Women of Maize: Indigenous Women and the Zapatista Rebellion

Many aspects of life have changed little since colonial times in the cloudy, misted highlands of the southernmost state of Mexico. In Chiapas women still marry at 13, and are often sold for a few bottles of liquor or a cow. On New Year's Day 1994 Chiapas was brought to the attention of the world by a very modern insurrection by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN). Since the beginning women were integral to the rebellion and later the movement for social justice in Chiapas and Mexico. In this volume the women of Chiapas tell of their hopes and their struggles, and their fight for a more democratic and humane way of life in their state and their country. The account discusses the lives of indigenous women in the state. Personal and testimonial in style, the women interviewed recount their lives as women in their communities and also their part in the struggle to establish and defend the EZLN.