School of Social and Political Science

Description

Located in Guatemala between Tolimán Volcano and Lake Atitlán, Chuk Muk is a post-disaster resettlement built for approximately 900 displaced Maya Tz’utujil families. After a deadly landslide triggered by a days-long accumulation of rain destroyed a nearby town in 2005, these affected families were resettled between 2008 and 2011. This (unfinished) process was long and much politicised. In this research project, we are working with a group of Tz’utujil women in Chuk Muk whose history is entangled in disaster, related to war and conflict, and sudden events that destroyed homes and broke communities apart. Our research engages with feminist and disaster geographies as we seek to situate the (re)productive work of these women in their home gardens as part of a recovery process from disaster(s) and displacement through agrifood practices. Particularly in post-disaster contexts, home gardens provide the means for a continuity of life. Through participatory methodologies, we seek to understand the way in which home gardens might allow women to shape the health of their families, but also of the landscapes they inhabit. Our work, which has evolved through collaborative fieldwork, draws from the women’s own unique relationship with the resettlement landscape in which they now live. The collaborative nature of our approach has allowed us to (re)structure our aims with an ambition to question our own positions as researchers and engage a decolonial approach. In particular, in this presentation I will address the work done towards consolidating the women’s group through a series of workshops on home garden sustainable agriculture. This includes the current co-production of a Tz’utujil place-based guide for natural remedies and food recipes.