Indigenous and Global Feminist Perspectives on the Women of Chiapas
Women's reproductive health is a debated and complex issue in today's society. Nowhere is its severity more prevalent than in areas of extreme poverty such as south and Central America. The resolution to these problems is far from simple. Yet, women are increasingly taking control of their lives and forming groups to combat many of the prejudices that hold them back. However highly debated some tactics for resolution may be it is hard to miss the shear urgency with which the issues of women's rights and health call us. The fight for gender equality cannot overlook the importance of equality in health care and control over one's own body. Women's health is an issue that passes along its concerns to another generation every time a child is born.
Before being able to discuss women's issues in third world countries, it was important to find an area of study. For this, I chose Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas is a place where the true effects of capitalism are felt on a daily basis. Upon the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the lives of the indigenous people living in Chiapas changed dramatically. Acorrding to Jeeni Criscenzo, author of Some Personal Observations on the Reasons Behind the Events in Chiapas, "(Mexican leaders) entered into trade agreements with foreign interests (NAFTA) that at US insistence, made changes to their constitution that effectively ended Indian communal land right making it possible for Foreign corporations to take Indian land and resources" (Criscenzo 2). But why did our government, and that of Mexico allow this to happen? Ms. Criscenzo answers that question with the following statement, "In the world of internati...
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Nazar-Beutelspacher. "Education and Nonuse of Contraceptives Among Poor Women in Chiapas Mexico (Part one)." International Family Planning Perspectives 25. 3. (1999): 1-7
Nazar-Beutelspacher. "Education and Nonuse of Contraceptives Among Poor Women in Chiapas Mexico (Part two)." International Family Planning Perspectives 25. 3. (1999):1-6
"Report from San Cristobal." (1998): 4-9. Online. Internet. 3/28/00 http://www/criscenzo.com/jaguar/report.html
Shadows of Tender Fury. Bardacke and López. New York: Montly Review Press, 1995. 161
"Some Personal Observations on the Reasons Behind the Events in Chiapas." (1998):5. Online. Internet. 3/28/00. http://www.criscenzo.com/jaguar/report.html
Oscar Wild once said, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple” and he is right. But no matter what the outcome is, or how complex the truth is, we will always strive for the truth. The concept of truth is no stranger to film documentaries, and one filmmaker that certainty was aware of that was Dziga Vertov. During the 1920’s Vertov created a newsreel series to promote the concept of ‘Kinopravda” which translated to English mean “Film truth.” Unfortunately, Vertov was ahead of his time, and this concept disappeared along the filmmakers’ path. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that other filmmakers around the world once again recognized the importance of the truth. Two movements with the purpose of revealing the truth of life, emerge in different parts of the world, Direct Cinema in North America and Cinema Vérité in France. Although, both had the same purpose, their approaches towards getting the truth make them completely different. Cinema Vérité’s approach gave the filmmakers a chance to manipulate and distort reality by participating and observing at the same time, while Direct Cinemas approach was strictly observational, and there is no better way to find out the truth than observing without interfering.
In Indonesia, for instance, The Agency for International Development (AID) reported that the Indonesian family planning program d...
Lowery, George Allen Collier and Elizbeth. Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas. Okaland, CA: Food First Books, 1999.
On 1 January 1994, the Mayan peoples of Chiapas, Mexico participated in an armed uprising in protest of the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Following a strong trend of harassment, and mistreatment of Mexico’s indigenous populations, the implementation of NAFTA all but abolished the land claims of Mexico’s Indians. The Zapatista uprising, as it has been termed, brought global attention to the indigenous human rights violations in Mexico, and consequently, a strong interest in the plight of the world’s indigenous peoples resulted in the global community.
Women in Mexico and the United States of America have played an important role structuring their society and elevating their status. Between 1846 and 1930, the stereotype and position of women within these countries differed vastly from one another. While various traditional roles of women remained the same, the manner in which they were viewed differed. In many ways, women in Mexico held a higher position than those in the United States during this time.
In this sense, the film tests the resiliency of good human nature. The modern world is becoming increasingly set in its extremes, as the lifestyle of the poor vastly contrasts that of the wealthy. The implementation of NAFTA reflects this movement toward separation, despite the fact that it was intended to boost trade between regions and create more prosperity on both sides of the United States-Mexico border. The Mexican elites saw it as their salvation. Others saw it as “ a death sentence.” The Chiapas region itself exemplifies this gap, as well. The region was split between the relatively prosperous west, which was fertile and characterized by commercial development, and the poor, subsistence-oriented east. It was not by accident that the Zapatista movement began in Chiapas as the struggle between ranchers, landowners, and subsistence farmers was intensified by NAFTA.
Even though both writers differed in how they presented their information, each is similar involving information in certain aspects of their case. Adams and Allen are inherently against the HPV Vaccine and both agree that the vaccine if mandated should be free to the public or those who cannot afford the vaccination. The big pharmaceutical company, Merck is mentioned in both articles as being tied to the implementation of the vaccine. Lastly, Adams and Allen generally care about the publics’ best interest.
As time goes by there are many things that happen in society that cause a rebel against rulings of the government. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey laws as a way of forcing the government to do or change something (Merriam-Webster) . Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that the government is rarely ever useful and that it derives its power from the majority of people because they are more powerful, not because they hold the most legitimate viewpoint. He says the citizens’ first obligation is to go with what they believe is right and to not follow the law dictated by the majority. When a government is unjust, I feel that people should refuse to go with the law and stay away from the government for their well-being. This may include not being a member of the government all together. Thoreau talks about how the United States meets the guidelines for an unconstitutional government He supports himself with the history of slavery and war (SparkNotes).
Population Council. “World Conference on Women: The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action on Women and Health”. Population and Development Review , Vol. 21, No. 4 (Dec., 1995), pp. 907-91. Web. 22 Nov. 2013
Women had a major stake in the Mexican Revolution, which began roughly in 1910 under the reign of Porfirio Diaz, considered a dictator by many historians, who ran Mexico with an iron first for around 26 years. Under his fierce dictatorship, women of all classes did not fare well.
Mumtaz, Z., Salway, S., Bhatti, A., & Mclntyre, L. (2014). Addressing invisibility, inferiority, and powerlessness to achieve gains in maternal health for ultra-poor women. Lancet, 383(9922), 1095-1097. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61646-3
1946 saw the birth of the Baby Boom era with more than 3.8 million babies born in that year alone.The baby boom lasted until 1964, when we saw a drastic decrease in births. This sudden and very beneficial decline could in part be attributed to the availability of birth control. Birth control, otherwise known as “contraceptives,” are very useful to many women (62%). While birth control is seen by many as a great advantage, those who disagree with it still view contraceptives as taboo or a violation of a sacred right. Contraceptives, not only help in healthy family planning, but also have many beneficial side effects for women’s health, there for the government should keep funding Birth Control as well as places that help women receive contraceptives
Johannes Gutenberg is an inventor born in Mainz and created the printing press. The printing press was the invention of moveable metal type paper and was able to print books, newspapers, bibles and much more. It was the start of something new and evolved throughout the entire world. Gutenberg’s creation was known to be the most significant invention in history. It is the most prompted creation that people could ever ask for and for many extraordinary reasons. The reason why the printing press was so useful than just any other invention is because it spread everywhere. It was the most useful achievement in history because without it today, where would we be? How could you or any of us be writing or, typing? Where and how would our relgion expand to or how would we express our thoughts and opinions? The printing press helped us achieve these monumental experiments and helped us develop together as a whole new generation. The news about the printing press created more and more competition with businesses and soon became the talk of every business. The printing press created future chances for bigger and more power inventions to advance. The prin...
One of the integral things that must be addressed when making a film is the ethics involved. Ethics are a constant issue that have to be carefully considered when filmmaking. This difficult decision-making is highly prevalent in that of documentaries, because of the difficulties associated in filming ‘real people’ or “social actors, (Nichols, 2001).” More importantly, the issues faced by a filmmaker differ between each of the documentary modes. Each particular documentary mode poses different formal choices that must be made in order to operate in an ethical fashion. Two films that have been made both display examples of how ethics must be considered when embarking on a documentary are Etre at Avoir [To Be and to Have], (2001) and Capturing the Friedmans (2003). These films have been made in different documentary modes, highlighting that there is not one mode which is easier or has fewer ethical issues associated with it. Additionally, what must be considered is how these style choices in these different modes affect the power relationships between the filmmaker, the subject and its audience, (Nichols, 2001).
Yao, J., Murray, A.T. and Agadjanian, V., 2013. A geographical perspective on access to sexual and reproductive health care for women in rural Africa. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 96, 60