Pero, ¿Dónde Está El Presidente Ahora?: Developing Cultural Agency in Guatemala's Age of Neoliberal Multiculturalism by Ji
Pero, ¿dónde está el presidente ahora?: Developing Cultural Agency in Guatemala’s Age of Neoliberal Multiculturalism by Jillian Lei Kite B.A. Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012 B.A. Romance Languages (Spanish), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012 M.A. Women’s Studies, Florida Atlantic University, 2014 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2020 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Jillian Lei Kite It was defended on November 14, 2019 and approved by Dr. Juan Duchesne-Winter, Professor, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dr. Aurea Sotomayor, Professor, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dr. Maureen Porter, Professor, Education Thesis Advisor/Dissertation Director: Dr. Elizabeth Monasterios, Professor, Hispanic Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Jillian Lei Kite 2020 iii Pero, ¿dónde está el presidente ahora?: Developing Cultural Agency in Guatemala’s Age of Neoliberal Multiculturalism Jillian Lei Kite, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2020 Each year Guatemala hosts Rabín Ajaw—a cultural pageant, which brings young Maya women from across the nation to display “cultural authenticity” through dress and performance. Scholars denounce the pageant’s inauthenticity – both aesthetically due to shifts in indigenous weaving and the use of traditional dress, as well as in terms of avoiding recognition of Mayas’ continued social and political subjugation, even after the genocide against their communities. Further, the contestants in Rabín Ajaw, who are tasked with the most authentic presentation of “Mayan-ness,” are atypical compared to the majority of Maya women living in Guatemala.
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