“Natural Resources and Out-Migration in Local Communities of Southern Mexico: Non-NAFTA Issues Impacting NAFTA”. 2010: 141-158. (original) (raw)
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Journal of Agrarian Change, 2017
Migration is of particular concern to Indigenous peoples and communities. It physically separates those who migrate from the land upon which collective processes of labour and ritual practice are often based, it affects congruence between individual and collective rationality (as migrants make the choice to maintain or relinquish community membership), and it robs communities of the adult residents who can be essential for projects of collective action. Using the concept of comunalidad, created by Indigenous intellectuals in Oaxaca, Mexico to analyse the importance of alternative practices surrounding land, labour, governance, and ritual found in the region, we show that while Indigenous villages are profoundly affected by different forms of migration, migration itself is not necessarily a "death knell" for Indigenous peasants. We argue that communities struggle-often successfully-to find ways to evolve and reconfigure themselves economically and politically, incorporating migration into the fabric of their daily lives and organizational structures. To make this argument, we draw on ethnographic research conducted with Indigenous Oaxacan transnational communities, both in the United States and Mexico.
CHAPTER 6: Modernization, Migration and Enduring Localism in Rural Communities off Central Mexico
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At the end of 1998, we initiated a research project in the Valley of Atlixco, Puebla, to explore the perception that inhabitants of this region have about their territory. The principal purpose was to study the cultural dimensions of the region, not only in objective terms ("ecological" and ethnographic) but also in subjective terms. Without being conscious of it, we entered the fields of what are today called "Cultural Geography" and "Geography of Perception." We had two objectives. On the one hand, we wanted to explore the actual social traits and physiography of traditional country villages in the center of Mexico by exploring their economic production, their degree of cultural integration, their rules for sociability, and, above all, their subjective link with their regional territory. On the other hand, we wanted to evaluate the impact of urban modernity on these villages in its economic and cultural dimensions. We supposed that this modernizing impact had been produced through three principal channels, without excluding others more diffuse: 1) Urban polarization exerted by the City of Puebla on its surroundings, with its "peri-urbanization"1 and "rurbanization"2 effects. Today it is a commonly accepted fact that modernization, and consequently globalization,, are urban phenomena affecting large metropolises and that these, in turn, tend to produce a rural integrated periphery ("peri-urbanization") characterized by the dissemination of secondary residences, with gardens and private orchards; by intensive commercial horticulture destined for the urban market; by the increase of secondary and tertiary sectors; and, in general, by the diffusion of lifestyles and urban consumption in extremely rural areas ("rurbanization").
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Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, 2007
The relationship between migration and development is a topic of growing interest among international organizations. Although there are some variations, those organizations see remittances as an essential resource for the development of the migrant-sending countries. We argue that this perspective, on which most related public policies are based, distorts the notion of development and obscures the root causes that drive the current dynamics of labor migration. Using Mexico's experiences as our reference point, we suggest that the phenomenon must be analyzed from the viewpoint of the political economy of development, considering three interrelated key dimensions: regional economic integration, national development models, and social agents. We reach the conclusion that in the context of the regional integration molded by NAFTA, the dynamics of migration to the United States have mushroomed and socioeconomic dependence on remittances in Mexico has deepened. That situation demands a radical change in public policies on migration and development.