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This article analyses how female indigenous mayors manoeuvre, exhibit and transgress gendered, racial and ethnic performances of the state in Yucatán, Mexico. This article asks: How do female mayors' gendered, racial and ethnic performances affect their decision making? Indigenous subjects in Latin America have historically not been recognised as part of the state (Hale, 2002).Female mayors are positioned between two places. First, they are the state as they have been democratically elected. Second, they are categorised as female indigenous bodies. This interchange of power relations influences female mayors' decision-making. It will be argued that while some female mayors transform gender and racial norms in their municipalities, others reaffirm them. Whilst some mayors reproduce hierarchical racial-ethnic relations, others have found ways of confronting and utilising existing multicultural policies to create new relations between state and constituents such as incorporating the Maya language and customs in official municipal acts. These actions defy common multicultural practices of toleration and aim to counter the racism constituents have experienced in the past.

This article analyses how power functions in symbolically important municipal locations-like city hall and the main square-to reinforce and/or confront gender, racial and ethnic spatial notions. Specifically, I focus on 18 female mayors and their administration in the Mexican state of Yucatán, for the 2012-2015 electoral period. Through this work, I emphasise how indigenous political mobilisation outside social 'the body' occupies to be a fundamental component of the articulation of political identities. I will demonstrate how female mayors in Maya municipalities enter into various forms of negotiation with their constituents regarding the concepts of body and space. Female Mayor Political party Married Children Education/ occupation Maya surname Speaks Maya Identifies as Maya 1 st woman candidate Previous relatives as mayor A PAN Yes 2 Accountant No No No Yes Yes, husband

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