Devil pact narratives in rural Central America

Class, gender and 'resistance

Bibliographic Data

ID2158129
AuthorsKees Jansen (0000-0003-4050-7407), Esther Roquas
Year2002
Volume29
Issue3-4
Pages270-299
Publication date2002-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Peasant Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-6150 • E-ISSN: 1743-9361
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03066150412331311089
OpenAlexW2162267928
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

Throughout Latin America, and also many other parts of the world, a common theme informing peasant narratives is different kinds of pact in which the recipient obtains the power of the devil in exchange for a soul.The analysis of these narratives is not a mere cultural curiosity; rather, it is a useful way of gaining an insight into how peasants understand and give meaning to the social order in which they live and the social change they experience.Such an approach to devil pact narratives goes beyond conceiving them simply as religious or psychological expressions, and regards such discourse as a method of projecting the language of social relationships and power.It is, however, a hidden discourse not easily accessible to the outside researcher.Only after we had lived in the village for quite some time did peasants begin to tell us the local narrative of a landlord who signed a pact with the devil.Significantly, the narrative was not told openly, in public, but secretly and in private.The most detailed account of this particular devil pact narrative was obtained after sunset, when we were alone with one of the poorest inhabitants who lived in a mud hut without electric light on the fringes of the village.But does the offstage setting of this discourse imply that peasants tell the story to subvert domination, as some observers argue?This question points to the reason for our interest in understanding precisely what the devil pact narrative, as told in rural Central America, represents.Of particular interest, therefore, is whether the telling of stories about devil pact narratives involving landlords constitutes a form of resistance by

Capitalism · Complicity · Ideology · Interpretation (philosophy · Literature · Narrative · Peasant · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Cuban History and Society · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism

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