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Questions of Indigeneity and the (Re)-Emergent Ch'orti' Maya of Honduras
Metz, Brent
Metz, Brent
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Abstract
Entre el espacio de unos an˜os, los Ch’orti’de Honduras salieron de una identidad de´bil y
vergonzosa a tener unmovimiento e´tnico con miles demiembros y tan fuerte que apresuro´
el gobierno nacional. La volatilidad de tal identidades en la e´poca de derechos y reparaciones
indı´genas exige un ana´lisis que reconozca la construccio´n social de identidades de
grupos, pero atencio´n u´nica a procesos de construccio´n de corto plazo es impracticable y
engan˜adora. La gente utiliza cultura existente para reconocer y fortalecer fronteras e´tnicas.
Tal cultura y las identidades que moldea es evidencia clave en decidir si los demandantes
indı´genas son legı´timas, o si esta´n aprovecha´ndose de recursos mejor destinados a otros.
In the early 1990s, the Honduran Ch’orti’s denied their indigenous heritage; within a
few years, however, they had formed a fully fledged ethnic movement with thousands of
members putting pressure on the government for land. The volatility of such changing
identities in an era of indigenous rights and remuneration lends strong support to the
social construction approach to group identity, but extreme versions of this approach
are impractical and misleading. People use pre-existing culture to both recognize and
reinforce ethnic boundaries. Such culture and the identities it informs are useful in
deciding whether people have legitimate claims based on indigeneity, or are usurping
resources meant for others in greater need.
Description
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The publisher's official version is accessible from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1935-
4940.2010.01087.x
Date
2010
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Volume Title
Publisher
American Anthropological Association
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Keywords
Indigeneity, Ch'orti' Maya, Honduras, Mestizo, Social Movement
Citation
2010 “Questions of Indigeneity and the (Re)-Emergent Ch’orti’
Maya of Honduras” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean
Anthropology, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 289-316.