Mayans Among Us: Migrant Women and Meatpacking on the Great Plains

Voices of Mayan refugees in Nebraska

When Ann L. Sittig made a quick stop at a secondhand shop in a smallmeatpacking town in Nebraska, she overheard a couple speaking Spanishwith the unmistakable inflection of Mayan. When she inquired further,the couple confirmed that they were Mayans from Guatemala and indicatedthere were lots of Mayans living in the area. Soon afterward, Sittig metMartha Florinda González, a Mayan community leader living in Nebraska,and together they began gathering the oral histories of contemporaryMayan women living in the state and working in meatpacking plants.

In The Mayans Among Us, Sittig and González focus on the uniqueexperiences of the Central American indigenous immigrants who areoften overlooked in media coverage of Latino and Latina migration to theGreat Plains. Many of the Mayan immigrants are political refugees fromrepressive, war-torn countries, and as such are quite distinct from LatinAmerica’s economic immigrants. Sittig and González initiated groupdialogues with Mayan women about the psychological, sociological, andeconomic wounds left by war, poverty, immigration, and residence in anew country. The Mayans share their concerns and hopes as they negotiatetheir new home, culture, language, and life in Nebraska to surviveand send economic support back home for their children. LongtimeNebraskans share their perspectives on the immigrants as well.

The Mayans Among Us poignantly explores how Mayan women inrural Nebraska meatpacking plants weave together their three distinctidentities: Mayan, Central American, and American.