Finding a Balance

DeHart’s article provided us with a new perspective and new facts, but left me with the same question that we’ve been dancing around since the beginning of the semester: How can Guatemala develop? This reading presented a conflict that became more prevalent to me: how can a country with such a strong sense of culture and ethnicity find the balance between that culture and international policies in order to develop?

The Cooperation for Rural Development of the West was founded on Mayan ideas. The CDRO founders “established an organizational system based on traditional Mayan culture which they envisions as a vehicle for facilitating community self-development.” The K’iche pop became the CDRO symbol for its meaning of interconnectedness and interdependency. In terms of the CDRO as a developmental organization, the pop embodied the goals of “community participation, mutual support, and horizontality.” Upon first glance, all these ideas seem to provide a stable foundation for development. It is thus clear why the CDRO initiative became so popular within the global community. Additionally, it seems as if Mayan culture was perserved. However, once the CDRO was acknowledged internationally, its ethnic ties were compromised for Western capitalism and “development.”

I thought that it was extremely ironic that Reilly, the former Peace Corp director and Inter-American Development Bank representative said, “everyone in the development business might learn something from the Pop,” and “CDRO, with its woven mat, is far ahead of us” (145). It’s interesting that a man from a developed nation is calling Guatemala, which is respectively underdeveloped, “ahead of us.” Most people would link the phrase “ahead of us” in accordance with “development.” From the outside, the basis on which the CDRO is founded seems like a strong start. This being so, why is Guatemala still underdeveloped? The article also states “Mayan techniques provide a more useful means of achieving development within the rural communities because of the refusal to separate out problems in favor of exploring the interrelatedness of the causes and effects of underdevelopment” (146). Again, it seems logical to focus on interrelatedness because in essence, communities behave in an interrelated manner. However, I question if it’s possible/beneficial to only view problems from an interrelated perspective? How do you develop and start solving a society’s problems without first breaking them down? Similarly, when Juan García was explaining his relationship with the CDRO, he sates, “CDRO comes to the communities and constructs an organizational framework but doesn’t resolve the problems of the communities and, thus, leaves them in an awkward state of confusion” (147). Again, the predicament lies on the basis of how to actively solve problems and development once we have this organizational foundation in place. On a separate note, Juan García also accused “CDRO of having a capitalist mentality that equated development with good business” (148). This quote stood out to me because it is a common association that Sen addresses and advises that we avoid.

Over time, CDRO, which stemmed from “Mayan oral traditions, historical documents, and community customs” in order to achieve community development, completely strayed from this cultural foundation. A San Pedro council member, when asked how Mayan culture is integrated into the CDRO’s initiative, replied that its is merely “how CDRO paints the organizations for the gringos” (p. 148). Even the traditional meaning of pop has faded, as it became the emblem of CDRO and thus capital interest. It is now more of a symbol of irony as it is commonly seen on the CDRO’s four-wheel-drive Toyota pickups. It appears that the CDRO is “more of a global marketing strategy than a reflection of legitimate community ideals” (p.148). Even when DeHart first entered the CDRO community hall, she became the potential for “securing new development funds,” and seen as a means to capital. All in all, is it possible for Guatemala to develop? If their developmental organizations achieve international recognition, they often conflict with their ethnic foundation. Like Grace posed, how do they achieve this balance? After reading Offit and Cook’s article and understanding the concept of transculturation, maybe this concept needs to be more widely accepted throughout Guatemala in order to foster development. Maybe the Mayans need to take their value of “interrelatedness” (discussed on page 146) and apply it on a global scale.