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“I'm a woman but I know God leads my way”: Agency and Tzotzil evangelical discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2004

AKESHA BARON
AKESHA BARON
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3100, abaron@u.washington.edu
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Abstract

For indigenous Tzotzil Protestants in Chiapas, the emergence of a new discourse about God is restructuring social interactions. Discourse data point to an arresting intersection of Protestant beliefs, discourse strategies, and gender. This case study supports recent theorizing in language and gender concerning the need to attend to shifting identities and contexts where gender can become less salient. The performance of a Protestant identity in which gender is transcended opens up new possibilities for agency, particularly for women who otherwise lack sanctioned authority. Strategic manipulation of Protestant discourse in verbal performances allows one woman to enact a position of moral authority that empowers her to pursue an innovative plan. As an important means through which Tzotzil Protestants dictate and create their lives, praying in the evangelical world provides a useful site for the study of unusual kinds of performative utterances.This article benefited greatly from pointers and suggestions from Laada Bilaniuk, Anne Curzan, and John Haviland. I am deeply grateful for all their encouragement. Heartfelt thanks to Lourdes de León for sharing her connection to and past knowledge of my Tzotzil family with me; without her prior friendship there, I would never have met them. Kami Ahmad unfailingly reads my work with the exacting eye of a scientist; his endurance makes miracles happen. All translations were aided by consultation of Laughlin, 1975. This work was supported by NSF grant #SBR-9222394 and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Keywords

ProtestantismTzotzilprayerspeech actsgender and languagediscourse analysisagency
Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 2004 , pp. 249 - 283
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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