In the margins of the state: the role of emotions in negotiating female political subjecthood in Maya communities in Yucatan

This project aims to investigate the emotional dimension of politics by new political subjects (indigenous women) in Yucatan, Mexico, a subject that has received little attention in academia. Emotions have a role in delimitating racial gendered spatial boundaries. Analysing emotions (trust, anxiety, love, indignation) in particular spaces (political acts, traditional indigenous customs) sheds new light into the forms in which we experience certain places, moments and how bodies are associated with specific spatial notions of gender and race.

Examining the role emotions have in politics allows us to trace the nuance and subtle ways in which racism is perpetuated and/or subverted in indigenous communities. Latin American countries are seen as living in a post-racial era, that is in colourless societies do to racial mixing and multiculturalism. This discourse in fact has perpetuated racist attitudes towards minorities. This project wishes to go beyond the Mexican context and use Latin America as a way to enrich theoretical debates regarding race and gender issues in a global context.