Description
Book SynopsisChristine Eber looks at women and drinking in the community of San Pedro Chenalhó to address the issues of women’s identities, roles, relationships, and sources of power.
Trade ReviewWomen and Alcohol is a book worth reading.... The book’s informal tone and interesting topic make it appealing to a wide audience, including casual readers and undergraduate classes. Furthermore, Eber’s cross-cultural insight into alcohol dependency is relevant not only for anthropologists but also for health care professionals and others who deal with substance abuse. * Latin American Indian Literatures Journal *
In this well-written ethnography, Christine Eber weaves together the critical issues of gender relations, religious change, domestic violence, and drinking in highland Chiapas.... This is a fine ethnography that is a must-read for all interested in gender relations in contemporary Latin America. It is also one of the best current discussions on the little-studied phenomenon of religious change in Mexico.... Eber also provides a wonderful model of how to write a readable ethnography that treats its subjects with dignity and respect and honestly integrates the trials and tribulations of the ethnographer in the process. * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
Table of Contents
- List of Major Characters
- Acknowledgments
- On Translations and Aids to Reading This Book
- Preface
- 1. Frameworks and Methods
- 2. The Time of Suffering: Pedranos, Ladinos, and Rum
- 3. I Have Come: Crazy February
- 4. Making One's Soul Arrive: Child Rearing and Household Relations
- 5. "Before God's flowery face": The Feast of St. Peter
- 6. "Now I am going like a branch and its leaves": Drinkers and Their Families
- 7. Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow: A Processual Framework on Drinking
- 8. "Beneath God's flowery hands and feet": Shamans' Cures for Problem Drinking
- 9. "It's time to change": Mestizoization and Drinking
- 10. "For ye are bought with a price": Traditions, Religions, and Drinking
- 11. "Today we say: Enough!": New Voices, New Collective Action
- 12. Conclusion
- List of the Martyrs at Acteal
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- A. Traditional Pedrano Gods
- B. Non-Traditional Healing in Chenalhó
- C. Brief History of Presbyterianism in Chenalhó
- D. Revelation 21:3-8
- Notes
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- Index of Major Characters
