Indigenousness and the Reconstruction of the Other In
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INDIGENOUSNESS AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE OTHER IN GUATEMALAN INDIGENOUS LITERATURE by Rita M. Palacios A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Spanish, University of Toronto. © Copyright by Rita M. Palacios, 2009. “Indigenousness and the Reconstruction of the Other in Guatemalan Indigenous Literature” Rita Mercedes Palacios Doctor of Philosophy Department of Spanish University of Toronto 2009 Abstract “Indigenousness and the Reconstruction of the Other in Guatemalan Indigenous Literature” examines the production of a contemporary Indigenous literature in Guatemala. With the aid of a multidisciplinary approach informed by cultural, feminist, gender, socio- anthropological, and postcolonial studies, I analyze the emergence and ongoing struggle of Maya writers in Guatemala to show how the production of an alternate ideology contests official notions of nationhood and promotes a more inclusive space. I argue that Maya writers redefine Indigenous identity by reinstating Indigenous agency and self- determination, and deconstructing and rearticulating ethnicity, class and gender, among other markers of identity. I begin by examining the indio as the basis of colonial and national narratives that logically organize the Guatemalan nation. I then observe the emergence of a contemporary Indigenous literature in Guatemala in the 1970s, a literature that, I argue, isolates and contests the position that was assigned to the indio and proposes a literature written by and for the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala. I posit that the inauguration of a Maya cultural space occurs with Luis de Lión’s novel El tiempo principia en Xibalbá (1985) and Gaspar Pedro González’ La otra cara (1992). I then observe the destabilization of traditional Maya female roles and symbols in the recent work of female Indigenous poets, Calixta Gabriel Xiquín and Maya Cu. Lastly, in ii the work of Víctor Montejo and Humberto Ak’abal I identify a negotiation of heterogeneity and essentialism for the development of a cultural project that looks to the formation of a pluricultural, plurinational Guatemalan state. iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor, Néstor Rodríguez, whose kind words and help in conceptualizing, reigning in and developing this project have been invaluable. To my thesis committee, Professors Stephen Rupp and Ricardo Sternberg, and my external readers, Professors Manuel Ramírez and Monica Dehart my sincerest thanks. I am also indebted to Professor Stephen Rupp for his support and guidance throughout my graduate career. I am deeply grateful to Víctor Rivas whose enthusiasm, patience, and insight inspired me and provided me with the introspection I needed to carry out this project. My most heartfelt gratitude to Sanda Munjic, whose encouraging and caring words have made a difference in the process of writing my dissertation. Finally, I am grateful to Julie, my friends, my family, and my colleagues for inspiring me with their work, passion and understanding. I dedicate this project to Julie, Carlos, Rita and Oswald. For their unconditional love and support, this project is theirs as much as it is mine. iv Table of Contents Abstract .....................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................iv Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 The Indio and the Guatemalan Nation ......................................................................... 9 Chapter 2 Writing Contemporary Indigenous Literature: Luis de Lión, Gaspar Pedro González and the Foundation of a Maya Cultural Project.........................................................................62 Chapter 3 From Rigoberta Menchú’s Testimonio to Maya Cu’s Erotic Poetry: The Emergence of a Contemporary Indigenous Women’s Literature ..........................................................121 Chapter 4 Maya discursivity And New Indigenous Literature in Guatemala...................................170 Conclusion..............................................................................................................210 Works Cited............................................................................................................217 v Introduction In recent years, Guatemala, like other Latin American countries, has witnessed the resurgence of Indigenous cultural movements as never before. This has been accompanied by the production of a new literature, written by and for Indigenous people in an effort to rearticulate Mayanness, rewrite history, and promote active participation in the Guatemalan nation project. Indigenous literature in Guatemala is the product of a complex history and a rapidly changing present that cannot be overlooked; it is a response to the reality in which it was conceived as it speaks directly to the factors that have shaped the lives of Indigenous men, women and children in Guatemala. As a result, it is important to note that writing in Guatemala is an artistic endeavour as much as it is a political commitment. Today contemporary Indigenous writers constantly appropriate, rewrite, and reinsert notions of Indigenousness into official and unofficial cultural practices. This in turn remodels the nation to include racial and ethnic differences as enunciated rather than assigned identity markers. It is estimated that more than half of Guatemala’s total population is Indigenous and, though the members of this majority speak twenty-one recognized Maya languages, the official language of the country is Spanish. In recent years, many Indigenous intellectuals have gained prominence in both the cultural and political arenas due to a revitalization of the Maya movement as well as an implementation of multicultural policies on the part of the government to protect the cultural rights of Indigenous people. Even so, many Mayas today face racism and discrimination, remain largely illiterate, and continually struggle to preserve their language and culture in addition to satisfying their larger material needs—access to necessities such as health care, land, and resources. 1 2 Growing up in Guatemala in the 1980s, I lived in the state-imposed silence that permeated all aspects of everyday life. This silence was felt differently by ladinos (non- Indigenous people) and Indigenous people, as well as by the rural populations who were caught in the crossfire. I understood little about the situation given that I was safely sheltered by my middle class family: I was enrolled in a private school and was privileged enough to have lice-free friends who where chosen and groomed by my grandmother. The first time I experienced ethnic and class difference occurred many years later, in the 1990s and from exile, when I witnessed the signing of the peace accords in Guatemala and the rise to prominence of an Indigenous woman, Rigoberta Menchú. During that time, Menchú’s traditional clothing and speech were the object of scorn, mockery and denigration among many ladino Guatemalans. The clothing that she wore was reminiscent of an outfit that I once wore as a ladina during my grandmother’s town’s annual convite , a celebration honouring the Virgen de Patrocinio. At the time, my brother and I, two and five years old, respectively, were dressed in the traditional traje , given a light refacción and paraded through the main streets of town on a float. Interestingly, there were no Indigenous children among those of us who had been allowed to participate. We, the ladino children and grandchildren of the respected families of the town of Palín, were given the task of representing the indio that day. Unlike Menchú, my brother and I were not mocked for wearing indio clothing; rather we were rewarded for keeping our respective corte and calzón tightly bound around our waists. These and many other experiences, together with my unique perspective gained from exile, have permitted me to reflect on what constitutes Guatemalanness and the idea of the indio as manipulated in official and unofficial discourse to help create a national consciousness. In this project I set out to trace the articulation of varying forms of 3 Indigenousness. I first examine Indigenous as articulated from a ladino perspective and I then explore how Indigenous people have reclaimed their own representation through their participation in a cultural project that distinguishes its many expressions from those of the dominant culture. In my study I employ a number of terms that refer to ethnicity and denote class and social status. Over time, these terms have been shaped by the many social and political actors that contribute to the logical organization of the nation. The term criollo refers to an individual of Spanish descent who was born in the Americas. The influence of this social group was significant as Guatemala slowly developed into a nation with the efforts of emancipation and independence largely led by the new intellectual criollo elite . I utilize the widely accepted definition of the term ladino to refer to non-Indigenous people in Guatemala. The term has been used since the time of the colony to distinguish the Guatemalan mestizo from the indio on the basis of ethnic difference and European cultural heritage. 1 Indio , for its part, is a derogatory term used to refer to Indigenous people,