Gender, Power, and Traumatic Stress in a Q’eqchi’ Refugee Community in Mexico

This paper presents ethnographic research on the relationship between gender differences in the expression of traumatic stress and emic constructions of social power relating to the humoral categories hot (q’ix) and cold (ke) in a Q’eqchi’ refugee community in Campeche, Mexico. Women disproportionately experienced four gender-specific forms of stress relative to men while residing in the refugee camp, including marginalization from decision-making, a reduction in subsistence activities, restricted mobility, and pressure to maintain traditional culture. My analysis suggests that cultural, political, economic, and material conditions of life in the refugee camp, in combination with underlying traditional gender roles and ideologies, are the primary factors contributing to Q’eqchi’ women’s suffering and delayed recovery from trauma of repression, war, and displacement. I argue that maintaining and manipulating traditional gender roles can also be a means of empowerment for women seeking acculturative opportunities in a restrictive cultural milieu.