“How to Make a go of it without a Man”: Female Saloon Owners on the Costa Chica of Oaxaca “Como fazer sem homem”: donas de boteco na Costa Chica de Oaxaca

Abstract

In this article, based on my field work in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico, I propose to present the way the phrase “how to make a go of it without a man” —constantly repeated by women in this area— becomes a symbolic form of domination. Certain women have broken with the internalized belief that they necessarily “need a man”, and proved it is possible to get ahead on their own, often enjoying greater autonomy, agency and control over their bodies, economies and lives than other women. This is the case of female saloon owners, women “on their own” who “have struggled” and managed to break with certain gender regulation precepts. I attempt to reveal the forms of power and everyday resistance involved in this process, which are difficult to observe because of their subtlety and sometimes go unnoticed because they are masked by other conceptions and activities