca­

tarina. Santa Catarina Palopo. 2017. Print.

• Wulfhorst, Ellen. “Indigenous and Female: life at the bottom in Guatemala”. Thomson

Reuters Foundation. May 2, 2017. Web. 39 Recommended Readings

Asturias de Barrios, Linda; Garcia, Dina Fernandez. La Indumentaria y el Tejido Ma­ yas a Traves del Tiempo. Museo Ixchel del Traje Indigena de Guatemala. Guatemala

City, Guatemala. 1992. Print.

Barrios, Lina; Nimatuj, Miriam; Garcia, Raquel; Pablo, Yamanik. El Traje Maya, En El

Codice Maya Que Se Encuentra En Dresde y En La Actualidad. Museo Ix’kik. Un­ known.

Centner, David. “One’s Own Tradition”. Interweave, Fall 2018. Print.

Foxx, Jeffrey J. and Morris Jr., Walter F., Living Maya. Harry N. Abram, Inc. Publish­ ers., Japan. 1987. Print.

Frost, Gordon. “Guatemala: Weaving, People”. Interweave. Fall 1980. Print.

Kitsler, Ashley S. Maya Market Women: Power and Tradition in San Juan Chamelco,

Guatemala. University of Illinois Press. 2014. Print.

Knoke de Arathon, Barbara. Sown Symbols. Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress. Gua­ temala, Guatemala. 2007. Print.

Liebler, Barbara. “The Beginning: From Rectangles”. Interweave. Fall 1980. Print.

Miralbes de Polanco, Rosario. The Magic and Mystery o f Haspe: knots revealing de­ signs. Museo Ixchel del Traje Indigena. Guatemala. 2005. Print.

Nottebohm, Holly. Maya Weaving Heritage, Conserving a Way of Life”. ReVista Har­ vard Review of Latin America. Date N/A. Web. • Spurlock Museum “Artists of the Loom: Maya Weavers of Guatemala” Campbell Gal­

lery 9/16/2014