Zone 1: The intersections of class and identity

So today, we did our obligatory trek to Zone 1 in Guatemala City:  The National Palace the National Cathedral, Central Market, etc.  I usually use this trip to be able to begin to open the students eyes to things they normally wouldn’t pay any attention to.  This group is pretty with it. They have been pointing out economic disparities left and right.  Talking through their feelings about it, the whole nine.  I needed to do something different.  After looking around a place I have seen several times over the past 12 years, I decided to pull on my identity bag and asked them this one question:

 

Looking around this city, what is the narrative of the Maya?  

At first, they didn’t catch it. So I followed up:  What are they doing in this city?  That’s when the light bulb went on and this is the crux of our conversation over lunch:

There is a way throughout the world that cultural identities are picked through for the sake of national identity.  Those flashy, attractive, kitschy aspects are placed on the stage for all to adore.  We talked about the places where the Maya in Guatemala adorned in traditional dress and moving with urgency throughout the city are typically relegated to roles of service to the tourists:  Carrying wares around the market, busily taking items to the Plaza in order to share with the tourists who may be there.  All of this allows the cultural identity to be seen but still positioned as lesser within the greater society.

LET ME SEE….where have we seen this?  I’ll tell you what.  Answer to yourself and meet me at the next paragraph.

The picking and choosing of aspects of identity has been a game  history has played for quite some time now.  For example, while in Brazil in 2012, I blogged about how the Afro-Brazilian woman, in order to sell food on the street, is LEGALLY obligated by her “license to sell” to wear the traditional Bahiana outfit.  She can be ticketed if she doesn’t.  I’ll take it deeper. Judge Olu Stevens, once praised for his intellectual prowess, fairness behind the bench and projected to rise in political power now finds himself in a pickle because he used the bench to speak out about injustice.  The connection?  Our stage show is great, the costumes lovely, but please don’t talk to them while they enjoy the performance.

This is what I have for our trip to Zone 1 today.  Observing a population of people who have been marginalized AND appropriated (quoting one of my students from today) for the sake of national identity, brings me back to the countless examples across the globe and (to harken back to yesterday’s post) in our backyard.   The assumption is that the national identity would trump any desire to counter this positioning.  However if there is one thing that bears repeating, it comes from Mr. Langston Hughes:

You see it happening. Minds are changing and folks are getting scared. Hasta pronto, amigos.

WAIT. Did I tell you I had 3 spottings of some folks just chillaxin’ and being #BlackAwyfrmHome today?  Shout out to the brother grooving on his scooter, the African buying mangoes from the street and the 4 Black Canadian students holding it down on a massive group tour (One requested to sit in the Cathedral to pray for a moment before they on). We outchea!