Aisling Walsh
Writer, translator (Sp/Eng)
Irish woman, living and working in Guatemala since January 2014. Freelance writer, blogger & translator. LLM in International Human Rights, BA in Sociology, Politics and Spanish.
PROJECTS
unearthwomen.com
A Feminist City Guide to Guatemala City
Now almost 350 years old, Guatemala City has survived wars, earthquakes and civil unrest. This metropolitan hub proves a chaotic mixture of colonial arches, crumbling art deco facades and architectural leftovers dating back to the 1980s. Street sellers hawk everything from batteries to freshly squeezed goats milk, while every street corner features a different preacher, clown, painter, artisan or activist. It is a thriving city where people from all corners of the country mix and trade daily,...
openDemocracy
The exploitation of Mayan women’s art is a story of racism, sexism – and global capitalism
Mayan women’s bodies, labour and knowledge have been exploited for centuries. This is an old story, with a neoliberal twist. Español.
The fruit seller, the tortilla maker, the domestic worker, the nanny. These are the Marías of Guatemala. Indigenous women, who continue to wear traditional Mayan dress. They are seemingly considered undeserving, of an identity or even a name of their own; valued only to the extent to which they serve others.
It doesn't matter if they are teachers, lawyers, acad...
openDemocracy
How Mayan women in Guatemala are fighting to protect their designs – and their identity
Backstrap weaving with a hand loom tied at the waist (telar de cintura) is an art that has been passed down through Mayan communities for generations.
Medium
Blessed Is The Fruit Of Thy Womb, Or Why I Ran Out On My Moon Mother Workshop
Blessed Is The Fruit Of Thy Womb, Or Why I Ran Out On My Moon Mother Workshop
Why did a workshop designed to make me feel comfortable with my body leave me feeling so gross?
I t was a long and winding road that led me to the basement of a 19th century stately house in Brussels for my initiation. Lined along a narrow stairwell leading down to the basement with 40 or so other women, all in bare feet, all waiting in silent awe for Miranda Gray to personally welcome us into the Moon Mother sister...
dangerouswomenproject.org
Saints, witches and whores
Aisling Walsh is a 31 year old Irish woman living and working in Guatemala since January 2014. She ‘fell in’ with Magdalenas Guatemala in April 2015 and they have gradually taken over her life. When she is not trying to transform the world with these wonderful women she is practicing as a doula and studying to be a midwife in the Galileo University of Guatemala. In her previous life she worked for an Irish NGO here in Guatemala and once upon a time she obtained a Masters of International Law ...
The Irish Times
Extreme Guatemala: it hooks you but doesn’t let you love it
Living here teaches you about survival in the face of repression, struggle in the face of injustice and love in the face of suffering
Depending on who you are in Guatemala, June 30th is either a day to celebrate the victories of the national army or a day to remember the victims of Guatemala’s 36-year internal conflict: 45,000 disappeared, 200,000 murdered and more than a million displaced.
Standing beneath the national flag in the main square of the capital, Guatemala City, listening to the ...
The Irish Times
Even in Guatemala I will march to Repeal the Eighth
As an Irish woman abroad I am delighted to witness the global spread of the campaign
Each year on March 8th and November 25th thousands of women take to the streets of Guatemala City to demand the realisation of women’s rights, gender equality and an end to violence against women. March is International Women’s Day and November 25th is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Since moving here in 2014 I have marched alongside Guatemalan women in four different demonstr...
headstuff.org
REPEAL From Abroad | An Ireland Worth Coming Home To
TopicalTopical Features
REPEAL From Abroad | An Ireland Worth Coming Home To
By Aisling Walsh Last updated May 30, 2018
On Friday the 25th of May I was sitting at my computer eating lunch in Guatemala with knots in my stomach as I followed the twitter alerts: 2 hours to go, 90 minutes, one hour, 15 minutes until polling closed. Then at 3.01 pm Guatemalan time and 10.01 pm Irish time the first exit poll predicted up to 69% in favour of repeal. The tears flowed for hours, for days in fact. Tear...
headstuff.org
A History of Modern Ireland in Four Referendums
Irish HistoryTopical-OpinionTopical Features
A History of Modern Ireland in Four Referendums
By Aisling Walsh Last updated May 17, 2018
The 8th Amendment was enshrined in law only months before I was conceived to my 23 year old mother. I often wonder what possessed my young liberal, atheist Irish parents to start a family in that oppressive atmosphere of 1984. In the space of one year the 8th Amendment was passed, Ann Lovett died in a grotto and Joanne Hayes was publicly crucified in the Kerr...
headstuff.org
Tipping Point | Will 2018 Finally Be The Year For Repeal?
TopicalTopical-OpinionTopical News
Tipping Point | Will 2018 Finally Be The Year For Repeal?
By Aisling Walsh Last updated Dec 19, 2017
I’m writing this while still giddy from the news that the Joint Committee on the 8th Amendment voted unequivocally to put a repeal referendum to the nation. The 8th amendment is now 34 years old. I just turned 33. It was voted in while I was just a twinkle in my mother’s eye.
When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s in Ireland, declaring you were pro-choice c...
Medium
Aisling Walsh
30+ Irish writer, translator & doula in Guatemala. Feminism, sexual & (non)reproductive health/rights. Contributes @thisheadstuff https://aislingwalsh.contently
headstuff.org
No Men Allowed | The Politics and Practice of Women’s Only Spaces
TopicalTopical Features
No Men Allowed | The Politics and Practice of Women’s Only Spaces
By Aisling Walsh Last updated Aug 8, 2017
From a women only screening of Wonder Woman to a women only music festival, public events that cater to an exclusively woman identified audience have gotten much attention of late. News of these events is usually accompanied by indignant cries of social exclusion, reverse discrimination and misandry from the angry hoards in cyberspace and sometimes actual threats...
headstuff.org
‘Challenging Misandry’, MRAs, & Empty Vessels That Make The Most Noise
TopicalTopical-OpinionTopical News
‘Challenging Misandry’, MRAs, & Empty Vessels That Make The Most Noise
By Aisling Walsh Last updated Nov 12, 2017
On November 18th, Men’s Voices Ireland are hosting a unique conference where disgruntled and marginalised Irish men will have the opportunity to vent their frustrations with life in general, the feminist indoctrination that is plaguing Irish media and politics, and the epidemic of political correctness that threatens to end free speech for good.
...
headstuff.org
Irish Media and the Gender Problem
TopicalTopical-Opinion
Irish Media and the Gender Problem
By Aisling Walsh Last updated Jan 21, 2018
Newstalk announced recently, that after a mere four month suspension for extremely offensive comments about rape, George Hook will be returning to the Irish airwaves with his very own new Saturday morning show. Meanwhile Dil Wickremasinghe had her show of ten years, Global Village, cancelled for daring to challenge Newstalk on its response to Hook’s comments. On the upside, Dil found a new hom...