Global maya work and ideology in rural guatemala

List of Figures viiAcknowledgments ix Introduction 3 1 Global Highlands: In Context, in Theory, and in Practice 11 2 Economic Ideology in Culture: Oral Tradition 43 3 Economic Ideology i

GLOBAL MAYA Work and Ideology

in Rural Guatemala

L I L I A N A R G O L D Í N

The University of Arizona Press Tucson

© 2009 The Arizona Board of Regents

All rights reserved

www.uapress.arizona.edu

First paperback printing 2011

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldín, Liliana R.

Global Maya : work and ideology in rural Guatemala / Liliana R Goldín.

p cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8165-2987-2 (pbk : alk paper)

List of Figures vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

1 Global Highlands: In Context, in Theory, and in Practice 11

2 Economic Ideology in Culture: Oral Tradition 43

3 Economic Ideology in Petty Industrial Production:

Tailors of San Francisco el Alto 61

4 Economic Ideology in Petty Commodity Agricultural Production: Gardeners of San Pedro Almolonga 97

5 Economic Ideology in the Production of Nontraditional

Agricultural Export Crops 119

6 Economic Ideology in Industrial Wage Labor: From Land

to Factory 136

7 It Takes Work to Shape Our Thinking:

Global Guatemala in Local Terms 154

Appendix A A Complete Transcription of Three Examples of Oral Tradition 175

Appendix B A Summary of the San Francisco el Alto

Map of the research area 4

A sewing supply shop in San Francisco el Alto 21

Don Bonifacio carving a mask and recounting tales 47

A family workshop in San Francisco el Alto 63

Selling pants made in workshop in San Francisco el Alto market 65Making clothes at home in San Francisco el Alto 66

The fi rst and only factory in San Francisco el Alto 68

Selling vegetables to wholesalers outside Almolonga market 100Retail sale of vegetables in Almolonga market 114

Taking care of vegetables for export in Santa María Cauqué 121Applying pesticides in Chimaltenango 123

An agro-exporter loading vegetables into refrigerated room 133

A maquila worker and her mother 139

The maquila-sending community in Chimaltenango 144

The list of those who have helped me in this long-term project is sive I have been fortunate to be welcome in so many Guatemalan homes and workplaces and to have had so many people grant me valuable time, teaching me about the ways they solve the problems of making a liv-ing and the ways they view the world The list includes many people living in several communities of Guatemala, as well as teachers and collaborators in Guatemala and in the United States I thank the many men and women with whom I talked from San Francisco el Alto, San Pedro Almolonga, Zunil, San Cristóbal Totonicapán, Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, and several surrounding areas, who were involved in the production strategies I describe I promised anonymity to all and have used pseudonyms throughout the volume I sincerely hope that when they recognize their own words or identify their own towns that it all rings true and that they can hear the respect and appreciation I have for them Invariably, in the midst of often diffi cult conditions, people have found the ways to do the best they can for themselves and their children They have taught me much more about commonalities than differences With their permission, I thank the extended Francisco Alvarez family from San Francisco el Alto and now also in Quetzaltenango, the family

exten-of José Xiap Gonon in Almolonga, and exten-of Bonifacio Son Elías in San Cristóbal All of them invited me into their homes, helped me through-out the years, and trusted me with their friendship The Celada Lima family in Quetzaltenango also has been a constant source of friendship and support I thank my friend and colleague Linda Asturias She has opened many doors, including her own family’s home, and has been my constant collaborator and guide

My friends and colleagues Brenda Rosenbaum, Gary Gossen, and June Nash read the fi rst draft of this book and offered important critiques and commentaries that guided my revisions Needless to say, I may have failed to incorporate all their insights I have continued to work with

Brenda throughout the years and am grateful for that John Watanabe, R McKenna Brown, John Hawkins, and anonymous reviewers read versions

of this volume and provided additional critiques While I was not able to address all the important points they raised, I believe the volume has ben-efi ted from their input I thank Bob Carmack and all my good colleagues

at SUNY Albany and in the fi ne Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, who inspired much of this work with their own insights, great conversations, and their passion for the fi eld I would have liked to present my friend John Murra a copy of this book, but his recent death prevents that Still, his enthusiasm for research and his striking personality have infl uenced

me for many years, and I am grateful to have known him

I always wanted to thank my husband, Jim Jaccard, for typing the manuscript, as so many male colleagues used to thank their wives for the same However, I can’t He did not type the manuscript; he did much more than that A year after our marriage, while we were both professors

at SUNY Albany and while I was pregnant with Sarita, our only child, I was uncomfortably sitting in a classroom at SUNY Albany taking from him my fi rst course in statistics That was the result of many conversa-tions about the virtues of qualitative versus quantitative methodologies,

my strong criticisms of the “detached” and superfi cial quantitative odologies that he mainly used as a psychologist, and his constant remind-ers of the benefi ts of broader representative samples and the incredible things you can learn from simple descriptive or more sophisticated analy-ses After a few more courses with him and others, I became convinced that the beauty of research lies in the ability to combine the methods devised by multiple, interrelated disciplines in order to address questions from different angles Jim has critiqued and helped me improve my sur-vey instruments and guided me in the process of data analysis He also read each draft and tried to deal with the long and convoluted sentences resulting from my Latin American writing style and English being my second language I cannot thank him enough Sarita is off to college as this book is off to press I hope this book makes her as proud as she makes me

meth-With the elusive goal of disentangling the “webs of signifi cance”1 in the organization of the markets and plazas of western Guatemala, I found myself about twenty years ago traveling back and forth between highland towns more than I would have liked I spent considerable amounts of my allocated twelve to fourteen months of fi eldwork following market cycles

in the departments of Quetzaltenango and Totonicapán In each town, I posed the same questions to market vendors and administrators: I asked them to help me draw maps of the market while I obsessively interrogated them about the nature of and activities in the markets and plazas Now, when I teach graduate students about research design and methodology, I

am careful to emphasize how diffi cult but important it is to establish texts for research I tell them how I did not truly start learning about the dynamics of markets until I went beyond the form, structure, and content

con-of the market day and market networks This point was vividly illustrated when, having established myself in one of the fi ve towns where I ultimately

would reside, I observed the performance of a traditional dance (convite)

at a local celebration The participants all were men dressed in an sive diversity of costumes portraying Spaniards, Zorro, a Turk, a priest, and an American Indian I was told, in passing, that all the participants

impres-were, in fact, comerciantes, merchants They could afford the investment

in the fi esta, the rental of clothes, the masks, and the liquor for the dance Merchants were among the wealthiest inhabitants of this particular town, and as such, they performed their social and ritual obligations on the patron saint’s day as well as during other local celebrations But it was not

“like it used to be,” since fewer and fewer dances were organized and fewer people were interested in participating People were busy traveling in pur-suit of their commercial interests for most of the month, with little time for ritual occasions Market, merchants, ritual, and change coalesced.The choice of towns where I initially settled, Almolonga, San Cristóbal Totonicapán, and San Francisco el Alto, was infl uenced heavily by the

1 Quetzaltenango: Almolonga, Zunil

2 Totonicapán: San Cristóbal Totonicapán, San Francisco el Alto

3 Chimaltenango: El Tejar

4 Sacatepéquez: Santiago Sacatepéquez, Santa María Cauqué

5 Guatemala City

size and type of their markets, the towns’ specializations in production and trade, and by sheer curiosity For example, I started hearing about

Almolongueños early in my fi eldwork A vendor of raw sugar (panela),

who proved to be very helpful over the years and who had traveled to most markets of the region, fi rst characterized Almolongueños as being very rich: “See the hats they wear? Look at their shoes, their watches, and most of all, look at the trucks they drive! They buy those trucks with cash,

fi fty to sixty thousand dollars They pay cash! They do not trust anyone, including banks They save their money at home and carry it in their bag

[morral].” Julio, who helped me secure living arrangements with native

families in the different townships, expressed a mix of admiration for and envy toward the people of Almolonga: “They are good business people They produce large amounts of vegetables, which they carry to Mexico and Central America They are mostly rich.” I returned several times to Almolonga in the years following my initial dissertation work The con-cerns and preoccupations of the people of Almolonga contributed to free-ing me from my preoccupation with the webs of signifi cance I started to instead focus my attention on answering more mundane questions such as: Why are the Almolongueños doing better than others in the region? Why do they seem to talk so much about progress, change, and wealth, unlike others in the region? Why do they characterize themselves as the

“little Israelites” in their travels? Indeed, as I later learned, Almolonga’s standing as a progressive town may have helped the Almolongueños live

in a degree of peace through some of the most violent times in the try’s history

coun-In the years of my research, some of the most atrocious acts of violence against Guatemalans took place during what was essentially a full-scale civil war People had been fi ghting for land, rights, and for a decent stan-dard of living Under the pretense of the need to combat communism and subversion, the state fought against the guerrillas and against all those thought to be associated in any way with the guerrillas, materially, ideologically, or simply by proximity Entire communities were attacked and decimated, and thousands of people were murdered or disappeared The Guatemalan army was identifi ed by the Commission of Historical Clarifi cation (1999) as the perpetrator of the majority of human rights violations and acts of violence

At the time, the army was explicit in their characterizations of the

Maya communities They identifi ed some Mayans as “buenos Inditos,”

or good little Indians It was the end of 1979 and only a few months before

a group of peasants marched from the highlands to Guatemala City and occupied the Spanish Embassy Most Spanish offi cials and embassy workers were left to burn to death as the army surrounded the building and prevented people from escaping a fi re that had been started in the building Following the recommendation of the Guatemalan Institute of Anthropology, I started my fi eldwork by traveling to the military base in Quetzaltenango My purpose was to request a letter of introduction and

to get permission to present myself to military personnel in the highlands when visiting communities At the time of my fi rst request, a military leader told me that the people of Almolonga and the other communities

I intended to visit were populated by “good, hardworking people, buenos inditos” and that I did not need to worry about having problems with

military commandos when traveling there And in fact, when I examined the commission’s analysis of the distribution of violence in the highlands, the areas where I worked were ones least affected by violence: of the total acts of violence, Sacatepéquez experienced 0.05 percent, Totonicapán 0.55 percent, and Quetzaltenango 1.92 percent With the exception of the department of Totonicapán, where there is considerable socioeco-nomic differentiation within and between townships, the areas that suf-fered least from acts of violence and genocide tended to correspond to areas where there was relatively more economic development Although the areas I worked in did not experience the level of violence that other areas of Guatemala did, there was indeed a high level of fear and great uncertainty about the future Nevertheless, the inhabitants seemed to have benefi ted from the military’s perception of their communities as less dangerous, friendlier, and more in tune with the military’s development and pacifi cation agendas

It was during these years that the neoliberal economic tions in Guatemala developed rather dramatically Against the backdrop

transforma-of repression and fear, many Indigenous households resorted to focusing their energies on new occupations or on intensifying and modifying old practices in order to survive or improve their standard of living Many scholars of Guatemala and Central America have identifi ed the struc-tural constraints that account for the region’s position in the continent and in the world system and that have limited development and access to

land, health, and all resources essential to basic human rights There is

no doubt that Guatemala has in the past suffered and continues to suffer from structural racism and discrimination, evident in extreme poverty and lack of education These ills are most recently at the core of wide-spread economic violence and general instability It is these structural constraints and limited opportunities that generate economic differentia-tion and alternative perspectives toward the world and the economy in particular My questions acknowledge these often insurmountable limita-tions but go beyond them to examine how differentiation and change still take place and how the residents of some communities manage to improve their livelihoods in spite of the limitations

Throughout the years, I have visited people in all of the townships where I initially lived, in the departments of Quetzaltenango and Totonicapán As an outsider, I noticed major changes taking place, as each of the towns intensifi ed various forms of production and became more intimately linked to the market Many houses in the head townships

(cabeceras) looked whiter and larger They often had a second or even

third story, and some streets were paved and named using a “modern” tem of nomenclature The inhabitants clearly were proud of this People often explained their success in terms of “changing our ways,” “improving ourselves,” unlike those who “had not changed.” In the process of trying to understand uneven regional development, I came to see that some people were more involved with the market than others; that some were innovat-ing and taking larger risks; and that many of the wealthier members of these communities talked like savvy investors They weren’t just penny capitalists Rather, they were full-fl edged capitalists—in their attitudes, their philosophies, and their worldviews And conversion to evangelical religions was soaring The question of why some people in the region were doing better than others generated additional questions: How does the process of change take place? Is there an empirical way of address-ing this question? Do people take on new economic activities after their worldviews have changed, so that the new occupations fi t their changed ideologies? Or do people begin by trying new things and in the process revise their own attitudes, which no longer support the new practices?Some of these questions were also being raised by students of Asian economies, among others, as they observed some groups doing better than others and some sectors adapting better to capitalist styles and

sys-modes Asianist anthropologists sought ways of answering questions about the relationship of culture, ethnicity, and economic change They examined different interpretations of ethnicity, success, religion, and the ideas and practices of various ethnic groups.2 The relationship between economic improvement, economic practices, and economic ideology and the causal dynamics among them thus became a central focus of my own research program.

I identifi ed as areas of interest the ways that people make a living and how they think about their options, practices, and constraints Limited by complex historical, ecological, and resource-based conditions and aided

by skills, keen observation, and various socialization processes, the itants of the central and western highlands of Guatemala are living their lives in the context of broad systems of thought and practice, a moral economy of sorts, that is at once a framework for action and informed by their actions

inhab-In the present book, I focus on peoples’ statements about work and sustenance as a way of learning about the economy In addition, I analyze stories told as traditional narratives, such as Earth Lord accounts, to dis-cern attitudes about the economy in relation to various economic prac-tices After positioning these issues in the context of Guatemalan history and society and discussing relevant theoretical and methodological issues (chap 1), I describe attitudes about the economy from different perspec-tives These include oral tradition (chap 2); the production of clothes in petty capitalist workshops and home work (petty industrial production; chap 3); the production of vegetables for the internal and international markets through local producers, intermediaries, and contractors (petty commodity agricultural production; chap 4); the production of nontra-ditional agricultural products for export (NTAE) with the participation

of local and foreign buyers (chap 5); and the industrial production of assembled garments for export (industrial wage labor in the assembly fac-

tories/maquiladoras; chap 6) My goal is to show that ideas about making

a living are constructed in the process of practice related to work, that, as others have said, we make ourselves in practice.3 In a nonlinear way, we are the result and the motivation of what we do and how we do it

My conclusions are presented in chapter 7 There I summarize, based

on empirical study, the dynamic workings of ideology and practice and describe the ongoing transformations in rural Guatemala in the context

of global processes and local initiatives and responses.4 The chapter resents an integrative and evaluative analysis of economic ideology from the perspective of the production systems considered in previous chapters, namely, petty industrial production, petty commodity agricultural pro-duction, the production and trade of NTAEs, and industrial wage labor Particular attention is given to contrasting work styles, diversifi cation, and control as a function of production systems Perceptions of paths to wealth and ideas of success also are contrasted, because they take on different meanings in each context Social and economic differentiation along class, ethnic, and gender lines are compared, as well as attitudes about accumulation, competition, and cooperation In chapter 7, I present and discuss ten core fi ndings from my comparative analysis For example, I point to different ideological constructs and the ways they are infl uenced

rep-by gender, ethnic identity, and generational factors Production strategies refl ect differing forms of incorporation into the capitalist market, and, as such, they are channels for diverse ideological constructs Insertion into the market seems to be associated with further diversifi cation, which in turn results in differing perspectives of the economy This is the case, for example, among households involved in maquila industries or in produc-tion of nontraditional crops for export Among other fi ndings, I point to new expressions of economic “success.” As producers and wageworkers view success differently, so do they see others around them differently and construct evolving views These assumptions extend to economic and non-economic areas of life and complicate social and economic stratifi cation

My results do not lend themselves to identifying “ideological types” and then associating one type or the other with a given production sys-tem Rather, my study shows that the relationship between ideology and practice is complicated Human perspectives are complex and shaped

by a multitude of variables But based on this study, I am able to identify changing perspectives as identities interact with production strategies The wageworker sees the world through a particular lens that is colored

by the everyday experiences of control, circumscribed spaces, a new value for work and time, and a new social and affective context The sub-sistence farmer experiences life differently from others, and those experi-ences are mediated by gender, ethnicity, and life-cycle identities, among others These documented facts confi rm assumptions about the ways in which practice, thought, and attitudes are constituted Finally, the ways

in which the various forms of production are differentially inserted into the capitalist market and the person’s degree of active participation in the market, as well as the distances between various positions in the economy, are key factors in the generation of ideology The broader implications of the integrative framework are discussed in terms of theory that relates ideology to practice, economic development policies, and the future lives

of rural Guatemalans

The commission suggested solutions focused on integrating the lation into a single economy, which would, in theory, improve education, health, and nutrition, and lead to the development of new occupations for the indigenous populations of the highlands They also recommended the resettlement of portions of the population into regions that are “better adapted to progressive agriculture” (1958:57) The commission argued that overpopulated areas should depend less on corn production and more

popu-on cattle, milk products, and horticulture, as well as native crafts that could potentially be exported to the United States (59) In a subsequent phase, when an abundant labor force and inexpensive electric energy were present, it would be possible to solve the problem of unemployment

by establishing small manufacturing plants in combination with a type

of agriculture or horticulture that would require only part of the available labor time of the people (60) In conjunction with the above, it was rec-Global Highlands

In Context, in Theory, and in Practice

ommended that attempts be made to resettle the population into small villages, rather than scattered hamlets, which would facilitate sanitary control and social and cultural stability.

These recommendations bear a striking resemblance to recent opments in Guatemala resulting from modernization efforts during the 1950s and the neoliberal policies of the 1970s and 1980s that are still in place Some of the developments include new migration patterns, volun-tary resettlement because of the establishment of maquiladora industries, growth of petty capitalist workshops and small local factories, reallocation

devel-of land in the more fertile areas for purposes devel-of exporting vegetables, and the planned and forced resettlements of the “development poles” instituted

by military governments in the early 1980s The limited industrial opment observed in the 1950s has yielded to today’s international capital, resulting in regions specializing in agricultural and industrial export pro-duction The structural adjustment policies of the 1980s in conjunction with the repressive measures of the state have, in essence, resulted in the implementation of many of the recommendations of the World Bank

devel-Globalization Processes: Guatemala in

the World Economy

Globalization and the dynamics of the global economy also have had

an impact on Guatemala The general philosophy underlying recent expansions of the global economy is to capitalize on each country’s com-parative advantage, the result being positive change for even the poorest countries This is achieved by re-energizing a country’s economy through effective and effi cient use of its natural and human resources The theory

is that there is no need for all countries to produce all products If each country produces what it is best at and then trades what it produces, all will profi t The assumption of liberal economics is that “producers and consumers operate at arm’s length, negotiating until a price and quan-tity are determined that clear the market and benefi t both parties to the transaction” (Abell 1999:40) Whether the benefi ts are in fact mutual is controversial Abell argues that rather than participating in close negotia-tions, small producers “receive take-it-or-leave-it prices from agribusiness concerns that control the world’s market.”

Whatever the case, it is clear that globalization has redefi ned the limited

options available to rural peoples While Mayas always have characterized themselves as engaging in a wide range of economic activities throughout history, the intensifi cation of production in the second part of the twenti-eth century has qualitatively different characteristics During these years the mostly Maya communities of the central and western highlands of Guatemala have engaged in substantively new economic practices, includ-ing the expansion of markets and experimentation with new production venues These strategies include the use of such new technologies as fertil-izers, pesticides, sewing machines, and the combination of several vertical looms at a single production site Also evident has been the pursuit of per-manent or seasonal wage labor and variants of petty commodity produc-tion in combination with continued subsistence agriculture.

In this chapter, I describe the ways in which rural Guatemala has become inserted into the world economy following contact with Europe

I also present the diverse economic strategies that have resulted from exposure to globalization processes and recent structural adjustment efforts In addition to providing an economic and historical context for the case studies that constitute later chapters and the core of this volume,

I review the ways social scientists have examined the process of cultural and economic change and the methodological strategies I employed

Global and Rural Highlands

The world economy is one where local and global domains are blurred by the integration of workers with processes of capital accumulation As the internationalization of production and fi nance expands, local develop-ments in Guatemala must be studied as part of such globalization and in the context of the adaptation and accommodation of communities and households to new conditions As Asianists have shown, there are many capitalisms,2 and it is the plurality of such expressions that I am interested

in, as well as the ways in which Maya and non-Maya Guatemalans have engaged the global economy

Export assembly plants, export agriculture, and the intensifi cation of various forms of production are having a substantial impact on house-holds and communities located at or near production sites New attitudes toward work are being formed in the context of changing interpretive systems, and new perspectives on economic opportunities are emerging,

engendered by new forms of labor These changes in economic practice are not occurring in a vacuum They most often have evolved from ances-tral skills, such as those associated with the intensifi cation of agriculture

or craft and petty industrial production.3 It has been suggested by some that globalization processes constitute relatively recent phenomena that are “shrinking” the world and blurring the lines between national and international spaces Others view such processes as the continued evolu-tion of a world system that began over fi ve hundred years ago with mer-cantile expansion.4 In either case, the native peoples of Guatemala are meaningfully, intentionally, and creatively engaged in those processes

Of course, not everyone is adopting or adapting to the new ways Some sectors of Maya society are more inclined to transform their lives than others For example, although many women with access to industrial labor seem to appreciate the benefi ts and opportunities of such labor, others still fi nd solace and security in the practices associated with land tenure and agriculture Despite this, globalization is having an unmistak-able infl uence on the lives of many Guatemalans

Multiple Economic Activities through Time

Exploring multiple economic strategies is not new for highland Mayas Since the colonial period they have engaged in an unusually broad range

of economic activities in addition to subsistence farming In most cases, people continued subsistence activities even when limited by the loss of lands and relocations In the early years after European contact, many people were forced by various sources of power (local and regional admin-istrators, both religious and secular) to develop new livelihoods or endure the hardships of work on the coastal plantations Some Maya resorted to varied forms of labor that have shifted through the years, ranging from contract labor to wage labor to indentured forms and sharecropping Others became servants to the colonizers With limited access to land, many looked for alternative products to sell in the newly created urban markets, often at the request or demand of the Europeans Still others expanded their search for wild plants and animals to supplement some of their losses and satisfy the increased tributary demands.5

Many peasants saw their landholdings expropriated in the fi rst half

of the nineteenth century, particularly those with land suitable for the

production of cochineal This occurred again in the second half of the century, with a focus on coffee and sugar production, and still again during the twentieth century with banana, cotton, and cardamom pro-duction In 1835, the Guatemalan legislature legalized the practice of renting communal properties and forced many townships to rent their

common lands to others A large number of the coffee and cotton fi ncas

and other lands owned today by ladinos originally were such communal lands This was the case in Almolonga, where the largest extension of fl at and fertile land was owned by a ladino family who, in turn, sold it back

to the native inhabitants in smaller lots.6 The uneven distribution of land

in Guatemala today is, in part, due to Guatemala’s insertion into the world economy and the resultant intensive production of certain crops and commodities through a plantation system

New Roads and Continued Travel

In the regions characterized as the central marketing system of western Guatemala7 and the central highlands, rural peoples have taken advan-tage of access to roads connecting the highlands with the central valley as well as the hundreds of local markets along the way The Pan-American Highway, built in the 1940s, enabled many peasants to earn a relatively good and steady income As Smith (1977) has shown, these areas present

a more differentiated socioeconomic landscape than the peripheral areas

of the marketing system In many communities, change and tion have produced semiproletarianization However, many people in the communities that I worked in have chosen alternative paths The inhabitants of these centrally located areas have had access to economic opportunities that others have not, and have tried, when possible, to avoid harsh plantation work Agricultural surplus, fi sh, shrimp, other goods from the Pacifi c coast, various types of crafts such as ceramics, grinding stones, textiles, and various carpentry products such as furniture, toys, or ceremonial masks—all were distributed by highland people throughout the country and beyond

capitaliza-Since early times, itinerant merchants have engaged in the practice

of scaled commerce, whereby items are exchanged with others at several stops during trips These merchants would bring back to their native areas produce and manufactured items from afar Such practices also

have been reported in contemporary times.8 With newly acquired skills and the experience of having traveled beyond the limits of known territo-ries, the inhabitants of the central and western highlands have been able

to explore alternative commercial options Those with some knowledge

of horticulture, such as the people of Almolonga, Zunil, and Sololá, have developed a network of regional and national markets, and in some cases international markets, including Mexico and other countries in Central America

Transnational Highlands

Migration from communities in the western and central highlands to Mexico, the United States, and Canada was minimal until recently Throughout the past forty years, people left because of a longstanding armed confl ict, military dictatorships, natural disasters, and unem-ployment Migration to plantations in the coastal areas of Guatemala and Mexico had been part of the labor strategies of poor Guatemalans since colonial times, but the civil war that began in the 1960s dramati-cally increased movement and instability throughout the country The International Organization for Migration (IOM) calculated that in the 1960s approximately seven thousand went to the United States from all

of Guatemala The number of people migrating yearly increased tenfold

by the 1970s, aggravated by the intensifi cation of the war and the 1976 earthquake It continued to increase rapidly in ensuing years, so that by the year 2005 more than 1,350,000 Guatemalans had emigrated out of a total population of 14,000,000 While many migrants returned after the signing of the peace accords in 1996, the fl ow of migration actually inten-sifi ed because of the terrible economic and social situation in the country

at the formal end of the war The rate of migration increased after 1999, with hundreds of thousands leaving the country legally, plus an uncertain number of people crossing the borders by foot, unable to obtain formal documentation to migrate The majority of the most recent migrants have gone directly to the United States.9 The same organization estimates that between six thousand and twelve thousand Guatemalans enter the United States each year across the Mexican border As one travels today (2007) through Guatemala, one can vividly see the impact of migration

in the form of extensive and uncharacteristic two-, three-, and four-story

buildings in formerly sleepy townships of the region, made possible by remittances from abroad But beyond the obvious construction of new homes, remittances have constituted one of the few sources of income for most poor urban and rural households In 2006, remittances of more than $3 billion were sent to Guatemala, mostly from the United States, notably exceeding income from the total volume of annual exports and tourism These remittances benefi ted more than 3.7 million households and three large money transfer companies The funds are mostly used to purchase or build a new home, buy land, provide for basic needs, and to

a lesser extent go toward health and education Little of it so far has gone toward local economic development, and most studies report that remit-tances are not eradicating poverty but rather diminishing the severity of poverty levels.10 The impact of remittances is broad and complex, extend-ing well beyond economic factors Cultural remittances, such as new ways of thinking, artistic forms, and sources of information, are widely addressed in studies of transnationalism Ideological changes of the type

I document in this study are part of the body of cultural transformations associated with globalization New ideologies penetrate every realm of Guatemalan society and are widely expressed in every domain, from the farmer who sees the benefi ts of competition to the women who in 2003 formed the fi rst all-women’s association for the performance of the tradi-tional dance known as convite, never before presented by women.11 Most migrants from Mexico and Central America in the United States are manual laborers They are drawn by the possibilities of work or freedom, pushed in part by uncertain economic conditions and political persecution in their own countries But ultimately, they are drawn by the processes restructuring the world economy that are generating sources

of labor for international capital through a new international division

of labor These same processes, including the movement of industrial production to poor countries, have generated interest and migration waves and created new ethnic minorities throughout the world These populations are struggling today to claim a space of their own in their new homelands Therefore, in addition to local conditions in the sending countries, much of the migration has been induced by the United States For example, growers in the southwestern United States provided incen-tives to Mexican agricultural workers throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in order to obtain cheap, reliable labor Migration

was initiated not just by individuals in search of a better life, but by North Americans trying to obtain hard labor at low wages and under conditions that few North Americans were and are willing to accept These labor outfl ows were revived in 1942 when the Bracero Program, a temporary worker program, was instituted by the United States The program ended

in 1964, but several other agreements have been instituted to allow porary incursions since then In 2007 the government of George W Bush attempted to pass legislation that would grant a new temporary permit program so that migrants could remain in the United States for three years If enacted, this temporary arrangement could have had lasting consequences for workers and their families, affecting their stability and the education of children and possibly causing further dangerous and clandestine movements In June 2007 the bill was blocked in the Senate, effectively ending its chances to pass The notion that the United States does not want migrants for whom there is no work is fallacious, since employers in several sectors lobby for immigration measures that will facilitate the availability of migrants who are willing to take temporary low-paying jobs.12

tem-Nontraditional Exports

Traditional agricultural export products, such as coffee, sugar, and bananas, make up more than 50 percent of total exports from Guatemala However, nontraditional export products (NTE) have emerged in the last twenty-fi ve years as signifi cant contributors to the Guatemalan economy The products include seafood, manufactured goods, apparel, textiles, wood products, fruits, vegetables, spices, plants, fl owers, and handicrafts

By 1996, nontraditional exports from Guatemala generated 41 percent

of the total revenues obtained from exports Nontraditional agricultural exports represented revenue of US$108.5 million in 1990 and had almost tripled to US$292 million by the year 2000

NTEs typically are directed at the U.S market, with some being sent

to Europe and other countries in Latin America Agricultural products still constitute the main source of revenues, representing roughly a quarter of total output of exports and providing 65 percent of the export earnings Newer crops, later referred to as nontraditional agricultural exports (NTAE), were introduced in the central highlands by volunteers

and development agents associated with the reconstruction efforts that followed the devastating 1976 earthquake Local people credit the Swiss with the introduction of nontraditional agricultural exports Indeed, the growing of new crops, the opening of export-processing zones, and the advent of foreign-owned maquiladora factories are part of a national effort to expand economic opportunities for Guatemala vis-à-vis global structural adjustment efforts.13

Industrial production of nontraditional exports has been important

In the 1980s, Guatemala joined several other Latin American and Asian countries as a site for maquiladora industries, formally establishing a new link between its workers and the world economy Maquiladoras are factories specializing in the fi nishing stages of production of diverse mer-chandise, such as garments and electronics These fi nal stages often are labor intensive and require low-level training and skills They include the assembly of previously designed and cut parts and the packing of the

fi nished product The more sophisticated stages requiring higher nologies and skills take place in developed countries, such as the United States, Japan, or Korea Most recently, countries such as Guatemala have aimed to offer “full package” services, which include providing all mate-rials and, sometimes, apparel design The fi nished products are returned

tech-to the originating countries without paying export fees Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, the Philippines, and Guatemala, among others, offer investors tariff-free zones with an abundant labor force will-ing to work for extremely low wages and in conditions that often would

be unacceptable or illegal for workers in developed countries.14

In 2007, the Industria de Vestuarios y Textiles (VESTEX) reported the presence of 195 apparel manufacturers employing close to 90,000 workers, and a total of 122,000 workers in the entire industry (including textiles and accessories) Employment in maquilas (apparel) peaked in

2004 and has shown a decrease since then owing to competition from China and other production sites The growth of this industry has changed the lives of thousands of families in urban and rural communities One

of the immediate consequences of the implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in July of 2006 was the loss of trade benefi ts that the United States offered as a result of the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the Generalized System of Preferences The hope of the Guatemalan government, however, was that the reduction of taxes

and increased quotas would stimulate trade and investment in the region According to the Departamento de Comercio, Guatemala export rev-enues increased by US$672 million during 2006 compared with 2005 Government statistics indicate that CAFTA generated approximately 10,000 jobs between June 2006 and May 2007 as a result of new invest-ments Interestingly, many of those jobs were generated by the opening

of call centers, adding Guatemalan Spanish accents to the international spectrum of voices that peoples of wealthy countries hear when they have questions about their services or technologies Jobs were also generated in other service areas and in the agro-industrial industries The Guatemalan government also has emphasized the retention of jobs in the maquilas that have chosen not to close, as many have done in recent years, unable

to compete with Chinese industries (Smith and Bolaños, 2007)

Most of the assembly plants are located in the central regions of Guatemala, in the departments of Sacatepéquez and Chimaltenango These departments show the larger percentages of poverty in the country and have the highest density rates.15 Most of the people interviewed for the study of maquila workers discussed in this volume live in Santa Maria Cauqué, a hamlet of Santiago Sacatepéquez that has access to several factories in the surrounding area The village has traditionally provided the capital city with vegetables It was one of the fi rst communities to engage in the production of nontraditional crops for export Toward the end of the 1980s, young men and women started to work in the factories Approximately half the households of the community now are somehow involved in maquila production.16 For generations, the people of the region identifi ed themselves as agriculturalists and saw themselves fi tting within systems of ideas and action that made sense in the context of agri-cultural life But things have changed rapidly In the words of a woman from the hamlet: “First came the [evangelical] religion, then came the factories, the earthquake, the agriculture of broccoli and peas, and then came the government trying to push the Chinese [Koreans] away.17

Cottage Industries

In addition to the previously mentioned important trends, textile artisans

in the central and western highlands, from Totonicapán, Sacatepéquez,

Quiché, and Chimaltenango, among others, intensifi ed production in the 1970s and 1980s to respond to the opening of foreign markets.18 In parts of Totonicapán and Huehuetenango, I observed the intensifi cation

of production of Western-style clothes, such as shirts, pants, shorts, and jackets made with factory-produced cloth purchased in Guatemala City and Mexico This type of production fi ts within the framework of what are known as “cottage industries.” Cottage industries are organized as putting-out systems, whereby a capitalist (or petty capitalist) with some experience of his own (most often but not exclusively males) puts out already cut pieces that are assembled by pieceworkers (often but not exclusively women) at home Workers purchase their own sewing machines and needles and threads and pay for any additional expenses they may incur, such as electricity and food This strategy is practiced by approximately 75 percent of the population of San Francisco el Alto, as I document in later chapters

A sewing supply shop in San Francisco el Alto

A Changing Rural Landscape

Within this general economic scenery the rural sectors of Guatemala are redefi ning their roles and sources of livelihood Globalization processes are bringing improved communications and new information and gener-ating local customizations of foreign forms, such as industrial work and production of new export crops In conjunction with the imposition of neoliberal policies, a history of oppression and exploitation, signifi cant land loss, and the introduction of new technologies, globalization pro-cesses, migration, and the effects of transnationalism are mixing with Mayan traditions to construct new production styles and reinterpretations

of the economy It is not enough to describe these new practices and

to note that some rural peoples of the world are adopting new forms of economic activity Rather, we need to examine the motivations and ide-ologies that are evolving along with these developments I attempt to do just this in the rest of this volume

People intensify production for different reasons and in the context

of complex conditions Income revenues from one level of production may become insuffi cient to support a family because of lower prices in the market An increase in family size may require additional income

Or, the cause may be more abstract and elusive, such as the desire to make more money, purchase more and better goods, have access to pre-viously nonaccessible resources, or to obtain larger profi t margins and accumulate capital The producer may intensify production so as to be able to invest the surplus income in similar or different businesses It also

is possible that the individual or household intensifi es production and engages in capital accumulation so as to produce other forms of capital, such as status and prestige in the community It is important to appreciate what motivates changes in production strategies and options in order to understand the process of social and economic change

The decision to engage in one form of production or another is related

to an array of complex variables that include environmental conditions, access to land, and traditional practice There are those who engage in subsistence agriculture but who sell small amounts of the available sur-plus in local markets There are those who cultivate traditional crops such

as corn, beans, and variants of squash for consumption and commerce for the internal market Others continue to produce subsistence and cash

crops, such as coffee, for the national and international markets.19 Finally, there are farmers who have explored and engaged in the production of alternative or nontraditional crops for local, national, and international markets.

Within the context of multiple economic initiatives in the midst of globalization processes, scarce resources, and political upheaval the rural peoples of Guatemala have been redefi ning themselves, constructing attitudes toward each practice, and reevaluating the process of social and economic differentiation as it unfolds In this locally based and empiri-cally driven study of the Guatemalan highlands, I evaluate the impact of globalization on Maya society Next, I review the ways in which social scientists have positioned the study of cultural and economic change, drawing on theory to make sense of these ongoing and fl uid processes.Economic Ideology in Theory and Practice

In his discussion of practice theory, Robben (1989:162) suggests that yses of the economy should not be circumscribed within isolated areas of behavior because the economy is not a bounded domain of society and culture Instead, he argues that “the economy is a whole of meaningful practices forged through confrontation and contestation.” In a search

anal-of those contested areas, Robben identifi ed “cultural foci,” or centers

of practical orientation The Trobriand yam house and women’s artisan cooperatives in Mesoamerica are both centers of economic activity fi lled with cultural content As with the fi sherman’s boat or the canoe, there are key sites where culture and economy most clearly interact and which anthropologists can access Practice and discourse are identifi ed in the unbounded domain of the economy

Defining Economy, Ideology, and Practice

I defi ne the economy as the production, distribution, and consumption

of goods and services (Godelier 1973), but I also recognize that broad areas of culture and ideology intersect these domains We consume in the context of cultural practices and traditions; we produce within the limitations of our environments, technologies, our bodies, our ideas, and

in complex historical contexts Decoding the processes of economic and

cultural change is facilitated by limiting the domain of analysis while at the same time appreciating the unbounded and pervasive character of economic attitudes in society.20

I defi ne ideology as the complex (and often contradictory) systems of ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that are generated in the process of actions and interactions among people and that bind people together into social groupings.21 Ideology differs from culture in that the latter represents a general set of beliefs, values, and blueprints for action that are in constant construction and reevaluation Ideologies refer to more specifi c assump-tions about the world and “facts” that people accept, even when such facts are not permanent, such as “competition with my neighbor is a necessary evil.” Ideology is different from broadly defi ned culture in that ideology isolates concepts, meanings, and belief systems expressed in dif-ferent forms of texts (life narratives, political, philosophical, and religious discourses) These sets of texts are enacted in practice

I broadly defi ne practice as social action, or the observable processes, customs, rituals, institutions, organization of space, political action, and material production As practice theorists have noted, practice is gener-ated by experience and it is not always conscious Often behaviors come naturally (as in Bourdieu’s “habitus,” 1977) and seem natural as long as there is a correspondence between people’s ideas and the way the world is structured Such situations abound, but the presence of confl ict, multiple meanings, and contradictory messages is even more common Often, people experience what Bourdieu called heterodoxy, which requires one to make choices and evaluate alternatives Issues of power also arise

in the context of practice, as one group imposes a direction or set of ideas on another.22 Giddens framed the issue of culture and practice in the concept and theory of structuration In order to put an action into practice, individuals draw upon a set of rules that set the tone for the practice they will enact There is no fi xed set of rules that guide action Instead, individuals try different things, and in the process they construct rules This is a process-based model of structure that can be extended to the treatment of culture.23 What is important about the perspective of practice is that the dilemmas of human action then become an empirical issue, which can only be resolved in the real world, rather than based on predetermined models.24

Changing Attitudes toward the Economy

My work has shown that attitudes about the economy among Mayan peoples are undergoing change, leaning away from the more traditional perspective that views accumulation with suspicion, values working the land, and emphasizes humility and community ideals Newer ideologies are emerging that embrace accumulation, competition, and diversifi ca-tion There have been several explanations for these changes One set

of explanations focuses on the recent infl ux of Evangelicalism into the region and the resulting large-scale conversions from Catholicism to Evangelicalism According to this view, Evangelicalism has introduced a new ideology that carries over into the economic domain and infl uences the way individuals construe economic issues and behave economi-cally Another set of explanations focuses on the changing occupations

of individuals as they seek alternative means to support their families

in the context of globalization processes and the continuous expansion

of capitalism These new occupations have exposed individuals to new economic ideologies, resulting in the ideological transformations evident

in the region While not dismissing the importance of religious change,

my analyses have underscored the primary importance of economic variables as mediators of changes in economic ideology I have found that even when religion is held constant, occupational variations are asso-ciated with differences in economic ideology However, within a given occupational strata (e.g., focusing only on traditional agriculturalists), variations in religious affi liation are not associated with differences in economic ideology.25

In this book, I develop these ideas in depth as I focus on the ship between economic ideology and production forms The thesis is that we make ourselves in the process of production We develop a sense

relation-of who we are in opposition to the many others we interact with This

is a version of what Watanabe (2001) refers to as a “procedural culture,” where meanings are attributed to actions in a context of patterned inter-actions These interactions occur in ritual, customary procedures, or the repetitive and quotidian Here, I refer to the world of work, our constant daily interactions that take place in the context of processes oriented to appropriate or transform nature in order to provide for our needs In this

framework, we acquire a sense of a moral economy—the right and wrong

of our direction in life As a consequence, as we engage in different tices, we develop diverse attitudes toward the economy I conceptualize the acquisition and modulation of economic ideology and practice as a constant readjustment of self, others, and practice It takes place at the individual and communal levels in sometimes unstructured ways

prac-The Empirical Study of Change

By examining various economic practices generated as response or resistance to global forces, I address change empirically I document, for example, concomitant economic practices that often complement each other but also compete with one another in practical and ideological terms A farming family who, in order to make ends meet, sends its sons

to work in the factory may also complain that there are not enough young men who can work for them I compare and contrast such observations

in old-fashioned anthropological style What kind of person results from each independent and combined economic practice? How does he or she think and place himself or herself in the world? Conversely, what kind of practice results when individuals or communities (households, townships, regions) see themselves as entrepreneurial, hard working, and willing to improve? I try to link the theoretical quest with the ethnogra-phy, testing my ideas on the ground

In the remainder of this chapter I address core constructs relevant to

my analyses First, I defi ne and delimit my understanding of economic ideology Then I elaborate on the relationship between ethnic identity, class, and economic ideology I then present the ways in which most of the households I studied have engaged in economic strategies involving multiple activities or householding I describe the need to identify a vari-ety of units of analysis in the study of ongoing economic changes, and,

fi nally, I discuss the ways in which I portray the study of change

Economic Ideology, Ethnic Identity, and Class

Economic Ideology Economic ideology, the focus of this study, condenses

those ideas about the economy that develop in the context of centers of practical orientation that include production, distribution, and consump-

tion but that also are generated in other domains of life and limit what we can do Such ideas focus on beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions about the way we do things in the world to provide for ourselves and our families They help us set our goals and choose styles of behavior and channels for action For example, attitudes about capital accumulation, competition, work styles, solidarity, cooperativism, and individualism are important facets of economic ideology.

These ideas about the economy are not permanent or fi xed They are expressions of ever-changing cultural models In the process of generat-ing these models, individuals and communities fi nd points of affi nity

or friction with historically conditioned economic options Paraphrasing Gudeman (1986:155–156), as we place emphasis on one or another way

of understanding economic processes and realities, such as nomic differentiation or the way labor is valued, a particular reality is constructed People’s perceptions are based on a complex set of ideas and actions that result from daily interactions

socioeco-Ethnic Identity As scholars both inside and outside of the Maya

move-ment have pointed out, Mayan ethnic identity is characterized by ognition of a common history, kinship, and worldview but also by the creation of “a balance between traditional and modern as they modernize their cultures” (Cojtí Cuxil 1996:28) Drawing on the 1976 Declaration

rec-of Algiers, which proclaimed the Universal Declaration rec-of the Rights rec-of Peoples, Cojtí Cuxil concludes that among other rights, the Maya should have rights to land, political autonomy, participation on equal terms in Guatemalan society, the right to speak their language and receive an education that is true to the history and culture of the Maya people, and

to economic development in their territories, thereby reducing the nomic and social inequalities created by the state According to Warren (1996, 1998), the leaders of the movimiento Maya reject the notion that those who have adopted different practices, such as engaging in nonagri-cultural occupations, or who are away from their home communities are less authentic Maya Maya society changes as it copes with contemporary socioeconomic realities Or in June Nash’s (1995:35) terms: “Mayas are now generating innovative solutions as they change enough to remain identifi ed as Mayas.” Little (2004) reinforces this point when he asserts that the Kaqchikel Maya use of modern technologies and other material

eco-goods such as cars, cell phones, or computers actually allows them to

be “even more Maya,” because they facilitate the maintenance of other cultural practices Indeed, Maya generally have continued to feel strong affi liation for their ethnic group regardless of their economic position.26Many successful and educated Maya proudly emphasize their ethnicity

in the context of modernization and economic change.27 Such change

is not about belonging more or less to a community and identifying

more or less with others It is about adaptation and, some Maya would say, making “progress” and “improvements” in their lives Changes in economic ideology don’t imply changes in ethnic identity Many people

of rural Guatemala proudly connect their economic achievements and innovations to the fact that they are “naturales.”28 Those who consider themselves poor and “unchanged” are, in turn, comfortable with their closeness to the activities and “ways of the past” and also use this as a source of ethnic pride

Class Salient in the studies I report below are issues of class identifi

ca-tion and class standing and belonging Like others, I have found that the concept of class, as classically used by Marxists and Weberians, to be too limiting and constraining The concept of class in most theories takes on dualistic, either-or characteristics Marxists view capitalism as a totality where individuals take positions in society through their relationship to the means of production and where some, the owners of the means of pro-duction, extract surplus from others Weberians instead focus on shared economic interests in relation to particular markets While individuals are not members of a class in Weberian analysis, they engage in various class actions.29 In my research, I encountered situations similar to those found

by others studying globalized economies in situations of scarcity and nomic distress Individuals fi nd themselves at different positions within the economy—sometimes by choice, sometimes by chance—as they struggle

eco-to survive in diffi cult economic conditions Some of the people of the central and western highlands—for example, people in San Francisco el Alto and in Chimaltenango—graphically describe their situation using

a seesaw (sube y baja) as a metaphor The analogy describes temporary

class affi liations, sometimes upward, sometimes downward The seesaw precludes individuals from identifying with a given group Class becomes dynamic, not static The seesaw is not necessarily temporally based

Individuals may be placed simultaneously at different locations in the economy As people lose economic capital in the downturns, they do not necessarily lose other forms of capital, whether social or cultural, that had been acquired in their exposures to other sectors of the local, national, and international economy and society They preserve capital associated with their alternate standings in their various communities of allegiance: the local town, their fellow workers, relatives, business and travel partners,

or other connections developed through their multiple networks

Most scholars working in Guatemala have been reluctant to state that socioeconomic classes have solidifi ed in the communities where they have worked All Guatemalanists have identifi ed major status differences

at the national level between Indians and ladinos These differences also are evident at the local level Smith (1987, 1990a) has suggested that ethnicity is the language in which class is expressed in Guatemala In general, and throughout the years since the European invasion, ladinos have been placed in positions of power, have owned the major means of production, and have held power and authority over Indians, extracting from them labor, tribute, and taxes Most students of Maya communities have reported evidence of economic differentiation within the Maya, but little evidence of full-fl edged class formation.30 Ehlers (2000:44) docu-

ments distinctions between gente civilizada and gente natural made by

the people of San Pedro Sacatepéquez These include economic and tural characteristics Carmack (1995) observed marked class differences between a ladino petite bourgeoisie and a mass of peasant Indians in Momostenango Within the indigenous communities, he also observed class differences between a small petite bourgeoisie composed of a few families and a large mass of poor Indians Arias (1990) discusses the dis-tinctions between a more conservative Indian bourgeoisie and a more radicalized sector of Indian campesinos Cantel may be one of the few examples of full-time proletarianization, or at least with an incipient class formation, with the factory workers joining unions after the 1944 revolu-tion (M Nash 1958) No other studies of Maya indigenous communities report full-fl edged proletarianization of any sector of the population Most highland Guatemala communities discussed in the literature describe a small Indigenous elite, often with large landholdings, a large middle sector that includes a specialized merchant sector, and larger sec-tors of petty commodity agricultural or artisan producers The poorest