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Becoming a Maya Woman: Beauty Pageants at the Intersection of Indigeneity, Gender and Class in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2019

Elisabet Dueholm Rasch Open the ORCID record for Elisabet Dueholm Rasch [Opens in a new window]
Elisabet Dueholm Rasch*
Affiliation:
Elisabet Dueholm Rasch is Associate Professor at Wageningen University and Research.
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Indigenous beauty pageants can be seen as a way of re-appropriating indigenous identity. This article approaches beauty pageants as being situated in multiple systems of power at four levels of contestation: (1) reproducing gender relations and creating new professional and political opportunities; (2) constituting a site for cultural and political agency and delimiting the ways to ‘be a Maya woman’; (3) reproducing class relations in terms of access to the event and contributing to social awareness of beauty queens; (4) as a social event consolidating (gender) relations within the family. The findings are based on longitudinal (2002–14) ethnographic fieldwork in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Spanish abstract

Spanish abstract

Los concursos de belleza indígena pueden ser vistos como una forma de reapropiación de la identidad indígena. Este artículo ve a los concursos de belleza como situados en múltiples sistemas de poder repartidos en cuatro niveles de contestación: (1) al reproducir las relaciones de género y crear nuevas oportunidades profesionales y políticas; (2) al constituir un sitio para la agencia cultural y política y delimitar las formas de ‘ser mujer maya’; (3) al reproducir las relaciones de clase al tener acceso al evento y contribuir a la conciencia social de las reinas de belleza; (4) como un evento social que consolida relaciones (de género) al interior de la familia. Los hallazgos se basan en un trabajo etnográfico longitudinal en Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (2002–14).

Portuguese abstract

Portuguese abstract

Concursos de beleza indígena podem ser vistos como uma maneira de reapropriação da identidade indígena. Este artigo vê concursos de beleza situados em sistemas de poder a quatro níveis de contestação: (1) reproduzindo relações de gênero e criando novas oportunidades políticas e profissionais; (2) estabelecendo um lugar de agência política e cultural e delimitando maneiras de ‘ser uma mulher Maya’; (3) reproduzindo relações de classe no que diz respeito ao acesso ao evento e contribuindo para uma consciência social das ‘misses’; (4) funcionando como um evento social que visa consolidar relações (de gênero) no núcleo familiar. As descobertas são baseadas em trabalho de campo de etnografia longitudinal (2002–14) em Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Keywords

indigenous identitybeauty pageantsGuatemalaagencygenderidentidad indígenaconcursos de bellezaGuatemalaagenciagéneroidentidade indígenaconcursos de belezaGuatemalaagênciagênero
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 133 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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References

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24 The cargo system is a hierarchical system of services that combines administrative offices of civil and religious life: Rasch, ‘Representing Mayas’, n. 13.

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43 Wroblewski, ‘Public Indigeneity’, p. 75.

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45 Quetzaltenango municipality is composed of the urban centre, two aldeas and 22 cantones, which are administrative units presided over by a communal authority, the community mayor.

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48 Rasch, ‘Representing Mayas’.

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51 See note 11 above.

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53 See Arzú, Marta Elena Casaús, Guatemala: Linaje y racismo (San José: FLACSO, 1992)Google Scholar.

54 The municipal theatre of Quetzaltenango was inaugurated in 1895.

55 Xel-jú is an indigenous civic, cultural and political association.

56 300 Quetzales is roughly equivalent to US$40.

57 Author's fieldnotes, Aug. 2003.

58 MacLeod, Nietas del fuego; Smith, ‘Race-Class-Gender’.

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60 A tz'ite is a bean that is used in Maya ceremonies.

61 Ajq'ij is a day keeper, a Maya spiritual guide.

62 Xmukané is the ancestral grandmother of time and appears as a central figure in the Pop Wuj.

63 The guïpil is an embroidered blouse worn by indigenous women. It is an important element of the traje.

64 Based on interview with Gladys, Nov. 2014.

65 Interview with Judith, Nov. 2014.

66 See Warren, Kay B., Indigenous Movements and their Critics, Pan-Maya Activism in Guatemala (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998)Google Scholar for an excellent analysis of the construction of a pan-Mayan identity.

67 In 2017 the election of the Umial Tinimit was declared part of Guatemala's cultural patrimony, because it is considered as the highest expression of Maya K'iche’ identity. See Municipalidad de Quetzaltenango, ‘Certamen Umi'al Tinimit Re Xelajuj No'j 2017. Bases del Certamen Umi'al Tinimit Re Xelajuj No'j 2017’, available at https://issuu.com/georgearriola/docs/bases_certamen_umial_tinimit_2017, last access 25 June 2019.

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74 Ibid.

75 Casaús Arzú, Guatemala.