© 2007 Institute of Current World Affairs
The Institute awards long-term fellowships to develop a deep understanding of an issue, country, or region outside the US and to share that understanding with a wider public.
Institute of Current World Affairs - Home Page

Below is a hobbled text version of a PDF document.
In order to read the actual document please click the link below and register if necessary.
(One-time registration is free and very quick.)
Read article

3/6/2003 - Intrepid Identity: To be Young, Indigenous and Gay in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by Wendy L. Call

ICWA LETTERS Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young professionals outside United States write about international areas issues An exempt operating foundation endowed Charles R Crane Institute supported contributions minded individuals foundations TRUSTEES Joseph Battat Mary Lynne Bird Steven Butler William F Foote Kitty Hempstone Pramila Jayapal Peter Bird Martin Ann Mische Dasa Obereigner Paul A Rahe Carol Rose Chandler Rosenberger John Spencer Edmund Sutton Dirk J Vandewalle HONORARY TRUSTEES David Elliot David Hapgood Pat M Holt Edwin S Munger Richard H Nolte Albert Ravenholt Phillips Talbot Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation Four West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 U S A WLC THE AMERICAS Wendy Call donor supported Healthy Societies Fellow southern Mexico May May Intrepid Identity To Young Indigenous Gay In Isthmus Tehuantepec By Wendy Call MARCH The second I Octavio Gyvez Gallegos greeted wearing towel We stood facing other second barren street hometown entryway family house He tugged carefully towel tucking under armpits He laughed apologized falling loose curls around shoulders He released towel pulled threshold leaning forward giving quick cheek The first I Octavio introduced himself Beth Sua In filled beautiful belles Beth Sua caught strapless black dress bloomed waist tight bodice above hovering above floor Chin shoulders sweeping vision beauty floated Later Beth Sua approached foreigner camera She leaned touching smiling Will photos All I appear I She address floated Earlier evening Octavio opened carved wardrobe bedroom He selected black evening dresses there Most chooses clothes wardrobe right which filled fully pressed pants brightly colored shirts The living family records Octavio lineage Zapotecs dominant ethnicity Isthmus Tehuantepec Near glass fronted cabinets jammed sherry glasses ceramic dolls photos commemorate weddings fiestas birth In toddler stands three tiered The taller Octavio first birthday In another women stiffly embroidered velvet blouses skirts One Octavio mother powerful smile furious startling beauty People Octavio looks mother dresses woman It always annoyed Octavio father lipstick Every Octavio pulled dress wardrobe hoped father would The night I Beth Sua carried dress heels makeup hairpins father house duffel He prepared party friend house Juchit Beth Sua three friends attended party together That annual celebration called La Vela Intr pidas Buscadoras Peligro fiesta intrepid women searching danger draws women around Juchit revel Mexico world Before I moved Isthmus Tehuantepec I heard about famous isthmus muxes MOOSH indigenous Juchit With nearly residents Juchit known where digenous language Zapotec spoken Spaniards never truly conquered where women command economic power respect My introduction Juchit three years before first visit essay Mexico famous authors Elena Poniatowska Juchit other It Indian wisdom Everything different women embracing other marches overpowering They participate demonstrations police You should arrive towers their windows I thought Elena Poniatowska gerated Then I Beth Sua Vela Intr pidas walking tower parallel floor black skirt between thumb forefinger shifting sweeping Juchit famous velas festi stretch across whole weeks Awash mescal fetti music people Juchit celebrate Catholic saints neigh borhoods religious holidays teachers drivers muxes The velas require everyone attire voluptuous embroidered velvet blouses skirts women crisp white shirts pants The muxes night falls November every By evening No vember intrepid women marched their annual celebration Gold yellow banners arched above heads below stained acoustic tiles Thirty ceiling Balloons filled small pools fetti twisted lazily Under balloons orange flowers velvet glinting silver hearts chiffon flashed dance floor Embroidered lilies hibiscuses yellow swirled A dancer lifted overhead hairy belly peeked tween twist white velvet A young walked regal purple satin fully embroidered black Un skirt starched white flounce fabric circle heels A thick braid turquoise fabric heavy flowers short reddish brown His light think perhaps Zapotec isthmus He nouns fluid among folded skirt white flounce curls Juchit Town Women Elena Poniatowska Zapotec Struggles Histories Politics Representations Juchit Oaxaca Howard Campbell Leigh Binford Miguel Bartolom Alicia Barabas Eds Smithsonian Institution Press INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Dancing night starchy stiffness He piled folds fresh pasta His boyfriend curled around shoul His Juan Luis Enr isthmus Two other walked outfits similar Juan Luis They dragged velvet gracelessly lines running their reddened cheeks Their ments discomfort They emphatically somewhere perhaps Italy Styrofoam plates piled spaghetti bland sauce boiled shrimp garlic fried tacos baked tortillas passed Nearly guest Coronita bottles Corona preferred isthmus parties Hosts replaced guests bottles almost before drained Empties piled floor I snaked slowly toward slipping spilled forgotten plates Other people sweat covered I tightly pressed dancers I woman bathroom though packed Muxes checked their makeup hitched stockings straightened headbands falling short coaxed tresses relaxed dance steam Two bands bookended narrow dance floor Vol thudding music rumbled every Men dresses danced plain white cotton pants shirts For every embroidered velvet there another spaghetti straps attire nearly equal parts traditional Zapotec urban The Vela Intr pidas tourist destination those For during Isthmus Tehuantepec I danced night Every other isthmus party I attended tedious exercise avoiding unwanted attention At Vela Intr pidas those prowl sought something different The night The bands rolled local dance tunes brass blaring More perspiration rolled shoulder Some revelers fanned themselves Styrofoam plates slimy gravy tomato salsa Bottles tipped clinking crunching beneath The crowd bathroom thicker balanced It drastic overhauls pantyhose pulled dresses changed stilettos abandoned preferring broken glass broken ankles A blithe falling apart happens nearly every Mexi party In United States avoid messy endings We subtle clues evening rolls closure Almost group think collective action In Mexico though societal collectivism person experience party deciding herself Some whole thing fiesta around balloon At Vela Intr pidas I Mexican thing Octavio photo Beth Sua staying party slowly collapsed drunken stupor I ambled after morning house lights finally beers emptied Outside coolness J uchit dozens falling stars rained through dimness A young standing hetero sexual dressed clothes having celebrated hometown dancing women looked In space minute several white trailed overhead meteor shower He turned This always happens I Juchit In Juchit unusual usual People stare strangeness welcome Ixtepec where Octavio lives place A Zapotec community dozen miles northwest Juchit Ixtepec changed sleepy village bustling years railroad first stretched across Isth Tehuantepec Two months after I carved chair across Octavio gleaming wardrobe I handed photo Beth Sua tossing camera Dressed T shirt jeans Octavio photo front looked B Sua beads sweat across lipstick puckered He taken Beth Sua waitress nametag Vips restaurant Mexican Denny She meant temple riches Hebrew He thought sounded lovely Octavio turned bookshelves crowded books favorite authors Gabriel Garc Marquez Isabel Allende Leo Tolstoy Octavio Paz D H Lawrence Salvador Novo Elena Poniatowska He pulled large picture frame Surrounded carefully tooled empty gaped He slipped photo inside admired effect smiling widely Too I leave photo there smile evapo rating He could father seeing image Beth Sua He image slowly frame thest corner Juchit Casa Cultura sells cards antique photos showing local holds practice battlefield woman poses formal dress carries water woman gathers flowers young other In final image mustaches upper black gleams slightly perfectly combed legged pants bound strips fabric above their navels Their tenderly One holds other This photo evidence strange subculture image typical Juchit Typical Ixtepec little different Octavio knows basic Zapotec vocabulary Had grown Juchit would surely speak fluently Octavio father worked railroad years His grand mother spoke Zapotec smoked cigars frequented husbands Octavio bilingual A postcard image young Juchit cultural center INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS parents never bothered teaching Zapotec They thought important survive mestizo culture father learned Octavio grandmother understood basics other languages close She deeply proud The years Octavio shared She three months I Octavio Her large shrine flowers candles photos Jesus grand mother older sister Octavio considers himself devout Catholic drawing equal strength Saint Jerome patron saint Ixtepec King David He returns again again Old Tes tament story David Jonathan Saul He quotes Book II Samuel Chap verse David lament learns Jonathan killed I grieve brother Jonathan How wonderful sweeter women Though believes sanctioned Bible believes homophobia originated people brought Christianity Mexico Spanish He tells story Zempoala temple indigenous Totonac place Gulf coast Veracruz miles northwest Ixtepec The Spaniards horrified munity priests there arrived slaughtered Respect community vived isthmus because Zapotecs refused conquered In October Hern Cort wrote Spanish crown about isthmus Zapotecs their neighbors Mixes T I people unable because roughness terrain because their warriors fierce armed In railroad Cort troops could A center trans isthmus railroad Ixtepec community Spanish tacos Zapotec tamales In Ixtepec people operate railroad large military south those People Ixtepec In Juchit people trade living Most Juchit residents trace their roots hundreds years Octavio Ixtepec A dressed woman stared everyone criticizing Many women accept pants wearing dress daggers The women thinking Juchit different Ixtepec Juchit If dressed woman instead criticizing Ay cutie pretty He attributes Juchit friend liness famous unity adherence traditional Zapotec culture In Ixtepec people moved culture The railroad military define Ixtepec Octavio family His father spent working checking parcels trains blocks their His grandmother small stand evenings selling dinner train passengers Octavio often thought opening stall grandmother Like excellent The first mentioned immediately missed My father would really drunk scare customers Octavio three isthmus I Another eccentric confirmed bachelor living family third fisherman camped Octavio shared house mother though often cooked She usually My first after Octavio house kitchen table about He washed fresh mother purchased morning rubbed placed frying water I hardly waving swipe spatula He worries about gaining weight Every morning rides miles streets Ixtepec The sound suddenly living His mother Doris Gallegos turned elevision afternoon operas Octavio dislikes TV watching occasional morning cartoon Doris eased herself stiffly chair kitchen table She cleared enough space She I talked Octavio ished He served baked totopos limeade We scooped salty tender brittle totopos Afterward Doris upstairs husband wanted kitchen At Octavio Ixtepec state capital Oaxaca City started college He moved there three years after first boyfriend years after first attended Vela Intr pidas He before attended Hern Cort Letters Mexico translated edited Anthony Pagden Yale University Press party dressed woman He loved Oaxaca City there He nearly finished degree hotel manage never required final Octavio worked years accountant clusive San Felipe Hotel Since turning Ixtepec years earned living railroad march military I prostitute Octavio after I stepped thresh family first Typical professions baker decorator dress maker stylist prostitute Gen family expectation muxes never leave their parents house while their parents nursing Isthmus families likely daughter college likely His parents departures Zapotec tradition benefited Octavio He attend college returned cleaved He Octavio Beth Sua stepped across threshold One night boyfriend parents He stood outside talking since parents would invite inside The visitor became angry slammed Octavio against front When Octavio recounted story mention boyfriend father would noise attack Before Octavio moved Ixtepec spent months Guanajuato north Mexico City He worked clandestine called Mariposa Negra Black But terfly first prostitute He remembers distinctly night owner He walking Oaxaca City A flashy stopped asked where particular Octavio direct When suggested Octavio spend night Octavio taken aback quite offended either I changed since Octavio trying reach across between The about Mariposa Negra He Octavio business offered Octavio turned His tionship father reached Living hours father close He north Guanajuato started working Mariposa Negra A bartender Flaquito Skinny became Octavio boyfriend One night Beth Sua Flaquito enjoyed evening their dancing drinking another Afterwards Flaquito stabbed Don worry Octavio remembers saying He wrapped jacket around Flaquito hugged Thanks Amaranta G director Gunaxi Guendadanabani Love Life Juchit Oaxaca writings Marinella Miano Borruso National School Anthropology History Mexico City background information about muxes article INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS The ambulance Just Beth Sua boyfriend still alive lance showed minutes later arrived hospital The knife punctured Flaquito When Octavio recounted story voice stayed tears He wiped trembling fingers Octavio returned Oaxaca City depressed alone Not after parents called His mother needed Though Octavio fifth seven children moned He mother father would Ixtepec condition I would I wanted I would respect their So Octavio swept cooked laundry never brought As women I friends visit I became following Octavio around chores rands flirted friends following Beth Sua walked evenings fixed makeup carried bottles sullen Even mother health improved stayed Ixtepec He hoped return Oaxaca City finally complete college degree He dreamed beyond parents house Even couldn school wanted partner found Octavio denies fulfills expected stereo typed caring aging parents cooking cleaning working prostitute The means prostitute identities conflated southern Mexico There Hay Have In other words better exist stereotype Octavio shrewd attitude toward He client keeping books San Felipe Hotel He refuses clients condoms regularly HIV tests He shake frustration thinks muxes knows refuse worry about AIDS He helped organize cational session about AIDS Ixtepec It disappointed angered people showed Every visits friend dying AIDS Manuel older Octavio Octavio works El Sabor Noche Taste Night nights He feels wants money When feels bored friends Nights start early El Sabor By seven Thursday night women drink Octavio socialize Pi potted plants Christmas decora tions January dangled thatched Green polka walls separated rooms This Shayla After twelve years still rented All these years I still haven earned enough surprise wistfulness Unlike small Mexican there smell urine broken furniture garbage filling corners Shayla there several years still yearned El Sabor railroad tracks center where Octavio Hechicera spend Thursday evening talking drinking El Sabor Noche place It floors lovely nicely finished rooms stage dancers I about eight working injected others Shayla cupping hands front chest The police downtown fringes Ixtepec Shayla Zapotec mestizo tightly curled brown elegant hairy She moved Ixtepec northern isthmus school She Vela Intr pidas every The night I Octavio attended Shayla other friends Ixtepec dressed women Three years Shayl queen For organizers asked mayordoma sponsor ebration She considering expense The evening picked Hechicera another joined Like Octavio Hechicera Sorceress times worked El Sabor sometimes She small village several miles Ixtepec Long black falls nearly waist gestures naturally graceful round Hechicera along jukebox Shayla occasionally whistled women beers peanuts customers A young soldier approached wanting whether Hechicera woman Psy chologically biologically Octavio replied ignoring questioning One women Shayla feeling She recently abortion illegal extremely common procedure Mexico Her since Shayla gently could leave She stayed whole evening She another woman joined their table An later appeared El Sabor rooms The women approached their attitude somewhere between boredom resignation The muxes animated their conversa shifting gossip again Octavio about customers wives Hechicera talked about leaving boyfriend lived village Sometimes tried convince woman By eight clock El Sabor buzzed Shayla joined women shuttling between tables The plates became elabo calamari cabbage cilantro salsa rings cucumber curls fresh coconut drizzled chili sauce Octavio prepared evening black eyeliner brows mascara thing highlight He fetche paper napkins blending makeup On offered soldier table Octavio kissed stopping Later Octavio danced balding soldier almost drunk He Octavio occasional boyfriends years The planted himself dance floor Octavio danced around They known other years since school Octavio Men El Sabor women None would themselves By crowd Octavio wondered aloud mother worried about That I asked More likely causes Octavio smile Around midnight women stacked chairs tables closing Octavio house silent eased metal hoping would Octavio mother Doris business imports China Guatemala They storefront everyone Ixtepec knows Doris occasionally Octavio walks around market stalls restaurants homes showing coral necklaces chains dresses skirts ceramic INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Beth Sua performs El Sabor rines collectible dolls Doris keeps lectibles Octavio prefers jewelry Neither wants clothes Doris wears traditional Zapotec clothes though often wears pearls extremely unusual isthmus Seven hours after arrived telephone jangled living Octavio still striped sleeved pajamas He always rushed answer phone parents wouldn voice Beth Sua He picked receiver breath paused Yes formal It friend Oaxaca City calling about purses wanted Octavio Ixtepec Shifting weight holding phone shoulder Octavio turned conversation business deals social plans He friend wanted attend fiesta three hours Ixtepec He money evening would hacer trasvesti despu prosti He would working El Sabor night hanging That evening packed early Shayla By I arrived El Sabor shortly after Shayla Hechicera dressed perform smoothed sprayed perfectly pressed skirts shiny boots reached Beth Sua black heels The crowd never Many regulars their villages fiesta prompted Octavio Shortly after Beth Sua decided Shayla Hechicera decided crowd small would Beth Sua glided jukebox She pushed buttons curved console slowly She choice aggerated thought fingers hovering tilted A couple At El Sabor negotiations revolved around Everything prescribed price drank alone price woman which women worked which nights tomer could rooms Most tions settled jukebox would willing dance would circle dance floor customer Beth Sua dragged selection until everyone attention She planted chair empty dance floor backwards tensed either chair She closed The world music started Beth Sua learned perform during months north In sleepy Ixtepec rarely chance skills Octavio arrived after three morning purse stuffed pesos makeup carefully scrubbed His mother already planned leave fiesta Octavio night crashed Doris early morning A bitter broke Doris fiesta alone Only Octavio father horrible Doris brothers unexpectedly Five months after Doris Octavio fered deeper One night early June hottest Octavio decided stuffy small enclosed bedroom He spent night living hammock He awoke mother voice emotion slicing through early morning He thought parents fighting Doris stairs yelling Your father father Seconds later Octavio stood father slumped Octavio lifted gulped Relief flooded Octavio On clinic Octavio started He dying Octavio driver No driver insisted That angered Octavio It first someone I looks When arrived clinic Octavio father blood saliva He In months after father death Octavio changed completely Mostly harder His mother retreated severe depression pulling Octavio darkness enclosed She couldn sleep couldn couldn shared husband years Octavio closed their He brought mother things downstairs father another Every night pulled cushions living floor He slept makeshift mother hammock hardly slept He divided between house mother busin He struggled sense He tried convince mother therapist After boyfriend Flaquito killed Octavio wanted One night washed sleeping pills mescal Hours later friend found slumped floor roused pounded stomach until Octavio vomited poison swallowed In months followed Octavio poured nearly money earned Mariposa Negra therapy sessions He believes therapist saved With father death closed itself He would never Oaxaca City finish college Mornings cleaned Afternoons table train tracks Bus drivers diers housewives small slowly paying dresses dolls laces bought Doris Octavio stood behind table hands wearing tight jeans glasses He flirted those stopped those passed He noted their payments thick labeled Doris adding subtracting numbers quickly When slanted toward horizon street began empty table Occasionally mother pared More often Sometimes brother lived meals Octavio prepared That Octavio His other three brothers sister lived Ixtepec Two visited occasionally Doris never offered Octavio What would happen Octavio mother Most elderly cared their nieces nephews Octavio doesn Much family I He thinks perhaps longer house alone asylum elderly Most Mexicans cringe shame thought places Octavio insists living folks wouldn As clear I still options I leave young people I listen music things change By November Octavio patience family He decided gathered Christ would demand their insist could himself When holiday gathered poured speech siblings Only sister seemed listen In months after Christ occasionally spend weekend mother INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Octavio break It total change Octavio father death change The night November months after father death Octavio opened wardrobe He pulled rapless dress tight skirt A white symbol Mexico curled around front bodice A green iguana symbol isthmus Zapotecs wrapped around skirt A friend painted fabric Octavio shove painted dress His mother asked prepare Vela Intr pidas He dress beaded necklace pearl bracelet earrings Then makeup Nervousness overtook It about eyeshadow He tried three colors before right He braided He decided would better unbraided After three hours trembling hands hollow stomach Beth Sua ready At midnight Beth Sua stood around friend Shayla mayordoma celebration Shayla skirt shimmered under lights Princess Salon The outgrown regular dance I moved bigger location Juchit Ixtepec Beth Sua black folding Shayla plate filled small calendars party favors hostess Both smiled broadly lipstick curling moons shutter closed After I mailed photo Octavio He wrote liked image And shown mother Shayla Beth Sua Author Call Wendy Title ICWA Letters The Americas ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia South Asia Europe Russia Mideast North Africa Sub Saharan Africa Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assess international events issues ICWA Letters ISSN lished Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operat foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers subscription Phone E Mail ICWA valley Fax Web Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Assistant Brent Jacobson Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The information contained publi cation reproduced without writer permission