Jonathan Fox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199208852
- eISBN:
- 9780191709005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208852.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter analyzes persistent exclusionary electoral practices, using quantitative indicators of access to the secret ballot in Mexico's 1994 presidential election in rural areas. While the ...
More
This chapter analyzes persistent exclusionary electoral practices, using quantitative indicators of access to the secret ballot in Mexico's 1994 presidential election in rural areas. While the opposition expected a re-run of the repertoire of fraud and manipulation that characterized the 1988 race, instead the state effectively deployed a range of levers of intervention in rural economic and social life that, in combination with the systematic lack of access to the secret ballot, reduced the ruling party's need to resort to fraud by inducing a widespread ‘fear vote’. This study draws on two previously unstudied data sets to estimate the degree of rural voter access to the secret ballot in the 1994 presidential elections, including a focus on opposition party oversight in indigenous municipalities in the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas.Less
This chapter analyzes persistent exclusionary electoral practices, using quantitative indicators of access to the secret ballot in Mexico's 1994 presidential election in rural areas. While the opposition expected a re-run of the repertoire of fraud and manipulation that characterized the 1988 race, instead the state effectively deployed a range of levers of intervention in rural economic and social life that, in combination with the systematic lack of access to the secret ballot, reduced the ruling party's need to resort to fraud by inducing a widespread ‘fear vote’. This study draws on two previously unstudied data sets to estimate the degree of rural voter access to the secret ballot in the 1994 presidential elections, including a focus on opposition party oversight in indigenous municipalities in the states of Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas.
Jonathan Fox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199208852
- eISBN:
- 9780191709005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208852.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter explores the relationship between democratization and decentralization. In Mexico, the government promoted deliberative citizen participation nation-wide in rural municipalities, well ...
More
This chapter explores the relationship between democratization and decentralization. In Mexico, the government promoted deliberative citizen participation nation-wide in rural municipalities, well before national electoral democratization. Mexican decentralization empowered municipalities, but it turns out that municipal governance systematically excludes millions of rural people who live outside of the town centers that usually control municipal affairs. Those villages are most directly governed by sub-municipal authorities. In some states and regions these truly local authorities are chosen democratically, representing villagers to the municipality, in others they are designated from above, representing the mayor to the villagers. This chapter explores rural citizens' efforts to hold local governments accountable through three different comparative research strategies: analysis of resource allocation decision-making processes in a representative sample of local rural governments in the state of Oaxaca; comparison of changing municipal-sub-municipal power relations in four rural states (Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo, and Chiapas); and a nation-wide comparison of the state level laws that govern this invisible ‘sub-municipal regime’.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between democratization and decentralization. In Mexico, the government promoted deliberative citizen participation nation-wide in rural municipalities, well before national electoral democratization. Mexican decentralization empowered municipalities, but it turns out that municipal governance systematically excludes millions of rural people who live outside of the town centers that usually control municipal affairs. Those villages are most directly governed by sub-municipal authorities. In some states and regions these truly local authorities are chosen democratically, representing villagers to the municipality, in others they are designated from above, representing the mayor to the villagers. This chapter explores rural citizens' efforts to hold local governments accountable through three different comparative research strategies: analysis of resource allocation decision-making processes in a representative sample of local rural governments in the state of Oaxaca; comparison of changing municipal-sub-municipal power relations in four rural states (Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo, and Chiapas); and a nation-wide comparison of the state level laws that govern this invisible ‘sub-municipal regime’.
C. Neal Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195157451
- eISBN:
- 9780199790388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195157451.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Biotechnology
In 2001, a group of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley published a report claiming that transgenes had moved from commercial corn to landrace corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. Transgenic corn ...
More
In 2001, a group of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley published a report claiming that transgenes had moved from commercial corn to landrace corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. Transgenic corn had never been planted — at least legally — in Mexico, and so the researchers thought that it was an important scientific result with political implications. Mexican landrace corn had been propagated by indigenous farmers for centuries, and transgenes could be disruptive to the plant and the culture. The finding that transgenes were in landrace corn and parts of transgenes were hopping around the genome was hotly contested because of the flawed methodology used in the original study. Furthermore, the findings were never confirmed by any other researchers. In an unprecedented move, the journal editor announced that the paper should have never been published in the first place. This is one example of exaggerated claims that have encouraged the unnecessary controversy in agricultural biotechnology.Less
In 2001, a group of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley published a report claiming that transgenes had moved from commercial corn to landrace corn in Oaxaca, Mexico. Transgenic corn had never been planted — at least legally — in Mexico, and so the researchers thought that it was an important scientific result with political implications. Mexican landrace corn had been propagated by indigenous farmers for centuries, and transgenes could be disruptive to the plant and the culture. The finding that transgenes were in landrace corn and parts of transgenes were hopping around the genome was hotly contested because of the flawed methodology used in the original study. Furthermore, the findings were never confirmed by any other researchers. In an unprecedented move, the journal editor announced that the paper should have never been published in the first place. This is one example of exaggerated claims that have encouraged the unnecessary controversy in agricultural biotechnology.
Todd A. Eisenstadt, Michael S. Danielson, Moises Jaime Bailon Corres, and Carlos Sorroza Polo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199936267
- eISBN:
- 9780199333066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936267.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Throughout the Americas indigenous people have been arguing that they should be entitled, as “first peoples,” to representation in local, national, and international fora in a capacity different from ...
More
Throughout the Americas indigenous people have been arguing that they should be entitled, as “first peoples,” to representation in local, national, and international fora in a capacity different from that of other civil society groups. This book began as an inquiry into subnational multicultural rights recognition in Oaxaca, Mexico, where constitutional reforms recognized the rights to Indigenous municipalities to self-determination with respect local election procedures, known as “usos y costumbres.” Taking the Oaxaca case as its core empirical referent, the book brings together perhaps the most comprehensive set of studies to date on indigenous and multicultural rights autonomy regimes in Latin America. The book moves beyond abstract debates common in the literature on multiculturalism to examine indigenous rights recognition in different real-world settings, comparing cases in unitary states (Bolivia, Ecuador) with subnational autonomy regimes in Mexico’s federal states (Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatán). The book compares cases not normally considered together, examining the true range of such policies. This coverage of multiculturalist movements across cases, with reference to the tensions between human rights and communitarian autonomy movements, coupled with multi-faceted coverage of “on the ground” mechanisms of indigenous customary law recognition in Oaxaca, allows the volume to conclude that terms of the debate need to be reoriented. It is important to distinguish between multicultural group rights as recognized “from above” by the state and multicultural autonomy rights demanded “from-below”, while allowing for the fact that some cases combine top-down and bottom-up dynamics.Less
Throughout the Americas indigenous people have been arguing that they should be entitled, as “first peoples,” to representation in local, national, and international fora in a capacity different from that of other civil society groups. This book began as an inquiry into subnational multicultural rights recognition in Oaxaca, Mexico, where constitutional reforms recognized the rights to Indigenous municipalities to self-determination with respect local election procedures, known as “usos y costumbres.” Taking the Oaxaca case as its core empirical referent, the book brings together perhaps the most comprehensive set of studies to date on indigenous and multicultural rights autonomy regimes in Latin America. The book moves beyond abstract debates common in the literature on multiculturalism to examine indigenous rights recognition in different real-world settings, comparing cases in unitary states (Bolivia, Ecuador) with subnational autonomy regimes in Mexico’s federal states (Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Yucatán). The book compares cases not normally considered together, examining the true range of such policies. This coverage of multiculturalist movements across cases, with reference to the tensions between human rights and communitarian autonomy movements, coupled with multi-faceted coverage of “on the ground” mechanisms of indigenous customary law recognition in Oaxaca, allows the volume to conclude that terms of the debate need to be reoriented. It is important to distinguish between multicultural group rights as recognized “from above” by the state and multicultural autonomy rights demanded “from-below”, while allowing for the fact that some cases combine top-down and bottom-up dynamics.
Todd A. Eisenstadt
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199936267
- eISBN:
- 9780199333066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936267.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
“Autonomy” as a concept contains a slew of meanings, connotations, and frames. This chapter considers the degree to which minority groups can operate independently from the state and its dominant ...
More
“Autonomy” as a concept contains a slew of meanings, connotations, and frames. This chapter considers the degree to which minority groups can operate independently from the state and its dominant culture as well as the degree to which individuals are free to make conscious decisions about the institutions, parties, and practices they support. Using examples given throughout the book of indigenous rights movements in Bolivia, Ecuador and Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatán) to analyze the proper unit (individual, interest group, community, region) for states’ granting and indigenous movements’ seizure of autonomy, the chapter offers preliminary explorations of multicultural indigenous rights regimes, and their challenges to liberal pluralism, in Mexico, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It concludes that only a frank consideration of the trade-offs between human rights and communitarian rights can yield the kind of self-aware multiculturalism that simultaneously respects the rights of groups and their individual members.Less
“Autonomy” as a concept contains a slew of meanings, connotations, and frames. This chapter considers the degree to which minority groups can operate independently from the state and its dominant culture as well as the degree to which individuals are free to make conscious decisions about the institutions, parties, and practices they support. Using examples given throughout the book of indigenous rights movements in Bolivia, Ecuador and Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas, Yucatán) to analyze the proper unit (individual, interest group, community, region) for states’ granting and indigenous movements’ seizure of autonomy, the chapter offers preliminary explorations of multicultural indigenous rights regimes, and their challenges to liberal pluralism, in Mexico, Bolivia, and Ecuador. It concludes that only a frank consideration of the trade-offs between human rights and communitarian rights can yield the kind of self-aware multiculturalism that simultaneously respects the rights of groups and their individual members.
Willibald Sonnleitner and Todd A. Eisenstadt
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199936267
- eISBN:
- 9780199333066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936267.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This last chapter underscores the complexity of struggles between communitarian politics and individual rights, and relations between minority groups and the state. It considers three cases tried ...
More
This last chapter underscores the complexity of struggles between communitarian politics and individual rights, and relations between minority groups and the state. It considers three cases tried recently in Mexico’s Federal Electoral Court, seeking to add multicultural dimensions to their interpretations of justice. The cases relate to the implementation of citizen rights under Oaxaca’s customary law system but are also relevant to the debate over implementation of multicultural reforms in Latin America. The authors conclude that the minority status of indigenous peoples and communities in Latin America does justify their access to mechanisms which allow them to expand their economic, social, cultural, political and electoral rights. But consistent with this fundamental principle of justice, it is equally important to respect human rights and universal participation, effective representation and inclusion of minorities within communities. Finding this balance may be difficult, but viewing the issue from this perspective offers a sound beginning.Less
This last chapter underscores the complexity of struggles between communitarian politics and individual rights, and relations between minority groups and the state. It considers three cases tried recently in Mexico’s Federal Electoral Court, seeking to add multicultural dimensions to their interpretations of justice. The cases relate to the implementation of citizen rights under Oaxaca’s customary law system but are also relevant to the debate over implementation of multicultural reforms in Latin America. The authors conclude that the minority status of indigenous peoples and communities in Latin America does justify their access to mechanisms which allow them to expand their economic, social, cultural, political and electoral rights. But consistent with this fundamental principle of justice, it is equally important to respect human rights and universal participation, effective representation and inclusion of minorities within communities. Finding this balance may be difficult, but viewing the issue from this perspective offers a sound beginning.
Carlos Sorroza Polo and Michael S. Danielson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199936267
- eISBN:
- 9780199333066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199936267.003.0041
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Policies such as the recognition of usos y constumbres (UC) in Oaxaca, Mexico, purport to extend the right to self-determination to Indigenous communities. But traditional systems of community ...
More
Policies such as the recognition of usos y constumbres (UC) in Oaxaca, Mexico, purport to extend the right to self-determination to Indigenous communities. But traditional systems of community service have been modified due to migration, education, and pressures from an external socio-cultural system that values individualism and rejects the collective. Using original municipal-level survey data, this chapter examines the civil and religious service backgrounds mayors, and proposes a typology of subsystems of UC municipalities in the state. The pathway mayors take to power is an important indicator of the degree to which communities have maintained their traditional organizational structures, in which many years of religious and civil service to the community through the cargo system are required to reach higher levels of authority. The analysis moves beyond such overly simplistic dichotomies as UC vs. political party system or Indigenous vs. Mestizo and demonstrates the internal diversity among UC municipalities.Less
Policies such as the recognition of usos y constumbres (UC) in Oaxaca, Mexico, purport to extend the right to self-determination to Indigenous communities. But traditional systems of community service have been modified due to migration, education, and pressures from an external socio-cultural system that values individualism and rejects the collective. Using original municipal-level survey data, this chapter examines the civil and religious service backgrounds mayors, and proposes a typology of subsystems of UC municipalities in the state. The pathway mayors take to power is an important indicator of the degree to which communities have maintained their traditional organizational structures, in which many years of religious and civil service to the community through the cargo system are required to reach higher levels of authority. The analysis moves beyond such overly simplistic dichotomies as UC vs. political party system or Indigenous vs. Mestizo and demonstrates the internal diversity among UC municipalities.
Karen D. Caplan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804757645
- eISBN:
- 9780804772914
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804757645.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book challenges the commonly held assumption that early nineteenth-century Mexican state-building was a failure of liberalism. By comparing the experiences of two Mexican states, Oaxaca and ...
More
This book challenges the commonly held assumption that early nineteenth-century Mexican state-building was a failure of liberalism. By comparing the experiences of two Mexican states, Oaxaca and Yucatán, it shows how the institutions and ideas associated with liberalism became deeply entrenched in Mexico's regions, but only on locally acceptable terms. Faced with the common challenge of incorporating new institutions into political life, Mexicans—be they indigenous villagers, government officials, or local elites—negotiated ways to make those institutions compatible with a range of local interests. Although Oaxaca and Yucatán both had large indigenous majorities, the local liberalisms they constructed incorporated indigenous people differently as citizens. As a result, Oaxaca experienced relative social peace throughout this era, while Yucatán exploded with indigenous rebellion beginning in 1847. The book puts the interaction between local and national liberalisms at the center of the narrative of Mexico's nineteenth century. It suggests that “liberalism” must be understood not as an overarching system imposed on the Mexican nation but rather as a set of guiding assumptions and institutions which Mexicans put to use in locally specific ways.Less
This book challenges the commonly held assumption that early nineteenth-century Mexican state-building was a failure of liberalism. By comparing the experiences of two Mexican states, Oaxaca and Yucatán, it shows how the institutions and ideas associated with liberalism became deeply entrenched in Mexico's regions, but only on locally acceptable terms. Faced with the common challenge of incorporating new institutions into political life, Mexicans—be they indigenous villagers, government officials, or local elites—negotiated ways to make those institutions compatible with a range of local interests. Although Oaxaca and Yucatán both had large indigenous majorities, the local liberalisms they constructed incorporated indigenous people differently as citizens. As a result, Oaxaca experienced relative social peace throughout this era, while Yucatán exploded with indigenous rebellion beginning in 1847. The book puts the interaction between local and national liberalisms at the center of the narrative of Mexico's nineteenth century. It suggests that “liberalism” must be understood not as an overarching system imposed on the Mexican nation but rather as a set of guiding assumptions and institutions which Mexicans put to use in locally specific ways.
Stephen Bazen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199576791
- eISBN:
- 9780191731136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576791.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
This chapter discusses the four aspects of regression analysis as used in labour economics. Decomposing differences between groups — males and females, for example — is one of the key uses of ...
More
This chapter discusses the four aspects of regression analysis as used in labour economics. Decomposing differences between groups — males and females, for example — is one of the key uses of econometric estimates, and this is treated in Section 2.1 of this chapter. The traditional way of undertaking a decomposition is to attribute part of the difference in the means of a variable (say earnings) for two groups to differences in characteristics, and the remainder to other factors. This is the Oaxaca decomposition of the difference in the means for two groups. Going beyond the average is made possible by using an approach that estimates the relationship between the dependent and explanatory variables at different points in the distribution. This is possible using quantile regression and is presented in the next section of the chapter. Methods for analysing panel data are covered in Section 2.3. In the final part of this chapter, the issue of estimating standard errors is addressed.Less
This chapter discusses the four aspects of regression analysis as used in labour economics. Decomposing differences between groups — males and females, for example — is one of the key uses of econometric estimates, and this is treated in Section 2.1 of this chapter. The traditional way of undertaking a decomposition is to attribute part of the difference in the means of a variable (say earnings) for two groups to differences in characteristics, and the remainder to other factors. This is the Oaxaca decomposition of the difference in the means for two groups. Going beyond the average is made possible by using an approach that estimates the relationship between the dependent and explanatory variables at different points in the distribution. This is possible using quantile regression and is presented in the next section of the chapter. Methods for analysing panel data are covered in Section 2.3. In the final part of this chapter, the issue of estimating standard errors is addressed.
Gary M. Feinman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813056067
- eISBN:
- 9780813053820
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813056067.003.0011
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
For the prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), including Monte Albán and other sites, the 1967 volume by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta has long served as the key guide and reference ...
More
For the prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), including Monte Albán and other sites, the 1967 volume by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta has long served as the key guide and reference for ceramic typology and chronology. Although this classic archaeological tome remains the essential source, nevertheless five decades of fieldwork and analysis has led to important temporal expansions in the pottery record as well as refinements, new observations on pottery production, and the extension of relevant research issues, which all enhance the original schema of Caso and his colleagues. This chapter synthesizes and cites many of these new ceramic developments as a basis to take stock of what we have learned during the intervening years and to establish a foundation to investigate shifts in the region’s ceramic complex over three prehispanic millennia.Less
For the prehispanic Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), including Monte Albán and other sites, the 1967 volume by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta has long served as the key guide and reference for ceramic typology and chronology. Although this classic archaeological tome remains the essential source, nevertheless five decades of fieldwork and analysis has led to important temporal expansions in the pottery record as well as refinements, new observations on pottery production, and the extension of relevant research issues, which all enhance the original schema of Caso and his colleagues. This chapter synthesizes and cites many of these new ceramic developments as a basis to take stock of what we have learned during the intervening years and to establish a foundation to investigate shifts in the region’s ceramic complex over three prehispanic millennia.
Lynn Stephen
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520222373
- eISBN:
- 9780520927643
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520222373.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This study chronicles recent political events in southern Mexico, up to and including the July 2000 election of Vicente Fox. The book focuses on the meaning that Emiliano Zapata, the great symbol of ...
More
This study chronicles recent political events in southern Mexico, up to and including the July 2000 election of Vicente Fox. The book focuses on the meaning that Emiliano Zapata, the great symbol of land reform and human rights, has had and now has for rural Mexicans. It documents the rise of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas and shows how it was understood in other parts of Mexico, particularly in Oaxaca, giving a vivid sense of rural life in southern Mexico. Illuminating the cultural dimensions of these political events, the book shows how indigenous Mexicans and others fashioned their own responses to neoliberal economic policy, which ended land reform, encouraged privatization, and has resulted in increasing socioeconomic stratification in Mexico. Mixing original ethnographic material drawn from years of fieldwork in Mexico with historical material from a variety of sources, this book shows how activists have appropriated symbols of the revolution to build the contemporary political movement. The book's wide-ranging narrative touches on the history of land tenure, racism, gender issues in the Zapatista movement, local political culture, the Zapatista uprising of the 1990s and its aftermath, and more. Adding to our knowledge of social change in contemporary Mexico, the book also offers readers a model for engaged, activist anthropology.Less
This study chronicles recent political events in southern Mexico, up to and including the July 2000 election of Vicente Fox. The book focuses on the meaning that Emiliano Zapata, the great symbol of land reform and human rights, has had and now has for rural Mexicans. It documents the rise of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas and shows how it was understood in other parts of Mexico, particularly in Oaxaca, giving a vivid sense of rural life in southern Mexico. Illuminating the cultural dimensions of these political events, the book shows how indigenous Mexicans and others fashioned their own responses to neoliberal economic policy, which ended land reform, encouraged privatization, and has resulted in increasing socioeconomic stratification in Mexico. Mixing original ethnographic material drawn from years of fieldwork in Mexico with historical material from a variety of sources, this book shows how activists have appropriated symbols of the revolution to build the contemporary political movement. The book's wide-ranging narrative touches on the history of land tenure, racism, gender issues in the Zapatista movement, local political culture, the Zapatista uprising of the 1990s and its aftermath, and more. Adding to our knowledge of social change in contemporary Mexico, the book also offers readers a model for engaged, activist anthropology.
Sasha Costanza-Chock
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262028202
- eISBN:
- 9780262322805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028202.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter traces the ways that translocal media practices, deployed by Oaxacan migrants on a daily basis to strengthen connections between their places of origin and their new communities abroad, ...
More
This chapter traces the ways that translocal media practices, deployed by Oaxacan migrants on a daily basis to strengthen connections between their places of origin and their new communities abroad, are often used in times of crisis to build social movement visibility and power. The focus is a series of protests by the Asociación Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, Los Angeles (the Popular Association of the Oaxacan Peoples, L.A., or APPO-LA). In June 2006, the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca was convulsed by a general strike against the corrupt (and questionably elected) governor Ulises Ruiz Ortíz. Teachers, indigenous peoples, women, students, and workers joined forces in a popular assembly that occupied city plazas for months, took over radio and TV stations, demanded the governor's resignation, and called for a constituent assembly to rewrite the state constitution. Oaxacan migrants in L.A. organized a powerful series of solidarity actions, raised thousands of dollars to support the general strike, and generated attention for the situation in Oaxaca both online and in Spanish-language mass media. The chapter explores the importance of translocal media practices in an age of mass migration.Less
This chapter traces the ways that translocal media practices, deployed by Oaxacan migrants on a daily basis to strengthen connections between their places of origin and their new communities abroad, are often used in times of crisis to build social movement visibility and power. The focus is a series of protests by the Asociación Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, Los Angeles (the Popular Association of the Oaxacan Peoples, L.A., or APPO-LA). In June 2006, the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca was convulsed by a general strike against the corrupt (and questionably elected) governor Ulises Ruiz Ortíz. Teachers, indigenous peoples, women, students, and workers joined forces in a popular assembly that occupied city plazas for months, took over radio and TV stations, demanded the governor's resignation, and called for a constituent assembly to rewrite the state constitution. Oaxacan migrants in L.A. organized a powerful series of solidarity actions, raised thousands of dollars to support the general strike, and generated attention for the situation in Oaxaca both online and in Spanish-language mass media. The chapter explores the importance of translocal media practices in an age of mass migration.
Ross Hassig
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520077348
- eISBN:
- 9780520912281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520077348.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This chapter describes the development of warfare in Mesoamerica. Organized warfare and domination by foreign groups did not truly begin in Mesoamerica until the rise of the Olmecs. The Olmecs ...
More
This chapter describes the development of warfare in Mesoamerica. Organized warfare and domination by foreign groups did not truly begin in Mesoamerica until the rise of the Olmecs. The Olmecs probably did not rely on the atlatl as a weapon. Defensive armor was also rare among them. The demise of the Oaxaca trade had significant effects in the Olmec area. San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan's local dominance rested in large part on its unrivaled ability to import elite goods. During the La Venta phase, trade underwent a number of changes, both in type of goods and method of procurement. The role of the Olmec military remained protective rather than expansionistic. The Olmecs did not fight to maintain their position—they lacked the manpower and logistical capability to do so—but simply withdrew when they could no longer sustain mercantile relations.Less
This chapter describes the development of warfare in Mesoamerica. Organized warfare and domination by foreign groups did not truly begin in Mesoamerica until the rise of the Olmecs. The Olmecs probably did not rely on the atlatl as a weapon. Defensive armor was also rare among them. The demise of the Oaxaca trade had significant effects in the Olmec area. San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan's local dominance rested in large part on its unrivaled ability to import elite goods. During the La Venta phase, trade underwent a number of changes, both in type of goods and method of procurement. The role of the Olmec military remained protective rather than expansionistic. The Olmecs did not fight to maintain their position—they lacked the manpower and logistical capability to do so—but simply withdrew when they could no longer sustain mercantile relations.
Ross Hassig
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520077348
- eISBN:
- 9780520912281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520077348.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
Teotihuacan did not overthrow other empires, but dominated largely in the absence of other significant Mesoamerican powers. Teotihuacan exercised power and honed its military skills locally, but ...
More
Teotihuacan did not overthrow other empires, but dominated largely in the absence of other significant Mesoamerican powers. Teotihuacan exercised power and honed its military skills locally, but expanded in a partial political vacuum and its fate depended as much on its own actions as on what others did. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca and the lowland Maya cities. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban, probably because of the difficulty of doing so rather than any disinclination. Teotihuacan had a larger army, although logistical constraints doubtless kept its army from enjoying numerical superiority in the Valley of Oaxaca. Teotihuacan's expansion simply reached the limits feasible under existing conditions: it was not thwarted by superior powers. Some groups it encountered were doubtless locally powerful, especially Monte Alban, aided as it was by its geographical setting, but these local powers were (probably) all aristocratic.Less
Teotihuacan did not overthrow other empires, but dominated largely in the absence of other significant Mesoamerican powers. Teotihuacan exercised power and honed its military skills locally, but expanded in a partial political vacuum and its fate depended as much on its own actions as on what others did. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca and the lowland Maya cities. Teotihuacan did not conquer Monte Alban, probably because of the difficulty of doing so rather than any disinclination. Teotihuacan had a larger army, although logistical constraints doubtless kept its army from enjoying numerical superiority in the Valley of Oaxaca. Teotihuacan's expansion simply reached the limits feasible under existing conditions: it was not thwarted by superior powers. Some groups it encountered were doubtless locally powerful, especially Monte Alban, aided as it was by its geographical setting, but these local powers were (probably) all aristocratic.
Benjamin T. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638089
- eISBN:
- 9781469638140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638089.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter examines the career of Alfredo Ramírez, the editor of Oaxaca’s satirical newspaper El Chapulín. It focuses on the role of the newspaper in civil society movements in Oaxaca.
This chapter examines the career of Alfredo Ramírez, the editor of Oaxaca’s satirical newspaper El Chapulín. It focuses on the role of the newspaper in civil society movements in Oaxaca.
Lynn Stephen
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520222373
- eISBN:
- 9780520927643
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520222373.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Latin American Cultural Anthropology
This chapter presents a historical orientation and explanation of certain racial and ethnic categories, which are also discussed on the chapters on Chiapas and Oaxaca. It also discusses Indians, ...
More
This chapter presents a historical orientation and explanation of certain racial and ethnic categories, which are also discussed on the chapters on Chiapas and Oaxaca. It also discusses Indians, Mestizos, self-defined ethnicity, indigenous autonomy, and indigenismo.Less
This chapter presents a historical orientation and explanation of certain racial and ethnic categories, which are also discussed on the chapters on Chiapas and Oaxaca. It also discusses Indians, Mestizos, self-defined ethnicity, indigenous autonomy, and indigenismo.
Nancy Farriss
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190884109
- eISBN:
- 9780190884130
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190884109.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History, History of Religion
Language and translation governed the creation of Mexican Christianity during the first centuries of colonial rule. Spanish missionaries collaborated with indigenous intellectuals to communicate the ...
More
Language and translation governed the creation of Mexican Christianity during the first centuries of colonial rule. Spanish missionaries collaborated with indigenous intellectuals to communicate the gospel in dozens of local languages that had previously lacked grammars, dictionaries, or alphabetic script. The major challenge to translators, more serious than the absence of written aids or the great diversity of languages and their phonetic and syntactical complexity, was the vast cultural difference between the two worlds. The lexical gaps that frustrated the search for equivalence in conveying fundamental Christian doctrines derived from cultural gaps that separated European experiences and concepts from those of the Indians. This study focuses on the Otomangue languages of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, especially Zapotec, and relates their role in the Dominican evangelizing program to the larger frame of culture contact in postconquest Mesoamerica. Fine-grained analysis of translated texts is used to reveal the rhetorical strategies of missionary discourse and combines with an examination of language contact in different social contexts. A major aim is to spotlight the role of the native elites in shaping what emerged as a new form of Christianity. As translators, chief catechists, and parish administrators they made evangelization in many respects an indigenous enterprise and the Mexican church it created an indigenous church.Less
Language and translation governed the creation of Mexican Christianity during the first centuries of colonial rule. Spanish missionaries collaborated with indigenous intellectuals to communicate the gospel in dozens of local languages that had previously lacked grammars, dictionaries, or alphabetic script. The major challenge to translators, more serious than the absence of written aids or the great diversity of languages and their phonetic and syntactical complexity, was the vast cultural difference between the two worlds. The lexical gaps that frustrated the search for equivalence in conveying fundamental Christian doctrines derived from cultural gaps that separated European experiences and concepts from those of the Indians. This study focuses on the Otomangue languages of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, especially Zapotec, and relates their role in the Dominican evangelizing program to the larger frame of culture contact in postconquest Mesoamerica. Fine-grained analysis of translated texts is used to reveal the rhetorical strategies of missionary discourse and combines with an examination of language contact in different social contexts. A major aim is to spotlight the role of the native elites in shaping what emerged as a new form of Christianity. As translators, chief catechists, and parish administrators they made evangelization in many respects an indigenous enterprise and the Mexican church it created an indigenous church.
Jeffrey P. Blomster
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033303
- eISBN:
- 9780813039350
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033303.003.0005
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
One of the artifact categories that when studied helps provide information regarding how villagers during the Early Formative period perceived themselves, the human body, and their social identity, ...
More
One of the artifact categories that when studied helps provide information regarding how villagers during the Early Formative period perceived themselves, the human body, and their social identity, is clay figurines. Compared to other ceramic objects, these figurines depict physical and visual self-awareness. Not only did these figurines account for decisions regarding the miniaturization of the body form, they also served as media in which humans were able to formulate their understanding of embodiment. According to Douglass Bailey, these aided in expressing and in understanding relationships between individuals through “claiming and legitimating one's own identity or for suggesting and realigning the identity of others.” These figurines were widespread during a period of transformation in which new social roles were established in the early villages in Oaxaca, Mexico.Less
One of the artifact categories that when studied helps provide information regarding how villagers during the Early Formative period perceived themselves, the human body, and their social identity, is clay figurines. Compared to other ceramic objects, these figurines depict physical and visual self-awareness. Not only did these figurines account for decisions regarding the miniaturization of the body form, they also served as media in which humans were able to formulate their understanding of embodiment. According to Douglass Bailey, these aided in expressing and in understanding relationships between individuals through “claiming and legitimating one's own identity or for suggesting and realigning the identity of others.” These figurines were widespread during a period of transformation in which new social roles were established in the early villages in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Lynn Stephen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033327
- eISBN:
- 9780813038391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033327.003.0017
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter discusses the ways that women from rural transborder migrant and immigrant communities are using bifocal vision to guide their participation in local, regional, and cross-border ...
More
This chapter discusses the ways that women from rural transborder migrant and immigrant communities are using bifocal vision to guide their participation in local, regional, and cross-border organizations. It requires a reconceptualization of the ideas about communities in terms of how they function in relation to multiple sites. It also highlights the case of women from the Mixtec region of Oaxaca and their organizing efforts there and in the state of Oregon.Less
This chapter discusses the ways that women from rural transborder migrant and immigrant communities are using bifocal vision to guide their participation in local, regional, and cross-border organizations. It requires a reconceptualization of the ideas about communities in terms of how they function in relation to multiple sites. It also highlights the case of women from the Mixtec region of Oaxaca and their organizing efforts there and in the state of Oregon.
Robert G. Reynolds
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195131673
- eISBN:
- 9780197561492
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195131673.003.0016
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
A growing body of data indicates that armed conflict played a role in the creation of complex societies such as chiefdoms and states (Wright 1984; Spencer 1998). For ...
More
A growing body of data indicates that armed conflict played a role in the creation of complex societies such as chiefdoms and states (Wright 1984; Spencer 1998). For example, according to Wright (1977:382), "most ethnographically reported chiefdoms seem to be involved in constant warfare," and large chiefdoms grew by absorbing their weaker neighbors. Marcus and Flannery suggest that warfare was often used to create a state out of rival chiefdoms: . . . We do not believe that a chiefdom simply turns into a state. We believe that states arise when one member of a group of chiefdoms begins to take over its neighbors, eventually turning them into subject provinces of a much larger polity. (Marcus and Flannery 1996:157) . . . As an example of this process, the authors cite Kamehameha's creation of a Hawaiian state out of five to seven rival chiefdoms between 1782 and 1810. They suggest that something similar happened in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, when a chiefdom in the Etla region seized the defensible mountain top of Monte Albán and began systematically subduing rival chiefdoms in the southern and eastern parts of the valley. If this is the case, there should be a point in the sequence when considerations of defense began to influence settlement choice. In this chapter, our goal is to provide a preliminary description of our efforts in testing the suitability of this model to the Oaxacan case, and its potential use as the basis for a more general model of state formation. In order to test this hypothesis we need some way to operationalize it in terms of the archaeological record in the Valley of Oaxaca. The key phases of the model can be expressed as follows: 1. An early period in which raiding was minimal, and variables relevant to successful agriculture predominate in settlement choices. 2. A gradual rise in friction between social groups prior to state formation. This friction can be represented by archaeological evidence for raiding, the principle form of warfare in tribes and chiefdoms.
Less
A growing body of data indicates that armed conflict played a role in the creation of complex societies such as chiefdoms and states (Wright 1984; Spencer 1998). For example, according to Wright (1977:382), "most ethnographically reported chiefdoms seem to be involved in constant warfare," and large chiefdoms grew by absorbing their weaker neighbors. Marcus and Flannery suggest that warfare was often used to create a state out of rival chiefdoms: . . . We do not believe that a chiefdom simply turns into a state. We believe that states arise when one member of a group of chiefdoms begins to take over its neighbors, eventually turning them into subject provinces of a much larger polity. (Marcus and Flannery 1996:157) . . . As an example of this process, the authors cite Kamehameha's creation of a Hawaiian state out of five to seven rival chiefdoms between 1782 and 1810. They suggest that something similar happened in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, when a chiefdom in the Etla region seized the defensible mountain top of Monte Albán and began systematically subduing rival chiefdoms in the southern and eastern parts of the valley. If this is the case, there should be a point in the sequence when considerations of defense began to influence settlement choice. In this chapter, our goal is to provide a preliminary description of our efforts in testing the suitability of this model to the Oaxacan case, and its potential use as the basis for a more general model of state formation. In order to test this hypothesis we need some way to operationalize it in terms of the archaeological record in the Valley of Oaxaca. The key phases of the model can be expressed as follows: 1. An early period in which raiding was minimal, and variables relevant to successful agriculture predominate in settlement choices. 2. A gradual rise in friction between social groups prior to state formation. This friction can be represented by archaeological evidence for raiding, the principle form of warfare in tribes and chiefdoms.
