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Biography

Ph.D., State University of New York, 1991; Professor Emerita

Personal website: www.christineeber.com

Dr. Eber is a cultural anthropologist whose areas of research include art, drugs, gender, religion, women’s studies, writing about culture, and indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica.

Since the mid 1980s Dr. Eber has been conducting research and applied work in Chiapas, Mexico focused on the gendered aspects of social change, specifically Maya women’s participation in the Zapatista movement, weaving cooperatives, and the Catholic Church. She is author of Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow, co-author with “Antonia” of The Journey of a Tzotzil-Maya Woman: Pass Well Over the Earth, and co-editor with Christine Kovic of Women of Chiapas: Making History in Times of Struggle and Hope. In June 2018, her first novel will be released – When a Woman Rises (Cinco Puntos Press). Dr. Eber is a founding member of Weaving for Justice (www.weaving-for-justice.org), a volunteer network based in Las Cruces that assists Maya weavers in Chiapas to sell their products through fair trade and educates consumers about the effects of globalization on indigenous artisans.

Recent Publications

2018  When a Woman Rises. El Paso, Texas: Cinco Puntos Press.

2017  “Maya Faces in a Smoking Mirror,” a 76 minute documentary film, in Spanish and Tsotsil, with English subtitles. Director, Bill Jungels, Producer, Christine Eber.  mayafaces.com

2017  “When a Man Loves a Woman.”  Black Lives Have Always Mattered: A Collection of Essays, Poems, and Personal Narratives, edited by Abiodun Oyewole, p. New York:  2Leaf Press.

2016  “We’re Not Surviving, We’re Living,”  a four-part series about Junt@s Vamos, a cancer support group in Juárez, Mexico (with Mary Alice Scott).  Guest Voz, Latina Lista, December 19-22.  http://latinalista.com/?s=Christine+Eber

2015  “Weaving Cooperatives and the Resistance Movement in highland Chiapas, Mexico:  Pass Well Over the Earth.” In Artisans and Advocacy in the Global Market  Walking the Heart Path.  Jeanne Simonelli, Katherine O’Donnell, and June Nash, editors. Pp. 75-98.  School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

2015  “Remembering the 43 Students of Ayotzinapa is to Recognize the Pursuit of Justice in a Country Wracked with Impunity and Elitism,” with Ana Cristina Vázquez Carpizo.  Guest Voz, Latina Lista, September 2^nd. http://latinalista.com/?s=Christine+Eber

2015    “Don’t Forget the Students of Ayotzinapa, Mexico.”  Guest editorial, El Paso Times, 19 September, The Las Cruces Sun New, 20 September.

2014  “Pay Attention.”  Malpaís Review, Volume 5, Issue No. 3, Winter 2014-2015, p. 15.

2014  “Waiting for Something to Fall.”  Malpais Review, Volume 5, Issue No. 2, Fall.

2014    “Hoodies.”  Malpais Review, Volume 5, Issue No. 2,  Fall.

2013   Pasar bien por la tierra: El tejido de vida de una mujer maya-tzotzil de Chiapas, México: (Spanish translation by Mayra Valtierrez of The Journey of a Tzotzil-Maya Woman: Pass Well Over the Earth).

2013  “Tall Rock Pages.” Adobe Walls, an Anthology of New Mexico Poets, Issue no. 5, pp. 132-133.

2013  “Side-by-Side.” Adobe Walls, an Anthology of New Mexico Poets, Issue no. 5, pp.  134-135.

2012   “The Gift That Keeps Giving.”   Book review of Being There: Learning to Live Cross-Culturally, edited by Sarah H. Davis and Melvin Konner, Current Anthropology 53 (3): 1-2.

2011   “Migrant Farm Workers Face Racial Profiling and the Threat of Deportation.” Guest editorial, Burlington Free Press, 27 September.

2011  The Journey of a Tzotzil-Maya Woman of Chiapas. Mexico: Pass Well Over the Earth. Austin: University of Texas Press. (co-authored with “Antonia”)

2011  “Tell Them What Kind of An Anthropologist You Are!” Frontiers: A Journal of Feminist Studies, Fall 2011, Vol 11, No. 1, Special issue, “Feminist Anthropology Meets Queer Anthropology:  A Tribute to the Work of Liz Kennedy.”

2011  “If You Can’t See The Face, You Can’t See the Misery.” Book review of  Righteous Dopefiend, by Phillipe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg.  Current  Anthropology, April 2011.

2008  “Border Crossings, From Theory to Practice: Looking for Floriberto.” (with Sally Meisenhelder). Practicing Anthropology, Vol. 31 (1):  25-29.

2008  Agua de esperanza, agua de pesar: Mujeres y alcohol en un pueblo Maya de los altos de Chiapas.  Spanish translation of Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow.  Guatemala City:  CIRMA (Centro de Investigaciones de Mesomerica) and Plumsock Mesoamerican Studies, Vermont.  This edition contains extensive updated footnotes not included in the 1995 English edition.

2008  “Women’s Co-ops Organize on Both Sides of Border.” Grassroots Press, Vol. 6, No.2, p. 3.

2008  “Earth and Life are Synonymous for Indigenous People of Chiapas.” Grassroots Press, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 6 & 8.

2007   “Women and Gender in Mesoamerica.”  (with Brenda Rosenbaum).  In The Legacy of Mesoamerica:  History and Culture of a Native American Civilization (revised and updated edition).  Robert Carmack, Janine Gasco, Gary Gossen, editors.  Pp.  810-875. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

2007  “Lost in the Desert: Humanitarian Crisis at the Border.” (with Sally Meisenhelder).  Grassroots Press, Vol. 5 (4): 1 & 4.