A history of representations of Isthmus Zapotec women

This paper consists of a history of outsiders’ representations of Isthmus Zapotec women of Oaxaca, Mexico. Isthmus Zapotec women are famous throughout Mexico and well‐known abroad because of their image as matriarchal, Amazon‐like figures. The paper traces the construction of a discourse about powerful Zapotec women from colonial times to the present. Special attention is paid to the ways in which prominent Mexican painters have depicted Zapotec women as well as to recent feminist portrayals. Using Zapotec women's representations of themselves and ethnographic field data the paper discusses problems involved in the construction of a unified, authentic subject called Zapotec women and examines some of the ironies involved in such an effort.

Keywords:

• Mexico
• Oaxaca
• Zapotec
• women
• representation