Between Hope and Adversity: The Struggle of Organized Women in Chiapas Since the Zapatista Uprising

Abstract

This article analyzes the struggle of the indigenous women of Chiapas and their achieve‐ments and challenges in the wake of the Zapatista rebellion. By constructing a history of the new organizational opportunities that have arisen for the indigenous women since January 1, 1994, the author analyzes the advances and retreats of their struggles. Based on testimonies, political documents, and recollections of organizational workshops, the author exposes the challenges which the women are making with respect to both the state discourse on the nation and to the critical reclaiming of “tradition” by some sectors of the independent indigenous movement. Presenting them as political actors, and not as mere victims of systems of domination can counteract ethnographic representations which have underemphasized the social agency of indigenous women.