22 • JULY 2018
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ON THE SHELF • MIKE COOK
‘When a Woman Rises’
Christine Eber: the stories of struggle and hope
L
as Cruces author and poet Christine Eber made her first visit to the state of Chiapas, Mexico, in 1983 to volunteer at the Hospital San Carlos Altamirano. “It really opened my mind to the suffering of the people there,” said the Buffalo, New York, native. Eber conducted Ph.D. research in Chiapas in 1987-88, living with a Mayan family. Chiapas is located in southeast Mexico, bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the south and Guatemala to the east. Her visits continued as she earned a Ph.D. at State Universi-
ty of New York in 1991, taught at Connecticut State University and took a job in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at NMSU in 1995. Eber developed a deep interest in the “pueblo originarios,” the “original people” of the Chiapas region who were struggling to remain on their ancestral lands and rising up against government corruption. Local farmers were also devastated by the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that took effect in 1994. The friendships she developed “became a real modus operandi to learn about their lives and also my own. I didn’t want to study people,” Eber said. “I wanted to engage with women to share their lives.” The friends she made, Eber said, are better described as “campañeras – companions in the struggle for a better life.” Eber’s first book, “Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow,” was published in 2000. And, since her retirement from NMSU in 2011, Eber has focused even more on writing. A second book, “When A Woman Rises,” will be published in July by Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso. It’s a novel about two women who are Zapatistas, a peace movement supporting democracy, land reform and the rights of indigenous people in Chiapas. But the story is deeply rooted in the life-changing experiences Eber has had living with the people of Chiapas and sharing their struggles to maintain their native language and cultural traditions in the face of racism, oppression and people. A 1997 massacre of 45 Tzotzil (the native language) peasants, mostly women and children who
Mesilla Book Center • Books about the West, Mexico, horses, cowboys, Native Americans & More • Children’s books & Toys • Gifts & more ‘Some of the best books never make the bestseller lists’
On the Plaza • (575) 526-6220 Tue-Sat 11 am-5:30 pm Sun 1 pm-5 pm, Closed Mon
Las Cruces author and poet Christine Eber with an advance copy of her forthcoming novel, “When A Woman Rises.” (Photo by Mike Cook)
were attending a prayer meeting in the village of Acteal, led to a mobilization of support in Las Cruces. The attack was carried out by a para-military group. Soldiers at a nearby military outpost did not intervene and the crime has never been adjudicated, Eber said. Eber and others in the U.S. started the nonprofit Weaving for Justice “to assist (Maya) women’s weaving cooperatives to sell their work through fair trade and also to seek support in the U.S. for the needs of the weavers’ families and communities, including scholarships for children to attend school past sixth grade,” according to weaving-for-justice.org. “When A Woman Rises” also celebrates the empowerment of women, said Eber, who called herself a “feminist anthropologist” who encourages women “to find their rightful places in society and speak out.” The book is part of Eber’s ongoing mission to “do something to help Mexico.” Solidarity with its neighbor to the south is “part of the culture of New Mexico,” she said. Walking a mountain path in Chiapas has become a metaphor for Eber’s life, she said, as she comes to understand the life of the Maya people and their “needs, hopes and dreams and everything that makes them human.” Visit www.christineeber.com and anthropology.nmsu.edu.
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Fountain Theatre
Featuring the best independent, foreign and documentary films in the southwest! July 6-12 The Seagull July 13-19 Final Portrait English and French, Italian w/ subtitles July 20-26 RBG
NOTE: Theatre will be closed July 23-25 Saturday July 21 Additional matinee at 4:30 Thursday, July 26 1:30 matinee; no evening show
July 27-Aug 2 Bye Bye Germany In German w/ subtitles and English
Note: Saturday, July 28 No matinee
2469 Calle de Guadalupe, Mesilla • www.mesillavalleyfilm.org • (575) 524-8287