Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen
A
Matriarchal Society in the age of Globalization
Juchitán/Southern Mexico
There are three reasons why I chose the subject of Globalization and Matriarchy.
Firstly, to emphasise the absolute topicality and modernity of the Juchitán
society.
Secondly, to show that there are examples and points of contact for a
current alternative to the existing globalised capitalism.
Thirdly, for the comprehension of this possibility, which in the case
of Juchitán is especially easy because geographically the area is
by no means a retreat but is like a turntable of globalised trade.
To begin with I will portray the main features of Juchitán society.
Then I will discuss why it makes sense and is accurate to call this society
matriarchal in spite of the existence of patriarchal elements within the
society. This discussion leads directly on to the questions; what indeed
is the mark of this intensified patriarchy of globalised capitalism; and
what, in the light of the insights gained by Juchitán, can be the
decisive moments for finding a different path.
Geographical details
The Middle-American Indian ethnic group of the Isthmus-Zapotecs settled
in the South of Mexico on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, on the pacific side
of the isthmus between the Atlantic Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, in
an area of approx. 7500 square kilometres. The population is about 250.000
persons strong, when applying the common criteria of speaking the native
language. This group has a more or less matrifocal orientation. My report
is from the town of Juchitán situated in this region with about
100 000 inhabitants. They portray the characteristics of this ethnic group
very clearly. In this large rural town, which is really only a huge village,
I ran a research project between 1990 and 1992 and during this time lived
there continuously for a whole year.
The isthmus has been a transit area since before the Spanish invasion,
and has served as a trading route between the north and the Central American
south, between the Aztecs and the Mayans. This role of a trading post and
traffic junction of international routes has continued through colonial
times and the building of the railway in the nineteenth century to the
present day. In the free trade port of Salina Cruz, where large refineries
were built nearby, the crude oil is produced on the Atlantic side of the
isthmus. In the course of the major development project "Plan Puebla-Panama" multi-tracked
highways and railway tracks are planned, some already started, as well
as the extension of container ports, the petrochemical industry and world
market factories.
In view of this geo-political economic situation, the question is obvious,
how much longer will this other, non-patriarchal economy and culture be
able to persist. I will however not respond to this question as I think
it is an ideological question along the lines of "There is no alternative" (Margaret
Thatcher). In contrast I will describe the mechanisms which have reproduced
matriarchal structures and kept them alive up to this day. When I use the
plural "We" I refer to a team of five female sociology researchers
who participated in this research project.
Juchitán, the town of women
The women of Juchitán, of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are famous
throughout the nation of Mexico because of their beauty and their economic
power. Something of this power could be felt in the recent film about the
world famous painter Frida Kahlo, who had her Mexican roots in this area.
In this country whose character is stamped by "Machismo", the
Latino male superiority, one often hears it said "Juchitán
is run by women's rule." In Mexico a man is teasingly called
a "Teco" (derived from Juchiteco) when he displays supposedly
un-masculine softness in the dispute between the sexes. "Teca" is
the name for a woman who is proud and energetic and able to prevail. This
reflects the ethnic character of women in Juchitán quite well.
The town of Juchitán is a regional trade centre. Moreover it is
the residence of farmers and fishermen. Two large saltwater lagoons, rich
in fish, are situated 5-10 km away from the town. The surrounding coastal
plain is dedicated to tillage and animal husbandry. To visualise the character
of this town, we can think of the European agricultural towns, made up
mainly of town farmers who owned farms situated within the town's district
which were still widespread up until the 1970's and are still in
existence today.
Trade in Juchitán is exclusively in the hands of women. Each woman
perceives herself as a trader, this skill is essentially given to her "in
the cradle", by virtue of being a woman and a Teca. Even as a teacher
or physician she will still trade in some goods, for example with gold
jewellery or with medical equipment. This trade is both local and regional – Juchitán
traders have outposts in the surrounding areas and with other ethnic groups – as
well as doing long distant trade to Central America and to the southern
states of the US. The main trading goods for long distance trade are local
specialities, like dried shrimps, toasted tortillas called totopo, gold
jewellery and richly embroidered garments. Agriculture and fishing are
men's domains exclusively. A wife of a farmer does not see herself
as a peasant woman, but as a trader of agricultural products, likewise,
the companion of a fisherman. The men deliver their produce and catch to
the women who process them to corn pies or cheese, to delicious chicken
dishes or smoked fish, which they then sell on at the market. Or they act
as brokers and sell the raw products to other women who in turn process
them. Similarly trade in handcrafted products is women's domain.
There is quite a rigid division of labour in Juchitán along the
line of the two basic sexes of women and men. Labour defines the sex to
a great degree. One could almost get the impression that the rigidity in
the sexual division of labour serves mainly the definition of further sexual
identities and not so much that of man and woman. The mushes, mostly homosexual
men who define themselves as women, do women's work and refuse to
do men's work, thus defining their sexual identity through their
work. It is similar with the marimachas, women who live with other women
and take the male part in the relationship. The sexual practices themselves
are rather secondary in view of the social sex assignment. The sexual partner
of a mushe is not seen as a mushe, or as homosexual, but simply as a man.
The same holds for the partner of a marimacha. If same sex partners do
not assign themselves through their work as - biologically antidromic – a
third or fourth sex, then sexual contact is rather sporadic and is not
an issue in the wider society. What we call bi-sexuality has a very high
occurrence in Juchitán.
The rather rigid sex based division of work is a protection for women
from a sort of hostile take-over. In this way the position of trader and
market-woman is undeniably women's domain.
Thus the economy of Juchitán is solidly in women's hands,
which proves furthermore, and rather contrary to Marxist views, the importance
of the circulation sphere for the whole of the economy. Both men and women
are convinced that women are better at buying and selling and handling
money. For this reason farmers and fishermen prefer to deliver their products
to the women rather then to large trading organisations which would take
the raw materials out of the region. Thanks to the special relationship
between the sexes in Juchitán processing happens in the region and
with this comes added product value. The man who works as a labourer in
the nearby crude oil refinery delivers his complete income to the woman,
for her to manage it. In this way a self-contained, women-centred economy
of a very special quality has developed.
One of the more outstanding results is the great prosperity of the area,
especially when we compare it to other Central American Indian regions,
which are usually characterised by malnutrition and hunger. Children of
pre-school age are especially vulnerable to malnutrition, impacting their
entire further development. In Juchitán, children of this age group
are better nourished then the average child in the US of similar age.
The Juchitán economy is women centred in as much as the core of
the economy is based on provisioning. Different from our situation the
societal division of labour between women is very high. One is selling
salad dressings, the other one buys them to prepare the salads she is making.
One makes clothes, the other one embroiders the clothes, a third one makes
the designs for the embroidery. The tradeswoman who works at the market
has somebody at home who cares for the children. The meals she brings home
from the market are either partly or totally prepared. In comparison to
Europe and the rest of Mexico, the societal division of labour in the area
of provisioning has dramatically decreased in modern times. It brought
about a reality, which is also an ideal, the one-woman enterprise household
without any division of labour within its confines. In Juchitán
however the isolated housewife does not exist. Instead the town's
economy is organised in the form of a huge household with a high degree
of labour division between its members. In this way the driving force behind
this local and regional economy is the aspect of provisioning and not the
abstract profit motive. This does not mean that there is an absence of
wanting to make a profit gain, but it is another kind of gain, using another
measurement. The measuring stick is and remains the concrete, beneficial
and practical; good nourishment, clothing, dwelling, hospitality, and care
and so on, instead of mere abstract profit figures. The relationship between
the market partners remains a personal one. The aim is the good life and
the life of the community instead of the fiction, "The more the better",
or to become "Number One", at the expense of everybody else.
This is commensurate with the fact that there is little wage work in Juchitán.
There seems to be an in-built brake in the society which prevents work
from becoming a commodity. Work remains a way human beings actualise themselves
in this world. It belongs to the person, is an aspect of the person, just
like their sexuality. Each trades woman is proud of her competency; the
trade itself is a craft, which cannot be just handed over to a waged worker.
This is the reason why independence plays a greater role than the ambition
to establish an enterprise with waged workers. Accordingly the whole local
society is organised less hierarchically and is more egalitarian.
The economy remains embedded in the societal and cultural context in the
form of the so-called prestige economy. The person with the highest esteem
is not the one who owns most, but the one who gives most. By gift giving
and the collective consummation of accumulated wealth, prestige is gained.
In Juchitán one earns one's merits in the community through
the festivals. Heading up the ranking of the merit festivals are the Velas,
great street festivals, 35 per year, which last four days and are attended
by several thousand people. To take the auspices of such a festival is
the lifetime ambition of each Teca. These festivals are mainly the women's
domain where they gain great prestige for themselves and their families. It
is easy to detect fertility rites as the roots of the Velas which are celebrated
by groups of interrelated people who live in the same areas. These mainly
come from matrilineal clans who assemble around a Clan-Totem or a Nahual.
Part of each Vela is a parade with floats with allegorical themes from
which young women give out flowers, fruit and other gifts.
All together there are 628 great street festivals celebrated in Juchitán:
Birthdays, weddings and the initiation festivals of the young girls for
their 15th birthday or sometimes the initiation of a mushe. For young men
there is no equivalent.
It is usually one person, generally a woman, who carries the main responsibility
and the biggest part of the costs, but each festival has multiple godmothers,
who carry a part of the responsibility for organising and financing the
festival. The guests also contribute to the whole by way of offerings and
gifts, above all the neighbouring women who are actively involved from
4 am onwards in preparing food for the hundreds of guests. The host has
to keep all of these contributions in mind, as strict reciprocity is expected
of her. In this way the festivals are not only an integral part of the
economy, as they keep the circulation process going, but they also foster
the spirit of reciprocity, which characterises the exchange process. Goods,
gifts, donations and assistance, everything flows equally into the "reciprocity
account" of the Tecas and Tecos, and this also applies for the prices
of products at the market. The same product can cost different amounts
for different customers, according to the status of the social reciprocity.
In other words, people in Juchitán deal with money differently then
is common in the capitalist market economy. Even though the market, monetary
exchange processes and the societal division of labour organise the economy
at the Isthmus, even though the same Peso and the same Dollar are used
as elsewhere in Mexico and the world market, nevertheless purchase and
sale, as well as the value of money, remain defined by independent social
and cultural criterion and not vice versa.
The matriarchal spirit
This different spirit of "housekeeping", of managing the economy,
and living together can be explained using the still existing matriarchal
principles.
1. Pride in one's own is the first point, carrying the local and
regional economy, which is based in the genealogy in which the individual
feels anchored. The Isthmus-Zapotecs, and especially the Juchitánians,
are proud of their ancestry, differing in this from most other colonised
peoples of Mexico who feel ashamed of their background. Maternal genealogy
still matters in Juchitán. The reputation of the children is determined
by the reputation of mother or grandmother. They acquired the reputation
in the context of the prestige economy. For example, politics is men's
domain in Juchitán, and it is part of a male career path to aspire
to a post in this context, preferably to become the mayor. Whether a man
can succeed in politics is very much dependent on the reputation of his
maternal family, as well as the commitment of his sisters and his wife
in the social merit structure.
We can not strictly speak of matrilineality, using an ethnological term,
but one can still see traces of it. For example, officially naming children
is still done in the manner that is common in Mexico, first naming the
father then the mother, i.e. Maria Lopez Sanchez. But many fathers are
not even mentioned because they do not have a real or even formal function.
Furthermore people know each other by their "house name" which
usually is passed down from the mother. Also relationships are very unstable
and because of this, as in typically matrilineal societies, fathers play
a minor role. Nevertheless, perhaps as a concession to the overall Mexican
society, many mothers strive towards the recognition of the father's
paternity towards the child and for the youngster to carry the father's
name.
2. Another matriarchal principle is the local relatedness, the connectedness
with a specific locality, as it were a rootedness in mother earth, in comparison
to the abstractness and randomness of the global market which aims for
the up-rootedness of all and everything. Of highest importance for the
local relatedness of the Juchitánians is the fact that commonly
the women own the houses. There is no father-house, only the house of the
mother. To this the sons can always return if there are problems in the
relationship with the female companion with whom he is living. But it is
invariably her house. The mother hands down her house and her gold jewellery
to the youngest daughter, because she will care for her in her old age.
She also makes sure that the new houses of her other daughters are built
close to her on her property.
Arable farm-land, the boat and male tools are handed down along the male
line. The heir can be a biological son or the son of a sister. Common
property of farm-land predominates which ensures access to land by each
male member of the community (given that he has not inherited a specific
plot of land already), so it is not the heredity transmission alone which
is responsible for possession or non-possession of land. However, with
the introduction of irrigation systems in the 1960s, the commons were to
be changed into government owned land and eventually into private land.
There was a relatively successful uprising against this attempt to hinder
access to land for every male member of the community in need of it.
3. It is mainly the tradition of the mother's house, matrilocality,
which is able to withstand the neo-liberal intention to gear the agricultural
production of Juchitán towards the world market. The fact that farmers
and fishermen, crafts men and labourers are handing their returns and their
earnings over to the women, instead of using them up or selling on to outsiders,
is based in the reality of matrilocality. As the houses belong to
the women and as the rituals of social coherence and the genealogy are
focused on women, we can say that the town belongs to the women. Men get
access to the society of the town by handing over their products and their
earnings to the women.
This other spirit, which reigns in Juchitán and makes sure reciprocity
prevails, enables the economy and money to remain embedded in social relationships. This
other spirit we attribute to the matriarchal principle that concentrates
on the concrete, the material, the substantially useful, this concrete
life on earth, not some other transcendent world. This thinking we call
an orientation towards subsistence. The issue here is the "good life",
now, here and today, it is the spirit residing in every object, not the
spirit which is enthroned, aloof and exalted above everything that is an
ordinary necessity – beyond manual labour and dirty nappies.
The rituals of the merit festivals connect everything. They are related
to specific localities and social groups. The same relatedness (or
connectedness) applies to what holds value for everybody, the concretely
useful, the real meal, the true pleasures. For each festive ceremony, for
example the Festival of the Dead at Palm Sunday, the harvest festival,
the many saints festivals, there are special meals, which are, mind you,
not prepared by the housewife, but by the specialist market women who are
offering this speciality for sale. Furthermore everybody knows that the
totopos from Xandani are keeping especially well this year, that the best
beans always come from San Miguel and that Mushe Sidral's embroidery
designs are always the most imaginative. To deny this concreteness and
to create an abstraction from it, focusing purely on the question of how
much something costs, would cross nobody's mind. Everyday life objects
are not emptied of their meaning, are not seen merely in financial terms.
Even objects have a kind of genealogy, one knows where they came from,
who made and processed them. And exactly this is their value.
The spirit of objects is cared for, in classic matriarchal form, at home
with the help of a home- or family altar. From here everything is blessed,
the ancestors are given food sacrifices, here healing ceremonies are carried
out. This "worldly" spirituality is also carried out at each
field ditch with little gifts, and every proper Juchitánian pours
the first draught of beer on the ground. Juchitán does not hold
to a spiritual view of transcendence. During a quarrel with neighbours
from Tehuantepec the statue of St. Vincent was abducted, so a new statue
had to be carved as otherwise the next vela in honour of the saint, who
is also the patron saint of the city, could not have been celebrated properly.
After years of reconciliation the old St. Vincent statue was returned and
now two Velas have to be celebrated.
Matriarchal Principles in present times – or another world is possible
On various occasions sociologists who, by all accounts, are positively
inclined towards matriarchal studies, have posed the following objections.
There are too many patriarchal elements in Juchitán's society
to warrant the term matriarchy. There is violence of men towards women,
and I add, also from women towards men. The treatment of animals, especially
dogs and the small domestic animals brought to the markets as well as hunting
prey is anything but caring. The environment is violated, especially the
river which is polluted with refuse.
All these statements are correct, but nonetheless the objection is incorrect.
It lacks the sensitivity for the historical processes, which includes the
contextualization of according epochs. What do I mean by this? I stand
against a kind of historical idealisation of matriarchies, which perceives
such societies only in the distant past. On the one hand, this is because
I do not believe in the idealised picture, not even for the Neolithic.
This does not mean that I am against the methodologies of formulating and
ideal typing of matriarchy. It is the character of the ideal type to assemble
generalised, abstract and ideal elements of a matriarchy, but no such society
exists in reality. Therefore it is necessary when speaking about matriarchies
to use the plural. If the empirical historical research does not show the
multiplicity of matriarchal societies and instead reconstructs the one
and only true matriarchy, the only conclusion remaining is that matriarchy
consequently and irretrievably has been destroyed by patriarchy.
Additionally I would like to comment, the epistemological character of
diversity and relativity, instead of just one truth and objectivity, is
in my view the basis of a non-patriarchal "matriarchal" epistemology – wonderfully
expressed in the motto "Diverse Women for Diversity". It reveals
clearly that biological diversity is sustained by women in their cultural
diversity and colourfulness, not by science, international conventions,
the World Bank or large pharmaceutical companies.
On the other hand I take exception to the idealisation of what one could
call a proper matriarchal society, a kind of a check-list à la "matriarchal
political correctness", because I sense that we are in danger of
overlooking many possibilities within societies- including our own – to
choose another path, different to the globalised patriarchal destruction.
What does this specific patriarchal structural mechanism of globalised
capitalism consist of, which destroys living contexts? And ergo, what makes
up the deciding moment of a matriarchal pacification? Capitalism is patriarchal
by eliminating the caring from the economy. According to its protagonists,
only the sphere in which sales are made and profit is accumulated, under
allegedly generalised competitive conditions, can be called economy. The
only aim of this economy is to gain the highest return on investment; the
means by which this is gained is irrelevant. Justified, even morally, is
the one who carries off the victory in this competition, simply because
he is "Number One". This unscrupulous war-like economy is socially
acceptable only because the other values, such as caring, attending to,
consideration and reciprocity are considered to be taken care of elsewhere,
- at home by the women, the mothers, in the family, where love instead
of competition is manifest. This is why what is done in this sphere is
not considered (economically viable) as economy. Caring and actions directly
serving life are split off, while the despising of women and children,
well, human kind, is the character of this globalised capitalist economy.
As in every other patriarchal society the symbolic order of capitalist
patriarchy aims to make fertility and productivity appear phallic. The
feminine-maternal is denied the potency to create prolifically. Specifically
capitalist in this manner is the final ideological de-materialisation of
natural processes. Matter only counts as dead matter, and a product is
solely that which is produced artificially with machines and the help of
financial capital, culminating in the creation of genetically modified
cells. The oikonomia (Greek: administration or rule of the house)
has turned out to be an exclusive male endeavour. There is a very essential
tendency, to deny economic effectiveness to any and all feminine activities
and furthermore all natural, life creating and sustaining processes are
being de-economised.
Specific to the process of globalisation – the highest stage of
capitalism so far – is the "missionary zeal" with which
UN-like bodies, internationally organised, bring this patriarchal-sexist
understanding of economy to every last corner of the globe. What is new,
at this globalised stage, is the war-like capitalist commercialisation
of the still remaining, until now, split-off subsistence spheres. With
the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services, an agreement of the World
Trade Organisation) negotiations, the aim is to privatise all social services
and hand them over to profit greedy international corporations. This includes
childcare, education as well as cleaning and health care, water supply
and waste disposal. Likewise the knowledge of gardeners and farmers passed
on from generation to generation about seed saving and medicinal herbs
is being patented and commercialised by monopolies. This is happening
all over the world and under the same conditions. Everything is being turned
into a private service and, by means of cheapest labour, into profit. This
is patterned after flexible women's wage labour, as it has been practised
for a long time in the world market factories. This work can only be so
cheap and flexible because it is seen as work of the mothers, as well partly
as that of the community, and is split off as non-economic. However, much
community work will continue to be the unpaid care-work of women; those
kinds of tasks which can't be turned into waged labour and profit
generation. Doubtlessly the effect will be a further neglect of provisioning
and a further erosion of the care economy.
Because, naturally the split off part of the female side of the (non)
economy is also affected. What is achieved here has no value in patriarchal
culture and society, not only does it lack economic value, but it also
lacks any appreciation. How many mothers and housewives are disrespected
for the fact that they are doing the care work? How many daughters say
for this reason: "I never want to be like my mother," Which,
under the given conditions, is partly understandable. Paradoxically these
women who sacrifice themselves by doing work without demanding consideration
are keeping the system of patriarchal capitalist economy going by their
self-denying actions. It is tragic when their own daughters despise them,
as this damages both generations. For the daughters contribution to the
destruction of a female genealogy and their lack of pride in their maternal
ancestry only falls back on themselves.
The other path, away from globalised patriarchy, is the path healing the
split in the economy. On the side of the care economy one has to be mindful
to receive something in way of reciprocity. When I imagine this, what comes
to mind is neither the picture of a gentle, maternal housewife nor the
wage demanding housewife, but the proud Juchitán market woman and
clan mother who claims and takes her independent space and sees herself
as part of a collective housewife. To formulate this as a general principle
I would say: for a peaceful, humane and gender just economy and society
we need both a re-economising of the care aspect for the daily necessities
and a re-socialising of the "Rambo" competitive economy. The
aim has to be to make caring economic and the economy caring.
Conclusion
The process of ongoing patriarchalization, which declares the living for
dead and the dead for the living, is still under way. Which also means
conversely that contemporary societies, ours included, contain within them
matriarchal energies. The biggest problem of our times is the warlike economicism.
To counter this it is important to recognise each life script, which aims
for the reproduction of the "Good Life", carries the seed of
this other, more peaceful, co-operative path. In every place and at every
moment it is imperative to activate the matriarchal spirit against patriarchal
globalised destruction of the environment, the welfare state and a reciprocal
economy.
And this spirit lives in the small things of everyday life, in the here
and now. It lives much more in the little corner-shop than in the Wal-Mart
superstore, rather in the small scale mixed farm than in factory farms,
sooner with research into complimentary medicine than the pharmaceutical
industry, also in locations where independent bartering relationships are
established and regional markets revitalised. The matriarchal spirit is
being revived in every place where the symbolic order of patriarchy is
being questioned, such as at this conference.
To create once again from these many elements an inter-woven matriarchal
societal whole, which reproduces itself out of its own energies as in Juchitán,
is the challenge of the civil society, in short, for all of us.
(translation by Jutta Ried)
Bibliography
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in:B-Th, ed., 1994, p. 192- 213
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Frederking & Thaler, 2000
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eds., There is an Alternative. Subsistence and Worldwide Resistence
to CorporateGlobalization, Zed Books, London und Spinifex
Press, Victoria 2001
Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen, Cornelia
Giebeler, Brigitte Holzer, Marina Meneses, Christa Müller and the
social photographer Cornelia Suhan; see: V.B-Th., ed. Juchitán
Stadt der Frauen. Vom Leben im Matriarchat, Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1994,
2nd. edition.1997
To give you a better understanding
I am presenting the following key data, which relate to research conducted
in 1990. 73 % of the population speak the local Zapotec language. In
comparison in the rest of Mexico only 9% of the population speaks a native
language and of these native speakers 71% also speak Spanish. In Juchitán
85% also speak Spanish. There are 30 primary schools in the town, 6 secondary
schools, 4 schools for further education (comparable to grammar schools),
one regular and one technical college. The level of schooling is
quite equal for boys and girls, and this also applies to university education
where about the same number of men and women complete the degree courses.
40-50% of the male labour force of Juchitán is employed in agriculture
and fisheries often in combination with other work. About the same
number of women are traders, with a variation in the degree of importance
the trade has as a source of income. The buildings of the market are situated
in the centre of town and market stalls cover the adjoining streets. 14%
of all women of working age ofJuchitán, about 1700 women, trade
directly from the market every day and find their income and livelihood
there. They offer their goods in different "waves" or timeslots
from morning to evening. Crafts take up an important role in Juchitán,
starting with the production and trade of food, to the embroidery shops
of the women, to the carpentry workshops, goldsmith workshops and hammock
weaving looms where the men work. I estimate one quarter of the working
population is employed in the production and the trade of these crafts.
The formal sector of waged labour, other than the work in schools, banks, the
administration and a small amount of factory work, is very low because
in Juchitán the principle of working for oneself' predominates. Last
but not least I would like to mention Juchitán has had electricity
since 1919 and public sanitation was introduced in the early ‘60ies.
Occasions for these Vela-Festivals
in the contemporary society are often catholic saints' days, i.e.
San Isidro as the patron saint of farmers, or the three crosses, protective
symbol for fishermen, or San Vicente, after whom the main church of the
city was named. But likewise there exists the Vela del Lagarto, with a
live crocodile as an emblem above the entrance gate, or the Vela of a town
district, or several Velas of large widely ramified family kinship groups.
Brigitte Holzer, "Ökonomie
der Feste, Feste als Ökonomie", in: Bennholdt-Thomsen, V., ed.
1994,
p. 48 - 64
The affiliation is also dependent
on the location, which is defined through the mother's line. Of two
mayor candidates one was able to gain an advantage over the other because
his mother was Juchiteca and his placenta was buried in Juchitán,
even though his father was Lebanese. The parents of the other candidate
were both Juchitecan Zapotecs, but he was not born in Juchitán itself.
. (Cornelia Giebeler, "Politik ist Männersache – Die COCEI
und die Frauen", in V. Bennholdt-Thomsen, ed.., 1994, p. 89-108
See: www.diversewomen.org
The expression ramboization was
coined by Maria Mies during a lecture with the title : "Turning all
men into Rambos." given at a men's congress of the Green Party
on 28.05.1994 with the title "Between Rambo and Prince Charming",
Documentation available Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen NRW, Düsseldorf
1995
