Abstract
What is happiness for women facing poverty? This article describes the ways in which rural and indigenous women, make senses of their experiences of happiness through their life histories. These narrations give an account of how important are harmonious, participatory and egalitarian social relationships throughout the different spheres of women’s realities to approach their sense of happiness. Building on scholar contributions from action-research, feminist ethnography, reflexive practice and decolonial propositions, we argued that women’s definitions, immersed in their daily and communitarian life, reveal a collective dimension of human well-being usually postponed in mainstream development perspectives.
… but as I was saying, sometimes we don’t feel as poor, because what happens to us is… like those tiny ants that go on making their journey with the others, all of them together… look at them carrying their stuff… until all of them arrive no one stops. And us, women sometimes are just like that.
(Nora López, 2013)
On June 29 at her home, 1 of the 30 women who participated in this study shared this thought when she was about to finish explaining the moments of greatest poverty in her life.
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Notes
- 1.
Martínez Cruz, Jessica (2014), Pobreza y felicidad en Nicaragua: Historias de vida de mujeres rurales e indígenas de Nueva Segovias. National Roundtable on gender and human development, Managua, Nicaragua. 1st ed. Managua: UCA, 180 p. ISBN 978-99924-36-38-7
- 2.
Also under ILLS participation in the National Bureau of Gender and Human Development and the National Roundtable on the Good Living in a Multi-ethnic state, in preparation for the International Conference on Human Development and Capability Approach (HDCA for its acronym in English 2013) promoted by the Central American University (UCA) and the United Nations program for Development (UNDP) in Nicaragua.
- 3.
The opening of the participants to tell their stories, to investigate collectively their ideas of poverty and happiness, and allow these ideas to be told is gratefully acknowledged.
- 4.
Nueva Segovia is one of the four departments in the country classified as high poverty from the Unsatisfied Basic Needs method; however, at the municipal level, in four of the five municipalities that margin deepens and those municipalities are part of the 45 in the country ranked with severe poverty (INIDE 2005).
- 5.
A committee was formed to provide feedback throughout the process; such was formed by the ILLS, the Central American University (UCA) and the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP).
- 6.
All interviews were transcribed. Despite the revisions, it is necessary to note that transcription also mediates narratives (Lapadat and Lindsay 1999), to such an extent that a misplaced comma can change meanings. The use of field journals was then essential.
- 7.
Several methodological considerations that have been discussed here continue to be discussed in depth by the feminist collective Aula Propia, which one of the authors is part of.
- 8.
Separated for analytical distinction purposes: physical personal dimension, psychological-emotional, material, social: collective-participatory and spiritual.
- 9.
There is a coincidence of these results with those proposed by the systemic theory used in psycho-social recovery processes in Nicaragua, especially after Hurricane Mitch fostered by organizations such as CAV or Pa’lante, the first of these is mentioned by one of the participants.
- 10.
Damage caused by “Mitch” in the country were calculated by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC (1999) in 988 million, 45 % of the GDP, in the manufacturing sector it represented 37 per percent, being agriculture the most affected, human and environmental damage were also soaring. This hurricane is considered one of the strongest storms of the last 100 years in Central America.
- 11.
Due to methodology women’s quotes are exactly as they said, no editing.
- 12.
In the history of Damaris # 25, there is a critical evaluation of Agrarian Reform, considered one of the main goals and achievements of the revolution, this is the first time that Damaris said that the “government” failed her poor landless peasant family, she further indicates that the situation got worse for them because there was no “work” and the people who received benefits sold the land. The Agrarian Reform Law of 1981 stipulated that land would be guaranteed to poor peasants and agricultural seasonal proletarians who then were 53.9 % of the rural population (see http://www.elobservadoreconomico.com/articulo/829). The achievements of this effort are still questioned by some authors (Saravia Saravia and Matus Matus 2009).
- 13.
Nicaragua was not the only country in the region with an armed conflict, El Salvador and Guatemala also experienced wars of great magnitude, refugees from both countries lived in Nicaragua in 1980s. According to an article in Refugee Magazine (Envío 1984) these refugees were living in better conditions than Nicaraguan refugees in Honduras and Costa Rica.
- 14.
Migration to Costa Rica seems to have other dynamics but the rule is not without greater control of borders and migrants. See Migration “Act 8764” is cited in text but not given in the reference list. Please provide details in the list or delete the citation from the text. Act 8764, which came into force in 2010.
- 15.
We are talking about five governments since 1979 to date.
- 16.
All names used in this chapter are pseudonyms.
- 17.
Insurgent armed group in the 1980s, known internationally as the “Contra revolución,” there is now a political party called Resistencia Nicaragua. The kidnapping of peasants was a widely used strategy by the Resistance and internationally denounced, the most known testimonials are mostly peasant men (see for example Envío (1985) and Bendaña (1991)).
- 18.
Her older son is in El Salvador, her second son already has his home and lives with his family in the place where Nora was benefited by a housing project for people of the Resistance, and he helps his mother when he can because he already has a family. Nora lives with her two younger children.
- 19.
Top government social sector programs.
- 20.
This is the unique municipality in the Department where the mayor belongs to other political party.
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Martínez Cruz, J., Castillo Flores, H. (2016). “Like the Zompopito”: Social Relationships in Happiness Among Rural and Indigenous Women in Nicaragua. In: Rojas, M. (eds) Handbook of Happiness Research in Latin America. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7203-7_7
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