ABSTRACT
In Living Maya , Aldon Morris argues that culture is at the root of any social movement’s identity and actions because it is at the root of human existence (Morris and Foxx 1987). Indeed, from birth to death, human beings are embedded within cultural systems, that provide beliefs, meanings and orientations to their actions and social existence. This is to say that the cultural framework of Las Abejas is their identity dimension where collective beliefs and values are embedded. Cultural frameworks are a construction of cultural idioms, or ideologies, mediated symbols, and language that allow for the expression of a complex system of beliefs and values. This can be better understood by combining two definitions of culture as formulated by Mayer Zald and Antonio Gramsci. Zald defines culture as “the shared beliefs and understanding, mediated and constituted by symbol and language of a group in society” (Zald 1996, 262) Gramsci characterizes the “terrain of culture as the area of the establishment of consent, historically negotiated between dominant and subordinated groups” (Gramsci 1971, 253). Combining the two perspectives, culture becomes the shared beliefs and understandings through interaction between individuals and groups which establishes the consensus basis for society. This combined definition of culture reflects an image of transformation rather than of fixed elements. Culture is not a static combination of a set of elements but a dimension of identity continuously in need of reconstruction, adaptation and re-negotiation. This characteristic of culture is especially visible among the Tzotzil people of Las Abejas. Their culture, faced by new encounters and challenges, does not give specific guidelines, but only creates broad categories that set directions and theoretical orientations on what “ought to be” (Marx and McAdam 1994, 24).
