Grimace of Macho Raton

In this creative ethnography Les W. Field challenges a post-Sandinista national conception of identity, one that threatens to constrict the future of subaltern Nicaraguans. Drawing on the works and words of artisans and artisanas, Indians, and mestizos, Field critiques the national ideology of ethnic homogeneity and analyses the new forms of social movement that have distinguished late-twentieth-century Nicaragua. As a framework for these analytic discussions, Field uses the colonial-era play El Gueguence o Macho Raton and the literature relating to it. Field shows how Gueguence tells a story about the passing of time, the absurdity of authority, and the contradictions of coping with inheritances of the past. Refusing essentialist notions of what it means to be Indian or artisan, Field explains the re-emergence of politicised indigenous identity in western Nicaragua and relates this to the longer history of artisan political organisation. Parting ways with many scholars who associate the notion of mestizaje with identity loss and hegemony, Field emphasises its creative, productive, and insightful meanings. With an emphasis on the particular struggles of women artisans, he explores the reasons why forms of collective identity have posed various kinds of predicaments for this marginalised class of western Nicaraguans. This book will appeal to readers beyond the field of Latin American anthropology, such as students and scholars of literature, intellectual history, women's studies, and the politics of ethnicity.