Body Talk: Performing Violence Against Women in Contemporary Guatemala

Abstract

Drawing upon Diana Taylor’s concept of the repertoire, I propose that the performers’ and photographers’ use of the female body functions as a meta-language to denounce several types of violence against women. Guatemala offers a unique opportunity for the study of embedded issues of identity, indigeneity, and gender, which are at the core of the same structural ailments that lead to its 36-year armed conflict that influences today. This analysis contributes to the understanding of embodiments of violence and considers the ethical implications of reproducing violence against women. Even though there has been extensive ethnographic work on violence and its manifestations, very few scholars have worked with the new generation of female Guatemalan artists that explore violence through a practice of denunciation. I analyze performance work by Regina José Galindo, Rosa Chávez, and Sandra Monterroso, photography by Verónica Riedel and Rodrigo Abd, street protest by the Spanish Grupo de Autoconciencia Feminista (GAF), and an ethnographic exhibit by the Mesoamerican Regional Research Centre (CIRMA). The thread that unites my analyses is the embodiment of violence as seen through the lenses of what I call body talk. Body talk is the staged use of the performer’s body to convey meaning; it is a distinctive practice of non-verbal, non-discursive bodily communication that can be strategically used to promote acts of resistance. I conclude that ethnic and gender violence representations in contemporary Guatemala transcend language limitations and I explore the possibilities for the female body to create alternative spaces. In addition, I explore the impact and the challenges that embodiments of violence pose for distinct spectatorships, especially considering visceral synesthaetic responses. As far as future inquiries, body talk can easily be applied to better understand issues such as body manipulation, alteration and beauty contests related to the politics of indigeneity in Guatemala, and also mass-production, maquiladoras, and neoliberal female exploration in Central America.