Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Strong Women Stories Chapter 3
In this chapter titled “From the Stories That Women Tell: The Metis Women’s Circle” by Carole Leclair & Lynn Nicholson with Metis Elder Elize Hartley speaking of the time spent by Metis women and how they come together as a community of women to their stories to each other. The Metis Women’s Circle was started In 1995 by Metis women because they felt there was a need to get together and share stories and share spirituality by both Metis women and those who are of mixed-blood. This circle becomes a place where all these women can negotiate their own life paths, speak of who they feel they are in terms of identity and “create positive meanings”. I think for the women this a type of therapy were only people with similar stories and background, views of identity and spirituality can really help you understand your own personal place in the world. Also I think for the women who are of mixed heritage this becomes the way that they can become closer to the culture that they are possibly denied or even unaware of. It is said that “…Of course there is confusion over the definition of who is/isn’t Metis. We recognize this confusion as an element of historically genocidal colonial practices” (59). I wish that there was a way for all minority people who have lost their history and ancestry to re-claim in such a way that it is able to live through stories. Just a few thoughts.
No Parole Today p. 18-30
In this section of No Parole Today, it seems to capture that essence of her Laura Tohe’s childhood while at the Indian Boarding School where she leaves that naïveté of her childhood and moves into being a “teenager” also it recounts her first love, loosing that first love, and rebelling like most teenagers do. I think her story about blowing the smoke in her face sounds like a regular teenager when they get tired of being “good” and want to become more rebellious. She speaks of the girls calling her wishbone to which she says “At least it’s not as bad as the names the school has labeled me, troublemaker, incorrigible, dumb Indian…” (26). I can see why she started to act out. It seems that if they are going to label you as a person who acts out and who is dumb, then you might as well give them what they expect than busting your behind to assimilate or be what they want because really all you are ever going to be to them IS a dumb Indian. Thoe says ‘its their way of shaming you, their way of taking control of you. They want you to know who’s in charge, who’s the authority. Like making soap flakes, they chip at you one flake at a time until your parts are laying in a bucket” (26). I think this is very powerful in itself because that is what the boarding schools are for. They take these children and make them into something else when really they are the still the same product but just in a different form. I think these opens an interesting facet to her story. Just a few thoughts.
Women & Change Chapter 8
This chapter titled “Mexican Women’s Activism in New Mexico Colonias” by Rebecca Dolhinow accounted for the project of interviews that she did in Colonias along the border of New Mexico. The communities were Los Montes, Recuerdos and Valle de Vacas. In this chapter probably the most interesting topic was of gender roles in the households of Colonias. These women speak of how men are only there for protection, discipline, to financially provide for the family and that is it. If he chooses to do anything else when he comes home for work, that is up to him and is “recreational”. For the women who want to be activists there are challenges and struggles that come along due to gender relations in the home. It because of their specific roles in the home, women are supposed to be the ones who take care of the home and the children. The role of women is to take care of everything else so if she doesn’t everything can fall apart. It is said that “mothers make sure their families are fed and dressed and ready for another day” (132). I think that this ideology goes beyond the Colonia communities, but also can even be seen in American culture. Men traditionally known as the breadwinners, and even some couples adhere to those 1950’s traditional views were the husband brings home the bacon, and the wife waits for him to bring it home so that she can cook it and hand him a beer after his long day. Yes there are “Mr. Mom’s” the men who are stay-at-home dad’s but those are not really chosen situations. These situations may come up when a father is laid off, or the mother may make more money the husband. I am saying that fathers could choose to do so, but it not often times the case. I wonder when as a global society we will break from this typical family structuring (minus alternative families of single parents, same-sex partnerships etc.)
Don't Let the Sun Step Over You Chapters 7 & 8
In this two chapters, Eva Tulene Watt wrote in chapter seven about her life in Chediskai and in chapter eight when her family raised horses and their daily lives there in Chediskai. Watt said that there were six families who lived in the area, but “they didn’t stay there like we did” (164). Many of the families were in and out of the area because of some getting killed, or families not moving to the area until harvest time came around, or families who only came for the summer. She remembers that even though her family was a permanent fixture to their area, her families and the other families always worked together and shared things and created their own kind of community.
Watt speaks about the salt bank that her family would use as a resource to get salt for cooking and foods. There were two white men who came to the salt banks in 1932 or 1933 and they ended up exploding the bank/cave which destroyed it. She says that “now its all down on the ground. It’s all chopped up. They used powder-dynamite-to destroy it. I don’t know why they did that. I don’t know what they are looking for” (173). It sad that the only white people that they ever saw came to their community destroyed a vital resource. I just want to prose the question for people to ponder such as why was it vital or why do you think she remembers so much about this being that she was just a child? Do you think that this was the “talk of the town” which caused a lot of uproar and unrest to those living in the community?
In chapter eight Watt speaks about when her family was raising horses. Her family would use these horses for everything. Not only would they raise them, but they would the hair to make rope and soap, and also they would eat horse meat and then used the hides to make bags. I really liked her story about raising the orphaned horse that was rejected by the others for some reason. I feel like that story may have spoken about other people in her community or people that she herself has encountered. They took care of that horse when it needed the help. That just speaks about the kind of people that they are. Just a few thoughts
Watt speaks about the salt bank that her family would use as a resource to get salt for cooking and foods. There were two white men who came to the salt banks in 1932 or 1933 and they ended up exploding the bank/cave which destroyed it. She says that “now its all down on the ground. It’s all chopped up. They used powder-dynamite-to destroy it. I don’t know why they did that. I don’t know what they are looking for” (173). It sad that the only white people that they ever saw came to their community destroyed a vital resource. I just want to prose the question for people to ponder such as why was it vital or why do you think she remembers so much about this being that she was just a child? Do you think that this was the “talk of the town” which caused a lot of uproar and unrest to those living in the community?
In chapter eight Watt speaks about when her family was raising horses. Her family would use these horses for everything. Not only would they raise them, but they would the hair to make rope and soap, and also they would eat horse meat and then used the hides to make bags. I really liked her story about raising the orphaned horse that was rejected by the others for some reason. I feel like that story may have spoken about other people in her community or people that she herself has encountered. They took care of that horse when it needed the help. That just speaks about the kind of people that they are. Just a few thoughts
Dissiden Women Chapter 8
In this chapter titled “A consideration of the Daily Life of Zapatista Women” by Violeta Zylberberg Panebianco, spoke about the Zapatista National Liberation Army (ELZN) and the daily lives of women who do participate in the group as well as their participation within the group. The Zapatista movement was looking for eliminate gender inequality in the workplace for these women although that would be a mountain to conquer in itself. It is said that “…women participate within the EZLN at all levels”, (222) some of the women are apart of organizing communities and region, some live in military camps in the mountains, and other who live in their communities but have had some military training, and lastly other are apart of the support base. Zylberberg Panebianco focuses directly on the women who form the support bases because “…little is know about the women who form the Zapatista support bases, about their daily struggle to survive under the low-intensity warder that besieges their communities, to transform the “traditions” that regulate their lives” (223).
Part of these women’s daily lives included them become displaced by the Mexican Army and their families ended up fleeing to the mountains. Once the army arrived “all their belongings had been destroyed, their animals had been stolen or killed to feed the soldiers, and the corn and beans from the year’s harvest were scattered on the ground, mixed with the soldiers’ feces and urine” (225). This sounded like the militaries own way to make sure that nothing came back, almost like burning the fields. These women deal with a military presence everywhere they turn. I wonder why they go after the women who work as the support base. These women are always being watched and “…the presence of federal troops has altered how the people go about their daily activities” (225), so I can only imagine how the army being around had made the mobility of these women harder because they have to walk farther to collect firewood and water.
Zylberberg Panebianco also talk about the Zapatista uprising and how men are helping women more with domestic tasks. On individual said that “If I finish early with my work, I can help, Women have a lot of work, and there are things we can help with” (230). One of the men said that he would help to grind corn, but not make tortillas. I think that even though the men do want to help they are still trying to hang on to traditional values, but it is nice that they would grind the corn or shuck the corn, or feed the pigs because that decreases the amount of work which the men will do. I can only imagine that this could possibly change over time where men would do more, but you cannot expect men to be in the kitchens with aprons tomorrow taking care of the home and children. This type of change will not be immediate. I think although the Zapatistas had a movement, the women who are in the support base position their lives have changed much, but the Zapatista movement as a whole did change how people looked at indigenous women. They weren’t women who couldn’t, but they became women who can and did make change if not in the communities, but their homes.
Di
Part of these women’s daily lives included them become displaced by the Mexican Army and their families ended up fleeing to the mountains. Once the army arrived “all their belongings had been destroyed, their animals had been stolen or killed to feed the soldiers, and the corn and beans from the year’s harvest were scattered on the ground, mixed with the soldiers’ feces and urine” (225). This sounded like the militaries own way to make sure that nothing came back, almost like burning the fields. These women deal with a military presence everywhere they turn. I wonder why they go after the women who work as the support base. These women are always being watched and “…the presence of federal troops has altered how the people go about their daily activities” (225), so I can only imagine how the army being around had made the mobility of these women harder because they have to walk farther to collect firewood and water.
Zylberberg Panebianco also talk about the Zapatista uprising and how men are helping women more with domestic tasks. On individual said that “If I finish early with my work, I can help, Women have a lot of work, and there are things we can help with” (230). One of the men said that he would help to grind corn, but not make tortillas. I think that even though the men do want to help they are still trying to hang on to traditional values, but it is nice that they would grind the corn or shuck the corn, or feed the pigs because that decreases the amount of work which the men will do. I can only imagine that this could possibly change over time where men would do more, but you cannot expect men to be in the kitchens with aprons tomorrow taking care of the home and children. This type of change will not be immediate. I think although the Zapatistas had a movement, the women who are in the support base position their lives have changed much, but the Zapatista movement as a whole did change how people looked at indigenous women. They weren’t women who couldn’t, but they became women who can and did make change if not in the communities, but their homes.
Di
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Women & Change p. 36-52
In this chapter titled “Women’s Daily Mobility at the U.S.-Mexico Border” by Ellen R. Hansen speaks about how mobility (getting around) for the women is effected, and how “…women’s mobility illustrates gender roles and relations”(36). For the women to travel between Douglas, Arizona & Auga Prieta, Sonora, Mexico for work their daily mobility was effected vastly by the attacks at the world trade center on September 11, 2001. I honestly never even really thought about how anyone was affected by September 11th other than Americans. I understand that goes with nationality and being unaware, but I honestly never really considered it. Because the U.S.-Mexico border is so unpredictable and can be opened and closed over time, September 11th caused harsher security measures where people were being watched and inspected and it increased the time in which these women spent going over the border to work. For many of the women their days are so specifically planned on when they leave home, coordinating with their childcare providers, transportation, grocery shopping, etc.
Transportation out of all of the women’s day it probably the most important key to their mobility. However transportation is gendered as well. There was a story of one woman who would coordinate dropping off various family members with their families’ only vehicle to her own work schedule. There was a woman where she and her husband would do a lot of driving and trading off driving throughout the day, but whenever she and her husband were together in the car he would always drive. This part of the gendered aspect speaks volumes of how these couples may be modern or the new generation, but yet many traditional values/roles still present themselves in small situations.
The last piece about transportation that was brought up that was very interesting the in Auga Prieta there is a public transportation system that is reliable although it is considered unreliable so most women choose to walk. Compared to the public transportation system in Douglas, Arizona that does not exist although the roads are modern and paved and the roads in Auga Prieta are not. It is interesting that here in the United States that there is no transportation system where you would that there would be one. I wonder if one has not been developed for a reason. Is the government and local officials trying to make a way where it would be harder of these Mexican and Indigenous women to get to work? This sounds like a nationality based discrimination to decreased mobility. Just a few thoughts.
Transportation out of all of the women’s day it probably the most important key to their mobility. However transportation is gendered as well. There was a story of one woman who would coordinate dropping off various family members with their families’ only vehicle to her own work schedule. There was a woman where she and her husband would do a lot of driving and trading off driving throughout the day, but whenever she and her husband were together in the car he would always drive. This part of the gendered aspect speaks volumes of how these couples may be modern or the new generation, but yet many traditional values/roles still present themselves in small situations.
The last piece about transportation that was brought up that was very interesting the in Auga Prieta there is a public transportation system that is reliable although it is considered unreliable so most women choose to walk. Compared to the public transportation system in Douglas, Arizona that does not exist although the roads are modern and paved and the roads in Auga Prieta are not. It is interesting that here in the United States that there is no transportation system where you would that there would be one. I wonder if one has not been developed for a reason. Is the government and local officials trying to make a way where it would be harder of these Mexican and Indigenous women to get to work? This sounds like a nationality based discrimination to decreased mobility. Just a few thoughts.
Women and Change Pg. 19-35
This chapter of Women and Change titled “The Unsettling, Gendered Consequences of Migration for Mexican Indigenous Women” by Elizabeth Maier speaks about how the traditionally gendered roles have been dramatically changed thanks to women entering the workforce/who have been working. In recent years since more and more women have been going to work, more and more families are moving away from patriarchal control, and through these changes women are finding empowerment, entitlement, and citizenship.
Migration which is often times hard creates a new type of network of these migrant workers who move to communities along the U.S.-Mexico Boarder. It is said that “migrant networks ease adaptation in unknown socioeconomic and cultural environments. They are cultural support systems wrapped around gender-based social diversions that orient recent arrivals as to how to satisfy basic needs, administer natural resources, and find employment, or contact coyotes for crossing the boarder” (23). This sounds like a self-serving kind of network where people who do migrate to different areas and would not otherwise know anyone or anything, it is set up for people to acquire what they may need without having to go to the government for it, or worse, starve. This kind of networking is not only just amongst migrant workers, but it is gendered.
The gendered networking helps the “new” and “progressive” women who are working with a different set of necessities than those created for migrant workers. These women not only have to worry about basic needs, or finding jobs, but they have their families to worry about. These women have created networks where solidarity is created first. Other women understand and sympathize with each other and understand although they may work and feel like “modern” women, they still have to care of their families, the home, etc.
For these women this gendered work can be helped in some ways and hindered in others. One woman recounted how she always asks her sons to help her out with house work by cleaning their rooms or making their beds, however they don’t which adds to the work that she has to do in the home after putting a full day outside of the home. I quickly scribbled as a side note asking the question if machismo will ever change as new generations come in that have been used to home where gendered roles are much more progressive? Really I want to know will these sons ever get off their lazy behinds and help their mothers.
Secondly, for the women who are doing gendered roles, it is lucky for those who can get their hands on modern convinces like cars or dishwashers, refrigerators, etc. because the workload is cut into half. I could see that possibly happening because it is said that gender is ever changing thanks to relocation, generation differences, but it takes time. It is said that
“…gender is particularly prone to readjustments and rearrangement. Newfound niches of female socioeconomic activity, together with the evolving demise of arranged marriages, second-generation access to sexual education and family planning, bilingual and trilingual proficiency, increased schooling for girls, and the emergence of some women professionals all suggest an ongoing blurring of the strict sexual divisions of hometown community life” (27).
In these women is an increased sense of entitlement. What kind of entitlement is the first question that came to my head. These younger women who work as maquiladoras are a new generation and “they have a better understanding of mestiza culture, exhibit greater participation in intercultural institutions, and display more complexity and determination in the formulation of chains” (30). These women understand where they still need to respect their culture and cultural expectations however, they have found that place where they are able to negotiate what they want, who they want to be and still have that respect for culture. These women are educated, they decide when they marry, but still be able to honor traditional values as much as possible without conflicting too much with their new set of traditions and values.
Migration which is often times hard creates a new type of network of these migrant workers who move to communities along the U.S.-Mexico Boarder. It is said that “migrant networks ease adaptation in unknown socioeconomic and cultural environments. They are cultural support systems wrapped around gender-based social diversions that orient recent arrivals as to how to satisfy basic needs, administer natural resources, and find employment, or contact coyotes for crossing the boarder” (23). This sounds like a self-serving kind of network where people who do migrate to different areas and would not otherwise know anyone or anything, it is set up for people to acquire what they may need without having to go to the government for it, or worse, starve. This kind of networking is not only just amongst migrant workers, but it is gendered.
The gendered networking helps the “new” and “progressive” women who are working with a different set of necessities than those created for migrant workers. These women not only have to worry about basic needs, or finding jobs, but they have their families to worry about. These women have created networks where solidarity is created first. Other women understand and sympathize with each other and understand although they may work and feel like “modern” women, they still have to care of their families, the home, etc.
For these women this gendered work can be helped in some ways and hindered in others. One woman recounted how she always asks her sons to help her out with house work by cleaning their rooms or making their beds, however they don’t which adds to the work that she has to do in the home after putting a full day outside of the home. I quickly scribbled as a side note asking the question if machismo will ever change as new generations come in that have been used to home where gendered roles are much more progressive? Really I want to know will these sons ever get off their lazy behinds and help their mothers.
Secondly, for the women who are doing gendered roles, it is lucky for those who can get their hands on modern convinces like cars or dishwashers, refrigerators, etc. because the workload is cut into half. I could see that possibly happening because it is said that gender is ever changing thanks to relocation, generation differences, but it takes time. It is said that
“…gender is particularly prone to readjustments and rearrangement. Newfound niches of female socioeconomic activity, together with the evolving demise of arranged marriages, second-generation access to sexual education and family planning, bilingual and trilingual proficiency, increased schooling for girls, and the emergence of some women professionals all suggest an ongoing blurring of the strict sexual divisions of hometown community life” (27).
In these women is an increased sense of entitlement. What kind of entitlement is the first question that came to my head. These younger women who work as maquiladoras are a new generation and “they have a better understanding of mestiza culture, exhibit greater participation in intercultural institutions, and display more complexity and determination in the formulation of chains” (30). These women understand where they still need to respect their culture and cultural expectations however, they have found that place where they are able to negotiate what they want, who they want to be and still have that respect for culture. These women are educated, they decide when they marry, but still be able to honor traditional values as much as possible without conflicting too much with their new set of traditions and values.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
