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Violence and Women's Lives in Eastern Guatemala: A Conceptual Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Cecilia Menjívar
Cecilia Menjívar*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
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Abstract

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In this article, I outline a framework to examine women's lives in eastern Guatemala, how multiple forms of violence coalesce in their everyday lives, and how these become normalized so as to become invisible and “natural.” Women in western Guatemala, mostly indigenous, have received the attention of scholars who are interested in unearthing the brutality of state terror and its gendered expressions in Guatemala. My discussion builds on previous research conducted among indigenous groups in Guatemala and renders a depiction of the broad reach of violence, including expressions that are so commonplace as to become invisible. I argue that an examination of multiple forms of violence in the lives of women in eastern Guatemala, who are nonindigenous, exposes the deep and broad manifestations of living in a society engulfed in violence, thus depicting the long arm of violence.

Resumo

Resumo

En este trabajo la autora presenta un marco para examinar la vida de las mujeres en el este de Guatemala y analizar cómo, en sus vidas cotidianas, múltiples formas de violencia se unen en una sola y se vuelven normales, hasta el punto de convertirse en invisibles y “naturales”. Las mujeres en el oeste de Guatemala, indígenas en su mayoría, han recibido (con justas razones) la atención de académicos interesados en descubrir la brutalidad del terror estatal y sus manifestaciones desde el punto de vista del género. La discusión se basa en investigaciones previas, conducidas entre grupos indígenas en Guatemala, y da cuenta del amplio alcance de la violencia, incluyendo expresiones tan comunes que se vuelven invisibles. Sostiene que un análisis de las múltiples formas de violencia en la vida de las mujeres en el este de Guatemala, quienes no son indígenas, expone las manifestaciones, profundas y amplias, de vivir en una sociedad sumergida en la violencia, lo que evidencia el largo brazo de este fenómeno.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , 2008 , pp. 109 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

There are several people and institutions I would like to acknowledge. First and foremost, I would like to thank the women in Guatemala who spoke with me and allowed me a window into their lives. Initial stages of the project were conducted as part of a larger study that Anne Pebley and her colleagues undertook in Guatemala; I thank them for including me in it. Further support for fieldwork came from Arizona State University—from a Faculty Grant in Aid, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Gender and Women's Studies Program. I also would like to thank the audiences of panels at the American Anthropological Association meetings in 2006 and the Latin American Studies Association in 2007 for their constructive criticism; Gabriela Torres, for thoughtful suggestions; and to the LARR editor and three reviewers for excellent comments. All errors remaining are, of course, mine alone. An earlier version of this article appeared as Working Paper No. 290, WID Working Paper Series, Center for Gender in Global Context, Michigan State University.

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