“Take my water”: : liberation through prohibition in San Pedro Chenalhó, Chiapas, Mexico

This article explores changing views of alcohol in San Pedro Chenalhó, a township in highland Chiapas, Mexico that has been profoundly transformed by the Zapatista democracy movement. The first part of the article provides an overview of drinking in Chenalhó in the 1970s and 1980s when alcohol was still a strong symbol of community solidarity and an important part of healing ceremonies. The second part describes the period since the Zapatista uprising, a period in which indigenous women have begun to intensify their involvement in the political affairs of their communities. In their search for autonomy and to recover pride and dignity, both women and men supporters of the Zapatista movement reject alcohol as a symbol of political and economic domination. A commentary examines the relationship between the critiques of alcohol that have developed in Chenalhó since the 1970s and political economy perspectives in alcohol studies. Both explanatory frameworks focus on the power structures in which alcohol sales and use are embedded.