Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos Rebecca L
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University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 5-5-2015 Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos Rebecca L. Nelson University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Nelson, Rebecca L., "Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 728. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/728 Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos Rebecca Lee Nelson, PhD University of Connecticut, 2015 Drawing from 20 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the voluntourism program of a women’s weaving cooperative based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, this dissertation argues that voluntourists and their cooperative hosts developed more globally-oriented subjectivities through their daily information exchanges. Voluntourists shared their knowledge of tastes and practices in their countries; in return, the cooperative leaders offered them exposure to Mayan customs and weaving classes. At the same time, these interactions highlighted the hosts’ anxieties about sharing such knowledge. The cooperative leaders utilized their association with tourists to develop cosmopolitan competencies, pursue alternative gender relations, and push the boundaries of relationships with the state and international clients in which they have historically been subordinated. They drew from transnational rights-based discourses to envision themselves as actors in the public sphere. In their presentations to visiting tourists, the cooperative officers recounted stories of victimhood in the civil war (1960–1996), to appeal for tourists’ financial support. However, they sought to restrict these narratives to foreign humanitarian audiences, concerned about the potential for renewed violence in post-conflict Guatemala. With prompting from voluntourists, the cooperative leaders embraced the idea of commodifying their Mayan “culture” to promote their products in international markets. This dissertation argues that learning to “mobilize” culture as a resource (both in the sense of deploying it and of translating it for ease of travel across various borders of understanding) is a form of cosmopolitanism. However, this mobilization of local knowledge made weavers anxious that voluntourists were establishing “Mayan” weaving schools in their home countries. Rebecca Lee Nelson – University of Connecticut, 2015 Voluntourists for their part became connoisseurs of cultural difference. They struggled less with the contradictions between belonging to a place and adapting to global citizenship than indigenous Guatemalan women because their knowledge had already been made transferrable. Through volunteering they imagined a more empowered role within global capitalism in which they could make an individual impact, however slight. This study unites the critical turn in tourism studies—focused on intangible shifts in consciousness—with the recognition that the traffic in culture has made abstractions such as cultural authenticity crucial to people’s political and economic realities. i Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos Rebecca Lee Nelson B.A., SUNY Potsdam, 2007 M.A., University of Connecticut, 2009 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut 2015 ii Copyright by Rebecca Lee Nelson 2015 iii APPROVAL PAGE Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Dynamics Between Weavers and Voluntourists in Guatemala: Giving Ideas, Taking Photos Presented by Rebecca Lee Nelson, B.A., M.A. Major Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Françoise Dussart Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Samuel Martínez Associate Advisor ___________________________________________________________________ Mark Overmyer-Velázquez University of Connecticut 2015 iv Acknowledgements I want to express my deepest thanks to the members of TelaMaya who took me in and treated me like family. I’ll never forget getting shaken awake at midnight on Christmas Eve for the fireworks and gift exchange in San Martín with Doña María’s family, or attending my goddaughter’s preschool graduation, or participating in the wedding of Doña Roxana’s niece in Pujujil II. Compañeras, saben bien que las llevo en mi corazón para siempre. My other friends from the community also helped me in understanding aspects of Guatemalan experience and language use. Thank you to Ervin Francisco Cifuentes Hernandez for everything. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my committee members, who have supported and challenged me. In particular, my dissertation advisor, Françoise Dussart, unites the best qualities in an advisor: warm concern for her students as people, understanding for our circumstances outside of the university, and sharp critiques of our work. Samuel Martínez always opened my eyes to new approaches to framing my work and important sources, and he has a way of drawing out the most positive elements of any piece of writing that I’ve found immensely bracing. Mark Overmyer-Velázquez graciously agreed to step into my committee at the last minute and he has focused on providing feedback that will be productive for me at this stage and in the future development of my research. Finally, Jocelyn Linnekin helped me to define a research project and shared her knowledge of my field site to help me get oriented. My friends and colleagues at the University of Connecticut contributed to my formation as a scholar in our formal and informal discussions, and helped me navigate the process of pursuing a doctorate. My colleagues from the Guatemala Scholars Network, Anita Chary and Meghan Farley Webb, deserve special mention here for their helpful critiques of my thesis based on their own experiences with women and non-governmental organizations in Guatemala. A v chapter was also improved by Miho Iwata and my colleagues at the UConn Writing Center workshop. The research was supported not only financially but also intellectually by several institutions, including the Inter-American Foundation; the UConn Human Rights Institute; El Instituto: The Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies; the UConn Department of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; the UConn Graduate School; and the UConn Department of Anthropology. The classes, conferences, and lectures I attended through these institutions expanded my understanding of the various topics explored in this thesis and the interconnections between them. Finally, and most importantly, I couldn’t have done this without the assistance of my parents, Russell and Heather Nelson, and brother, Eric Nelson. When I learned to speak Spanish I suddenly understood my parents’ nickname for me as a child, El Exigente (“The Demanding One”), which they got from a Savarin coffee commercial about a buyer with particularly high standards. They have always encouraged me to pursue my interests, even as I shifted from my childhood ambition to become an artist to the barely more practical intention to become a curator and then an anthropologist, and have never asked me, “And what are you planning to do with that?” My parents commented on early drafts and provided ground support for me during the years I spent in Guatemala, while my brother provided technical support. My family has been instrumental in helping me develop personally and professionally, and for that I will always be grateful. vi Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Histories of Trauma and Politics of Suffering ....................................................................................... 40 Chapter Two: “We Have the Same Rights”: Women’s Activism and New Subjectivities .......................................... 87 Chapter Three: Prioritizing Voluntourists: Organizations’ Experiences ................................................................... 117 Chapter Four: Friction Between Voluntourists, Clients, Cooperative Members, and Community Associates.......... 154 Chapter Five: The Production of Cosmopolitanism in Voluntourism ....................................................................... 198 Chapter Six: Competition Over (and Through) Information: Information Politics Within the Cooperative ............. 247 Conclusion: “We Are Entering a Globalized World” ................................................................................................ 292 Appendix One: “Your Life is TelaMaya”: Personal Histories of Life, Work, and Suffering .................................... 304 Appendix Two: “The Women Do Not Want to Help”: Intra-Cooperative Conflicts ................................................. 319 Appendix Three: Practical Considerations ................................................................................................................ 325 References Cited ........................................................................................................................................................ 329 1 Introduction On December 21st, 2011, I sat in on a meeting called by the leaders of a Mayan women’s weaving