Neoliberalism and Commodity Production in Mexico

by Weaver, Thomas; Greenberg, James B.; Alexander, William L.; Browning-aiken, Anne

• ISBN13: 9781607321712
• ISBN10: 1607321718
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-15
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Colorado

Summary

Neoliberalism and Commodity Production in Mexicodetails the impact of neoliberal practice on the production and exchange of basic resources in working-class communities in Mexico. Using anthropological investigations and a market-driven approach, contributors explain how uneven policies have undermined constitutional protections and working-class interests since the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Detailed ethnographic fieldwork shows how foreign investment, privatization, deregulation, and elimination of welfare benefits have devastated national industries and natural resources and threatened agriculture, driving the campesinos and working class deeper into poverty. Focusing on specific commodity chains and the changes to production and marketing under neoliberalism, the contributors highlight the detrimental impacts of policies by telling the stories of those most affected by these changes. They detail the complex interplay of local and global forces, from the politically mediated systems of demand found at the local level to the increasingly powerful municipal and state governments and the global trade and banking institutions. Sharing a common theoretical perspective and method throughout the chapters, Neoliberalism and Commodity Production in Mexico is a multi-sited ethnography that makes a significant contribution to studies of neoliberal ideology in practice.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
The Neoliberal Transformation of Mexico	p. 1
Theorizing Neoliberalism	p. 33
Neoliberalism and the Transnational Activity of the State: Offshore Control in the US-Mexico Mango and Persian Lime Industry	p. 51
Tracing the Trail of Table Grapes: The Effects of Neoliberal Policies in Sonora, Mexico	p. 75
Maize and Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca: Two Victims of Neoliberalism	p. 99
Disjuncture between Economic Policy and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources: Water Case Studies in Sonora, Mexico	p. 115
Privately Unsustainable: Ecological Resiliency and Watershed Resources in an Arid-Land Ejido	p. 141
Policies of Conservation and Sustainable Development: Fishing Communities in the Gulf of California, Mexico	p. 165
Neoliberalism and the Social Relations of Forestry Production in Chihuahua	p. 187
The Impact of World Bank Policies on Indigenous Communities	p. 209
The Impact of Neoliberal Policies on Rural Producers in Oaxaca, Mexico	p. 225
Neoliberal Capital and the Mobility Approach in Anthropology	p. 241
Coffee, Neoliberalism, and Social Policy in Oaxaca	p. 269
Up the Mode in the Period of Post-Neoliberalism	p. 293
Conclusion: Structural Adjustment, Structural Violence	p. 315
List of Contributors	p. 343
Index	p. 349
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