Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town

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 drinking in the community of San Pedro Chenalh to address the issues of womens identities, roles, relationships, and sources of power. She explores various personal and social strategies women use to avoid problem drinking, including conversion to Protestant religions, membership in cooperatives or Catholic Action, and modification of ritual forms with substitute beverages. The books women-centered perspective reveals important data on women and drinking not reported in earlier ethnographies of Highland Chiapas communities. Ebers reflexive approach, blending the womens stories, analyses, songs, and prayers with her own and other ethnographers views, shows how Western, individualistic approaches to the problems of alcohol abuse are inadequate for understanding womens experiences with problem and ritual drinking in a non-Western culture. In a new epilogue, Christine Eber describes how events of the last decade, including the Zapatista uprising, have strengthened women's resolve to gain greater control over their lives by controlling the effects of alcohol in the community.