| Abstract: | I examine the death of an urban popular movement in Guadalajara, Mexico, through the experiences of three women who were active in the movement's local-level leadership. Betrayal emerges as a central theme in their accounts. Gender and betrayal have provided a longstanding subtext in Mexico's political history. La Malinche, who was the indigenous translator and lover of the conquistador Hernando Cortés, epitomizes this historical trope. She is to this day disparaged by Mexicans as a sell-out, a betrayer of the nation. In much the same way, the women whose stories inform this account of the death of a social movement are Malinches, readily cast by themselves and others, including First World academicians, as sell-outs.Yet contemporary feminist revisionings of La Malinche explore the ways in which she was also betrayed. Exploring the manylayered relationship between gender and betrayal can contribute to understanding not only the demise of an urban popular movement, but also the larger political and theoretical economies in which scholars and activists are differently involved,positioned, and connected. |
