The Rise of the Mexican Corporate State: State Control, Social Resistance and Indigenous Identity Consciousness
Sandra J. Gutierrez (P’urhépecha)
UC Davis
In the post-Revolutionary era (1920-1940), the Mexican government established a new form of political organization that strengthened the power of the state in relation to the indigenous and mestizo peasantry and identity formation. The emergence of the Mexican corporate state intertwines with the establishment of the Mexican Revolutionary Party (PRM), which played a significant role in the centralization of political power and the unionization of peasants. Additionally, Cardenista policies widely appealing to the popular masses served as a powerful political weapon to attenuate peasant demonstrations and indigenous movements through the establishment of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC) in 1938. Although several studies place a great emphasis on the CNC in relation to the socio-economic impacts it had on Indigenous peasants, only a few have explored the effects the Mexican corporate state and the CNC had on Indigenous identity formation and the struggle for self- determination. In this paper I analyze the role of the Mexican corporate state in controlling Indigenous movements during the Cardenista era (1936-1940) and its contributions to the reaffirmation of Indigenous identity amongst the P’urhépecha of Michoacán, located in Western Mexico. I argue that despite the attempts to control social mobilization, Indigenous resistance to state control primarily took place in two different forms. First, social mobilizations in rural Michoacán endured during the Cardenista administration raising concerns over land distribution. Finally, the CNC served as a political platform to the articulation of Indigenous demands for land and self-determination resulting in the establishment of peasant organizations in Michoacán.
The Power Of The Word And The Resurgence Of An Indigenous Consciousness
Silvia Soto
UC Davis
On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) emerged out of the Lacandón jungle in the highlands of Chiapas breaking through centuries of silence and marginalization. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!” (First Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle, January 1994) are the words
that resonated all over the world capturing the essence of this Indigenous uprising. Just as the EZLN mobilized declaring war to the Mexican Army, they also initiated their most enduring battle through the circulation of the First Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle via electronic media. After 12-days of open armed battle with the Mexican Army both sides agreed to a ceasefire. In a very symbolic event, the EZLN laid down their arms. They tied a small white ribbon to the tip of their rifles and pledged to the Zapatista communities, communities of support, and civil society at large that their rifles will not shoot another bullet. The continuation and sustainment of the 19-year-old revolutionary movement has been possible through the reliance on the EZLN’s strongest weapon, the word. Drawing from selected indigenous literatures of the Mayan Regions of Chiapas, the Andean region, and the United States this paper focuses on the power of the word as the EZLN’s strongest weapon in defense of their struggles for autonomy and self-determination. The word as the heart of the movement, tied to millennia old traditions of diplomacy and intellect, connected to knowledges grounded in the communities, weaved through generations that gives ways to the continuance of Mayan peoples of Chiapas and the ways they relate to the world and are with the world.
that resonated all over the world capturing the essence of this Indigenous uprising. Just as the EZLN mobilized declaring war to the Mexican Army, they also initiated their most enduring battle through the circulation of the First Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle via electronic media. After 12-days of open armed battle with the Mexican Army both sides agreed to a ceasefire. In a very symbolic event, the EZLN laid down their arms. They tied a small white ribbon to the tip of their rifles and pledged to the Zapatista communities, communities of support, and civil society at large that their rifles will not shoot another bullet. The continuation and sustainment of the 19-year-old revolutionary movement has been possible through the reliance on the EZLN’s strongest weapon, the word. Drawing from selected indigenous literatures of the Mayan Regions of Chiapas, the Andean region, and the United States this paper focuses on the power of the word as the EZLN’s strongest weapon in defense of their struggles for autonomy and self-determination. The word as the heart of the movement, tied to millennia old traditions of diplomacy and intellect, connected to knowledges grounded in the communities, weaved through generations that gives ways to the continuance of Mayan peoples of Chiapas and the ways they relate to the world and are with the world.
Behind the beautiful houses in Mazahua town in Mexico
V. Xochitl Juarez-Varela
UC Davis
The main visible impact of out-migration between San Juan and Yonkers, NY is the realm of the house. Housing becomes the most visible and tangible symbol of success for indigenous, rural Mazahua community in San Juan, Mexico State, Mexico. Houses in San Juan, as in most marginalized indigenous communities, illustrate both the unequal distribution of resources and lack of basic services, and their impact on the community and well-being of families. Migrants prioritize the house over their children’s needs: food, health, and education, because the house is the symbol of success. Migrants’ houses both exert pressure and facilitate desire in amongst people to migrate to Yonkers, especially members of the same social status. Although, migrants want to give an impression of success through uplifting the façade of their houses, one notices the impoverished nature of their social status through entering those houses.