CHAIR: WALLACE, Tim (N Carolina State)
RAPOPORT, Erin (U British Columbia)
Ru’kotz’I’j Tinaamit: A Mayan Beauty Pageant in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala.
Wherever they occur, beauty pageants are steeped with localized meanings. This paper focuses on an indigenous-run pageant in a small Guatemalan town on Lake Atitlán. During two months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted a series of interviews whose findings are presented in this paper. I explore the various roles of pageant participants and discuss a localized history of the event. Following the institutionalized folklorization of the event in the early 1990’s, my data show that it has become highly politicized. I conclude with a discussion of the ways in which recent pageant winners have displayed a strong interest in female, public, political involvement in their town and in their country. erinrap@gmail.com (F-14)
MILIDRAGOVIC, Darja (U British Columbia)
May Our Past Not Be Our Future: Local Perspectives on Factors Contributing to Changing Family Size in San Jorge La Laguna.
Guatemala has one of the highest levels of social and economic inequality in Latin America; it also has one of the highest rates of fertility and lowest rates of contraceptive use on the continent. This general reality requires us to better understand the specific conditions and strategies of individual communities in Guatemala. Based on two months of ethnographic fieldwork in one of the poorest communities in the country, this paper focuses on emic perspectives of factors contributing to changing family size in San Jorge la Laguna, Sololá. This paper, reflecting the voices of Jorgeño men and women, reveals their perspectives on present socio-economic conditions, religion, gender roles and relations, family planning, education, and the future of their children. dacamili@hotmail.com (F-14)
SCHMID, Mary Beth (UNC-Chapel Hill)
“Living Loans” and Micro-credit in Santiago, Atitlan, Guatemala: A Comparative Study of Two Socioeconomic Organizations for Women.
This paper combines phenomenological and analytical research on indigenous women living in Santiago, Atitlan, Guatemala, a community on the shores of Lake Atitlan devastated by civil war and hurricane Stan. I provide: a) “snapshots” of my ethnographic experience with Atiteco women’s lives and; b) analysis and evaluation of two NGO aid organizations, one of which is a grassroots all women’s organization and provides material economic resources and education for its members; the other, a micro-credit organization based in the United States providing capital and education concentrating on money management. While both organizations had positive results, the micro-lender seems to be more effective. Nevertheless, both NGOs help vulnerable women revalue their identity and roles in their globalizing world. (F-14)
MAGEE, Erin (Loyola U)
Happily Ever After: Beliefs About Marriage in San Marcos La Laguna.
The following paper was written after a two-month period of research in San Marcos La Laguna in the District of Sololá Guatemala. It examines how the contemporary Kaqchikel Mayas of this highland Lake Atitlán town define and perceive marriage and its impact on their society. Essentially, marriage is viewed as encompassing four crucial contributors to the cultural workings of the town: parental and familial importance and impact; procreation and child-rearing; religion, and; binding commitment. Furthermore, this paper discusses how views on these particular aspects of a relationship are changing, possibly in light of globalization and the introduction of tourism. (F-14)
http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/wallace/Guatemala%20index.htm
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Session took place in Santa Fe, NM at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in March 2009.
