“Ahora también pedimos por nuestra gente en el norte": las chimanes de Todos Santos (Guatemala) entre migración, desarrollo y mayanización
“Now We Also Plead for Our People in the North”. The Chimanes of Todos Santos (Guatemala) Between Migration, Development and Mayanization

Summary/Abstract: In the post-war era Guatemalan indigenous communities went through a double process of transnationalization: while its members migrated to the United States, foreign tourists and NGOs entered the communities due to multicultural development politics. The aim of this paper is to understand how the costumbre, or maya chamanism, of Todos Santos Cuchumatán, a Mam Maya community, is re-signified in relation to the social and symbolical transformation caused by these scenarios of mobility. The ethnographic cases presented highlight how the ritual specialists –the majority being women– maintain a delicate balance between internal and external pressures. While inside their community the costumbristas face witchcraft accusations and at the same time provide a ritual response to migration issues, from the outside they are urged to adhere to mayanist multicultural discourses and practices. Despite the risk of the standardization of their practices, these women appropriate transnational capitals and use them strategically. The different and contradictory identities that they acquire in these processes reveal an attempt to re-signify their role in continuity with the qualities of Mesoamerican religious syncretism, historically capable to transgress frontiers and mediate with alterity.

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