The Effect of Social Circumstance to Mayra’s Participation in Surfing

This article discusses the impact of social circumstance on Mayra’s participation in surfing, including social class, gender, and locality. Mayra’s story is an inspiration to women who aspire to break cultural norms and pursue their dreams.

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL CIRCUMSTANCE TO MAYRA’S PARTICIPATION IN
SURFING
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The Effect of Social Circumstance to Mayra’s Participation in Surfing
As it is evident in the film “La Maestra” which involves surfing in a small village
based in Mexico social circumstances are apparently in the process of transforming the entire
society. The documentary pertains Mayra Agular who is a teacher and takes the responsibility
of inspiring the community to get involved in what’s appropriate for them through deciding
to follow her path (Elizabeth, 2015). Mayra is successfully portrayed to initiate change in the
society about surfing. The main economic activities in Mayra’s village was fishing, but only
men were mostly involved. Mayra became the first Mexican women to surf in her area. She
later inspired the society especially her students and other local women to participate in the
sport and follow their dreams. The social circumstances contributed majorly to Mayra’s
participation in surfing including social class, gender and locality.
The movie portrays social class to have an impact on individual’s experiences in
surfing or getting involved in sports or recreation activities (Elizabeth, 2015). Mayra can be
categorised in the middle social class from the fact that she was a teacher. Mostly individuals
who were involved in surfing and fishing mainly belonged to the lower social class. The
existing boundary between social classes prevented the people of the village from
participating in surfing. However, Mayra successfully managed to engage and inspire people
to get involved in sporting and procreative activities (Collins, 2014). According to Mayra,
social class should not be a barrier to following one dream. People should be socially free
irrespective of the social class and pursue their dreams. Through Mayra’s influence and
inspiration, some students began participating in surfing as well as women. The movie
presents people of different social class surfing together and following their dreams. As a
result, some of the participants excelled in the sporting activity to the extent of earning a
living from it. Through breaking the social class, Mayra became deeply connected to the
ocean as well an environmentalist. She taught her students on the significance of land and sea

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stewardship through learning. In most cases, people find themselves in a problematic
situation whereby they cannot follow their dreams because they shy off from breaking social
class boundaries (Shilling 2017: 56). Mayra was keen on breaking the social class trend and
getting involved in activities dictating her dreams as well as inspiring and influencing the
society.
Marya decides to pursue her dreams of teaching and surfing from her tiny local
community. She is the first woman surfer in the Baja area in Mexico who overcomes her
fears and chases her surfing dream regardless of it expectations of the society. The
documentary is a clear picture of how women are barred from engaging in sport or active
recreational activities in the society. Most surfing movie feature women from Americans,
Australians and/or Europeans who travel to exotic locals (Kun, 2017). Marya's documentary
raises thoughtful discussions of globalization, gender, and the cultural geographies of North
and South. The film shows the beauty and slow pace of life in the local society as well as
some of the common issues in the society. Women have been put in a low position in most
societies across the world that limit them from exercising thing they long to do which may, in
turn, become a career and a source of motivation to other people in the village.
Anderson, (2014), states that locality as well bars many women from engaging in
some activities because they are view as not part of the cultural norms of the area. In the
documentary, it is not a woman thing to partake in activities such as surfing. However, Marya
despises these beliefs and practices surfing in their rural fishing village in Baja becoming a
source of motivation for her students and other local women in the society to indulge surfing
and follow their dreams. La Maestra enlightens women in the local areas who embrace
cultures and traditions of those areas to the desire of being modern and aspiring to chase their
own dreams (Kinnunen, 2017). Most women in the society are capable of doing great things

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even better than men but due to their localities and cultures in their areas, they fear to be
vocal like Marya and experience sport/active recreation of their desire.
Conclusion
La Maestra is a clear indication of the potential and talents that women allow to be
suppressed by the culture and traditions of their areas. This hinders them from exploring what
they dream of and setting good examples to other women in the society. Confidence and
determination played a key in Marya's surfing as she had dreamt of surfing since her young
ages. Despite there being no other women who surf in the Mexican society, Marya
successfully does it and becomes a source of motivation to her students and other women in
the society.

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Bibliography
Anderson, R.B., 2014. The Value of a Place: Development Politics on the East Cape of Baja
California Sur, Mexico.
Collins, M., 2014. Sport and social exclusion. Routledge.
Elizabeth, AS (2015) La Maestra: Surfing in a Small Mexican Village., Mexico: Kanopy.
Kinnunen, J., 2017. Slow Travel Features on Eastern King’s Road for an International
Cyclist.
Kun, J. ed., 2017. The Tide Was Always High: The Music of Latin America in Los Angeles.
Univ of California Press.
Shilling, C., 2017. The body, class and social inequalities. In Equality, education, and
physical education (pp. 55-73). Routledge.