Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION In the southeastern Sierra Madre of Chiapas, an extension of the Rocky Mountains that encompasses lowlands at an altitude of about 3,600 feet and highlands at 12,000 feet, live some eight thousand peasants who identify themselves as Mam.1 The Mam first came to the border region between Chiapas and Guatemala at the end of the nineteenth century and established scattered settlements there. In the 1960s a small group of some three hundred emigrated to the Lacandon rain forest, on the other side of the border (see Map 1). It was in these rain forest communities, in a small ejido2 on the banks of some nameless waterfalls that mark the confluence of the Santo Domingo and Jataté Rivers, that I first heard of the Mexican ‘‘Mam.’’ Contrary to the terms ‘‘Tojolabal,’’ ‘‘Chamula,’’ ‘‘Zinacanteco,’’ and other self-ascriptions used by Chiapas indigenous peoples, the term ‘‘Mam’’ or ‘‘Mame’’ was almost always accompanied by the adjective ‘‘Mexican’’ when used by the local people. I saw this national claim as a wish to differentiate themselves from the Guatemalan Mames,3 who were refugees in the region. Years later, I would understand that the claim for a ‘‘Mexican Mam’’ identity was the result of a longer, more complex and painful history that began well before their recent encounter with Guatemalan refugees, of which this book gives an account. I came to this region in 1986, as a member of one of many interdisciplinary teams that, associated with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Tseng 2001.4.30 17:41 DST:103 6289 Hernandez / HISTORIES AND STORIES FROM CHIAPAS / sheet 23 of 317 Laguna Miramar R R í í o J a t a t e o J a t a t e R Rí ío Eusteba o Eusteba R Rí ío Dolores o Dolores R Rí ío Sto. Domingo o Sto. Domingo Las Margaritas La Independencia Comitán Tzimol La Trinitaria CENTRAL DEPRESION Presa La Angostura R Rí ío Grijalva o Grijalva Vértice de Santiago Chicomuselo Frontera Comalapa Ciudad Cuahutémoc GUATEMALA Bellavista La Grandeza Bejucal de Ocampo El Porvenir SIERRA MADRE DE CHIAPAS Motozintla Amatenango de la Frontera Mazapa de Madero Volcán Tacaná LACANDONA JUNGLE 1 2 3 Laguna Miramar R í o J a t a t e Río Eusteba Río Dolores Río Sto. Domingo 1 5 10 2 3 13 7 9 6 12 4 8 11 Las Margaritas La Independencia Comitán Tzimol La Trinitaria Presa La Angostura Río Grijalva Vértice de Santiago Chicomuselo Frontera Comalapa Ciudad Cuahutémoc GUATEMALA Bellavista La Grandeza Bejucal de Ocampo El Porvenir SIERRA MADRE DE CHIAPAS Motozintla Amatenango de la Frontera Mazapa de Madero Volcán Tacaná 1 2 3 1. Amatitlán 2. Las Ceibas 3. Loma Bonita 4. Maravilla Tenejapa 5. Niños Héroes 6. Nuevo Huixtán 7. Nuevo Jerusalém LACANDONA JUNGLE CENTRAL DEPRESION 8. Nuevo Matzam 9. Nuevo San Juan Chamula 10. San Mateo Zapotal 11. San Pedro Yucnotic 12. Santo Domingo Las Palmas 13. Zacualtipán COMMUNITIES IN THE LACANDONA JUNGLE 1 5 10 2 3 13 7 9 6 12 4 8 11 Source: Juan Pedro Viqueira Map 1. Borderland Mexico-Guatemala Tseng 2001.4.30 17:41 DST:103 6289 Hernandez / HISTORIES AND STORIES FROM CHIAPAS / sheet 24 of 317 Introduction 3 (UNHCR), offered their support to the Guatemalan peasants who had been crossing the border since 1982 in an effort to flee political violence in their country. It was my interest in K’anjobal refugees that first took me to Las Ceibas,4 one of several border ejidos that welcomed their ‘‘Guatemalan brothers.’’ Las Ceibas was classified by the National Indigenist Institute (Instituto Nacional Indigenista [INI]) as a mestizo5 community and attracted attention because it was the only local settlement in which most houses were made of brick and painted in pastel colors. My training in anthropology led me to view culture conceptually as synonymous with difference. For this reason Mexican mestizos did not at first attract my attention: they were culturally invisible. My later recognition of all social practices as cultural products, however, helped me to situate my own practices as cultural and to see other elements of the mestizo communities that my previous limited conception of culture did not allow me to perceive.6 The women in their brightly colored satin...