5 - Domestic Economics I

Summary

Focusing on one of the six communities introduced in the previous chapter – the one in Guatemala, Mantiox de Dios, where peasant agriculture is the basis of the local economy – this chapter delves into the relationships between domestic economic labor and foreign contract labor. It profiles two families represented by a couple that produce a wide variety of crops and livestock for home consumption and for sale, indicating how closely related reproductive and domestic productive labor are tied to one another through household consumption practices. The centerpiece of the chapter is a map drawn by a young woman in the community that shows the tight connections among domestic production, the spatial arrangement of the community, and local religious values.