Indigenous Women and Zapatismo: New Horizons of Visibility

The presence of women in the ranks of contemporary Zapatismo is a feature that has become visible in various ways, and which the insurgent movement has had to integrate. Sub-commander Marcos is not making light of the issue when he states that women belong in Zapatismo not because it is a feminist movement, but because they have earned their place in it. Women have opened spaces within the movement and have articulated this space with specific demands that make them visible under a new light, even—and most importantly—in their own eyes. This talk will approach some of the forms of visibility that indigenous women have adopted and explore how they have gradually altered the traditional order of gender relationships by redefining the experience of feminine indigenous subjectivity as well as transforming the way they are perceived by national society.