What is Identity?

The transition to nontraditional crops comes with both its advantages and disadvantages. The production of crops such as snow peas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, strawberries, raspberries, etc. provided a Guatemala with a new export crop and more money flowing into the country. This new market is “enriching a sector of petty agricultural capitalists who happen to be mostly Indians” (p. 137) Since nontraditional crops proved to provide farmers with a large profit, they began to take advantage of unpaid labor from family members. Although this seems profitable from an economic standpoint, “it also sometimes pressures farmers to discourage their children from attending school.” From a developmental standpoint, does the economical profit outweigh the long-term profit gain from education? I think that Sen would advocate for the pursuance of education. Although these crops have the potential for a large profit, there is a greater percentage of crop failure. Additionally, the more farmers who begin to produce nontraditional crops, the less they will profit. One other fact regarding Broccoli that I found particularly interesting is the fact that Guatemala is one of the United States’ main suppliers, exporting over 60 million pounds per year, but this is “a tiny percentage of the enormous U.S market, but it is big pickings for Guatemala.” I think statement helps to depict the enormity of the U.S market, and how a little portion of our market is large relative to Guatemala’s market. One other thing I noticed in this section was that the intensity of labor was mentioned twice, but it did not go into detail. After listening from the students at Belmont who experienced the labor required for coffee production, I can only image the labor intensity required to produce these nontraditional crops.

After reading the Pan-Mayan Movement article, I’m almost more confused than when I started, but feel like the article helped put certain things into perspective. We tend to generalize groups of people as either “Ladino” or “Mayan,” but there is clearly more to it.

The Pan-Mayan movement works to unite Mayans by “bringing together vastly different indigenous groups” and seeks to “define a global discourse on indigenous identity, culture, and rights including “cultural practices, traditions, languages, land, legal systems, education, and political representation.” Although it is a unified movement, there are contrasting ideas between the Culturalists and Populares, but “these groups work together on concrete projects that integrate both cultural issues and material concerns.” The four Pan-Maya revitalization efforts touch upon almost everything Manuel spoke to us about: literacy in Mayan languages, revitalizing Mayan sacred texts, promoting intercultural school programs, and support for Maya leadership. I wonder if Manual would consider himself a Culturalist or a Populares?

One major question I was left with after reading this article is, what is identity? The reference to Ebañez on page 158 defines identity “as something that is never fixed or whole but rather situates people’s practices and models of life within collective narratives of the past, present, and future, which themselves are constantly revised within new contexts.” There are so many ways for a person to identify themselves, whether it be religion, homeland, ethnicity, culture, political affiliation, gender, etc., that its impossible for identity to be a standardized measure. People will tend to identify themselves by the aspect that they feel most strongly about.

One last question I had was, what portion of the population is involved in or supports the Pan-Maya movement? Is involvement decreasing with new generations? While it reasonable why the Pan-Maya movement is attractive, past readings have emphasized the distinct differences between different indigenous groups, and the pride they take in these differences. The Mayanist motto, “unity within diversity,” distinguishes between the “twenty-two Mayan language groups,” but how is it possible for so many difference groups with these distinctive language barriers truly unite? Although one goal of the Pan-Mayan movement is to “discourage any form of overt ethnic markings of Indianness,” I felt that its somewhat ironic that by uniting under the Pan-Maya movement to rid themselves of their indianess, they are somewhat creating this distinction.