The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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214 The cultural context of biodiversity conservation During fieldwork, the influence of the constantly growing number of Protestant Churches in the area became clearly evident in the case of Roq-há. As has been mentioned, the community was divided by the presence of six different Churches that have been established in the past years. It can be assumed that the church communities partly substitute for the local community as a source of identification. The increasing diffusion of Protestantism was commented by an elder informant, who was one of the first to come to the community: »Before the war, there was only one Catholic church, but two years after the end of the conflict the first evangelical church was established, and then the others followed« (field notes, 2003). Since these denominations were increasingly brought into the area, being less tolerant regarding the incorporation of traditional beliefs and customs, their growing influence had transforming effects upon the social structures within the communities and led to severe disruptions in the traditional cosmovision. In general, these state-funded churches prohibit the members of the parish from practising rituals such as sacrificial offerings to the tzuul taq'a. This provoked a growing division among communities and the lack of confidence among the villagers, which made the restoration of the religious realm more difficult (Hatse & De Ceuster 2001a: 79f.). Discussing policies that evangelical churches try to implement in the villages in the area, Siebers writes: In general these evangelical churches force a rupture with existing Q'eqchi' religion and social structure. The local community is substituted by the community of believers [...]. These churches proclaim a religious discourse stressing individual relations with God and individual moral responsibility. This discourse rejects personalized views on nature and has no direct relevance to economic activities, but there are clear religious motivations for believing individuals to improve their economic performance (1994: 221). Siebers further points to the phenomenon that the Q'eqchi' integrate some of the practices of these churches into their ›meaning making process‹ although in a modified way. Simultaneously, they continue to use practices, symbols and representations stemming from their customs: »Out of this ›input‹ of selectively adopted and adapted external meanings and practices and reinvented tradition the Q'eqchi'es are continuously making their own blend of religion« (1994: 222). In syncretised religions, Wilson notes, »there is an ever-shifting flux, a sequence of oscillations. The pendulum swings between an indigenizing of Christianity and the Christianizing of indigenous beliefs« (1995: 304). In spite of numerous adaptive processes, Villa Rojas (1988) argues generally that one can still recognise ancient traits in practices and customs that have persisted among the more isolated groups. In particular, such survivals are obvious in terms of material culture but also noticeable in concepts present in the indigenous worldview, becoming tangible in diverse divinatory practices.
Local expressions of indigenous knowledge That pre-Columbian life patterns generally persist in contemporary Q'eqchi' culture has been set out in various ethnographic accounts. 87 There are few studies focussed on the social and psychological implications caused by the civil war and the partial destruction of the material, social and symbolic worlds of indigenous communities by the military regimes. 88 The decades of structural disempowerment had a devastating impact on Q'eqchi' community life, traditional beliefs and customary practices and led to a deep distrust in any state agency and institutions associated with the state. The Q'eqchi'es want to keep the government away from their life-world as far as possible. Everything related to the government and politics frightens them. They do not consider themselves to belong to any national political entity and do not feel that there might be something to gain from joining a political party or project of whatever colour. (Siebers 1996: 66) In his study Creolization and Modernization at the Periphery Siebers further argues that any agency is only able to work with the people if it manages to create a relation of trust and confidence with the members of the particular community. However, the latter have often rejected, abandoned or undermined ›projects‹, which they regarded as an imposition on them. By questioning which role culture plays in the development processes, Siebers points to the normative character of the concept of ›development. It does not just refer to any process of social change, it supposes that within this process the actors concerned are becoming ›better off‹ and that they are able to ›improve‹ their situation. However, the problem remains of how to define what ›better off‹ is. Siebers concludes that »the social actors themselves should be asked what they consider to be a significant improvement of their own situation« (1994: 209). These thoughts lead to the last section of this chapter. It looks at cross-cultural communication in the context of protected area management, where traditional values coincide with the material and empirical concerns of science-based conservation research. 87 A recent example is afforded by the investigations of Hatse and De Ceuster. Their findings appeared in Cosmovisión y espiritualidad en la agricultura q'eqchi' (2001a). Further writings include the works of Wilson (1995) and Siebers (1996). 88 Among these are the commendable works of Wilson. See for instance his paper Machine Guns and Mountain Spirits. The Cultural Effects of State Repression among the Q'eqchi' of Guatemala (1990). More generally, the later study Maya Resurgence in Guatemala. Q'eqchi' Experiences (1995) emphasises continuities and changes in religious life and identity. 215
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Göttinger Beiträge zur Ethnologie
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Published in 2008 by Universitätsv
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Bibliographische Information der De
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CONTENTS Acknowledgements Prologue
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Contents 5.2 The context of meaning
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Acknowledgements Many other friends
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ABBREVIATIONS ADICI Asociación de
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2 The cultural context of biodivers
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10 The cultural context of biodiver
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3 THE DISCURSIVE CONTEXT - conceptu
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The discursive context paradigms ar
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The discursive context environmenta
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The discursive context of pluralist
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The discursive context mental chang
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The discursive context and the ›s
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The discursive context More critica
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The discursive context 3.1.3 Concep
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The discursive context ristic power
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The discursive context Given the hi
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The discursive context frame that g
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The discursive context agencies eng
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The discursive context In the end,
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The discursive context entific cred
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The discursive context in a protect
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The discursive context Wells and Br
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The discursive context accelerated
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The discursive context Beyond its s
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The discursive context tivity that
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The discursive context a religious
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The discursive context The sense of
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The discursive context to us as adu
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The discursive context In this way,
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The discursive context concurrence.
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The discursive context In discussin
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The discursive context In the same
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The discursive context efforts payi
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The discursive context 3.4.1 The co
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The discursive context In order to
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The discursive context Apart from t
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The discursive context and organisi
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The discursive context 3.4.3 The sy
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The discursive context terms throug
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The discursive context Nevertheless
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The discursive context hypotheses.
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The discursive context for a partic
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The discursive context tions with t
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4 THE LOCAL CONTEXT - national poli
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The local context 4.1.1 Biological
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The local context Map 4.1 Distribut
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The local context tions as a counte
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The local context the area known as
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The local context Moreover, the ret
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The local context 4.2 The Maya-Q'eq
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The local context The integration o
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The local context 4.2.2 Historical
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The local context In the early 1980
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The local context 4.3 The conservat
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The local context Fig. 4.6 A view f
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The local context 4.3.2 The co-mana
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The local context Fig. 4.7 Discussi
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The local context poor condition of
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The local context 4.4.2 Methodologi
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The local context not specify the r
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The local context lowed to witness
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5 LOCAL EXPRESSIONS OF INDIGENOUS K
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Local expressions of indigenous kno
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Page 271 and 272: EPILOGUE At the end of my last stay
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References Gari, Josep-Antoni (2000
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References Hajer, Maarten & Frank F
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References Kockelman, Paul (2003).
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References Messer, Ellen (2001). Th
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References Oviedo, Gonzalo/Luisa Ma
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References Redford, Kent/Katrina Br
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References — (2002a). Participant
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References UNEP-WCMC (2003). Tradit
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APPENDIX
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Appendix Map 4.3 Alta Verapaz and m
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Göttinger Studien zur Ethnologie h
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