Challenging Identity Indigenous Peoples Rights and The Reimagining of Ethnic Identity - NO

Challenging Modernity: Indigenous Peoples Rights And The Reimagining Of Ethnic
Identity
Author(s): Daniel Bagheri Sarvestani
Source: Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic
Development, Vol. 49, No. 3/4, SPECIAL ISSUE: Indigenous Peoples Rights To Land In Latin
America (FALL-WINTER 2020), pp. 247-275
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Challenging Modernity:
Indigenous Peoples Rights
And The Reimagining
Of Ethnic Identity
Daniel Bagheri Sarvestani

Department of Anthropology
University of Kansas
ABSTRACT: The colonization process that led to the displace-

ment of indigenous ethnic groups and their integration into the
Mestizo society as a distinct campesino underclass has informed
much of the modern experiences of the Ch'orti' Maya peoples of
Honduras and Guatemala. The desire to break from an imagined
"backwards savagery" of an indigenous /Indian past in favor of
an imagined "modern" Westernized future coincides with an ac-
tive attempt by State authorities at erasing and marginalizing in-
digenous bodies and ways of being. The trauma induced by long-
standing institutional marginalization and the experiences of vi-
olent ethnic erosion had created a negative self-image among the
Ch'orti' as "forsaken" peoples destined to disappear. However,
in recent decades, we have witnessed a surge in ethnic self-iden-
tification among Ch'orti' groups. In places like Copan, Honduras,
Ch'orti' cultural trends are resurging. This speaks to the tremen-
dous agency and creativity exhibited by the Ch'orti'community in
their capacity to reimagine and renegotiate their ethnic identity/
belonging in response to historical traumas of displacement, mar-
ginalization, and systematic violence. This study explores how
the Ch'orti'marginality inspires an ongoing local (re)imagining of
247
ISSN 0894-6019, © 2020 The Institute, Inc.
248
an ethnic community /belonging as a response to the coloniality

of the State and the neoliberal impositions of modernity.
Introduction
The Ch'orti' people are an Indigenous ethnic group re-

siding in the border regions of eastern Guatemala, western
Honduras and northwestern El Salvador. Being a population
of between 50,000 and 100,000 individuals living on the east-
ernmost edge of ethnic Maya boundaries, the Ch'orti' are of-
ten viewed as a peripheral community in the Maya world.
This explains why, with the notable exception of Copan, they
have been more or less left out of the extensive chronicles of
Maya studies. Yet, thanks to their positionality on the fringes
of state and ethnic boundaries, the Ch'orti' people have de-
veloped an increasingly intersectional identity that is dynam-
ically responsive to the broader regional, political, econom-
ic, and socio-cultural shifts of their geographic environment.
The fluidity with which ethnic identity is constantly being
reimagined among them has provided a powerful narrative
of the ways in which a sense of belonging and solidarity can
be reinvented in the face of the coloniality inherent in modern
state-imposed socio-economic systems.
In this paper, I will draw on Brent Metz' s and my own
ethnographic work in Honduras and explore decolonial per-
spectives in an attempt to explain how local Ch'orti' identities
are being formed, and how they intersect with structures of
modernity and coloniality. I will argue that the Ch'orti' peo-
ple's evolving notions of ethnic belonging and their ability
to reimagine themselves in a fluid manner (1) are providing
an avenue for that community to renegotiate its positionali-
ty /identity though the language of Ingenious Peoples Rights
Discourses (IPRD), and (2) are inspiring a meaningful recon-
ciliation process as a way of coping with unaddressed his-
Bagheri: CHALLENGING MODERNITY
MAP: The Ch'orti' people are an Indigenous ethnic group residing in

the border regions of eastern Guatemala, western Honduras and
northwestern El Salvador.
torical traumas. The reimagining of ethnic identity and its

fluidity among the Ch'orti' people, therefore, acts as a pow-
erful counternarrative to the hegemonic colonial discourses
of modernity that have traditionally marginalized Indigenous
peoples. Among the oppressed and the marginalized, flexible
ethnic identity constructs can be a powerful catalyst both for
a capacity to change and for a culture of resistance.
Historical Context
A historical analysis of the Ch'orti' area1 of the Copán Val-

ley provides a glimpse into some of the most monumental
events that have helped shape the cultural and social makeup
of the entire Mesoamerican region, a part of the world that
has gone through major upheavals during the period extend-
250
ing from the classical Maya era and the foundation of the cul-
turally significant city of Copán to the Spanish colonization
and to the modern era. In Copan, on the border regions of
Guatemala and Honduras, the first records of the existence
of large-scale urban settlements go back to the year 427 A.D.,
when the first classical Maya dynasties from Tikal effective-
ly occupied the area (Metz 2009). The city itself was founded
around the same period by the Mayan king K'inich Yax K'uk'
Mo, who headed a dynasty of 16 rulers who would transform
Copán into one of the greatest Mayan cities of the classical
period (Oscar 1994). While little information remains from the
pre-Mayan populations of the area, it is safe to say that the re-
gion was home to people of mixed ethnicity who spoke a va-
riety of local idioms that were distinct from the classical Maya
language. The ruling class being rooted in northern Maya civ-
ilizations, the architectural styles and the urban planning of
the classical Copán period bear a striking resemblance to the
great Maya city-states of Northern Guatemala. Copán itself
grew to become a major city-state at the southernmost limit of
the Maya realm. In its heyday, the city-state became a major
center for artistic and cultural Maya productions as evidenced
by the archeological artifacts that are spread all over the area.
One of the many architectural wonders of Copán, the Pyra-
mid and Stella, stands out with its magnificent Hieroglyphic
Stairway recounting the deeds of each of Copán's 16 succes-
sive kings (Carmack, Gasco, and Gary 2007). Along with the
temple-palace multiplexes found in Copán Ruinas, the intri-
cate artistic expressions found on numerous statues and icons
are often cited as an apex of ancient Mayan art. These riches
make Copán Ruinas a cultural and artistic jewel of the Maya
world, something that is, to this day, a source of great pride
for local people.
The decline of the classical period of Maya rule in Copán
took place between the years 800 and 830 A.D. (Carmack,
Gasco, and Gary 2007) when the region suffered a sudden and
possibly catastrophic population collapse. It is hypothesized

that a mixture of over-exploitation of resources, over-exten-
sion, political instability, and food shortages resulted in ep-
isodes of plague and mass starvation leading to a general
population collapse in Copán (Oscar 1994). By the year 900
A.D., with a largely decimated population, the surviving rul-
ing Maya class all but abandoned the area, possibly migrating
back north (Carmack, Gasco, and Gary 2007).
While Copán remained a crossroad for trade, there is
no evidence of any other post-Maya, large-scale urban set-
tlements in the region between that period and the onset of
Spanish colonization. Dispersed and decentralized mixed
populations of Lenca, Chipchan, and Maya ethnicities pop-
ulated the area in small settlements or semi-nomadic com-
munities. Although a wide range of languages were spoken
in the area, proto-Ch'orti' Maya and Lenca were the domi-
nant idioms. The Ch'orti' language system itself incorporated
many Chipchan and Lenca words and features. In short, there
has never been any ethnic and /or linguistic homogeneity in
Copán, and today's Ch'orti' people are most likely descended
from a mixed ethnic and linguistic heritage that corresponded
to the historical and cultural conditions that prevailed before
the colonial period (Metz 2021).
Colonization and Ethnic Displacement
By the time the Spanish conquistadors set foot in Central

America, many Maya and Aztec city-states had already been
weakened by internal strife and economic instability across
Guatemala and Mexico. Centralized authority was very lim-
ited outside major Aztec urban centers in parts of Mexico and
Guatemala, like the fabled city of Tenochtitlán. This greatly
helped the Spanish conquerors play different warring Mayan/
Aztec factions against one another and rapidly expand their
252
influence. By 1530, most Lenca and Ch'orti' Maya towns and

villages across the Copan area had been firmly subjugated
by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado in spite of fierce re-
sistance from local Lenca and Ch'orti' tribes (Metz 2009). A
combination of war, attrition and disease facilitated the Span-
ish onslaught. The introduction of foreign diseases and pesti-
lences such as smallpox, for instance, had exterminated entire
native populations, making it easier for the Spanish invaders
to colonize former native settlements (Carmack, Gasco, and
Gary 2007). In Copan itself, those who had survived both
the diseases and the brutality of the conquest were quickly
submitted to forced labor in mining and cash crop industries
across Central and South America. Cacao, tobacco and indigo
became major sources of trade for the Spanish (Metz 2009).
Native populations were kept in substandard living condi-
tions while producing these cash crops for their Spanish over-
lords, with colonial state institutions and the Catholic Church
adding to the financial burdens of colonial populations by
imposing heavy taxes on them (Oscar 1994). Much of the na-
tive Copan population perished as a result of such pressures
as well as of continued episodes of displacement and dispos-
session. The resulting depletion of the workforce available to
colonial authorities forced them to turn to slave labor from
overseas, which in turn intensified ethnic displacement and
the erosion of native populations in the region.
While Ch'orti' and other native languages continued to be
commonly spoken in Copán's rural areas well into the 19th
century, colonial policies increasingly established Spanish as
the region's lingua franca, therefore enforcing Spanish linguis-
tic and cultural hegemony within the diverse native popula-
tions (Herranz 1994). The colonial state also enforced a rigid
class system based on a perceived racial and ethnic superiori-
ty. Within this hierarchy, native and Afro-descendant peoples
were incorporated at the bottom of the social class structure
as slaves, peasants, and rural subjects. Iberian Spaniards oc-
cupied the pinnacle of the social class as administrators, gov-

ernors, and owners of capital. Though not on par with their
Iberian counterparts, the Creoles, or decedents from Spanish
colonialists born in the Americas, were still considered social
elites based on their perceived racial superiority (their white-
ness) to native populations. In time, the intermixing of these
groups of people would create the mixed ethnic identity of
the Mestizos /Ladinos (Mejta 1999).
Based on land expropriation and privatization policies,
the rigid colonial social structure facilitated the ownership of
land by the Spanish social elites at the expense of native peo-
ples. This also set precedents for further land expropriations
in the form of the hacienda system that enabled a handful of
wealthy land-owning families of Creole or Mestizo descent
to monopolize the ownership of territory throughout Copan
(Metz 2010). Native people living on privatized lands were re-
garded as little more than property, and had to keep working
for their landlords if they wished to continue to live in their
homes, making the hacienda system a means of economic ex-
ploitation and extortion by forcing indigenous people to live
and work under substandard and frequently abusive condi-
tions. The economic exploitation of the hacienda system came
to define much of the socio-economic functions of the state up
to the 20th century (Metz 2010). In short, Eurocentric notions
of private ownership and colonial governance based on racial
categorization played a critical role in disintegrating Indig-
enous communities and systematically marginalizing them
economically, socially, and politically.
The colonization process led to the displacement of In-
digenous ethnic groups and their subsequent integration
into the larger Mestizo society as a distinct campesino under-
class (Metz 2006). The 18th and 19th centuries' independence
movements of the Americas were unfortunately of no assis-
tance to Indigenous peoples. Taking inspiration from Euro-
pean enlightenment ideals and liberal ideologies, the newly
254
independent Central American states emulated the economic

and political frameworks of European nation-states. The new
emphasis on Eurocentric notions of individuality, liberaliza-
tion, privatization, and free enterprise reinforced and accel-
erated the disintegration of Indigenous peoples' communal
lands, while further marginalizing /excluding Indigenous
cultures, perspectives, and experiences from the state-mak-
ing process (Metz 2009). Therefore, the formation of American
modern nation-state identity by and large reflected the eco-
nomic and political interests of Ladino and Creole elites rath-
er than those of the dispossessed masses of native campesino
and Afro-descendent populations.
Ch'orti' Experiences with Modernity
In the Americas, the notions of modernity and nation-

al identity often were intertwined with a sense of coloniali-
ty that systematically excluded Indigenous ethnic identities
from national discourse, and served to relegate Indigenous
peoples to the margins of society. These enduring underly-
ing colonial systems /structures have motivated reoccurring
episodes of violence against Ch'orti' communities. In the
modern (neo)liberal state formations across Central America,
the desire to break away from the imagined "backwardness"
and "savagery" of an Indigenous /Indian past in favor of an
imagined "modern" and "enlightened" Eurocentric future
coincided with an active attempt at erasing "indigenous bod-
ies" and "indigenous ways of being" (Metz 2010). State in-
stitutions specifically opposed Indigenous claims to ancestral
territory and communal ownership in favor of land conces-
sions for pioneering settlers. Thus, by the middle of the 20th
century, Ch'orti' territories had almost entirely been expropri-
ated by settlers and private landowners. The Ch'orti' people
themselves had adopted a campesino identity as farmers and
cheap laborers in the service of settlers and Ladino landown-

ers (Metz 2006). Without access to their own traditional terri-
tories, the Ch'orti' were irreversibly cut off from their tradi-
tional means of subsistence, and now had to rely entirely on
wealthy landowners for wages and access to food production.
The economic underdevelopment conditions imposed on
the Ch'orti' people often went hand in hand with the stig-
matization of campesino Indigenous people as second-class
citizens, fuelling tendencies of racism and prejudice against
Ch'orti' Indigenous ethnic identities through most of the 20th
century (Metz 2021). Poverty and discrimination reinforced
colonial perceptions of Indigenous peoples as somewhat in-
ferior and backwards. To this day, these negative stigmatiza-
tions often manifest themselves in the form of overt violence
or targeted assassinations of Indigenous leaders and commu-
nity members.
State-centric progress models often justified violence
against Indigenous peoples. In the eyes of modern state au-
thorities, Indigenous peoples and their ways of being often
were considered to be an impediment to progress. As part of
this mindset, notions of progress were filtered through Eu-
rocentric concepts that hinged upon the full integration of
localized Indigenous ways of being in favor of the liberal
nation-state model of community (Anderson 1983). Capital-
ism, privatization, individualism, the centralization of state
authority and the institutionalization of power all were ex-
amples of Eurocentric paradigms that stood at the heart of
state-building and modernization endeavors in Guatemala
and Honduras (Metz 2006). The drive to modernize state and
social institutions presented itself in authoritarian outbursts.
In Guatemala, notably, under the military dictatorship of Jorge
Ubico, the rhetoric of progress motivated state sponsored tar-
geted attacks on campesinos and Indigenous peoples who
were perceived both as a source of social corruption and as a
threat to state unity (Metz 2006). Increasing state-sponsored
256
violence and interethnic tensions led to Guatemala's civil war

between 1960 and 1996. Paradigms of ethnic/ national cleans-
ing and systematic violence aiming at erasing ethnic group
identities were explicitly evident throughout that period, and
the Ch'orti' and other Indigenous ethnic groups of the region
also were the targets of sporadic episodes of state-sponsored
genocide (Metz 2006).
Trauma, Coloniality, and the Revitalization Movement
The trauma induced by the longstanding sequence of land

dispossession, marginalization, colonization, and discrimi-
nation had negative effects on the Ch'orti' people. Fears of
persecution and discrimination, especially in the context of
the Guatemalan civil war, provided a powerful motivation for
some Ch'orti' individuals to downplay their ethnic identity
or dissociate themselves from their Ch'orti' belonging (Metz
2006). The socio-political and economic pressures that have
marginalized Indigenous ethnic identities are also being felt
by Ch'orti' community members. As Metz points out, indi-
viduals of Ch'orti' decent often blamed their own communi-
ties for the suffering they have endured. The notions that the
"backward" and "forsaken" Ch'orti' peoples were somehow
destined to disappear were internalized among the Ch'orti'
themselves (Metz 2021). People of Ch'orti' decent harbored
resentments towards their own ethnic belonging based on the
negative stereotypes that were being placed upon them by
the dominant social discourse. These gloomy feelings possi-
bly expressed themselves in increased levels of self-harm and
abuse among Ch'orti' and Indigenous communities (Metz
2006). Those might be symptoms of historical traumas that
have been shown to produce disproportionate levels of de-
pression, alcoholism, domestic abuse, and suicide among oth-
er indigenous populations, notably among the native Indian
populations of Canada and the USA (Heart 2003; Chandler

and Lalonde 1998). Years of stigmatization and marginaliza-
tion have brought some Ch'orti' people to feel shame about
their own ethnic community /belonging. By the 1980s, this
dynamic had succeeded in completely eroding Ch'orti' eth-
nic unity, and all but eliminating Ch'orti' self-identification in
Honduras (Metz 2021). Official censuses from the 1980s reveal
that only a handful of individuals (less than 500) would pub-
licly identify as Ch'orti' in the Copán region (Metz 2021).
However, in recent years, we have witnessed a surge in
ethnic self-identification among these groups (1994-present)
(Cabezas and Mejia 2007). In places like Copán, where Ch'or-
ti' languages had all but disappeared, we are witnessing a
re-emergence of Ch'orti' cultural trends. The Honduran an-
thropologist Lazarus Mejia, who assisted in developing the
first Ch'orti' Maya governing organization (CONIMCHH),
outlined the religious, political, economic, and social underpin-
nings that motivated the mobilization of the local communities
around the Ch'orti' Maya identity (Cabezas and Mejia 2007).
In his book, Mejia describes the processes that led to the 1990s
indigenous rights movement in Copán as one of collaboration
between local leaders, campesinos, and indigenous rights ac-
tivists from Guatemala (Mejia 1999). The first Ch'orti' Maya
governing organization (CONIMCHH) was formed through
this collaboration.
By the early 1990s, Guatemala, as a means of reconciliation
in the post-civil war period, had ratified the relevant interna-
tional conventions on indigenous peoples' rights, including
the International Labor Organization Convention 169 (ILO
169). By 1995, Honduras, dealing with its own intensifying
inter-ethnic tensions, followed suit; perhaps as a means of
avoiding another civil war (Metz 2010). Indigenous peoples'
organizations across the country started to organize using ILO
convention 169 articles to gather support. By 1996, the Ch'orti'
people (with the help of other indigenous leaders, activists, and
258
international observers) started to mobilize around notions of a

Ch'orti' indigenous identity as a means of gaining land rights
back. According to Mejia, this was a critical moment for the
Ch'orti' people as well as the start of a process of cultural rec-
lamation (Mejia 1999). The rise of the Ch'orti' Maya movement
coincides with increasing religious and political motivations
among that formerly underclass demographic as a means of
challenging oppressive socio-economic conditions imposed by
state structures (Cabezas and Mejia 2007). Communal claims
to territory have motivated an identity shift from campesino
self-association (or campesino consciousness) to Indigenous
self-association (Indigenous consciousness), a point I will ex-
pand on in the next section.
Suffice it to say for now that, in the course these socio-cul-
tural reformations, traditional ceremonies and spiritual belief
systems based on ancestral spirits and nature worship (i.e., the
view that natural landmarks such as bodies of water, forests,
etc., are both alive and divine) were revived (Cabezas and Mejia
2007). This, in turn, points to fluid and shifting structures of
identity among the campesino groups that make up the Copán
Ch'orti' populations. Metz analyzes this revitalization moment
and highlights the creative processes that have shaped the
redefining of indigeneity based on perceptions of community
and belonging, demonstrating a process of identity creation
that challenges established notions of private property and
ownership (Metz 2010). Metz also argues that strategic iden-
tification with Indigenous Peoples Rights Discourses enabled
rural communities to express themselves in new and creative
ways by mobilizing to reclaim rights that had been denied for
decades (Metz 2010). Through this process, formerly dispos-
sessed communities can reclaim their indigeneity and use it to
reaffirm their belonging to their perceived ancestral territories
and as a means of regaining access to land.
This analysis, I believe, may be consistent with certain
aspects of social identity theory positing that groups tend to
rally around local ethnic identities when they feel excluded

from the dominant social discourses, or when they are faced
with discrimination on the part of the dominant social group
(Brewer 2001). Likewise, Ch'orti' marginality might have mo-
tivated an ongoing local (re)imagining of ethnic community/
belonging as a response to the coloniality inherent in the lib-
eral modern nation-state that had for so long excluded them
from the national discourse. Thus the Ch'orti' revitalization
demonstrates how ever changing, localized notions of identi-
ty can emerge as a mobilizing force against institutionalized
forms of (neo)colonial repression. This speaks to the tremen-
dous agency, resilience, and creativity exhibited by the Ch'or-
ti' and other marginalized communities in their capacity to
reimagine and renegotiate their ethnic identity /belonging in
response to historical displacement, marginalization, and sys-
tematic violence (Hunt and Benford 2004).
Ch'orti' Rights Movement as a Decolonial Project
In many ways, the Ch'orti' revitalization of the 1990s and

the Indigenous rights movement exemplify a decolonial pro-
cess. In emphasizing local ethnic identities as the focal point
of transformation, the Ch'orti' movement challenges the as-
sumed homogeneity /normality of the dominant identity dis-
course embraced by the nation-state. By mobilizing under the
banner of indigeneity, the Ch'orti' are demonstrating their
agency in defying /protesting the conditions of marginaliza-
tion placed upon them by state-centric social systems (Metz
2010). The localized movement provides novel and creative
ways of imagining community /belonging, culture, and rights
beyond the framework of the Eurocentric nation-state models
(Brewer 2001). Claims to ancestral territory and cultural rights
260
further gain credence in the language of international Indig-

enous people's rights discourses with the ratification of ILO
169 (Cabezas and Mejia 2007). The ratification process helps
legitimize the Ch'orti' revitalization, and further empowers
local Ch'orti' movements with legal justifications. The combi-
nation of local mobilization and claims to Indigenous peoples'
rights was actually successful in gaining communal rights to
land for the Ch'orti' people, something that the previous cam-
pesino struggles had failed to achieve. Unsurprisingly, land
rights and the right to practice the Ch'orti' culture are central
objectives of the Ch'orti' revitalization movement. In making
headways in these areas, the movement fosters self-esteem
and confidence among its members.
Land acquires a particular importance for the Ch'orti'. It
carries a symbolic value as a physical space inside of which
the Ch'orti culture and ways of being can continue to exist
(Mejia 1999). Access to land is also a symbolic reaffirmation of
indigenous peoples' claim to continuity and belonging to an
ancestral territory (ILO 2009). Articles 13-19 of the ILO con-
vention 169 support this claim to territoriality as a central pil-
lar in Indigenous peoples' rights (ILO 2003). This represents
a major breakaway from the traditional state-centric systems
of private ownership that have historically favored the social
elites with exclusive access to land. Emphasis on communal
over individualistic traditions challenges colonial narratives
in three major ways:
1. Communal rights reaffirm that land cannot be ex-

changed, sold, or privatized by any entity or group of
people such as the State, Spaniards, or Mestizos;
2. Communal access to ancestral territory suggests an en-
during legacy for native peoples despite colonization;
3. The notion of communal land hinges on the principle
that land is shared among a community of beings who are
its custodians rather than its owners.
Through the communal rights narrative, the Ch'orti'

movement effectively challenges the legitimacy of the Mes-
tizo landowners and the political economics of privatization
(Mejia 1999). Given that privatization has historically been a
colonial instrument through which Indigenous peoples were
dispossessed of their territories (Alfred and Corntassel 2005),
the establishment of communal Ch'orti' land is a symbolic
and physical embodiment of anti-colonial resistance.
Social identity and culture are in a constant state of flux.
Ethnic identity never is stagnant or primordial. All cultures
and peoples continually evolve in response to their social,
political and economic circumstances (Alfred and Corntassel
2005). The Ch'orti' are no exception. The notions of indigene-
ity, ethnicity, and belonging have evolved greatly among the
Ch'orti' people since the colonial period. As Indigenous rights
movements appeared in the 1990s and as more locals rallied
to the Ch'orti' cause, a perceived notion of "just struggling/
resistance" (or "la lucha") has bolstered the constructs of eth-
nicity (Metz 2010). Through the Indigenous rights movement,
the Ch'orti' collective identity increasingly constructed itself
around the idea of "la lucha" (the struggle), a cause of justice
that seems to be providing an additional level of self-confi-
dence and assurance to the members of the Ch'orti' move-
ment while signifying a shift away from previous decades of
negative self-image /association as Ch'orti' people are mov-
ing towards more positive associations.
The shifting ethnic constructs may also be reflected in the
ways speech is / was used by Ch'orti' Maya members to refer to
their own or other peoples' sense of identity or ethnic belong-
ing. As part of an ongoing study, Metz and I have analyzed
transcripts of Ch'orti' people's interviews from samples taken
before, during, and after the 1994 Indigenous rights move-
ment in Honduras. Though a process of word analysis of the
transcripts, our preliminary results pointed to four emerging
major themes: Pride, Shame, Disinterest, and Empowerment.
262
When comparing each theme across several time periods, a

trend became visible as notions of identity among the Ch'or-
ti' Maya people were seen to move away from Shame and
Disinterest and towards Pride and Empowerment. That same
trend was corroborated by Metz's ethnographic data suggest-
ing that, prior to the birth of the Indigenous rights movement
in Copán, Ch'orti' ethnic (self)identification was mostly neg-
atively connotated. For instance, in data collected from inter-
views conducted in the 1980s, Ch'orti' community members
commonly (self Associated/ described their ethnic belonging
with such words as "forgotten," "forsaken," or "lost" (Metz
2010). Since the advent of the Ch'orti' movements, the matter
of Ch'orti' ethnic belonging can more frequently be associated
with positive phrases/ wording such as "fighting for justice,"
the "struggle to gain back ancestral land," "peoples of the
land," "resistance to oppression," and the like (Metz 2010).
This might indicate an observable shift of the Ch'orti' self-im-
age/association from negative assessments to more positive
forms of self-association. These forms of ethnic self-associa-
tion may be reflected in the way marginalized groups con-
struct and renegotiate their positionality and identity in soci-
ety (Alfred and Corntassel 2005).
Taylor and Moghaddam, addressing intergroup conflicts,
describe how groups (ethnic or otherwise) often come togeth-
er around a common social identity when a common goal is
perceived and desired by their members, and also as common
threats are identified (differentiating the ethnic in-group from
the out-groups, i.e., the source of the common threat) (Taylor
and Moghaddam 1994). The result of that work points to the
idea that group identities are clearly forged around shared
goals or perceived threats. When common goals are met,
group identity is reinforced (Taylor and Moghaddam 1994).
When applied more broadly, this trend may suggest that the
identity of a group is cultivated through social influences that
reinforce group norms and through behaviors that are con-
gruent with the group's interests (goals) (Castano, Paladino,

Coull, and Yzerbyt 2002; Luhtanen and Crocker 1992; Sotero
2006). People generally wish to belong to groups precisely be-
cause this is where their common goals and interests are met.
When the group identity is strengthened and there is positive
regard for one's in-group, a "collective self-esteem" may be
enhanced (Luhtanen and Crocker 1992). The desire to enhance
the collective self-esteem as well as shared group interests can
lead to collective actions taken to foster the group identity as
suggested by Taylor and Moghaddam.
In the case of the Honduran Ch'orti' people, the domi-
nant identity discourse of the nation-state is forged around
the notion of "mestizaje" (mixing) and an imagined Ladino
heritage (Metz 2021). However, this largely ignores and ex-
cludes Indigenous ways of being (or notions of identity) from
the national discourses (Baldwin 1953). This in-grouping of
Mestizo and Ladino peoples was to a large extent formed by,
and corresponded with, the process of dispossession and mar-
ginalization of the perceived Indigenous out-groups (i.e. the
Ch'orti' Maya). Thus, the reinforcement of national identity
often came at the expense of the erasing and expropriation of
indigenous peoples' heritage and cultures (Baldwin 1953). In
turn, this dynamic helped foster a negative sense of self-es-
teem /self-image among the marginalized Ch'orti' groups as
a distinct social underclass.
The compromised socio-economic conditions of the Ch'or-
ti' Maya and their lack of identification with the national/
colonial discourse also played a role in motivating the most
recent Ch'orti' revitalization/ Indigenous rights movement.
The creative group processes involved in mobilizing people
around a reimagined / renegotiated definition of belonging
and indigeneity (or ethnic identity) as a means of gaining back
land are a direct response to the colonial nation-state inability
to represent the interest of the Ch'orti' Maya people (Alfred
and Corntassel 2005). The reimagining of identity as a means
264
of mobilization and its success at regaining lost territories may

correspond to an increasingly positive self-image and self-es-
teem among Ch'orti' Maya ethnic groups.
The cultural resilience, the rejection of the colonial under-
class status, and the creative processes that lay at the heart
of the Ch'orti' revitalization movement bring to mind Walter
Mignolo's notion of epistemic disobedience (Mignolo 2011). In
Decolonizing Western Epistemologv, Mignolo argues that the
first step towards true decolonization is epistemic disobedience,
that is, a de-linking from the colonized knowledge systems
that still dictate the lives of the colonized (Mignolo 2011).
While civil disobedience may only lead to reforms, epistemic
disobedience is truly transformative. I believe that, in a way,
the Ch'orti' Maya cultural revitalization and the reimagining
of ethnic identity represent an epistemic shift, a mindset that
effectively challenges the colonial representations of the Ch'or-
ti' Maya as backward, second-class peasants, and replaces
them with re-negotiations at the local level through popular
mobilization and the language of Indigenous peoples rights.
This has helped switch the narrative from the positioning of the
Ch'orti' Maya as a subservient, docile, and conquered people
to the affirmation of values, such as empowerment and agency,
and paved the way for the creation of an authentic/ grassroots
self-expression of "Ch'orti'ness" based on local resistance and
struggle against the injustice of the colonial state.
Coloniality and Modernity
Maldonado-Torres, in the tradition of Fanon, traces the

emergence of modern socioeconomic and political discourses
within a context of Western coloniality. Capitalism and mo-
dernity are invariably bound within structures that emulate/
amplify Western-centric epistemologies and maintain Western
political and economic hegemony (Maldonado-Torres 2007).
Mixed with Western exceptionalism and entitlement, modern

conceptions of the duality of the self vs. other provides the
justification for the subjugation and exploitation of the Global
South. Within this paradigm, indigenous peoples' bodies are
often exploited as market commodities (as slaves, cheap labor,
etc.). With its Eurocentric paradigms, modern ontology creates
exclusions by imposing a philosophy of perpetual power and
violence in the Global South, thereby devaluating non- Western
peoples and validating their exploitation through war and / or
economic coercion (Maldonado-Torres 2007).
The Western normative standards underpinning modernity
invariably "otherise" non-Western and Indigenous peoples
by excluding their perspectives, cultures, and interpretations
from the discourse of modernity (Dube and Banerjee-Dube
2006). Fanon's categorization of the colonial divide between
the colonized / native and the colonizer /settler reverberates
in the structures of the post-colonial era. Though politically
independent from direct Western oversight, the institutions
and systems of modern nation-states nevertheless reflect a
continuation of the colonial project which maintains the un-
derdevelopment and marginalization of formerly colonized
and Indigenous peoples (Fanon 1963).
We see similar dynamics at play among the native Ch'orti'
populations, which have historically been decimated, deprived,
and exploited through a systematic process of colonization and
economic dispossession, first by the colonizing Spaniards, and
later by nation-state authorities and Ladino elites (Oscar 1994).
A narrative of inferiority and subservience was concurrently
imposed on Indigenous populations / identities to justify or nor-
malize their continued abuse and economic exploitation at the
hands of colonizers and settlers (Metz 2010). The devaluation
of Indigenous bodies, based on their deviation from colonial
Eurocentric ideals and standards, goes hand in hand with the
marginalization and exploitation of the Ch'orti' peoples by
depriving them of any hope to attain a level of equality and
266
retain their ethnic identity in a socio-cultural ecosystem that

is fundamentally geared towards their underdevelopment,
dispossession, and assimilation. Hence arises the necessity of
decolonial resistance through Indigenous rights movement.
The coloniality of the system is demonstrated by the fact that
the cultural, social, political, and economic institutions of the
modern state produce and maintain class differences based on
the ethnic and economic affiliations of the various sectors of
society. Indigenous populations are integrated as a social un-
derclass based on their own ethnic and economic associations
(Dube and Banerjee-Dube 2006). The combination of economic
and social marginalization exerts a slow and long drawn out
violence upon Indigenous ethnic communities because the
very existence of Indigenous cultures /identities is treated as
an antithesis to Eurocentric/ state-centric narratives of progress
(Maldonado-Torres 2007).
Dirth and Adam highlight how coloniality pathologizes
groups and individuals who do not fit Western normative mod-
els of progress/ modernity. They demonstrate how deviations
from the accepted Western-centric standards and behavioral
norms are questioned, diagnosed, and treated as a deficiency
(Dirth and Adams 2019). In Honduras and across Latin Amer-
ica, for instance, state authorities, by emulating modern eco-
nomic and political functions, are reproducing deeply biased
Eurocentric assumptions. By embracing models of hyperindi-
vidualism, capitalism, and privatization that reflect Western
standards of education and ways of being (which Adam calls
WEIRD [Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democrat-
ic] cultural patterns), it is easy to overlook the socio-cultural
diversity that is characteristic of the various multi-ethnic Latin
American localities (Adams, Estrada- Villalta, and Gomez Or-
donez 2018). This fixation on WEIRD cultural patterns as an
accepted social norm and a source of modernity automatically
stigmatizes individuals and groups who do not or cannot meet
its standards (Adams, Estrada- Villalta, and Gomez Ordonez
2018). This parallels the process of "othering" being faced by

Indigenous nations that are the targets of discrimination and
violence simply because they stand outside dominant modern
socio-cultural norms, a violence which in itself is an engine that
reproduces disabled bodies among Indigenous peoples (Dirth
and Adams 2019).
As Adam points out, WEIRD patterns are inseparable from
the fabric of modernity (Estrada- Villalta and Adams 2018).
Thus, in many ways, modernity is reinforcing Western domina-
tion and the colonial enterprise in the Global South and among
Indigenous peoples (Estrada- Villalta and Adams 2018). This
inherent coloniality is a constant source of violence through un-
relenting prejudices and systems of exploitation (Nixon 2004).
In reality, WEIRD claims to progress are providing a veneer
of moral /cultural superiority that masks the racial prejudices
and the marginalization of the poor that this theory is based
upon. By "othering" non-WEIRD peoples and imposing Eu-
rocentric models of progress to them, modernity fuels a slow
and invisible form of violence (Nixon 2004) upon vast sectors
of the world populations, including Indigenous nations.
The violence that is faced by Ch'orti' Indigenous peoples
is as hidden as it is systematic in Honduras, where they are
being marginalized in the name of modernity by a system that
claims moral superiority. In such a system, the Ch'orti' are con-
sistently treated as an eternal "other" by the dominant social
order on account of their perceived "defectiveness" and inher-
ent "backwardness." Furthermore, the economic and political
unsustainability / un viability of the dream of attaining Western
standards of living in the Global South makes it difficult for vast
groups of people to achieve the ideals propagated by WEIRD
narratives (Adams, Estrada- Villalta, and Gomez Ordonez 2018).
This perceived failure to attain WEIRD standards can contribute
to self-loathing and a negative self-image among marginalized
groups such as the Ch'orti'.
268
Among the Ch'orti', modern Eurocentric "individualist

ways" directly conflict with the traditional community-based
approaches favored in most non- WEIRD Indigenous societies.
The state's lack of recognition of communal traditions has his-
torically led to the dispossession of Ch'orti' ancestral lands at
the hands of private landowners and settlers. Lack of access to
land had utterly destabilized the Ch'orti' way of life, which in
turn has contributed to their economic and social degradation.
The Ch'orti' Maya's poverty and inability to regain a sense of
dignity and equality within a system bent on their exploita-
tion have historically led to the internalization of a negative
self-image. Coupled with the racism and prejudice expressed
by the dominant Ladino /Mestizo groups, this internalization
of oppression is being reflected in the disproportionate levels
of suicide, alcoholism, domestic violence, and homicide found
in Indigenous Ch'orti' communities (Sotero 2006).
In short, coloniality is evident in the vast divide that is be-
ing created between WEIRD societies and the Global South/
marginalized communities under the guise of modernity and
progress. In that regard, Adam and colleagues bring to the
forefront the extent to which modern individualist self-ways
and hegemonic discourse are both "products of the colonial
past and manifestations of the colonial present." To a large ex-
tent, this coloniality/ modernity defines intercultural relations
and manifests itself in the ways groups and societies interact
with one another on both the local and world stages (Adams,
Estrada- Villalta, and Gomez Ordonez 2018).
Beyond Coloniality
As modern nation states were being forged along European

lines, the Indigenous identities of Latin America were sum-
marily "otherized" (Alfred and Corntassel 2005). The fact that
brown Indian bodies were viewed as somewhat defective and
inferior justified the discrimination and systematic oppression

of local ethnic communities (Mignolo 2011). The continued
liberalization and neo-liberalization of formerly Indigenous
spaces is part of a modernity that keeps imposing its ways
upon Indigenous peoples. For reasons ranging from the needs
of the marketplace to land reforms or development, Indigenous
peoples are being pushed to the margins and integrated at the
very bottom of the social order (Bodley 2008). Modern self- ways
are informing policies aiming to disintegrate community/ com-
munal-based practices and disrupt native traditions. Yet, it is
exactly these mechanisms of disintegration and marginalization
that have provided the socio-cultural conditions within which
the most recent expressions of Indigenous peoples' rights have
emerged.
The Ch'orti' Maya movement of Copán, in Honduras, is a
microcosm of the broader Indigenous rights movements that
are alive and active in the Americas. The Ch'orti' reemergence
and Indigenous reassertions are a direct response to the contin-
ued impositions of modernity and to the colonial ontology. In
a variety of ways, Indigenous rights movements are affirming
that, as informed by WEIRD narratives, modernity is neither
universally or necessarily beneficial for vast groups of people
across the world (Dirth and Adams 2019). Both the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and
the ILO convention 169 affirm that self-determination, and
not assimilation, is a fundamental human right for Indigenous
peoples (Tauli-Corpuz 2016). Moreover, both of these key doc-
uments, in their preamble and in their articles, emphasize the
importance of cultural rights and of the rights to communal
lands as cornerstones of Indigenous nations' cultural surviv-
ability (ILO 2009). The ability to maintain and practice one's
own unique culture and customs is guaranteed under ILO
convention 169. These legal discourses did not appear out of
the blue. On the contrary, Indigenous Peoples Rights Discourses
(IPRD) are the result of tireless campaigning and activism at
270
the local level by Indigenous leaders /community members

and, internationally, by human rights activists and scholars
(UN 2013). In Honduras, the ratification of the ILO convention
169 was accompanied by the Ch'orti' Indigenous revitalization
movement and mobilization, local movements working in
partnership with the international movement to pressure gov-
ernment authorities to concede communal territories (Cabezas
and Mejia 2007). Among the Ch'orti' and many other Indige-
nous nations, local activists and grassroots movements work
in conjunction with international legal advocacy in a creative
and congruent manner to facilitate resistance and change.
As I have already discussed, tremendous creativity and
flexibility are integral parts of the way Ch'orti' and other Indig-
enous people are able to redefine/ reimagine their indigeneity
and cultural identity in the face of rigid state coloniality. This
speaks volumes on how culture is constantly fluctuating and
strategically being adapted to ensure the survivability of groups
in the face of extreme adversity. I believe that the flexibility and
creative vigor with which the Ch'orti' and other Indigenous
groups are able to redefine their ethnic association and identity
are a distinctive area of strength that can effectively challenge
and resist WEIRD impositions. In contrast to individualist
self- ways, the Ch'orti' revitalization movement visualizes
communality and communal approaches as being the center of
Ch'orti' identity. Where the zero point epistemology inherent
in WEIRD ways removes individuals from situationality and
context, the Ch'orti' Indigenous movement imagines commu-
nity identity as being firmly rooted in the context of the eternal
ancestral land. I believe that this reimagining of community and
belonging is indicative of a revolutionary act of decoloniality
that confers both agency and confidence to the Indigenous
Ch'orti' community members. This creative act of reimagining
is a key step towards decoloniality.
Conclusion
Like other Indigenous rights movements, the Ch'orti'

Maya utilize Indigenous Peoples Rights Discourses in con-
junction with grassroots activism and community mobiliza-
tion to push back against historical inequalities, discrimina-
tion, and injustices. At the same time, Ch'orti' rights move-
ments coincide with an ongoing revitalization of local ethnic
identity, an active reimagining of community and belonging
that challenges long-held colonial prejudices and constructs.
This active reimagining of identity and indigeneity is a source
of empowerment and agency for marginalized peasant com-
munities such as the Ch'orti', who draw upon their collective
affiliation as a means of gaining rights back, particularly as
they relate to land and human dignity.
Due to their positionality on the fringes of state and ethnic
boundaries, the Ch'orti' Maya embody an increasingly inter-
sectional identity that is fluidly evolving and responding to
the coloniality of the modern nation-sate. These identity con-
structions are a vital aspect of the Ch'orti' resilience and resis-
tance to systems of oppression and injustice that are inherent
in modern forms of coloniality. The Ch'orti' case example pro-
vides insights into the ways in which local emphasis on com-
munality/ communal traditions and deep-rooted belonging
provide an effective counternarrative to hegemonic WEIRD
self-ways. The fluid and rapid embracing of perceived Indig-
enous traditions points to a tremendous reservoir of creativity
and vitality in local resistance to the impositions of state-cen-
tric coloniality. For the Ch'orti' people, active and fluid identi-
ty constructs are essentially a creative process fueled by a cul-
ture of resistance to years of marginalization and exploitation
by the colonial systems of the state. It is clear that flexibility
in imagining ethnic identity constructs among the oppressed
and the marginalized groups provides powerful counternar-
272
rative potentials that can help challenge institutionalized co-

lonial notions of class, heritage, and identity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This line of research has been made possible by the contributions of

Brent Metz and his continued ethnographic research on the Chorti Maya
peoples of Guatemala and Honduras. The works of Glenn Adams on the
psychology of coloniality and Barth Dean's insight into indigenous rights
movements have also significantly inspired this work. I would like to
thank them sincerely for their continued efforts and collaboration.
NOTES
1 The Chorit area refers to a region consisting of the Copan Valley,

which occupies the frontier regions shared by El Salvador, Hon-
duras and Guatemala.
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Challenging Modernity: Indigenous Peoples Rights And The Reimagining Of Ethnic

Daniel Bagheri Sarvestani

ABSTRACT: The colonization process that led to the displace-

an ethnic community /belonging as a response to the coloniality

The Ch'orti' people are an Indigenous ethnic group re-

MAP: The Ch'orti' people are an Indigenous ethnic group residing in

torical traumas. The reimagining of ethnic identity and its

A historical analysis of the Ch'orti' area1 of the Copán Val-

possibly catastrophic population collapse. It is hypothesized

Colonization and Ethnic Displacement

By the time the Spanish conquistadors set foot in Central

influence. By 1530, most Lenca and Ch'orti' Maya towns and

cupied the pinnacle of the social class as administrators, gov-

independent Central American states emulated the economic

Ch'orti' Experiences with Modernity

In the Americas, the notions of modernity and nation-

cheap laborers in the service of settlers and Ladino landown-

violence and interethnic tensions led to Guatemala's civil war

Trauma, Coloniality, and the Revitalization Movement

The trauma induced by the longstanding sequence of land

populations of Canada and the USA (Heart 2003; Chandler

international observers) started to mobilize around notions of a

rally around local ethnic identities when they feel excluded

Ch'orti' Rights Movement as a Decolonial Project

In many ways, the Ch'orti' revitalization of the 1990s and

further gain credence in the language of international Indig-

1. Communal rights reaffirm that land cannot be ex-

Through the communal rights narrative, the Ch'orti'

When comparing each theme across several time periods, a

gruent with the group's interests (goals) (Castano, Paladino,

of mobilization and its success at regaining lost territories may

Coloniality and Modernity

Maldonado-Torres, in the tradition of Fanon, traces the

Mixed with Western exceptionalism and entitlement, modern

retain their ethnic identity in a socio-cultural ecosystem that

2018). This parallels the process of "othering" being faced by

Among the Ch'orti', modern Eurocentric "individualist

As modern nation states were being forged along European

inferior justified the discrimination and systematic oppression

the local level by Indigenous leaders /community members

Like other Indigenous rights movements, the Ch'orti'

rative potentials that can help challenge institutionalized co-

This line of research has been made possible by the contributions of

1 The Chorit area refers to a region consisting of the Copan Valley,

Maldonado-Torres, Nelson (2017). On the Coloniality of Human Rights.

Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria (2016). Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indige-

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