Ethnicity, Class, and the Indigenous Struggle for Land in Guerrero, Mexico

by Valdez,Norberto

• ISBN13: 9780815331681
• ISBN10: 0815331681
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-04-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This study focuses on Amuzgo Indian communities of the Costa Chica of Guerrero state in Mexico in order to analyze the indigenous struggle for land and its relationship to ethnic identity and culture. Primary archival data and field research reveal a historical profile of this multi-ethnic region with a long and fascinating history of resistance to non-Indian control of communal lands and labor. The dynamics of 19th century liberal economic reforms, privatization of Indian lands, militarization, interventions of foreign capital, class conflicts, and impoverishment are reflected in contemporary processes in the Costa Chica. The image of the resilient peasant, orcampesino, masks negative aspects of peasant status in the class structure, including poverty and superexploitation of family labor, and the intra and inter-familial conflicts that are a significant aspect of daily life. Case studies of land conflicts explore these class issues, as well as the relationship between gender inequalities andinsecurities of land tenure. Indian communal lands (ejidos) are more than an economic means of agricultural production; such lands are also the basis of cultural reproduction and provide a framework in which political resistance can emerge. Bibliography. Index

Table of Contents

Preface	vii	(4)
Acknowledgments	xi	(2)
List of Illustrations	xiii	(2)
Glossary	xv	(4)
List of Acronyms	xix
1 Representation and Indigenous Communities	3	(14)
Class and Ethnicity in Indigenous Communities	4	(1)
Functionalist Approaches to Ethnicity and Culture	5	(2)
Structuralist Views of Peasant Transitions	7	(4)
Vía Campesina and Visions of Indigenous Autonomy	11	(3)
Synthesis of Approaches to Class and Ethnicity	14	(3)
2 The Amuzgos of the Costa Chica	17	(34)
The Regional Setting: Guerrero State and the Costa Chica	17	(2)
Geographic Zones of the Costa Chica	19	(5)
Xochistlahuaca: Cabecera del Reino Amuzgo	24	(2)
The Amuzgos	26	(10)
The Economic Crisis	36	(3)
Economic Adaptive Strategies	39	(3)
Mestizo Influences on the Community	42	(9)
3 Amuzgo Communities, the State, and The Revolution	51	(30)
Liberal Policy and The Great Terrain Robbery	54	(3)
Foreign Capital and Haciendas in the Costa Chica	57	(3)
Merchants and Entrepreneurs	60	(1)
The Ranchero Class	61	(1)
Indigenous Communities	62	(8)
The Revolution and Emerging Class Alliances	70	(11)
4 Agrarismo and the Quest For Land in the Post-Revolutionary Period	81	(20)
The State and the Process of Land Reform	81	(2)
Legal Steps Toward the Restitution of Ejido Lands	83	(1)
Land Redistribution in the Costa Chica	84	(2)
Ejido Land Grant for Xochistlahuaca	86	(9)
Cozoyoapan: An Unsuccessful Ejido Request	95	(6)
5 Defense of Community	101	(18)
Subverting the Ejidal System	102	(3)
Indigenous Communities in Opposition and Dispute	105	(3)
Internal Opposition: Rich Mestizos and Indigenous Elites	108	(1)
Politics and Patronage	109	(10)
6 Land Divisions and Family Fissions	119	(12)
Ejido Lands and Family Feuds	119	(4)
An Interethnic Alliance as Survival Strategy	123	(8)
7 Land Insecurity and Family Relations	131	(16)
Three People, Two Households, One Compound Family	132	(3)
Gender Triangles and Land Insecurity	135	(3)
Women, Weaving, and Sowing	138	(2)
Weaving and the Market	140	(7)
8 Re-visioning Indigenous Communities	147	(6)
Images and Representation in Historical Context	150	(3)
Epilogue	153	(12)
Marginalization in the Periphery	156	(1)
Paths to Migration	156	(2)
Privatization of Ejido Lands in Xochistlahuaca	158	(2)
Politics and the Future	160	(5)
Bibliography	165	(10)
Index	175