Dissident Women: Gender and Cultural Politics in Chiapas

Louann Atkins Temple Women & Culture Series

by Shannon Speed (Editor)

Yielding pivotal new perspectives on the indigenous women of Mexico, Dissident Gender and Cultural Politics in Chiapas presents a diverse collection of voices exploring the human rights and gender issues that gained international attention after the first public appearance of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in 1994. Drawing from studies on topics ranging from the daily life of Zapatista women to the effect of transnational indigenous women in tipping geopolitical scales, the contributors explore both the personal and global implications of indigenous women's activism. The Zapatista movement and the Women's Revolutionary Law, a charter that came to have tremendous symbolic importance for thousands of indigenous women, created the potential for renegotiating gender roles in Zapatista communities. Drawing on the original research of scholars with long-term field experience in a range of Mayan communities in Chiapas and featuring several key documents written by indigenous women articulating their vision, Dissident Women brings fresh insight to the revolutionary crossroads at which Chiapas stands—and to the worldwide implications of this economic and political microcosm.

Genres: Indigenous

318 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

Reviews

[Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good variety of ethnographic and feminist analysis of the complex nature of gender within the indigenous community and the Zapatista movement.