From field to craft: Maya people’s gendered relations with the jipijapa palm in San Jose Village, Belize

Abstract

Seeking to create new foundations for life, the Maya of Belize continue to create economies that allow their ways of living to persist and thrive within a globalized world. The Maya have relied on their surrounding natural resources to ensure their socio-economic and cultural well-being. One natural resource that has been vital for the Maya is the jipijapa palm (Carludovica palmata). Although the jipijapa palm is commonly used as a food source, men’s and women’s interaction with it differs. Men utilize the palm for farm work, whereas women utilize it within their household work as well as for craft creation to sell on the tourism market. Although jipijapa has always had cultural value, the advent of tourism gave it monetary value, causing a shift in how Maya relate to the plant. Tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change are significant globalized changes that have impacted the Maya’s relationship with the jipijapa palm. Partaking in the tourism industry led to the hyper-consumption of jipijapa palms and scarcity in some villages, pressuring the remaining source in San Jose, Belize. The pandemic stagnated the jipijapa craft production, revealing its fragility and hyper-dependency on the local tourism industry. Due to climate change, in May 2024, the Toledo District experienced intense wildfires that burned for weeks, destroying numerous farms and acres of jipijapa palms. Learning from the year’s perils, the Maya of San Jose Village seek to build a more resilient future. They aspired to engage in the international exportation of their crafts, alleviating the dependency on local tourism markets. They also aim to restore burnt farms, replant jipijapa palms, and adopt sustainable farming techniques, such as agroforestry, to protect their farmlands and the broader environment, ensuring the longevity of their natural resources in a constantly shifting world.February 202