Pero, ¿Dónde Está El Presidente Ahora?: Developing Cultural Agency in Guatemala's Age of Neoliberal Multiculturalism by Ji
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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. While a great deal of Maya women suffer from poverty, lack of access to appropriate education, and are regularly denied opportunities to act as political or social leaders, Rabín Ajaw contestants are generally educated with stable jobs, bilingual, and far more financially privileged. Maya women’s image as a whole continues to be used as an archetypal, symbolic stand-in for Guatemala’s national culture. This appropriation is conducted by both the tourism industry to attract visitors and the male-dominated Mayanist indigenous rights movement to achieve each group’s aims with little benefit to the Maya women themselves. Given that the Rabín Ajaw pageant constitutes a multicultural spectacle that espouses to celebrate indigenous women and their culture while providing no material support before or after the event, there must be another factor motivating young Maya women to participate. Namely, this project investigates the ways in which Maya women exercise agency within a highly criticized event of superficial cultural appreciation, with aims to give voice to women frequently silenced by their symbolic status. iv Table of Contents Preface………………………………………………………………………………….………...ix 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 2.0 Chapter One: Challenging the Cultural History of Guatemala ....................................... 18 2.1 Colonial and Neocolonial Interventions……………………………………..…….18 2.1.1 Spanish Rule and the Development of a Ladino Population ..................18 2.1.2 Guatemala and the United States: Twentieth Century Neocolonialism 22 2.1.3 The Guatemalan Genocide: Early Stages ................................................26 2.2 Genocide and Gender………………………………………………………………29 2.2.1 Rape as a Tool of War ……………………………………………………30 2.2.2 Ladino Masculinity and Toxic Homosociality in the Military…………32 2.2.3 A Brief Overview of Homosociality……………………………………...34 2.2.4 Extreme Masculinity and Rape as (Vertical) Homosocial Activity ……37 2.2.5 Mayas in the Military: Compulsory Civil Patrolling…………………...39 2.3 Post-War Politics: The Truth Commission and Reckoning……………………...45 2.3.1 Post-war Recovery and Restoration……………………………………..54 3.0 Chapter Two: Multiculturalism, Mayanism, and La Mujer Maya ................................... 56 3.1 La Mujer Maya as Post-war Prosthesis ……………………………………………56 v 3.2 Multicultural Politics and the Mayanist Movement……………………………...60 3.3 Bilingual Education………………………………………………………………...69 3.4 On Traditional Dress……………………………………………………………….75 3.4.1 Dress and Power…………………………………………………………..79 3.4.2 Traje and Tourism………………………………………………………..81 4.0 Chapter 3: Claiming Knowledge: A Manufacturing ......................................................... 86 4.1 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Academic Address: Speaking about Others ……………88 4.1.1 The Risks of Speaking about Others ……………………………………89 4.1.2 Colonial Context…………………………………………………………..94 4.1.3 Decolonization and Border Thinking …………………………………..100 4.1.4 How to Speak about Others: Macro, Meso, and Micro-level Contexts105 4.2 Is Agency Always Resistance?: A Comparison of Theoretical Frameworks….114 4.2.1 Agency, Resistance, and Freedom: A Foucauldian Framework……...115 4.2.2 Agency without Freedom?: Saba Mahmoud and the Egyptian Mosque Movement............................................................................................................119 4.2.3 Feminism as an Analytical and Politically Prescriptive Endeavor ….120 4.2.4 The Mosque Movement…………………………………………………121 5.0 Chapter 4: Fieldwork Findings.......................................................................................... 127 5.1 Beauty, Race, and Nation in Guatemala…………………………………………129 5.2 Fieldwork…………………………………………………………………………..133 5.2.1 Is Rabín Ajaw a Beauty Pageant?............................................................137 5.2.2 If Not Beauty, What Then?......................................................................143 5.2.3 Traje………………………………………………………………………155 vi 5.2.4 On Language…………………………………………………………….162 5.2.5 Tourism …………………………………………………………………..172 5.3 Fieldwork Conclusions……………………………………………………………182 6.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 186 6.1 Por la alegría, la emoción [For the Happiness, the Emotion]..…………………195 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 202 vii List of Figures Figure 1 Señorita Monja Blanca winners and Rabín Ajaw contestant, 2018 procession…………..……………………………………………………………………………..4 Figure 2 Audience at the 2016 speeches………………………………………………..………134 Figure 3 Interview with a 2016 Rabín Ajaw contestant………………………………………..136 Figure 4 Interview with a 2016 Rabín Ajaw contestant………………………………………...136 Figure 5 A collective picture showing the diversity of 2016 candidates……………………….140 Figure 6 Rabín Ajaw candidates learning about each others' customs…………………………148 Figure 7 Candidates showcasing their more "artistic" traje ……………………………………158 Figure 8 The incense-filled room and stage where the 2018 speeches were held……………...164 Figure 9 Audience, primarily contestants, at the 2018 speeches……………………………….165 Figure 10 The 2017-2018 Rabín Ajaw elect…………………………...……………………….170 Figure 11 The 2018 procession of contestants into Cobán……………………………………..198 Figure 12 Dancers at the 2018 procession……………………………………………………...198 viii Preface Este proyecto habría sido imposible sin la ayuda generosa de varias personas. Primero, quisiera expresar mi gratitud a mi comité por su apoyo: a la Dra. Elizabeth Monasterios, al Dr. Juan Duchesne-Winter, a la Dra. Aurea Sotomayor y a la Dra. Maureen Porter. Sus consejos han sido invaluables para el desarrollo de mis ideas. Segundo, agradezco a la Dra. Inbal Mazar por sugerirme investigar el concurso Rabín Ajaw durante mi maestría y por ponerme en contacto con tantos amigos nuevos en Guatemala. Durante mi estadía en Guatemala, fueron precisamente esos amigos quienes me ayudaron muchísimo. Nunca podría agradecerles lo suficiente. Muchas gracias a Sergio Ramírez, Pepe Orozco, Pilar Marmol, y Felipe Díaz. Samantha Gómez, gracias por tu amistad, consejos, y ayuda en Cobán. Siempre estaré en deuda contigo. Dedico esta tesis a mis padres, Lisa D. Kite and Robert H. Kite, Jr., por mostrarme la importancia de la educación y por motivarme a seguir mis sueños. This project would have been imposible without the generous help of various people. First, I would like to express my gratitude for the support of my committee: Dr. Elizabeth Monasterios, Dr. Juan Duchesne-Winter, Dr. Aurea Sotomayor, and Dr. Maureen Porter. Your advice has been invaluable in the process of developing my ideas. Second, I thank Dr. Inbal Mazar for suggesting an investigation of the Rabín Ajaw pageant during my master’s program and for putting me in contact with so many new friends in Guatemala. During my studies in Guatemala, those new friends helped me so much and I could never sufficiently express my gratitude. Many thanks to Sergio Ramírez, Pepe Orozco, Pilar Marmol, y Felipe Díaz. Samantha Gómez, thank you for your friendship, advice, and help in Cobán. I will always be indebted to you. I dedicate this thesis to my parents, Lisa D. Kite and Robert H. Kite, Jr., for showing me the importance of education and for motivating m e to follow my dreams. ix 1.0 Introduction This dissertation developed out of my Women’s Studies Master’s thesis, which focused on the division between an indigenous and a non-indigenous pageant in the same town of Cobán, Guatemala. As a master’s student, my research