Bodies That Splatter 41800114

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288 CJLACS / RCELAC 24/48 1999

categories f analysis bandit ersus evolutionary,adicalversus onserva-tive as well as the assumptionsnherent n his conceptualization f ideol-ogy, genuine evolutionaryotential nd revolutionaryonsciousness illbe scrutinized, eformulatednd even, t times, ejected. or wouldhe have tany therway.Believing s he does that ach generation ill ook at Villa froma different erspective, rofessor atz hopes nly, s he states nhisprologue,to help larify heparameters f the debates hat willfollow. e has done thatand much more.With his book,he has simplymadethe best case one couldhave made for he grarian nderpinnings f revolt nnorthern exico as well

as for ancho Villa'srole s an agrarian eformer.

Diane M. NelsonA Finger n the Wound: BodyPolitics n Quincentennial uatemalaBerkeley: niversity f California ress, 1999.xix+ 427pp.AlyssaCymene owe University f NewMexico

In A Finger n the WoundBodyPolitics n Quincentennial uatemala thereader s told hat Guatemalasbrimming ithRigoberta ench okes, manyof which, ot coincidentally,ocus n her exuality nd ethnicity, iterally e-frocking er.Nelson,whoconsiders jokework s a means o alleviate nxie-ties bout nation nradical lux, uggests hat t s the mujermaya a fantasyconstruct bout Mayanwomen p. 171])who serves s a prosthetic ropfordiscourses urrounding ationaldentity. hether abouring n Ladino homesas a domestic r abouringn heglobalpolitical phere s a UN Ambassadortis Mayanwomen's odies hat hape onstructions f nation. igoberta okesalsounderscore ther ritical

spectsfNelson's

nvestigation:acialized

odies,representations f culture nd the productive ower f the tate. mportantly,thisbook comes at a politically imelymoment nthe history f Guatemala sthepeaceaccords rovide site nwhich obetter nderstand ow biopoliticaleconomy roduces hebodypolitic hroughndividual odies.

Nelson'sbook s an ethnography f he tate,withGuatemala erving s acase study f how notions f the nation nd ethnic dentificationre formed,contested, nd articulated hrough he state. Nelsondetails heseprocessesthrough hework f Mayan ctivists oncerned ith ultural ights. s Mayanactivists ecomestate fficials nd adinogovernment unctionariestudy o

becomeMayan shamans, thnic dentificationsre wrought: ot ust Mayanethnicity, ut hat f adinos s well.No longer re adinos defined egatively,asnon-Indian, he nvisible,n-marked ategory.n articulations ith tate roc-esses,such s the 1992 NobelPeacePrize, he egalization f the Guatemalan

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Reviews / Recensions 289

MayanLanguageAcademy nd the ratification f the nternational abor Or-ganization's onvention 69,multiple ubjects re constructed o create hebodypolitic f whatNelsoncallsthe imagi- ation f Guatemala. While hestate maybe in the business f fixing nation n order o create coherentnational self, he tate tself s transformed nnegotiating he dentities f tscitizens.Ultimately, elson argues, he powers of the state and the globaleconomymust not be overdetermined. ather, heseprocesses re mutuallyconstitutive nd nformed ydiscourses fgender, estizajeethnicity ndrightsto difference.

Nelson akesQuincentennial uatemala s a moment f both danger ndpromise, s Mayanactivists eek nclusion n national nd state visions.Hertheoretical rinity f Foucault, eminismndFreudprovides range f analyti-calpossibilities. elsondeftly mploys oucault's otions f governmentalityand state orthopedics, or xample, n her discussion f how traje tradi-tional lothes) re marked s female nd ndian, nd he laborates he nuancesof representation ndtheir ole ncreating articular ubjects. he ntentionallykeepsher ategories lurred, r perhaps leeding, uggesting hat thnicity ndtradition re counterposed omodernity hrough heproductive owers f thestate. he fetishlike ualities f he tate re delineated hrough hybrid on-sideration f psychoanalyticndMarxist rameworks hich ighlighthe eifiedand contradictory eployments f statepower hrough he magic f culture(p. 74).Nelson'spost-structuralistpproach sperhapsmost ronouncednheruse of Judith utler's work.Bodies do matter uite bit nNelson'swork, ninteresting urn or n ethnography f the tate.Given he brutal reatment fbodies nGuatemala, elson'sdecision o focus n how bodiesbleed, end ndare fixed both set n placeand made whole) s a valuable ontribution orecent iscussions f the state s well as the ongoing eminist ialogue ur-rounding heuses and abuses of bodies.

Nelson's ich heoreticalomain nveils he rocesses f onstructingodiesfrommultiple ngles.Thebodies hemost xposes re those of a Guatemalananthropologist nd a North American oman eaten, lmost atally, fter he(theNorthAmerican) asthought ohave orn he organs rom n ndigenouschild.While he battered lesh f thesewomen erves s an effective etaphorforNelson's ntroduction oher wn positionalitys a gringa nthropologistandpotential aby natcher, t s surprising hat hese women's odily ates remore laborately iscussed han ny bodily trocities uffered y ndigenousGuatemalans. elson's ocus ere ometimeseaves he eader eelings thoughsomebodies do matter more han thers. ndeed,Nelsonrelays hat ome n-formants ere disturbed

ythe title f one of her

papers, responsewhich

highlights he itle hoices Nelsonmakes hroughout. or example, xplicit ef-erences o academic exts hrough ordplay rovide theoretical oadmapforsocialscientists, hile imultaneouslyerging n the grotesque. Bodiesthat



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290 CJLACS / RCELAC 24/48 1999

Splatter Chapter ) (from utler's Bodies That Matter 1993])is a theo-retically ffective extual evice, ven hough t may ead to certain roblemspragmatically. elson's ltimate oal s a critical et upportive nalysis fMayanactivism hrough hat he calls a fluidary nalysis hat s both nformed ysolidarity nd a recognition f one's positionality s a researcher. iven herimpressive istory f activism nGuatemala, t s somewhat urprising hatherbook s so heavily nvested ith heoretical orays, ometimes t the xpense fethnographic etail.

Questions verpolitical ower ndwhich odies re able to get t provide

thebackdrop o Nelson's nalysis nd re perhapsmost rovocatively iscussedin her hapter boutwhat he calls the Mayahacker. ransgressingnto hespace of modernity, hedigitized orld f cyber olitics, heMayahacker seffectively eployed s a character ho disrupts ny asy assumptions boutethnicity, radition ndnostalgia or pre-colonial ast.Contemporary nthro-pology'sproclivity or hings yber unk s well llustrated ere nd demon-strates elson's facility ith extual trategies ndtheoretical enses nreadingand representing he changing ody politic f Guatemala. Her lucid, maybeeven sensuous,writing tyle eeps hereader raving achensuing age. Thesophisticated nalysisNelsondevelopswillundoubtedly ake an importantcontribution o issuesof dentity ormations, iscourses f race and ethnicity,the orthopedics f the state nd feminist thnography.ndeed, heblood andbone of the Guatemalan ation nd tate re exquisitely leshed-outnNelson'swork.

KayAlmere eadTime and Sacrifice n the Aztec Cosmos

Bloomington.ndiana

University ress,1998.xxii 308

pp.Armando naya University f Calgary.

A small toneplaquewith he Azteccalendar ate 2 Reed, recovered romthe archaeological xcavations t the Great Temple f Tenochtitlan, ets thestage for Read's exhaustive nd ambitious nalysis f Aztec cosmology. t-tempting uch an endeavour as alwaysposed seriousdifficulties ue to themulti-layered ature f Mesoamericanymbolismnwhich dialectic ransfor-mation f opposing ategories t times bscures the hidden meanings f

these ymbols. ther cholars ave ramedheir iscussionf his omplex opicon thebetter nown un Stone r AztecCalendar considered y ome s thesynthesis f Aztecreligion. ead's choice f the mall tone laqueeventuallyproves o be a fortunate ne because, s shedemonstrates n her discussion,


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