Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow

by Christine Eber

Book Overview

Healing roles and rituals involving alcohol are a major source of power and identity for women and men in Highland Chiapas, Mexico, where abstention from alcohol can bring a loss of meaningful roles and of a sense of community. Yet, as in other parts of the world, alcohol use sometimes leads to abuse, whose effects must then be combated by individuals and the community.

In this pioneering ethnography, Christine Eber looks at women and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0292721048
• ISBN13: 9780292721043
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Complex culture, easy to read for an academic piece

The history, culture and lives of Mayan women are complex, there isn't an easy way to describe the family relationships and the struggles - family, economic and with alcohol. This is an academic research book, so it isn't light reading, but the author's style helped me to visualize and understand the challenges women face in Chiapas

Rum, chicha, or coca-cola?

The scope of this book is much broader than the title implies. Like all good ethnographers, the author sought answers about alcohol use and abuse in the daily activities and religious practices of the community. Thus, she lived in the highland Mayan town of San Pedro Chenalhó in Chiapas, Mexico, and looked at the place of alcohol in the social structure, including the paradoxical role of rum which is aligned with religious experience, but with the potential to do harm. However, in living in the community and in asking questions about drinking, the author necessarily broadened her theme to include child-rearing practices, shamanism, and the control exerted over envy among community members. Although based in anthropological research, this book is very readable. The anecdotes are interesting. Moreover, the author is forthright about her own role in the community, her personal experience with drunkenness in Tenejapa, and the potential problems she generated for one family by her presence in their household. I have only minor quibbles with this book. The inclusion of Aztec traditions with respect to gender and alcohol could have been omitted, and terms such as "time-out" might have been briefly defined the first time they were used. But, overall, this is an essential resource for anyone interested in contemporary Mayan culture.