Dissertation Research: Kinship, Status, and Exchange among Q'eqchi' Market Women in San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Bruce Grindal, graduate student Sarah A Kistler will do research in San Juan Chamelco, Guatemala, on the cultural economic practices of Q'eqchi' market women. She will study how they use local kinship categories to establish themselves as market vendors and maintain positions of high status in the local social hierarchy. Although the Q'eqchi' are the largest of the Mayan ethnic groups in Guatemala, very little is known about their kinship system. Preliminary research suggests that the Q'eqchi' define kinship not through genealogical relatedness, but rather according to the local category of the 'house,' a social group based on shared residence and participation in household activities. Using intensive ethnographic research methods, this researcher will analyze the house as a local kinship category and examine how the Q'eqchi' define the house as a social entity, the relation between the status of the house and marketplace success, and how economic considerations and status considerations are balanced in marketplace and household decision making. Understanding local systems of kinship is important for understanding how people organize their lives economically, politically, and socially. Kinship ties can be a major resource not only in daily life, but also in times of economic stress or when a society has to deal with major disasters, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This particular Mayan system is not well documented, so the research will fill a significant gap in the ethnography of the area. The graduate student researcher will receive critical training in qualitative and quantitative research methods and data analysis.