Indigenous

Citation:

Brentlinger, Paula E., Hector Javier Sanchez-Perez, Marcos Arana Cedeno, Lic Guadalupe Vargas Morales, Miguel A. Hernan, Mark A. Micek, and Douglas Ford. 2005. “Pregnancy Outcomes, Site of Delivery, and Community Schisms in Regions Affected by the Armed Conflict in Chiapas, Mexico.” Social Science & Medicine 61: 1001-14.

Authors: Paula E. Brentlinger, Hector Javier Sanchez-Perez, Marcos Arana Cedeno, Lic Guadalupe Vargas Morales, Miguel A. Hernan, Mark A. Micek, Douglas Ford

Abstract:

The Zapatista armed conflict began in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, in 1994, and overlaps pre-existing local disputes about land, religion, and other issues. Related disruptions in access to and utilization of health services have been alleged to have compromised local health status, particularly in vulnerable subgroups such as indigenous women and infants. The study objective was to measure maternal and perinatal mortality ratios and utilization of pregnancy-related health services in the region affected by the Zapatista conflict, and to describe associations between these primary outcome measures, socioeconomic and demographic factors, and factors associated with inter-party and intra-community conflict. A cross-sectional, population-based survey was conducted in 46 communities in three regions. The study subjects were 1227 women, 13-49 years old, who had been pregnant during the preceding 2 years (1999-2001). Principal outcome measures were maternal and perinatal mortality, and site of delivery. Secondary analyses explored associations between primary outcomes and socioeconomic, demographic, and conflict-related factors. Most births (87.1%) occurred at home. The crude observed maternal and perinatal mortality ratios were 607/100,000 and 23.5/1000 live births, respectively. Those who died had difficulty accessing emergency obstetrical care. Both home birth and mortality were associated with descriptors of intra-community conflict. Observed maternal and perinatal mortality ratios were substantially higher than those officially reported for Mexico or Chiapas. Reduction of high reproductive mortality ratios will require attention to socioeconomic and conflict-related problems, in addition to improved access to emergency obstetrical services.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health, Indigenous Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico

Year: 2005

Citation:

Richards, Patricia. 2005. “The Politics of Gender, Human Rights, and Being Indigenous in Chile.” Gender and Society 19 (2): 199–220.

Author: Patricia Richards

Abstract:

Although the universal human rights paradigm has been problematic for women and indigenous peoples, both groups have made advances by framing their demands within a human rights perspective. Indigenous women, however, have frequently found themselves marginalized by women's movements and indigenous movements alike, particularly when they make demands for rights as indigenous women-not just as members of one group or the other. This article takes the case of Mapuche women in Chile to examine the politics of gender and human rights for indigenous women. Their efforts to articulate their concerns, vis-à-vis Mapuche men, nonindigenous women, and the state, have entailed assertions of their own version of women's rights, one that responds specifically to their reality as Mapuche women.

Keywords: gender, indigenous peoples, human rights

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Political Participation, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Chile

Year: 2005

Citation:

Lykes, M. Brinton. 1994. “Terror, Silencing, and Children: International, Multidisciplinary Collaboration with Guatemalan Maya Communities.” Social Science and Medicine 38 (4): 543-52.

Author: M. Brinton Lykes

Abstract:

In recent years psychologists and other mental health workers have begun to document the effects of state-sponsored violence and civil war on civilians and to develop specific clinical and community interventions to address these issues. During the past decade between 50,000 to 100,000 Guatemalans have been murdered and at least 38,000 people disappeared. Over 400 rural villages were destroyed and the Guatemalan army's scorched earth policy forced hundreds of thousands who survived to flee, either to another part of the country or to leave Guatemala altogether. State-sponsored terror and silencing persists in Guatemala despite a return to civilian government. This article describes some of the problems encountered by Maya children in situations of ongoing war and statesponsored terror and the development of one specific response, Creative Workshops for Children, an international, interdisciplinary program organized by mental health workers from Argentina, Guatemala and United States. The inadequacies of psychological theory based on a medical model that sees trauma as an intrapsychic phenomenon and conceptualizes its effects in situations of war as post-traumatic stress are described and a reconceptualization of trauma as psychosocial is proposed. The accompanying need to address the "normal abnormality" of war and state-sponsored terror through a community-based group process is presented. The model incorporates drawing, story telling, collage, and dramatization in a group process that seeks to create a space and time in which the child can express him or herself, communicate experiences to others, and discharge energy and emotion connected to previous traumatic experiences. The work draws on existing cultural traditions (e.g., oral story telling and dramatization) and resources (e.g., nature, plants) of indigenous communities, offering additional resources to those seeking to collaborate in the development of mental health in their communities and suggesting alternative bases from which to understand the cultural and social psychological effects of war. Through participation in the creative workshop the child survivor enhances natural means for communication that will facilitate the expression of physical and mental tensions and the development of a capacity to construct an identity that is not exclusively subject to the dehumanizing and traumatizing reality of war. The strengths of this work and the limits of psychoassistance work within a context of war are enumerated and discussed.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, Indigenous, Violence Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 1994

Citation:

Mollett, Sharlene. 2010. "Está listo (Are you ready)? Gender, Race and Land Registration in the Río Plántano Biosphere Reserve.” Gender, Place and Culture 17 (3): 357-375.

Author: Sharlene Mollett

Abstract:

Geographers and political ecologists are paying increased attention to the ways in which conservation policies disrupt indigenous customary tenure arrangements. However, much less attention is given to the particular ways protected area management shapes natural resource access for indigenous women. With this in mind, this article examines how a recently proposed state land project in Honduras, Catastro y Regularización, requires that Miskito residents individuate collective family lands in the interests of 'sustainable development' and 'biodiversity protection'. In the debates that followed the project's announcement, Miskito women feared that such measures would erase their customary access to family lands. As the state's project seeks to re-order Reserve land, intra-Miskito struggles intensified among villagers. Such struggles are not only gendered but are shaped by longstanding processes of racialization in Honduras and the Mosquitia region. Drawing upon ethnographic research, I argue that Miskito women's subjectivity and rights to customary family holdings are informed by their ability to make 'patriarchal bargains' with Miskito men inside the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. Such findings suggest that scholars and policy makers continue to reflect on the ways global conservation and sustainable development practices may undermine indigenous customary tenure securities, whether intentionally or not.

Keywords: indigenous peoples, gender, land registration, protected areas, racialization

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Land Tenure, Race, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Honduras

Year: 2010

Citation:

Taylor, Matthew, Michelle Moran-Taylor, and Debra Rodman Ruiz. 2006. "Land, Ethnic, and Gender Change: Transnational Migration and its Effects on Guatemalan Lives and Landscapes." Geoforum 37: 41-61.

Authors: Matthew Taylor, Michelle Moran-Taylor, Debra Rodman Ruiz

Abstract:

Migration to the United States of America from Guatemala effects many aspects of Guatemalan life. We document, through extensive ethnographic fieldwork, how migrants and their remittances effect gender relations, ethnicity, land use, and land distribution. Our evidence is drawn from research in four communities. San Pedro Pinula and Gualan represent communities of eastern Guatemala. San Cristóbal Totonicapan is an Indigenous town in Guatemala’s western highlands, and San Lucas is a lowland frontier community in the Guatemalan department of Ixcan, which borders Chiapas, Mexico. Our results reveal that migrants and their remittances, both social and tangible, result in significant changes in land use and land distribution in Ixcan. Migrant money permits the conversion of rainforest into cattle pasture and also results in the accumulation of land in the hands of migrants. In terms of land use, we see in San Pedro Pinula that migrant money also allows the Pokoman Maya to make small entries into the Ladino (non-indigenous) dominated cattle business. In San Pedro Pinula, the migration and return of Maya residents also permits them to slowly challenge ethnic roles that have developed over the last five centuries. When we look at how migration effects gender roles in Gualan and San Cristóbal we also note that migration and social remittances permit a gradual challenge and erosion of traditional gender roles in Guatemala. We point out, however, that migration-related changes to traditional gender and ethnic roles is gradual because migrants, despite their increased earnings and awareness, run into a social structure that resists rapid change. This is not the case when we examine land transformations in Ixcan. Here, migrants encounter few barriers when they attempt to put their new money and ideas to work. Despite the advantages that migration brings to many families, especially in the face of a faltering national economy and state inactivity regarding national development, we conclude that migration and remittances do not result in community or nation-wide development. At this stage migrant remittances are used for personal advancement and very little money and effort is invested in works that benefit communities or neighborhoods. We call for continued studies of the effects of international migration on Guatemalan hometowns that build on our initial studies to better understand the longer-term ramifications of migration in a country where no community is without migrants.

Keywords: migration, land transformation, gender transformation

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Gender Roles, Indigenous, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 2006

Citation:

Van der Hoogte, Liesbeth, and Koos Kingma. 2004. "Promoting Cultural Diversity and the Rights of Women: The Dilemmas of 'Intersectionality' for Development Organisations." Gender and Development 12 (1): 47-55.

Authors: Liesbeth Van der Hoogte, Koos Kingma

Abstract:

Work with women belonging to indigenous groups in Latin America needs to take into account both their identity as women and their identity as indigenous people, and the interplay between these identities. Indigenous women do not reject their culture, but want to change certain traditions in order to promote justice. Novib and Hivos, two Dutch development organisations, organised a workshop with local experts to discuss how to support indigenous women. Two important dilemmas were identified: the tension between collective and individual rights, and the need to link and address social and economic exclusion with cultural discrimination. Holistic solutions are needed. Changing power relations is a long-term process, which also needs to deal with fighting gender-based violence. NGOs need to change their attitude towards their target groups, and think and work for the long term. This is a challenge, given the current emphasis on short-term, measurable results.

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Justice, NGOs, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas

Year: 2004

Citation:

Frieson, Kate G. 1998. The Role of Women's Organizations in Post-Conflict Cambodia. Washington: Center for Development Information and Evaluation, USAID.

Author: Kate G. Frieson

Keywords: post-conflict, women's organizations, intersectionality, socio-economics

Annotation:

"Two decades of conflict and genocide in Cambodia, in particular the rule of terror of the Khmer Rouge, have had devastating social, family, interpersonal, economic, and political effects on women. This report, one in a USAID-funded series on women in post-conflict societies, explores the role of the indigenous women's organizations (WOs) created and nurtured by the international community to improve the lot of Cambodian women. The WOs, though numbering only 18, are empowering women through vocational training and microcredit programs and by assisting victims of HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and trafficking and forced prostitution. They are also beginning to influence the political landscape through voter education and advocacy programs. According to one trainee: "Men cannot abuse women if women know their rights. Now we understand how to work together for justice." Yet WOs continue to face many obstacles. The country has no tradition of civil society organizations, government support is unstable, and WOs' dependence on external assistance limits their autonomy and capacity to fashion new programs. WO leadership is dominated by one charismatic figure reluctant to delegate authority. Most of the WOs have yet to develop an open management system in which the staff can discuss issues and problems freely. WOs require continual international support to survive and play an important role in improving women's social and economic conditions.

"The Cambodian experience inculcates the following major lessons: (1) Comprehensive, targeted interventions based on a coherent policy framework are needed to help women and reconstruct gender relations in post-conflict societies. Gender-blind policies and programs are not sufficient. (2) The war undermined the traditional sexual division of labor, creating new economic and political opportunities for women. Women entered into occupations closed to them earlier and held important national and local offices during the conflict. After the war, donors developed programs to consolidate those gains. This course can be followed in other post-conflict societies. (3) Education and training of women in refugee camps can prepare them to assume leadership roles in post-conflict societies. (4) Newly founded WOs can be used by the international community to channel humanitarian and developmental assistance in post-conflict societies. But WOs are also a means to help women gain self-respect and participate in decisionmaking. (5) WOs in post-conflict societies can develop local roots and gain political legitimacy despite dependence on international resources. (6) Donors should consider multi-year funding to allow WOs to focus on social, economic, and political development activities. (7) WOs often follow the example of international NGOs in their working conditions, spending considerable resources on four-wheel-drive vehicles, spacious offices, and large support staff. Such operations are questionable under the conditions of post-conflict societies. (8) Cambodian WOs should be encouraged to specialize instead of competing for external resources for similar programs." (This annotation is from Peacewomen.org)

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Displacement & Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Economies, Education, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Indigenous, Justice, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights, Violence Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia

Year: 1998

Citation:

Arnvig, Eva. 1994. "Women, Children and Returnees." In Between Hope and Insecurity: The Social Consequences of the Cambodian Peace Process, edited by Peter Utting, 83-103. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

Author: Eva Arnvig

Abstract:

This chapter examines the situation of women, children and returnees in Cambodia and the social impact of the large-scale United Nations presence. Following a brief description of certain general aspects related to family traditions, the position of women in the economy, education and health, the chapter examines a number of social and socio-psychological problems that have risen to the fore in recent years. These include post-war trauma, the reintegration of refugees, prostitution, drugs and street children. Particular attention is focused on the extent to which the behaviour of United Nations peace-keeping and security personnel may have contributed to certain social problems as well as the souring of relations between UNTAC and the host population.

Annotation:

• Families who have issues assimilating after times of conflict face having to sell their children or allow their children to enter urban areas as street children or prostitutes. Other children are forced to work in plantations to earn money offering a stark change from growing up in refugee camps.

• Many indigenous peoples blame UNTAC for increases in sexually transmitted infections, street crimes, poverty, and starvation for being unable to efficiently and successfully offer aid in the reintegration process.

Quotes:

“The Total Institution Syndrome has a serious affect on mental attitude and behaviour. It manifests itself in apathy, aggression, violent behaviour, abrupt changes of mood, depression and tiredness along with physical disorders such as headaches and stomach problems.” (92)

Topics: Age, Youth, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Indigenous, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Peacekeeping, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia

Year: 1994