Jonathan Fox Latin American and Latino Studies Dept

Jonathan Fox Latin American and Latino Studies Dept. UCSC Indigenous Mexican Migrants: Recognizing Ethnic Difference

Today is a national holiday in Mexico, the birthday of Benito Juárez (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) • He served five terms as president of Mexico (1858– 1872). Originally a lawyer and a judge, then governor of Oaxaca, he was the first president of indigenous origin in the Americas (Zapotec). • In Mexican history, his legacy represents the rule of law, the separation of church and state, resistance to dictatorship and the French occupation of Mexico (that’s what the Cinco de Mayo recalls…)

Benito Juárez’s most famous saying sums up the principle of national self-determination: Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others means peace Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, elrespeto al derecho ajeno es la paz

And Juárez was also a migrant… While in exile during a corrupt military dictatorship, Juárez spent two years working in the US, in a cigar factory in New Orleans – where he is remembered with a statue on the corner of Basin and Conti streets:

Mexican society is multi-ethnic: El pueblo mexicano o muchos pueblos mexicanos? • When the terms “multi-ethnic, ” “multi-cultural” and “multiracial” are used to refer to Mexican migrants in the US, they usually refer exclusively to relationships between Mexicans and other national origin or racial groups. • Yet Mexican society is itself multi-ethnic and multi-racial. • From an indigenous rights perspective, the Mexican nation includes many distinct peoples. • More than one in ten Mexicans comes from a family in which an indigenous language is spoken • Mexico has the largest number of indigenous people in the Americas, at least 10 million (depending on the criteria used)

The Mexican government defines ethnic difference narrowly, in terms of language use

Distribution of Mexican indigenous language speakers Languages with more than Share of 100, 000 speakers reported total 1. Náhuatl 23. 7% State of origin in Mexico 2. Maya 3. Mixteco 13% 7. 8% Yucatan peninsula Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla 4. Zapoteco 5. Tseltal 6. Tsotsil 7. Otomí (also known as Hñañhu) 8. Totonaco 9. Mazateco 10. Ch’ol 11. Huasteco 12. Chinanteco 13. Mixe 14. Mazahua 15. Purépecha (also known as Tarasco) 7. 1% 6. 4% 5. 7% 4. 2% Oaxaca Chiapas Hidalgo, Querétaro, central Mexico 4. 0% 3. 6% 3. 2% 2. 6% 2. 2% 2. 0% 1. 9% 1. 8% Puebla, Veracruz Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco San Luis Potosí, Veracruz Oaxaca State of Mexico, Michoacán Throughout central Mexico

Mexico's most acute poverty is concentrated in indigenous regions:

Mexicans have migrated to the US in large numbers since the early 20 th century, but in recent decades emigration became a fully nationwide process • In the 1980 s, the Mexican government stopped investing in the peasant economy, and since then out-migration to the US shifted from the “historic sending regions” of the center-west of the country to become a fully nation-wide process. • Increasing numbers of migrants came from the cities and the middle class, but migrants continue to be at least half rural in origin.

Source: Jeffrey Passel, and Roberto Suro, “Rise, Peak, and Decline: Trends in U. S. Immigration 1992 -20014”, Pew Hispanic Center Report, September 27, 2005.

Exit vs. voice? * In response to their lack of economic and political alternatives, while some indigenous people chose exit, others chose voice… * In the early 1990 s, Mexico's indigenous rights movement took off, with the 500 year anniversary of the European conquest. * The history was contested: some called 1492 an “encounter, ” while others called it an “invasion…

Starting in 1994, the Zapatistas raised hopes for indigenous peoples across Mexico… • Few followed their path of a largely symbolic armed struggle, but many took up the slogan “Never again a Mexico without us” • The Zapatistas combined a classic revolutionary look with a very different discourse. For example: "The grave conditions of our compatriots have a common cause: the lack of liberty and democracy” (Jan 6, 1994) • They showed the world that Mexico's indigenous peoples were treated as second-class citizens, put the recognition of indigenous rights on the national agenda, and quickly won an official truce.

But national indigenous rights reforms stalled in 2001, and "low-intensity conflict" persisted on the ground

Indigenous migration has also shifted from regionally concentrated to nation-wide • Indigenous Mexican migration originally came mainly from Oaxaca (Zapotecos and Mixtecos) and Michoacan (Purepechas, formerly known as Tarascans) – going back to the Bracero program (1942 -1964) • In the 1980 s and 1990 s, migration then increased from Guerrero (Mixtecos, Nahuas), Hidalgo (Hnahnus, also known as Otomis) and the Yucatan (Mayans) • More recently, migration has increased substantially from Chiapas, which is now the number one state of origin, with 14% of the total as of the most recent surveys of border-crossers (2008) • More and more indigenous youth see migration in their future – though still mainly temporary, coming to save enough to get married and build a house, or open a small business back home • Even Zapatista youth are starting to migrate… • Other indigenous migrants: Guatemalans indigenous communities are established in Florida, Houston and Los Angeles…

Using census data, people who identify both as Latino and as indigenous can be considered Latin American indigenous migrants

Indigenous migrants also leave for political reasons, as pro-democracy activists flee boss rule

Indigenous “collective identities” change in the migration process • Until perhaps three decades ago, many indigenous people identified primarily with their community of origin • As they move to work in northern Mexico or the US, indigenous migrants tend to broaden their selfidentification to regional, ethnic, and pan-ethnic identities – “scaling up” their sense of membership • Indigenous migrant farmworker identities change both in response to racism (including the racialization of their work) and through political action by migrants themselves.

The Racialization of Farm Labor Figure 3: Conceptual Diagram of Hierarchies on the farm THE PLACE OF THE ANTHROPOLOGIST Source: Seth Holmes, “‘Oaxacans Like to Work Bent Over’ The Naturalization of Social Suffering among Berry Farm Workers, ” International Migration, 54(3) 2007.

What do the changes in the name of an indigenous migrant organization tell us? • One example: 1992 – Frente Mixteco-Zapoteco Binacional (founded in Los Angeles - predecessor groups include Comité Cívico Popular de San Miguel Tlacotepec and Organización del Pueblo Explotado y Oprimido, Asociación Cívica “Benito Juárez, ” Organización Regional de Oaxaca) • 1994 – Frente Indígena Oaxaqueño Binacional (FIOB) with branches in California, Baja and the Mixteca region of Oaxaca • 2001 – Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (still FIOB, includes Purepechas and Mixtecos from Guerrero) • Plus, they have a US nonprofit sister organization: Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities (HQ in Fresno) • What do they do? See www. fiob. org and www. centrobinacional. org

FIOB’s asamblea binacional (2008) – Key new slogan: El derecho de no migrar (the right to stay home)

Glossary of keywords for indigenous migrants: • Dialecto: Though literally this means “dialect, ” a term that refers to a variant of a language, in common everyday usage “dialecto” is often used to refer to actual indigenous languages. The implication is that those who use this term consider the language to have second-class status – it is less than a “full language. ” • "Monolingue" in Mexico, refers to someone who speaks an indigenous language but not Spanish. • Monolingual, " in contrast, in the US usually refers to someone who speaks only English • Paisano: Someone from the same home town (or region) • Tequio: Community service work (unpaid, often carried out collectively) • Pueblo: This word has a dual meaning, referring both to a village or town, and to a people (as in an ethnic or national group). • Usos y costumbres: Customary law. Since 1995, the state of Oaxaca has recognized village self-governance through customary law, rather than through conventional political party competition. This involves choosing leaders and community decision-making through extensive deliberations in regular public assemblies. Two or three decades ago, very few villages allowed women full participation in these forms of local democracy, but this has been changing.

La Guelaguetza: Traditional Oaxacan festival of music and dance from different regions, transplanted throughout California

Even Santa Cruz has a Guelaguetza…

For more information… (see full Spanish edition online @ http: //fiob. org/category/oaxacalifornia)