Social Exclusion and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican Identity in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico

Home , Americans in China, Americans in Costa Rica, Americans in France, Americans in Guatemala, Americans in India, Amuzgos

Social Exclusion and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican Identity in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br.

vorgelegt von

Tristano Volpato aus Verona, Italien

WS 2013/2014 Erstgutachter: Prof. Hermann Schwengel Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Julia Flores Dávila

Vorsitzender des Promotionsausschusses der Gemeinsamen Kommission der Philologischen, Philosophischen und Wirtschafts- und Verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Fakultät: Prof. Dr. Bernd Kortmann

Datum der Fachprüfung im Promotionsfach: 07 Juli 2014

Social Exclusion and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican Identity

in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Tristano Volpato Nr.3007198 [email protected]

I acknowledge Prof. Schwengel, for the opportunity to make concrete an important proyect for my professional life and individual psychological growing, since he was in constant cooperation with me and the work; Prof. Julia Flores Dávila, who accompanied me during the last six years, with her human and professional presence; my parents, who always trusted me; Gisela Schenk, who was nearby me in every occasion, professonal and daily.

Finally I want to specially thank all those people of the Costa Chica who, during the process, allowed me to understand better their identity and offered a great example of Mexicanity and humanity.

III IV Contents

Prefacio ...... 1

Introduction ...... 3

Part I: Theoretical Frame

Chapter I: Between Individual and Collective Identity ...... 23

1. Community ...... 25

2. Identity ...... 31

Chapter II: Identity as a Way for Recognition ...... 51

1. Social Implications of the Identity Concept ...... 53 1.1. Identity as Equality ...... 55 1.2. Identity as Difference ...... 59

2. Race ...... 71

Part II: Mexican Frame

Chapter I: Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social Effects ...... 87

1. Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population ...... 89

2. Some Effects of the Historical Cultural Mixing ...... 99

Chapter II: Some Cultural Traits of Oaxaca’s Black Communities...... 109

1. Some Traditional Ways of Cultural Expression ...... 111

2. A Spanish “Dialect” Modality ...... 113

3. Dances ...... 117 3.1. The Danza de los Diablos (“Devils’ Dance”) ...... 120 3.2. The Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”) ...... 123 3.3. The Danza del Toro de Petate (“Petate-Bull Dance”) ...... 125 3.4. The Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of Turtle”) ...... 127

4. Some Kind of African Wedding? ...... 128

5. The Human Being ...... 135 5.1. The “Tono” ...... 136 5.2. The “Sombra” ...... 138 5.3. Traditional Medicine ...... 140 V 5.4. Sickness Depending on the Loss of the Shadow ...... 141 5.5. The Thin Relation between Sickness and the Loss of “Tonal” ...... 146

Chapter III: Afro-Mexican Consciousness: a Matter of Self-Recognition ...... 149

1. Traditions ...... 151

2. Ethnic Identification ...... 161

3. Inclusion-Exclusion ...... 163

4. Self and Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features ...... 167

Chapter IV: The Importance of Oaxaca’s Black Women in the Construction of Local African Identity ...... 179

1. A problem of Gender ...... 181

2. Between Matriarchy and Matrilineage...... 183

3. Social Position, Exclusion and Female Cultural Power ...... 186 3.1. Residence and Aesthetic Perception ...... 187 3.2. Exogamy ...... 191 3.3. Resources Organization ...... 193

4. Between Gender Equity and the Ethic of Justice ...... 195

5. A Female Afro-Mexican Identity? ...... 202

Part III: Multicultural Discussion

1. Presenting Mexican Multiculturalism ...... 209

2. A Matter of Context ...... 210

3. Identity, Sense of Membership and Informal Integration ...... 216

4. The Multicultural Way of Oaxaca: Race and Ethnicity ...... 228

Results ...... 241

References

Books ...... 253 Reviews ...... 273 Working Papers, Conferences, Documents ...... 283 Electronic Documents ...... 285 Laws ...... 287

VI Annex

Maps The Costa Chica (Mexico) ...... 295 The Costa Chica (Oaxaca) ...... 296

Santo Domingo Armenta Municipality Santo Domingo Armenta ...... 297

Pinotepa Nacional Municipality Collantes ...... 298 El Ciruelo ...... 299

Santiago Tapextla Municipality Santiago Tapextla ...... 300 Llano Grande Tapextla ...... 301

Santa María Cortijos Municipality Santa María Cortijos ...... 302 San Juan Bautista lo de Soto ...... 303

Images Image 1: Declaration of Independence 1810 ...... 307 Image 2: Prayer of the Virgin of Montserratt ...... 308

Instruments Limits in Data Collection ...... 311 a. General Problems ...... 311 b. Technical Limitations ...... 313

Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide ...... 315 Semi-Structured Interview Guide (presidentes municipales) ...... 318 Discussion Group (population between 15-25, 26-60 years) ...... 321 History of Life Guide (male and female elderly population – 60 or more years old people)...... 327 Household Questionnaire (households’ characterization) ...... 329 Opinion Questionnaire (Afro-Mexicans’ profile) ...... 331 Lexicon Questionnaire (social representations for Afro-Mexicans) ...... 344 Colorimeter (men) ...... 347 Colorimeter (women) ...... 348

VII

VIII Prefacio The work we present is the result of a research produced between the years 2010- 2013, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca (Jamiltepec District, Mexico), and it is composed by two kinds of approach: theoretical and empirical. The first one allows us to present a general perspective of the problem, by taking into account four main topics: the problem of identity, especially referring to social implications its study can obtain for the recognition of local Afro-Mexican culture; the idea of race, understood (in the case of Latin America) as a way for defining phenotypic traits, as color; a brief presentation of African arrival to the Costa Chica, by highliting three different historical causes, especially related with “direct”, “indirect” and South- American inmigrations; and the problem of mestizaje, during and after the Spanish colony. In this case, we account for the physical differences among Oaxaca’s socio- cultural groups and the relevance race actually has for the definition of Mexican identity. In second instance, we used an empirical approach to the topic, by taking contact with the settlers (in seven Afro-Mexican communities of the Costa Chica, within Oaxaca’s South West Coast), some specialists and institutions. Regarding to that, we chose to use a triangulated technique, by mixing the semi-structured interviews, produced among people, with the discussion group or the history of life, and applying two kinds of questionnaries (household and opinion). Especially regarding to the text of the interviews and the instruments, we produced them in Spanish. In order to make them suitable to the needs of the text, we report thus only some selected parts of the interviews’ English version and the translated format of the latters. Meaning that modifying their literal text, but not their meaning. The work was made with the idea of creating a sort of academical background for the interpretation of Mexican model as a fragmented modality of what politic-phylosophers define “multiculturalism”. In order to discuss the problems of diversity, pluralism and integration, the last part of the research is thus aimed at arguing about the sense the study of Afro-Mexican identity could have for the production of any kind of cultural politics, and a new way of looking at Mexico. Meaning that not only perceiving it as a nación mestiza (Mestizo Nation), but as a socio-cultural space trying to endorse legal pluralism as a local version of the principles of universality, interdependence, and progress.

2 Introduction In the context of global societies, reducing discrimination and under-representation of minorities embodies the most relevant elements for those States usually defined polyethnic or multinational (Spencer, 1994; Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007a; Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992). Especially, when we refer to the dynamics of identity negotiation and the analysis of some minority-rights production, quality and exercise, eliminating institutional discrimination is the main goal of liberal multicultural policies (Kymlicka, 2007a, 2007b). So, if on one hand it limits the political-institutional performance of multicultural societies characterized by a liberal democratic regime, on the other, discrimination can be also considered the only potential way to solve the problems of a lacking recognition, representativeness and shared justice (Rawls, 1971). In this case, discrimination comes to be a very powerful “social trigger” for the creation of some ad hoc public policies aimed at integrating minorities. In this context, the importance of studying individual and collective identity of social actors or groups is justified on one side by its methodological utility, on the other by the practical effect this type of sociological analysis can obtain above customs, traditions and culture that characterize the modus vivendi of groups and their members (Bell & Newby, 1971; Ammond, 1988). Thus, despite the widespread use of the concept to explain the individual’s relationship with the social environment in defining itself against the society − mainly focused on the analysis of self and dichotomy me-mine (Cerulo, 1997) − the study of identity offers a wide variety of analysis that also look for understanding how societies could produce some ways of integration for minorities’ members. So, while the sociological approach allows us studying race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion or sexuality of social actors who belong to specific national sub-groups, it also emphasizes on both theoretical and practical approaches to the process of socio-cultural recognition for communities, trying to highlight their needs, properties, rights, claims and forms of representation. In this way, the recognition of presence of local minorities and their cultures require not only understanding the particular situations groups live and attending to their specific needs. It also supposes to accept a formal commitment between minorities and political institutions for the accommodation of individual and collective cultural spaces as a condition of mutual respect and integration (Kymlicka & Wayne, 2000). 3 Consequently to that, and based on cultural, social, economic or racial features of actors that compose minorities, it is possible to define communities on the base of their own properties (taking into account their ideologies, daily needs, and common goals perpetrated by the presence of symbols, beliefs, lifestyles, customs, standards, or exclusive values), or categorizing such groups exclusively from those cultural, normative, religious, aesthetic elements they want to demonstrate, amplify, emphasize or valorize against national society. Among groups and their members is thus established a relationship of mutual interdependence whose effects are either derived from a specific combination of cultural, linguistic, religious factors, or determined by a feeling of membership that leads to the generation of a collective identity based on a communitarian socio-cultural heritage claim whose core objective is emboding the presence of common ideals, specific historical and cultural backgrounds, aesthetic similarities. In this case, actors can recognize themselves from a cultural history based on a kind of community consciousness as the result of a shared historical trajectory that assumes phenotypical profiles as the most relevant set of elements for mutual identification and collective memory. As a result, skin color and physical traits of an actor who belongs to a specific community not only represents a way to impose hierarchies between human races (as was in the past). It also may embody a way by which groups reinforce their sense of cohesion and homogeneity as well as representing a specific form of self-perception of identity. Such perception symbolizes a common cultural past, fragmented by conditioning historical events, and represents a cultural element of pride and mutual recognition that «…[takes]…priority over religion, ethnic origin, education and training, socio-economic class, occupation, language, values, beliefs, morals, lifestyles, geographical location, and all others attributes that hitherto provided all groups and individuals with a sense of who they ...[are]» (Smedley, 1998: 695): race. Regarding our research problem, the African population was brought to Mexico during the European colonization of America underwent a process of “deculturation” that, while destroying original habits of the Africans and imposing the generation of new traditions, forced them into a dynamic of miscegenation that produced new aesthetic parameters of human classification and new ways of recognition. While color came to represent the symbol for acceptance into a specific social group or community, consequent modifications of relations between Afro-Mexicans and the Spanish imposed an idea of race that embodied a way to undervalue actors with particular aesthetic traits, 4 but also became important for the construction of a unique and exclusive identity for individuals of African descent. From this perspective, the use of the idea of race represents not only the conceptualization of theoretical categories that may be “uncomfortable” for the generality of academics and perhaps obsolete in social sciences. It also demonstrates the importance of solving two different problems, which suppose the definition of specific forms of interaction that accompany dynamics of daily life for African national minority living within Mexico, and impulse us generating a theoretical and practical approach to the study of identity for those sub-groups according to their specific criteria for recognition. By contrast, and due what is argued by its Constitutional Document, Mexico represents the clearest example of both the lack of any pro persona special minority rights (which would have important effects on national communities), and the relationship between institutions and minorities (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos: art.1). Indeed, Mexican Constitution – whose principles are ‘originally based on national indigenous population’ (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos: art.2) − ignores specific rights of non-ab origine cultural minorities (that means avoiding the existence of non-ethnic cultural groups which, as aboriginal ones, characterize Mexican socio-cultural environment) and perpetrates the forgetfulness of most part of the other basic legal requirements aimed at protecting vulnerable Mexican minorities1. That means the study of Afro-Mexican identity represents a topic of discussion in between a “mixed-race” (Mestizo) Latin American vision (that wants to homogenize regional culture), and a globalized multicultural political position that seeks for valorizing diversity over ethnic uniqueness (Falconí, Hercowitz & Muradian, 2004; Volpato, 2012). Causes for such theoretical marginality are twofold. The first one embodies the institutional aspect of the problem, created in the past by a formal decision of Mexican State and perpetrated as far. The second, which represents an empirical effect of the

1 There is no list of “basic needs” for the recognition of minority-rights. Instead, as argued by contemporary political philosophers, for each socio-cultural context and demands of groups, the State should be responsible for producing an undefined number of cultural policies, aimed at attending to basic needs and claims of specific minority groups. By contrast, Mexican Constitution does not recognize all those minorities that are not aesthetically able to be considered pre-Columbian, and does not contemplate the existence of public policies for the provision of a number of “cultural condition” special rights. For further information about recognition modalities and cultural politics, see Savidan (2010), Taylor (1993), and Réaume (2000). 5 first, embodies a specific way of “cultural dilution” constructed on what has been defined an indigenismo’s historical effect (Díaz Polanco, 1995, 2010; Hernández Cuevas, 2004; Gros, 2002), historically and currently used for homogenizing the idea of national culture. While trying to equally distributing social and cultural rights within Mexico, such dynamic of cultural inclusion-exclusion produced an empirically segmented image of a regional “straight” way of being represented, where the self- declaration of being Mestizo was meant as a circumstantial and advantageous social image, not a real identity (Wade, 2005: 239; Bobes, 2004; Mörner, 1967: 124-144). In relation to the first point, we refer to an institutional lack of recognition by part of Mexican State, especially relating with the “formal forgetfulness” shown by Mexican Constitution at 22th July 2013, and the absence of any specific political measure that could take into account recognition of Afro-Mexicans, as a unique national cultural group (Vincent, 1994: 272). In the second case, those dynamics make echoes to the historical experience suffered by the African population of Mexico and, broadly speaking, can be summarized into two key moments. On one hand, during the colonial period, the country began to be characterized by a large number of local cultural groups that started to conjugate pre- Columbian traditions with a set of new rules and values. This dynamic forced pre- existent indigenous and African (or European) “imported” minorities to modify their cultural reproduction, giving rise to a sort of homogeneous symbolic universe that, across the centuries, resulted into the production of a specific national Mestizo culture. On the other, political demands imposed by the new situation of cultural and racial pluralism promoted an idea of an assimilationist Nation (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005) that currently contributes to obviate a formal recognition for those minorities which are not enjoying any constitutional definition of “ab origine people”. It also does not take any responsibility for institutionally accommodating those cultural groups into a specific political context, by allowing them to obtain a certain number of special rights (Kymlicka, 2007a)2. Empirical effect of such dynamics tends to ignore not only the importance of the problem of Afro-Mexican identity, but also relegates African minority to a specific and tangible dynamic of socio-cultural exclusion.

2 About the topic, especially for the Latin American case, see also Huntington (1997), Moreira (2001), Assies (2005), Barberá (2003), Giménez (1997a, 1997b), Gros (2002), Gonzáles Manrique (2006), Larraín (2000), and López Beltrán (2008). 6 In an attempt to valorize national African culture and provide an academic base for the institutional recognition of local black communities, we analyzed the Afro-Mexican issue starting by a multicultural perspective of the problem. In this way we took into account a specific characterization of some local African settlements and we discussed all those “in-group” social and cultural dynamics that allow us to define African identity as both a cultural national worth, and a way of recognition of local pluralism based on what Martínez Montiel (2000) defined the third root of Mexico. What it means proving Afro-Mexicans build their identity as the result of a historical process based on both cultural and racial mixing, and aimed at defining them as a unique cultural group taking part of a specific local multicultural praxis. For its production – as a sort of case study – it was chosen the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, a South-West coastal Mexican area (Jamiltepec District) that hosts the most marginalized African settlements3, and enjoyed an escase academic attention, distributed into three specific historical moments4. The forties, specifically fed by the ethno-anthropological production of Aguirre Beltrán, who reconstructed the historical dynamics of African arrival to Mexico and classified human races produced by mestizaje between 1519 and 1810. The two-year period between 2004 and 2006, based on the historical-anthropological study of Ben Vinson III and Bobby Vaughn. The 2011 that, promoted by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year for People of African Descent5, has regionally impulsed a sort of social consciousness aimed at recognizing (at least formally) the existence of Afro-descent population within the Costa Chica region6.

3 Within Pinotepa Nacional, Santiago Tapextla and Santo Domingo Armenta municipalities, the illiteracy rate has an average of 30% with a mortality before the 5 years old that regards the fifth part of registered population. For further information, see the document of CONAPRED (2006: 68-69), produced in collaboration with the “Empirical and Opinion Research Area of the Research Institute of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico”, Working Paper n.E-19-2006. 4 Oaxaca’s African presence enjoys no significant ethno-historical studies. The reference to the black culture of Mexico is predominantly directed to Veracruz and Guerrero States, on which, in the past and in more recent times, there have been some interesting researches. For a classical reference to the topic, see Aguirre Beltrán (1972, 1989, 2001). For further and more recent references to the issue, see López Valdéz (2000), and Vinson & Vaughn (2004). 5 United Nations’ International Year for People of African Descent Program, resolution 64/169, December 18th 2009. 6 Most recent examples are the first forum Los pueblos afromexicanos, la lucha por su reconocimiento (“Afro-Mexican people, the struggle for their recognition”), promoted by the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) of Mexico City, during the 6th, 7th and 8th May 2013, and the meeting Afromexicanos (“Afro-Mexicans”), in Guerrero State, between 13th and 14th May 2013. An important result is the modification of the art.2 of the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca (“Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca”), now guaranting the formal “existence” and protection for indigenous and Afro-descent communities. 7 The objective of the research is threefold. Analyzing communities by creating a bigger awareness about the issue and public acknowledgement aimed at formally and informally recognizing African presence within the area (and by extension within Mexico). Creating an identity-classification criterion that could be representative for African population of Oaxaca. Generating an empirical precedent for the production of political, social, cultural and economic conditions aimed at improving basic services within the communities. That means understanding the way through which the mixing process has been developed and how (both in the past and the present) the idea of “caste” has taken (and currently assumes) a determining importance in socio-cultural dynamics of the region. On the other hand, analyzing the ways by which current Afro-Mexicans build their own idea of identity, studying the cultural elements that characterize the communities of the area, and accounting for the importance to understand Afro-Mexican culture as an element of regional multiculturalism represent the empirical goals of the study. As regards theoretical and practical dimensions we addressed over the research, we take into consideration the study of the elements that distinguish Africans of the Costa Chica as a unique socio-cultural national group that “deserves” to be classified as different, and obtaining a specific number of minority special rights. Secondly, they refer both to the study of the needs that (in consequence of this situation) seem to negatively affect our target population, and the generation of a concrete proposal (theoretical but empirically sustained) for a potential institutional resolution of the situation we describe. The methodology we used for its development is a qualitative-mixed one. The communities considered for the study are seven, and have been selected starting by three specific reasons: their size; the presence of basic services that can be detected between them (particularly electricity, water or, in some cases, the presence or absence of it and presence-absence of roads); their cultural characteristics. In the first case, a significant number of people, in the communities, does not guarantee the presence of specific services (such as schools, medical clinics, etc..), within the settlements, and instead, their presence depends almost exclusively on the level of “institutional neglect”. In the second, the presence or absence of services (that can be detected in the different settlements) varies, and it can be oftently and “unexpectedly” alternated

8 between one and another settlement, being present within a community and lacking within others. Finally, despite the cultural similarity between African-descent settlements, it is possible to establish some semi-exclusive criteria that, on the one hand, characterize the whole black-Mexican population, and on the other, they help to individually describe the area7. The settlements are the following. Santo Domingo Armenta (2739); Collantes (2325) and El Ciruelo (2185), both part of the Pinotepa National Municipality; Santiago Tapextla (1566) and Llano Grande Tapextla (Municipality of Santiago Tapextla: 1065); Santa María Cortijo (983) and San Juan Bautista lo de Soto (1890), in the Santa María Cortijo Municipality8. Those settlements host the nationwide largest number of African descent population, and were classified according to the National Council to Prevent Discrimination of Mexico (CONAPRED) with “high” and “very high” marginalization levels (CONAPRED, 2006: annex 2; Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto, 2012). The units of analysis we took into account for the research are two: communities and local institutions. More specifically, our units of observation correspond respectively to the settler population, divided (for each community) into three groups (in turn, also divided by age and sex); the leaders of the settlements; and some selected authorities. In the first case we created three age groups, and each one was aimed at analyzing the profiles of the population between 15 and 25 years old (young), between 26 and 60 (adults), and the elderly (who are older than 60 years), divided by sex9. In the second, we met both communities’ leaders (usually men) and the mayors. In this way, we built a general information network based on individual and shared perceptions of communities

7 Related with settlements’ infrastructure, it is possible to highlight different levels of development that depend on a non-organized distribution of services within communities. Within El Ciruelo, for example, we can observe the presence of the second most important library in Mexico about black identity in the country, but the village has no roads to allow access nimbly to it; Santiago Armenta, on the contrary, enjoys a good road service, but it has no health-care services, no police station, and no institutional offices. On the other hand, as regards cultural criteria, exist several ways through which syncretic traditions are represented, and they result mainly into dances, music, festivities, or other activities. The information will be developed later. 8 Quantification of the population is approximated and refers to the “Institute of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico” statistics. For further information see IIJ, UNAM (2008) and Mexican National Institute for Geography and Statistics’s (INEGI) web site (bibliography). For territorial location of communites, see the Maps’ Annex. 9 Because of poverty levels of settlements (that alternate between “high” and “very high”), nor income level, education, or occupation (among others) represent valid variables to obtain some objective and generalized information. See CONAPRED (2006: 67). 9 and local institutions about both the characteristics and needs of the above-mentioned settlements10. Finally, we interviewed the authorities of four specific local institutions: Father Glyn Jeemott, founder of the local NGOs México Negro (Black Mexico), who also guided us through the communities and introduced us to the settlements within which we applied our analytical instruments; Lic. Lucía Vásquez, Head of the Office for International Relations of the Government of Oaxaca’State (Encargada del Desapacho de la Coordinación de Asuntos Internacionales del Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca); Dr. Heriberto Antonio García, Director of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights (Director de la Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos) of Oaxaca. In this case, and thanks to Dr. García we had the opportunity to get in contact with the Autonomous University “Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca-UABJO), where we interviewed the Prof. Gloria Zafra, from the Sociology Department of UABJO Oaxaca. The process we described brought the investigation to consider two ways of analysis: exploring individual and collective perceptions of communities about the phenomenon, and obtaining a detailed picture about the ways through with Afro-Mexican population of the area constructs its own socio-cultural identity. For the choice of the appropriate theoretical categories and the practical study of the negotiation process of identity for the black population of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca we used a mixed-qualitative methodology (triangulation) which is divided into two parts: theoretical and empirical. The first one allowed us to both analyze the concepts we considered crucial to understand the problem of study, as clarifing the historical and social dynamics that have led to the breakdown, loss and modification of the Afro-Mexican communities’ original habitus. In this case, we refer to the colonization and racial-mixing process of Mexico (mestizaje). The second gave us the opportunity to analyze the target population in loco and produce some information about parameters of recognition, self-definition and potential representation.

10 During our stay in Mexico we contacted with father Glyn Jeemott, the most known and respected African-descent within the area, thanks to whom we met the leaders of the rest of communities. As regards the mayors, the site of the State of Oaxaca provided all the relevant information we needed (http://www.oaxaca.gob.mx/). 10 I Theoretical phase was divided into two further moments. First, we produced a theoretical-conceptual phase, through which we developed the ideas of community and its importance within the local cultural environment (Barth, 1969: 9-39), especially avoiding to use the concept of ethnicity, whose reference would be much more relevant for the analysis of the local indigenous population11; identity (studied in its individual and collective meaning, and analyzed in a dichotomous way, between the ideas of equality and difference); race (operationalized in “phenotypical difference” and “color”). Thus, by using such concepts we defined our target population and we took into account both the theoretical framework that explains the current “mixed-natured socio- cultural composition” of Afro-descendent communities of the area (aimed at clarifying historical dynamics for black-Mexican culture emergence – over the centuries of Spanish colony), and the dynamics of rights political recognition for such minority group. The three key aspects of the issue are the mestizaje process, the social representation of Costa Chica’s black communities, their own specific parameters for self-perception. In this case, the study of the idea of race provided the theoretical base for understanding the way according to which interpreting both the historical relationship existing between castes during the colonial period (explaining some local effects on Mexican social hierarchization, before and after the War of Independence of 1810), and the reasons of the social controversy about the ideas of mestizaje and indigenismo. A clear political dispute, which produced a social ethnocentric view that negatively affected the perception of Afro-Mexicans by part of institutions, civil society or academics, but also favored the suppression of the “mixing-principle” idea on which, by contrast, Mexico’s black culture is built (Vaughn, 2004a, 2004b: 79; Vinson III &

11 Mexican Constitution establishes the recognition of ethnicity as an element for identity negotiation. What it means is that all those minorities that are not part of a specific ethnic group, theoretically, are not able to be recognized by Mexican State. In order to solve such potential conflict, we distinguished the concept of ethnic group from the idea of community. The first one refers to an inter-group connection based on the existence of a common language, which is spoken only (or at least originally) by the members of the minority and provides them with a kind of collective ab origine standard identity. The second supposes a relationship that not only depends on the collective cultural background of the group, but also ideologies, objectives, traditions, values or race, shared by actors that decide, voluntarily, to take part into a definite community, localized in a specific territory. As regards Afro-Mexican communities of the Costa Chica, they are not representing an ethnic group established as a social organization whose boundaries define specific criteria for determining membership and ways of signaling exclusion. Conversely, they are constituted as a cultural community based on group consciousness and mutual recognition of its members inside and outside the group of descent. From that, we use only the community concept (more suitable to our population), excluding the idea of ethnic group which, for the Mexican case, would be a synonymous for indigenous people. The last section will explain it. 11 Vaughn, 2004b; von Humboldt, 2004; Mörner, 196712). In second instance, we analyzed the historical trajectory of socio-cultural colonial dynamics of deculturation, transculturation and acculturation for the Costa Chica’s Afro-descendent population, by justifying our analytical choice. For what concerns the first point, we studied the colonial process that gave birth to the four determinants phases of the slave trade: the “draw-off”; the arrival; the distribution within the territory; and the changing of the habitus. In the second, we considered three specific moments of Mexican history: the colonial period and the Independence (1521-1821); the pre-revolutionary period (1822-1910); and the post-revolutionary one (from 1921 to date) (Vinson III & Vaughn, 2004b; Centro de Estudios Históricos de El Colegio de México, 2009). Thus, it was considered to encompass the most important moments of social, political and economic history of the country and, at the same time, culturally locate black communities of the Costa Chica within these dynamics. Among them, we highlight the role of Africans in the struggle for independence from Spain and their participation at the construction of the idea of Nation. Such approach not only contributed to the construction of a specific theoretical base that, in the empirical phase of work, helped us to understand the situation of marginalization and exclusion of Costa Chica’s black Mexicans (as prejudice or stigmatization dynamics) in the history (Taguieff, 1994). On the other hand, it led us to achieve the most relevant theoretical elements to understand the reasons for such dynamics, in the present.

II As regards the empirical phase of research, it has been developed at two specific times and based on different objectives. During the period chosen for the “pilot research” (April-May 2010) we developed three specific lines of work, thanks to which we geographically located and better classified the settlements (by registering services, as electricity, water, health, roads connecting villages with bigger neighborhoods); contacted community leaders and mayors; tested some of the instruments of research destined to the final analysis (Semi-structured interviews and a History of life guide)13.

12 Mörner decidates a specific part of his work to race mixing, especially in the section El cruzamiento de la razas (pp.15-21). 13 Total number of “Semi-structured interviews” correpond to 7, one for each mayor of the settlements. The “Histories of life” were 15, chosen through a “snow ball” sampling and directed to over 60 years old people. 12 As regards to the former, the level of development among the black communities of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca is not homogeneous. By contrast, each settlement shows some specific daily conditions that result in both a non-uniform organization of services and different degrees of marginalization within the settlements. Thus, analyzing the levels of exclusion within the communities allowed us to compare different social realities standards and obtain a more complete socio-cultural picture of the phenomenon. In the second case, approaching community leaders, mayors or “special members” of settlements (such as people known by anyone in the community) helped us to both facilitate the dialogue (which in different conditions would be significantly limited) between the communities and the researcher, and improve society’s response to the project. In this way, the direct contact with the target population gave us the opportunity to meet members of communities, and thus gain the trust of people who, subsequently, contributed (in the “official” field research activities) to the generation of relevant information. At the same time, thanks to our stay in the field before the final inquiry, we obtained a variable amount of printed material, which, for technical reasons of disclosure or lack of material resources, can be obtained only in loco. The preliminary phase of the empirical work contributed to both the improvement of the theoretical framework of the project, and a better organization of the study before the fieldwork in the communities. During the second stage of the empirical phase of analysis, we applied the research instruments in the communities and interpreted the results of the study. Specifically, there were five objectives: characterize the settlements; defining the profile of the black population of the communities of the Costa Chica; analyzing social representations within such groups; studying the communitarian interaction-cohesion level; constructing an historical-cultural trajectory of communities. And four core points: describing what type of self-aesthetic perception they chose for representing themselves against civil society; analyzing cultural elements of Afro-descent origin; studying how inter-gender relations work; how it can be possible to account for a specific multicultural frame of study of the phenomenon within the area and its relation with a more general pluricultural view of Mexico.

13 As concerns the characterization of settlements, we built an observation guide aimed at registering six different aspects of the settlements14: the exact place where communities are; the number of people that live in (taking into account both the family organization and its levels of kinship); basic public services (presence or absence of water, streets and avenues – or connecting roads, drainage, public telephones, transport, etc.); the type of organizations that exist within the communities (as political, communitarian, cultural, social, scholar); human resources (teachers, social workers, professionals, doctors, among others); physical conditions of the settlements. In that way, we obtained a threefold overview that accounts for the exact location of such communities, their current state of services, and their social organization. For each settlement we registered both the presence (and absence) of a particular service, and the eventual level of functioning of it. Therefore, we consider we obtained not only a general overview about the “official” position of the communities in the territory, but also achieving relevant information about their specific needs. On the other hand, for the construction of the black population profile, we analyzed dimensions of the problem aimed at defining cultural characteristics of Afro-Mexicans (by referring to local dances – like the Danza de los Diablos, “Dance of the Devils”, Danza del Toro de petate, “Petate-Bull Dance”, Danza de los Negritos, “Little Africans Dance”, among others – language, social organization, daily activities); self-perception based on color and the degree of self-attribution to African culture; and family structure. Techniques we used to reconstruct both the profile and the cultural characteristics of our target population are respectively some semi-structured interviews and the ethnography (Bodgan & Taylor, 1975; Geertz, 1992; Ronzon, 2008). Thanks to the first one, it was possible to both capture personal information about people (anagraphic data, age, daily activities, assistance to a job, degree of occupation, etc.), and register individual perceptions of actors about the lack of employment, the scarce access to health services, the low school participation, and all those services that are lacking within the villages. By the second, and thanks to a detailed description of daily activities, religious recurrences or festivities, and a dynamic of both non-participant observation and history of life (two each settlement, with the exception of El Ciruelo, where we made three), it was possible conducting the “in-site research”, obtaining direct interaction

14 They were 7, one for each community. 14 with the informants, and producing an analytic-descriptive reflection about communities15. Moreover, to obtain information about the social representations within the communities, the study was organized into two stages. On the one hand, we analyzed the ideological and aesthetic perceptions that communities’ members have about the ideas of blackness and black identity (self-perception processes). On the other, we seeked the opinion of such actors about the ways according to which they consider to be perceived, seen and discriminated by people that not belong to any black settlement of the area (ad extra-construction of the stereotype). Therefore, it was possible detecting not only some different racial perceptions (as phenotypes and color) that are manifest among African communities. It also positively contributed to increase the information available for both the theoretical definition of the ideas of blackness and racial identity, and the interpretation of the practical effects of such concepts, in the everyday life, as the gender matrilineal system and the sexual defined socio-cultural role of women for the definition of a concrete Afro-Mexican identity. By this, we accounted for both the patterns or gender cohexistence, and the social role of women, by highlighting them as those actors who actually empirically contribute to perpetrate African traditions and help to the resolution of some specific needs within the settlements. The histories of life have been used thus as a way to build a sort of individual bibliographic continuum (basically a “in-process” analysis) that includes daily dynamics; social, cultural and economic problems of the communities; the relationship with the social environment that surrounds them. For the production of what we mentioned, we compared the perceptions of diverse groups of people (organized by community) and analyzed, in a separate way, the opinions of young men and women, community leaders, and academics, about the issue. The results are aimed at registering both a general overview about cohesion degrees within the communities, and the relationship that exist between the members of the settlements and the population that, by contrary, does not take part of them. The technique employed in this occasion is the discussion group16. More in details, the dynamics of interaction generated during the discussion groups, allowed us to obtain a general overview about exclusion-inclusion dynamics, self-perception (how mutually

15 For a classical reference about the history of life technique, see Bertaux (1976, 1981a, 1981b 1982). 16 Discussion groups where organized thanks to the intervention of settlers who arranged three discussion groups. Nearby El Ciruelo, within the villages of Mancuernas (at the halfway from Santo Domingo Armenta, El Ciruelo and Collantes), Santiago Tapextla (directed to produce the discussion for people of Llano Grande Tapextla and Santiago Tapextla itself), and Cortijos (for the settlers of Santa María Cortijos and San Juan Bautista lo de Soto). 15 members see each other) and the relationship communities consider having with institutions. In this way it was possible to compare the information produced and capture both the individual and communitarian perceptions about the issue and the degree of cohesion that exist currently within the communities. In that way, we obtained both specific profiles related only with certain communities, and a series of profiles combined between two or more selected settlements. So we studied both collective identity associated with a single group (each community for itself) and the Afro- Mexican cultural community as a whole, directed to define members’ individual standard identity of blackness of Costa Chica as a complex. Finally, for general information about family structure, economy, education and work, social mobility, we applied 220 opinion questionnaires, 100 destined to obtain information by part of men, 120 from women17. The work is organized into four parts: a theoretical frame; a Mexican one; and a multicultural discussion. As the fourth section of the research, the work ends with some considerations about Afro-mexican identity construction (which are the elements that contribute to define blackness as a socio-cultural Mexican cathegory) and negotiation, by justifying why it should be important recognizing Mexican Africanness as an ingredient of a more general principle of national identity. Two different chapters, respectively analyzing the concepts of community and identity, and the social implication of negotiating and representation and race, compose the first part. The second is exclusively dedicated to the Mexican analysis and it is organized into four chapters specifically aimed at studing four topics: the motives of the arrival of black population to the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, by including the indigenismo racial and political discourses; cultural characteristics of African-settlers (especially referring to African Spanish “dialect” modality, dances, African-wedding within the settlements, and the human being conception, including death, deseases and traditional medicine); self-perception parameters (referred to traditions as a way of being recognized as African-descent, ethnic identification, inclusion-exclusion dynamics, self and mutual perception of aesthetic features); the gender perspective (especially the role of women for the organization of family and cultural connections throught the communities). In

17 Women were much more opened than men in participating at the development of the research, so we could obtain a sort of gender perspective about family structure, culture and socio-cultural roles of actors within the communities. 16 these last two cases, for studying self-perception we used a lexicon questionary, based on the concepts of “race”, “blackness” and “Afro-ancestry”18. The result of the questannaire is a “lexical density index”, whose product yields a numerical exponent, as a percentage, which allows the calculation of the binomial proportions from 0 (no features) to 1 (complete relation between the concept and its meaning). The formula for the calculation of the “lexical density index” is the following:

i )1( n c (n )1 fi D  e i1 I

Where D means “availability”, i is the position assigned to a specific concept or word, n is the hightest position obtained by part of a concept or word, c is a fixed dispersion coefficient (2.3), f is the absolute frequency of the answer, I corresponds to the number of people responding to a specific question19. The third part is aimed at discussing the concepts of shared and distributive justice, multiple identity and multicultural modalities of recognition for Mexican pluralism. The work finalizes with some considerations about the terms through which we consider convenient to understand Afro-Mexican identity of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca and its importance for national cultural wealth. For the first point, and specifically related with the historical dynamics of arrival, deculturation, transculturation and “integration” of black population, community seemed to be the concept that could explain at best the social structure of settlements, their way of thinking and their social organization, as cooperation, mutual recognition and membership. In the second case, identity is the central problem of our research, being its own “African-modality” the issue we are trying to negotiate for. In this case, the concept will

18 It is important to notice that, because of both an escase number of enquired people and a limited diversity of the concepts we were interested to explore, the results of the lexicon questionnaire is a non- statistically representative one. By contrast, it explains some clear tendencies. With base on that, we will analyze how people consider being black or which kind of concept they associate with an African identity. Such information will be used through Chapter III. 19 The information reported belongs to the “Empirical and Opinion Research Area of the Research Institute of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico”. The citation is thus confidencial. For any further detail, the author has the information. About the “lexical availability” see also López Morales (1983), López Chávez (1993), López Chávez & Strassburger Frías (1991), Michéa (1953), and Cisneros & Flores Davila (unpublished work). 17 be organized in a dichotomous way, between the idea of “identity as equality” and “identity as difference”. By using the multicultural theory, we integrate this twofold theoretical approach and we analyze the psyco-social way of self-recognition Costa Chicas’s Afro-Mexicans chose for self-identification (Suárez Blanch, 1999). Thirdly, race is supposed to explain a specific sort of identity as difference, and it represents the more explicit way through which the analyzed black communities perceive their social status and position within Mexican civil society. In the second part of the work, we present thus overall information about the African arrival in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca directed to explain the dynamics of deculturation and acculturation of black communities in the area. By documenting the “formal” existence of black settlements in the area, we analyze the motives for their birth, the areas of the ethnic source that originally constituted the social environment of these human groups, and the corresponding historical periods, individualized between 1521- 1821 (in relation with Mexican Independence), and the pre-revolutionary one, between 1822 and 1910. As an effect of Spanish colony in the area, we explain the threefold- race-mixing characteristic of Oaxaca State and perpetrate the discussion about syncretism and identity, by describing the formal characteristics of processes of racial and cultural mix in the area, and establishing some racial categories to define the concept of “Afro-Mexican”. On this point, we will insert the cultural discussion about African identity of the Costa Chica, by accounting for respectively the local African modality of Spanish, especially concerning its pronunciation and use during musical manifestations; four kinds of dances (the most relevant ones within the area), like the Danza de los Diablos (“Devils’ Dance”), the Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”), the Danza del Toro de Petate (the “Petate-Bull Dance”) and the Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of Turtle”); local ways of wedding, including the rapto (the “kidnapping”) and the matrimonio ideal (the “perfect wedding”); the idea of human being, by studing the tono (a cultural Afro-Indian mixed tradition about the nagual, the “guide-animal”) and the sombra (the “shadow”); traditional methods of healing. Succesively we analyze three different positions aimed at defining psychologically and physically the African population of Costa Chica. In order to do that, we use the concepts of self-identification, self-definition, and self-description, and we explain respectively the processes of self-socially-locating by part of actors (within a specific symbolic universe); the highlighting of local traditional elements based on physical and 18 personality aspects; the featuring of aesthetic issue, as a way to understand African origin. The fourth part of the “Mexican Frame” explains dynamics of matriarchy and matrilinage, hightlights the role of women within the settlements, and justifies the importance female gender actually has for the construction of Afro-Mexican local identity. The last part of the work will be in charge to conjugate the current multicultural theory with the study we produced within the area by analyzing potential social and cultural effects of pluralism and recognition of blackness throughout the area and the region. Next three core points resume the main results of the work. The first achievement concerns to the presence of black communities within the Costa Chica area. Especifically, the research wants to be a theoretical-empirical approach to the problem of recognition for Afro-Mexican communities through demonstrating that all cultural elements characterizing black settlements of the area and their people are the main results of two central points of the question: Afro-Mexicans are part of a generalized symbolic universe called “Mexicanity”, so they contribute to feed it in its meaning and value; and, they actually represent a unique socio-cultural sub-group, separated by a “straight way” to be national, and aimed at impulsing a specific way to recognize and understand local diversity. In order to demonstrate their social and cultural uniqueness, we described the most relevant (and explicit) socio- cultural elements shown by settlers, and reasoned about the concepts we consider the best for defining Oaxaca’s Africans: “black” and “Afro-Mexican”. What it means is establishing a socio-cultural connection between Mexican civil society and African descent communities, by including all those elements that are supposed to explain color, race and membership (Pollini, 1987). The second point we consider relevant for understanding the black issue within the coast is black-Mexican identity as a demonstration of pluralism and difference. Through this specific way of self-identification, African communities express thus a peculiar form to be in contact with other local sub-groups, and show the need to claim their special way to be Mexican. In this sense, local diversity doesn’t appear as a “must” of being different, but a multicultural praxis which contributes to both define in-group normativity and socio-cultural relations between black-Mexicans and “the others”.

19 The third element is referred to basic needs. Showing the presence of African communities, their culture and the syncretic dynamic of potential social integration within Mexican society, would not only lead institutions to take conscience of their presence, but also to a specific political commitment to the implementation of a sort of cultural programs aimed at economically developing the area. In doing so Afro-Mexican communities would enjoy a better visibility throughout the country and being allowed having similar rights to Indians’, so they would be able to define themselves (institutionally speaking), and make concrete their claims against institutions and State. It will be the task of local institutions evaluating the importance of recognizing Mexican black population as a national minority, implementing the necessary actions for producing the development of a sort of national consciousness about the topic, and institutionalizing diversity and recognition over prejudice and discrimination (Mansbridge, 2000).

Part I Theoretical Frame

Chapter I Between Individual and Collective Identity

24 1. Community Defining community is a theoretical goal which has concerned many sociologists, partly because of the methodological importance the concept represented (and still represents) for the sociological analysis and partly (perhaps) because of the breadth of issues allowed in the study of interrelationships between social actors, institutions and groups (Bell & Newby, 1971: 28)20. The importance of the concept lies primarily in its flexibility and supposes the presence of social, cultural, economic, political and racial factors. Moreover, in its most traditional sense, it describes a social space within which actors can develop their own way of being in a social context that allows a kind of natural continuum between a world of life oriented by explicit traditions, and a cultural environment that is built between old and new values. A meaning that is based on the idea of a bucolic world where «the community...[is]...viewed as man’s natural habitat» (Bell & Newby, 1971: 22; Kroeber, 1952) that involves individuals in a nostalgic reality away from the “classical” forms of association based on the anonymity of modern industrial society. In addition, the idea of community refers not only to an association between social actors that all occupy a specific place within the group and develop certain social roles for the good of the community organization. It also implies the existence of a social space where individuals maintain among them a relationship of solidarity and mutual understanding within a defined and limited territory. «…Community makes for traditionalistic ways and at very core of the community concept is the sentimental attachment to the conventions and more of a beloved place…when sociologists now talk about community, they almost always mean a place in which people have some, if not complete, solidarity relation» (Bell & Newby, 1971: 24). Thus, the concept of community comes to represent an idea of a “village” where the living space, cooperation and family characterize daily dynamics from which each individual, that is part of a collectivity, shapes his or her modus vivendi, habitus and way of acting within the group, by internalizing norms, customs and values towards the generation of an inclusive and exclusive inter-relationship with the group in which he/she takes part (Hillery, 1968). That is, considering community as a kind of social organization in which both daily activities and allocation of roles of actors represent

20 Bell and Newby list 94 definitions of community and argue that, despite the wide number of meanings that are connected with the concept, it is not possible to establish a single definition of it. In the text, we intend to offer different interpretations of the idea of community and choose, for the case study, the most appropriate one. 25 pre-established parameters of action aimed at uniting people who are part of this common experience. On the other hand, Margaret Stacey suggests an idea of the concept that moves from a sublimated naturalistic understanding of the “life-world” to a reconstruction of the concept that supposes, within groups, the existence of social relationships based on both a search of individual spaces designed to feed self-perception of the community members (starting from a dynamic of equality and mutual difference), and a generalization of community social parameters, resulted in cultural homogenization of the group (Stacey, 1969). From this perspective, the concept assumes the meaning of a local social system within which it seems to be granted not only the perfect functioning of the social mechanism into the group, but also the right to define the position of its members, and legitimize a general formal recognition of it. So, community takes the meaning of a nation within a Nation that defines itself as an exclusive and exclusionary social space, perceived as part of a wider symbolic universe (denoted by dominant culture), and from which, at the same time, it wants to be distinguished. Meaning that seeking the way through which being defined as a proper social sub-system equipped with its own structure and directed to self-recognition21. The concept represents, in this way, a relative form of cultural homogenization that, if on one side supposes the presence of reciprocally similar individuals sharing the same symbolic universe in a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation, on the other, it embodies a collective organization «in harmony with all members mechanically bound in all aspects of their daily life, homogeneous, united in one voice and with common and shared objectives, where internal conflict and internal power relationship are seen as a threat to unity and therefore, hardly represented» (Pallí, 2003: 316). Community is then a “container” in constant evolution which embodies a way of relationship organized on the basis of common requirements that take place from specific objectives generated and shared by a «collective which is part of and constructed in the complexity of social practices, cultural specificities, political battles, trying to make its voice heard by other communities» (Pallí, 2003: 320).

21 The idea of “nation within a Nation” explains the relationship that exists between local cultures, ethnic groups or communities, and State, in particular as regards dynamics of representation and recognition for sub-groups and national minorities. Specifically, each group embodies an independent entity able to organize itself without State intervention and it is directed to recognize itself as a social space that is part of the Nation but at the same time, also distinguished from it. The idea dates back to Will Kymlicka and for further information we refer to Kymlicka (1995). 26 While negotiating their own identity starting by those elements they consider the most significant for their own representation and, at the same time, allowing community to produce its own set of demands and claims that reflect its particular circumstances, members of a group can assert their minority-rights and demonstrate the importance of their presence for the formation or enrichment of national culture. In this sense, the concept of community is loaded with a cultural significance that, on one hand, supposes the presence of a relationship between membership and distinctness. On the other, it marks a point of contact between the concept of community – assumed as a nation within the Nation – and the idea of citizenship (Joseph & Henderson, 2002; Pollini, 1987). In the first case, we refer to a reciprocal relationship between community and system that leads to the perception of a “generalized other” outside the symbolic universe generally recognized within the community of belonging. Meaning that taking into consideration a criterion of identity built on the base of a dichotomous relationship between similarity-difference of socio-cultural reproduction parameters of the community value system versus the cultural environment in which it is embedded. In the second, the inclusion-exclusion criterion makes the difference between the ideas of Nation and cultural community. Regarding to the former, the relationship that exists between minority and national society supposes the existence of social dynamics based on the production of cultural connections between the communitarian symbolic world and the production of externally oriented meaningful actions aimed at obtaining, in the world of life, a specific target22. Therefore, minority groups and the Nation coexist in an uninterrupted exchange of stimuli-responses based on mutuality of relationship between individual and structure, while ensuring the maintenance of community cultural parameters, and a certainly wider-ranging national modus vivendi. Actors co-exist with other individuals with which they directly or indirectly share certain values, norms, customs, traditions at the same time by which they impulse the production of an “equality-difference mechanism” between local and national culture. Subsequently, social actors may choose other members of the same environment starting from a perception of identity that not only favors the relationship between actors of the same group. By contrast, it facilitates a specific information exchange between communities and civil society, or even

22 The best reference for the concepts of “meaningful actions” and “pattern variables” is the work of Parsons & Shils (1959: 11-12). 27 between different groups belonging to the same State or territory. Moreover, groups are shaped according to their own cultural standards, creating a form of self-recognition based on both localization of culture produced within the clusters and the construction of new forms of identity chosen from specific practical needs, claimed by minorities. Finally, while ensuring the equity within the group and a relationship of interdependence with the generalized national socio-cultural environment (Habermas, 2005: 349), social actors perpetrate their individual and collective perception of identity. Doing that, they start internalizing those community values based on the use of unique cultural patterns, generated by specific behaviors, that guarantee an “in-between space” among local socio-cultural system and national environment, without losing the characteristics of spontaneity and relation conferred by the life-world (Habermas, 2009: 147). In the second case, Sanders argues that the concept of community is closely linked to an idea of solidarity which both supposes the presence within groups of a huge human, social, cultural, ideological, historical heritage (embedded on trajectories of group members), and embodies a way to ensure community life and the continuity of values, traditions and internalized norms also outside the membership-group (Sanders, 2002; Pollini, 1987). Actors of these communities build collective dynamics that suppose the existence of a sort of brotherhood based on confidence and distribution of social roles; so they reinforce the sense of belonging that unites them. On the other hand, community takes the semblance of a social system defined by shared norms and values, organized as a form of mutual recognition within members of a certain cultural environment. In addition, it is perceived as a socialized space where members define their own individual identity starting by new cultural parameters coming from the direct influence of the group on them, or from conditioning historical dynamics shaping, in the present, social, linguistic and aesthetic characteristics (mestizaje or miscegenation) of actors who take part into the community life. At the same time, communities are formed by mixed habits that tend to redefine social roles of actors inside and outside the group of belonging and, nationwide they are perceived as an independent symbolic system used to identify cultural difference and representation of local culture in a continuing tension between minorities and Nation. A fact that is not suggesting that hybridity and mestizaje are not the natural product of a sort of relationship between a specific us and a totally abstract them. It only demonstrates that, starting by a general them (an acquired cultural universe minorities can choose 28 eventually to be part of), it is possible to affirm the existence of a third dimension, in- between the national and minorities’ culture, allowing sub-groups being part of the Nation but also having their local and exclusive way of being recognized. So, while it is supposed describing a local identity, rooted to a specific territory or depending on exclusive aesthetic parameters, it usually represents a social element whose existence depends directly on a national cultural environment, within which that same culture is clearly framed and essential for the national identity definition (Dean & Leibsohn, 2003). As for the Mexican case, Mestizos «are not simple, empirical hybrids, a plain result of biological or cultural mixture of two (formerly discreet) entities. Rather they evoke a complex conceptual hybridity inscribed in the notion of “mestizo” itself» (Dean & Leibsohn, 2003: 6). A notion that has been a product of long-term, unequal dialogues in social fields of domination, exploitation, and subjectification (Alonso, 2004). Community assumes thus a new image within national cultural environment and it is defined as «a group of people with shared beliefs of the appropriate kind» (Miller, 1992: 87) directed toward two different social dynamics. By one side, it is supposed to be aimed at generating a homogeneously-distributed cultural sub-system rooted to a specific and limited territory. By the other, it is intended to represent a demarcated local association (independently-socially organized), characterized by a strong sense of belonging and solidarity of its members, consisting of exclusive cultural, social, historical and aesthetic characteristics, and aimed at constructing the identity of their own members by taking into account specific permanent features that differ from those contained in any other group or association. By negotiating a new image of its members, and creating an institutionalized way of recognition that defines a specific socio-cultural in-group identity (designed to promote social change and directed to improve life conditions of groups that demand recognition of their own presence) actors represent themselves but also the community of belonging, the culture to which they take part, and peculiar demands of such collectivity. So, while each actor defines himself from the similarity with any other member of the group because of shared values, norms, habits, modus vivendi, race or language, the group becomes homogeneous and starts to seek recognition of presence for itself and for its members, by institutionalizing cultural difference within the national context in which it is embedded. What it means is that communities are theoretically able to affirm their presence, without avoiding any restriction for recognition, representation and integration (Kymlicka, 1995, 1996b, 2002, 2001, 2007a; Barry 2002; Waldron, 2000; 29 Walzer, 1992)23. That fact also supposes understanding multiculturalism as a political way to an integration aimed at institutionally recognizing ethnic groups and national minority (here, more in general defined, communities), and directed to create a certain type of disclosure between a total assimilation and a new way for organizing diversity (Savidan 2010; Taylor, 1992b, 1993; Réaume, 2000). By contrast, if we refer to the ideas of “culture” and “plural society”, in the Latin America case, multicultural perspective is avoided, in some way producing a sort of incongruence between new regional “democratic policies” and the original philosophical approach to global societies24. Within the Latin American region, and especially within Mexican territory, nationalism and Mestizo discourse are predominant and are aimed at both producing and perpetrating the idea of homogeneous identity as a way of recognition and self- definition. A general perception which wants to create a national culture, that embodies more a fictitious social product than a real integration process, based on a concrete production and guaranty of minority rights for the extinction of some elitist social classes’ political predominance (González Manrique, 2006; Falconí, Hercowitz & Muradian, 2004; Hale, 1997). More specifically, even if a peculiar colonial process created a specific social and aesthetic diversification in Mexican cultural dynamic, the State did not develop any constitutional structure for the recognition of non-ab origine communities. It only produced some legal privilegies for indigenous population, forcing other national minorities to chose of “being included” in a more comprehensive definition of “Mexican identity”, or disappear (Huntington, 1997; Moreira, 2001; Barberá, 2003; Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2011). The social effect of that is re-ordering cultural characteristics into an assimilationist project, which wants to define

23 Concepts of “recognition”, “representation” and “integration” will be developed during the last part of the work, where we discuss the relationship of Mexican-blackness with a potential multicultural vision of local culture. 24 Classical multicultural theory refers to a very specific situation that takes into account linguistic and cultural characteristics of ethnic (Inhuit) communities, almost integrated with Canadian society. Its theoretical approach has been hardly criticized because of both its twenty years academical trajectory (it has been firstly developed thanks to what Charles Taylor defined “politics of recognition”) and its scope, potentially exceeded. In this sense, our reference to classical multiculturalism is not supposed to guarantee a perfect theoretical exploitation of the Canadian model. By contrast, it seems to be useful as a start-point for the analisis of diversity and it allows us defining the problem of pluralism for both modern pluriethnic and multinational Latin American countries. The works of Waldron (2000), Taylor (1992a, 1992b), Parekh (1995), Olivé (1999), Miller (1992, 1997), Kymlicka (2001, 2002, 2007a, 2007b) Inglis (1996), Hill (2000), Wieviorka & Gutiérrez Martínez (2006), Etxeberria (2004), Barry (2002), could offer any further information. For a general look about multiculturalism in Latin America, see also Volpato (2012). 30 communities not by their importance, but depending on the degree they are actually considered similar or not to the national cultural framework25. Meaning that also avoiding a global perspective of the problem that, on the other side it would be responsible for socially locating sub-groups, by obtaining a variable number of special rights for them (Kymlicka, 2000, 2002, 2007a, 2007b). The negotiation of identity process is thus a sort of “forgotten must” which, in Mexico, obliges us to see the cultural communities’ recognition problem by two different ways. On one hand, local identities are established only starting by a clearly conservative Latin American discourse that seeks ideological homogenization of regional races and cultures26. By the other, minorities’ identity represents an ethnological element that anthropologists or historians consider just a memory of some past and outdated myths of a history better to be modified, showing the presence of a very peculiar ethnocentric perspective (Volpato, 2012). Two effects are derived from dynamics we have described. In the first case, identity of communities is established as a principle of equality based on a positive assimilation process generated by the group and directed to its members in an attempt to cultural homogenization. Secondly, and through a social dynamic of inclusion-exclusion and co-presence, the negotiation of representation not only plays a decisive role in diversifying individuals and group experience within the national socio-cultural context; it also represents a relationship between micro and macro symbolic universes as a result of the interaction between cultural communities and Nation (Giddens, 1984, 1990). National communities may thus reach a formal recognition of their features and achieve the privileges granted by the obtaining of what Kymlicka has defined “special rights”.

2. Identity When we talk about identity, we do not refer to a sort of soul or essence with which we are born, nor about a set of inner dispositions that never change throughout the

25 Depending on institutional response to diversity, countries are classified by a specific dynamic of cultural pluralism of assimilationism, cosmopolitanism, interactive pluralism (“multicultural proper”) or fragmented pluralism (to which Mexico takes part). See Hartmann & Gerteis (2005), Barberá (2003), Assies (2005). See also Scheme I, at p.223. 26 The reference is again to Will Kymlicka, who establishes the theoretical difference between multinational and pluriethnic countries. The first ones suppose the presence of ab origine national minorities, pre-existent to American colonization. The second explains the more recent migration phenomenon, which contributes to create, ex novo, some resident and non-autochthonous ethnic groups. 31 lifetime. We talk about a kind of cultural construction that allows individuals interacting with “the others” and through which defining themselves as actors who are part of a symbol cultural universe aimed at emboding, maintaining or modifying a certain set of psycho-social elements. Meaning that guaranteeing the presence and recognition of individuals within a symbolic environment they legitimate and by which they are represented (Mead, 1974: 1, 135). Through the individual ability for internalizing attitudes and others’ expectations, actors turn themselves into the object of their own reflection, and they start to represent a social image produced by the conjunction of two factors of recognition. The first one includes self-perception as part of a specific symbolic universe and the world of life. The second is constructed by the vision “the others” have of the actors themselves, and is included into a specific socio-cultural environment (Mead, 1974: 138). Therefore, actors came into a “recognition-appraisal respect dynamic” which in the first case consists in giving appropriate consideration or recognition to some elements of a specific feature ‘…by doing what it certainly should be done; in the second, the concept involves holding people in high regard, or admiring their character-related features…’ (Darwall, 1977: 41). «The two different ways in which a person may be respected provide but one instance of a more general difference between two attitudes which are both termed respect. Crudely put the difference is this. There is a kind of respect which can have any of a number of different sorts of things as its object and which consists, most generally, in a disposition to weigh appropriately in one’s deliberations some feature of the thing in question and to act accordingly. The law, someone’s feelings, and social institutions with their positions and roles are examples of things which can be the object of this sort of respect. Since this kind of respect consists in giving appropriate consideration or recognition to some feature of its object in deliberating about what to do…» (Darwall, 1977: 38), we shall define it recognition respect. Identity can so be understood not only as a natural feature which can (or not) condition the production of a certain cultural heritage aimed at defining specific attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, values. On the other hand, it embodies the possibility to create a self-understanding based on the consciousness we are not only the observer of a peculiar and unique analytic problem we are interested into or we want to solve as best as possible. It also denotes another analytic object of observation considered in any manner interesting by who does not take part in our daily life dynamic, or our socio- cultural context. Its most explicit social effect is the creation of a double consciousness 32 aimed at defining a general identity (as being Mexican) that means assuming the use of a set of cultural elements that can define minorities’ norms and values, without forgetting all those idiosyncratic essentials (behaviors, modus vivendi, ways of thinking), which are necessary for defining national identity as well. While identity represents a symbolic project individuals keep on constructing by using social interactions which are needed for creating and maintaining a certain standard of empirical use of symbols – allowing actors being integrated into different social contexts and limiting the disintegration of their traditions, ways of thinking, and customs – it also offers the opportunity to be integrated and recognized, within a territory (Bird, 2004: 212). People create a new way of self-recognition based on standard identity, which includes norms, traditions and a set of elements, which recognized as an official “locally-shaped” cultural heritage, and part of the general symbolic universe that is supposed to define their position within the society. On the other side, communities recognize themselves as equal to “the other”, but at the same time they show the claim to be differentiated because of specific features, by choosing «a peculiar sensation…[aimed at]…looking at one’s self through the eyes of...»27, and feeling his own twoness, «…two unreconciled strivings»28. Therefore, while being part of a national minority, people create a specific social category able to identify the way through which they can be represented and respected by the cultural environment they are part of. Such kind of local identification turns itself into a “secondary identity system” thanks to which actors can highlight what they consider they are, without forgetting to show the socio-cultural side the world of life judges to be more convenient to them. Thus, members of cultural minorities are supposed to identify themselves as part of a specific group whom characteristic elements they recognize with (being part of the “main society” they territorially belong to), and perpetrate a racial dilemma that defines both their way of being and the way the national culture “suggests” them to be (Vásquez & Wetzel, 2009). The most important implication for that can be resumed into three different core points. The creation of a sort of mental incongruence that contribute to establish the limit of what is supposed to decide the best way to define ourselves; the exploitation of aesthetic difference to create a stereotype based on race superiority; the opportunity to

27 Cited by Owens Moore (2005: 752). For the original reference, see Du Bois (1903: 16-17). 28 Ibidem. 33 reach a cultural goal that combines universalism with particular relativism (Sciolla, 1983, 2007). In the first case, groups easily cannot establish a “right way” of recognition for themselves (identifying specific standards of being what someone is supposed to be) avoiding also the capability to occupy a specific space within the society they are part of. The most relevant result of that is “being forcedly included” into a social environment that does not really recognize them as actors with a specific number of legitimated rights and who have the force and presence to impose their position and claims, and obtain what they are looking for29. In the second, identity is not used to define diversity but only to separate groups by culture, what is meant to be the first problem of misrecognition, misunderstanding and exclusion. If a society does not impulse any way of integration which guarantees for minorities a generally recognized socio-cultural status that implies to socially know what a specific aesthetic feature and a set of cultural elements mean, those same “culture bearers” automatically come to be excluded from the society they actually contribute to characterize. Finally, if actors choose to identify themselves as composed by two different and mutual sides, which are part of their specific symbolic universe and contribute characterizing the national cultural framework, they show the presence of a multiple identity placing them into a social position that allows minorities’ members interrupting homogeneity, and promoting a relativistic social development. A socio-cultural dynamic that, depending on actors’ election, might also offer a standard way of identity negotiation based on single or multiple elements of cultural, social or political representation (Owens Moore, 2005). Such representation allows to assume cultural relativism as a real moral way of being, and the community knowledge as a way to affirm the existence of a knowable universe as much as cultures are or that, individuals who belong to different cultures, live within a unique or a multiple symbolic space (Satta, 2005).

29 Producing special rights for national minorities and imposing a principle of cultural membership respect for members of local communities, are the political solutions proposed by multiculturalists. The most relevant examples for specific “political rules” to integration and representation are the enforced asimilation, which is supposed to be the main result of a “minority-rights equality” production promoted by assimilationist countries, the facilitating assimilation (endorsed by multicultural liberal states), and refusing a color-blind constitution. For further information, see Kymlicka & Norman (2000), Kymlicka (1994), and Zwart (2005). 34 So, it seems reasonable thinking about minorities and identity as a sort of clash between status and positions of citizens and no-citizens, that is, «…about who is to be included in the privileges and derived benefits of being designated the kind of citizen (active) who had these rights…» (Wallerstein, 2003: 661; Knight Abowitz, 2006) and who only tries to be recognized as part of that piece of society having the right to take part of the “official citizenship”. It is a question of identity and identification. Therefore, while identity is produced by norms, behavior, culture and all those other ancestral elements constituting the soul of a Nation, territory or group, it also represents a way to be somebody specific, territorially located and recognized because of some certain characteristics, potentially represented or formally forgotten by part of institutions, State and civil society. Such dynamic supposes minorities start to create a twofold way of self-recognition. By one side, communities choose to identify themselves as part of the State and culture where they are located, by interiorizing norms and uses of the generalized symbolic universe. Secondly, they define their identity by exclusive parameters of normative cultural reproduction that expresses only the micro-symbolic universe they came from. That fact supposes the creation of a multiple identity dynamic and the insurance actors come to be, in any way, represented by institutions (the formal way to do that), or by collective groups, as the informal recognition of “others’ culture” in a multicultural state (Goldman, 2002; Kymlicka, 2001). That is, allowing identity to be the main character of individuals for understanding their own symbolic universe but also the social, cultural or political environment, which they are part of. Minorities could also identify themselves by taking into account a specific symbolic universe based on a sort of memory (not necessary thanks to a recent identity negotiation process), and by building up new personalities, idiosyncrasies and ways of being. On one hand, they come to be structured through the remembrance of some unique and exclusive ancestral elements; on the other, they obtain a multiple identity standard, which Gabriel Izard Martínez chose to define a “philosophy of return” (Izard Martínez, 2005). In this case, identity assumes a twofold meaning. If people accept to assume certain patterns of behavior, which are connected to a dominant national culture, they also assume the skills for a non-obliged integration, by supposing a twofold understanding of that. Defining a Nation as a cultural environment, which incorporates minorities’ identity as just another element of its own spiritual worth; and assuming those 35 minorities’ identities as integrated into the general cultural frame. By contrast, if communities’ members want to be integrated into a society through proposing a definition of “Nation” in multicultural terms, so they can choose a sort or relativistic status where, some identities are recognized, some others don’t. Community’s identity could be defined by a standard criterion through which actors evaluate if the relationship that persists inside the group is effectively part of it or looks like a sort of imposition by part of the State. In this case − as for the Mexican dynamic of indigenismo (Díaz Polanco, 1995, 2010) − it would refer to an institutional problem of recognition. A misunderstanding embodying a very special example of those societies that, in another moment, have been defined as provided with dubious democratic quality, and, for what concerns jurisdictional pluralism, empirically free (Volpato, 2012; (Falconí, Hercowitz & Muradian, 2004). In such socio-cultural environment, the value of diversity turns itself not into a potential expansion of the opportunity range for people, as argued by liberal multiculturalists, but a clear decrement of them for both recognition of presence and identity negotiation. As a result, the concept implies an extremely broad range of meanings and while it explains cultural, social, political, aesthetic, or linguistic elements that characterize the actors, which belong to a specific group or community, it also contributes to the description of socio-cultural dynamics that condition the process of negotiation for their recognition. Like the reasons for acceptance-rejection in and from a certain group, specific dynamics for exclusion or affiliation to a community, the personal degree of self-perception, feelings of belonging or intergroup hostility, and the internalization process of values and norms within a group. Moreover, it allows us to study the process by which, for example, an actor decides (or not) to take part in (or follow) a group; or (taking into account a community) it gives us the opportunity to understand the mechanisms of inter and intra group conditioning, in tension between self and hetero-recognition. A tension that contributes not only to explain the reasons for existence of group dynamics and inclusion-exclusion criteria that regulate the way by which individuals can (or not) take part into a community. It also allows the analysis of individual components of social actors (starting from a me-mine relationship taking into account, habits, beliefs, and values) according to their personal assessment of community values, the level of emotional involvement with ideas or principles on which group-culture is built, and the types of identity recognition individuals look for within a certain group of actors (Cerulo, 1997: 385-386). 36 Depending on identity representation modality minorities want to negotiate, actors look for measuring both the importance society attributes to a specific sort of intergroup self-recognition (that means to legitimate an informal way for ideologically locate minorities’ members), and the concrete opportunity for cultural groups to be formally registered by the State. The first dynamic allows the creation of a really effective political dynamic aimed at institutionally recognizing the jurisdictional viability of the recognition within communities (when they would respect the human and Nation-wide general rights); the second contributes to approve the legal validity and applicability of the customary law among the symbolic universes communities and Nation are representing (Gros, 2002). Thus, if we are aware identity and diversity represent not only the result of a stereotyped society, which wants to recognize culture as the way to describe a unique and isolated way of being, it is also logic understanding self-recognition being both a sort of need that comes from minorities, and a way to break down the boundaries that make local symbolic universes limited, by claiming the right to represent a peculiar dimension of the national identity. That’s why actors construct, perceive and use a certain typology of multiple identity characterized not by the Nation-wide culturally recognized standards or some autochthonous ones located among minorities, but thanks to a syncretic culture production, made up by the conjunction of civil society and minorities, and based on both the locally shaped tradition and the officially recognized one. In the first case, being perceived not only embodies a basic element for local representation of minorities and their members – historically and territorially located – starting by a principle of empirical self-representation (Burke, 2006). Being recognized as a part of a specific group (a minority or a “dominant” one), embodies the need to formalize identity recognition, by taking into account the relation existing between sub- groups and national culture, and concretely re-defining all those plural cultural elements that contribute to characterize similarity and diversity at national level. Secondly, and regionally speaking, the historical process of mestizaje produced and imposed new symbolic imaginaries which nowadays serve as a sort of “cultural bridge” between a specific type of standard identity – what Giménez (1997b) chose to define “to be who one is” – and a new socio-cultural status for minorities’ members. Thus, Latin American multiculturalism does not suppose the existence of some national minorities, by recognizing the presence of their peculiarity and re-organizing regional society as 37 what Kymlicka defines the ideological-normative problem for modern multiculturality, especially in its “polyethnic modality”. By contrast, the concept anticipates our awareness about diversity consciousness in its universal mode, by supposing group cultural parameters interiorization and including in that normative baggage those values of who is not part of the same symbolic universe as well. The dynamic we mentioned creates unique and autopoietic cultural groups whose function is providing a mixed identity to individuals who take part of them and contrast only partially with costumes, modus vivendi, or the set of meanings that primarily characterize the social environment a specific minority belongs to (Ariño, 2000). Mestizaje appears as an official political discourse for the creation of Nation, as a sort of a new authenticity claim which denies colonial ways of racial and ethnic oppression, though the creation of an intermediate cultural dynamic established by the community for distinguishing itself from Creole civil society. Moreover, it represents a national ideology aimed at homogenizing the local culture or, interpreting Peter Wade (2005), it supposes the existence of an inclusion-exclusion socio-cultural dynamic directed to the production of a segmented image of national identity. In this way, cultural homogeneity is not only a matter of political convenience by part of the State, but it looks much more like a denial than an affirmation of nationality and citizenship (Wade, 2005: 239; Bobes, 2004). On the other hand, the idea of identity is related with a homogeneous idea of culture representing a liberating force that breaks the colonial and neocolonial categories of ethnicity and race, and establishes itself as a space of resistance that rejects the need for membership (as defined by current multicultural theorists) and which does not mix with what Taguieff ideologically defined a sort of integral difference (Taguieff, 1994). Thus, the Latin American idea of identity sets itself into an intermediate position between a liberal-democratic mode of the State (charactering the multicultural Canadian model), and a peculiar way of fragmentary pluralism whose cultural complexity denial, and the lack of cultural diversity organization represent the key of regional phenomenon (Wade, 1997, 2005; Alexander, 2000). Multicultural conditions come to be modified and new social positions of actors impose the recognition of mutual identity (starting by autopoietic symbolic universes from which they came from), and constructed by a syncretic use of traditions that belong to one or another minority or, depending on individuals’ cultural attribution, shows the presence of some inter group self-relevant meanings.

38 To reach a specific set of self-relevant meanings, actors use three types of psychological components: cognitive (that helps creating a group consciousness based on the perception of a “non-generalized other” that shares the same living space, norms and values of any other actor that belongs to the same cultural environment); evaluative (which allows a qualitative classification of sense of belonging to a certain group rather than another); emotional (that explains the degree of actors involvement with the context to which they participate)30. In the first case, the actor understands the dynamic of membership from an individual choice or an a priori cultural imposition. Meaning that individuals decide spontaneously to take part into a group, choosing on the basis of their affiliation, interests and needs, or, because of their own ethnic background, they automatically belong to a specific cultural environment. In both cases, actors are conscious of their condition and the position they have to assume (or they will have to) depending on the social roles that characterize (or will characterize) their experience within the group in which they will take part. In the second, a potential or proper member of a group considers membership starting by a choice of necessity or convenience. In the case of a positive evaluation, it will contribute to their sense of belonging as “full members”; if not, it will push self- perception toward the amplification of distinctiveness between members and peer group, within cultural communities, or with civil society. In the first case we refer to a voluntary decision (by an actor) to take part of a group. In the second, we highlight the sense of membership that develops an actor in relation with a context within which he has not decided to be born or he considers not being appropriate to its own human, social, cultural, ethical, moral or otherwise characteristics31. Finally, the emotional component explains both the degree of connection of social actors with the community or group to which they belong and their level of involvement with it. In this case, a large emotional connection to history, ethnicity or race supports not only the assumption of membership but also represents the stimulus by which actors may seek both an individual or collective representation and the recognition of their social, cultural, political, or racial identity. Consequently to that, identity turns itself

30 Henri Tajfel explains that membership contributes to the generation of individual and collective identity starting from specific socio-cultural factors that depend on both relationship actors have with other individuals or with the group in which they take part, and their will to participate to the dynamics imposed by community experience. For more information about the meaning of group in social psychology and the elements of the sense of belonging, we refer to Tajfel (1978a: 27-29). 31 See Deschamps & Doise (1978). 39 fluid across time and cultural boundaries. Therefore, it does not only condition the way through which members of groups define themselves toward a specific civil society or a peculiar “generalized alter”; it also tends to modify the social context that can or cannot define that same community, by recognizing (or not) its presence as diverse from the general “well-socially recognized” way of being (Sanders, 2002). Thus, if we consider just the way used by actors to define themselves as part of their community, we can also affirm their identity turns itself into a flexible method for recognition, which can be adapted to the dominant cultural framework. That fact means creating a specific sort of syncretism aimed at re-defining both the identity of the group and the Nation. By contrast, if we take into account only the response society decides to apply on the struggle for minorities’ recognition, minorities’ identity comes to be represented as a sort of ethic “switching mechanism” that offers to the members a double way of self- recognition (Alba, 1990; Nagel, 1994, 1995). As a part of a bigger cultural environment defined by a Nation (so territorially and temporally defined); or as a piece of a locally constructed socio-cultural universe that differs partially or completely from the standard way of recognition and representation, specifically promoted by multicultural states. Thus, if an actor is part of a group, he participates (at the same time) at two processes of identity construction. On one hand, by conditioning its habitus, modus vivendi, beliefs and cultural background, the actor modifies (temporarily or constantly) its own individual identity. On the other, he helps to build new parameters of representation that, once established, can be maintained, changed or even removed from the cultural context within which they were produced or to whom they have been brought32. These new parameters come to be institutionalized within the community, and begin to represent the way through which individuals composing groups show they have internalized a certain set of human, social, cultural, or linguistic qualities. These qualities allow actors creating a sort of “we-ness” relationship that contributes to the generation of what we define collective identity. A phenomenon of unity and integration that, in terms of daily life and social roles of actors, defines the extent to which the experience of individual belonging to a local group, contributes to unify community starting by the integration and consistency of some life situations in a certain cultural environment.

32 This process is called “transculturation” and it can be applied to all those countries that suffered some kind of socio-cultural change produced by historical dynamics imposed to local populations. For further information, see the work of Fernando Ortiz, who has the paternity of the concept (see bibliography for some references). 40 While people are discussing what determines a set of symbols for identification, they should also list a group of neglected problems for representation that can or not manage a complex of symbolic cultural elements through which minority members want to be recognized. That means inter group members can take into account the role of a generalized other, by using a specific way to impose an ego-involvement useful to the best definition of the collective identity they are near to accept for the need of a precise and equal description of culture, norms and way of being within a society. Through this social dynamic, individuals integrate their separate goals and actions into a collective unity and decide if it would be more convenient to maintain or disintegrate the identity they look for (Sanchez-Burks & Huy, 2009; Cottrel, 1950). Consequently, identity represents a specific way of interaction that leads to the development of a communicative situation (within actors and groups) from which certain cultural codes that characterize a community are considered as both the elements for the definition of a specific symbolic universe (different from the national cultural framework) and the set of symbols that represents a principle of unity and homogeneity within a group (Giménez, 2010). Therefore, while individuals define similarities between themselves and other members of the same community, by generating specific social roles and cultural attributes generally shared and relatively stable over time, they also produce a process of differentiation by which they can distinguish themselves from the generalized national culture. In the first case, they contribute to homogenize the culture of the group to which they belong; that means, creating a process of culture continuity within minorities. In the second, by establishing new parameters of recognition for them and for the group, actors can construct a specific type of identity that, while diluted and mixed with national cultural context, they follow as a process of differentiation aimed at creating some shared and heterogeneous perceptions of the self (between groups and the general symbolic universe) that can be modified depending on the core elements through which groups want to be recognized (as regarding religion, language, or aesthetic features). Such dynamic would be able shifting identity by the idea of representation to the concept of self-recognition. Thus, the idea of “being perceived” pass to represent not only a necessary element for self-affirmation, that means to be who one is. It would also demonstrates the need of a kind of formalized recognition, which lies in an endogenous-exogenous relationship between sub-groups and national culture. On one side, the perception of being perceived will be directed to define individual identity of who belongs to a particular community, 41 by mutually recognizing the similarity of group’s members. On the other, it will establish a new way of collective representation Giménez (2010) defines a search of recognition of presence of diversity (exoidentidad). In this sense, the importance of identity, individual or collective, lies primarily in two complementary dimensions. On one hand, who is seeking recognition, at the same time, seeks to formalize his/her presence in a particular historical moment and in a specific territory. This means recognizing social actors as separated and distinct subjects of a “generalized other”, and by their in-group/out-group membership (Gleizer Salzman, 1997). On the other, if an ego comes to be recognized by a specific individual or collective “generalized alter”, this happens by a process of similarity or diversity. In the first case, we refer to a kind of self-identification based on recognition of new cultural parameters as part of the traditional heritage of the community. In the second, diversity is the key element for defining the presence of a new symbolic universe characterized by its own culture, traditions and often by its own language, that coexists, differs and melts into the widespread and predominant national socio-cultural context (Giménez, 2010: 14). So firstly, we refer to the sense of belonging that proves who is part of a group as a member; secondly, the problem leads to a set of actors that all share the same codes, symbols and meanings versus who (a specific group, a community, the civil society, etc..) is not part of the same symbolic universe. In this way, actors constitute a unique cultural and autopoietic group that has the function to provide for the individuals an identity standard that may contrasts (directly or indirectly) with customs, modus vivendi, or the set of meaning that characterize, primarily, the society in which a group is embedded. Moreover, they derive their identities from more than one social group. Fact which is supposed to identify different positions within the society and communities, by structuring «…a set of interrelated behaviors, obligations, and orientations toward others that are specific to that social role and hence differentiated from other role identities that the same individual may hold» (Brewer, 2001: 121; Abrams, 1999). Now, depending on the social and cultural environment to which communities belong, actors define not only their role within the group but also among the society they are part of. This process supposes to understand identity as a double-meaning dynamic. On one hand, it provides actors with some psychological elements, which reflect their convictions in behavior, beliefs, social norms and modus vivendi. 42 On the other, it obliges them to share a specific set of meanings that suppose the existence of a local symbolic universe, parallel with the “socially-recognized” one and completely dissociated from national standard identity (Abrams, 1999). Thus, the “social in-group” turns itself into a sort of microstructure based on individuals who interact by enacting different and complementary roles, also explaining (within the group) how individuals can have different social identities depending on the role or position they occupy (Brewer, 2001). By contrast, those same actors can also “feed” an in-group process that allows them setting some shared common characteristics or social experiences, which make them unique, as community, minority or cultural national group. In this case, social identity represents a process of identification with which, or in assimilation to, “others” can or not share the common group of membership. That will be provided by «that part of the individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership» (Tajfel, 1981: 251). Actors can decide on the base of a fourfold differentiation of identity structure: a personal-based, relational, group-based, and collective one33. In the first case, the concept is intended to be a sort of use of identity that is located within the individual self-concept. In this usage, identity is just an aspect of the self that has a peculiar influence on membership, specially within certain social groups or categories, and represents a way to share socialization, experiences, and all those elements which are supposed to be a necessary component for membership definition. This kind of identity responds to the question “What kind of person am I?” or “Who am I as an X?” (where “X” refers to a social category membership). Moreover, it is also intended to be considered as one aspect of the acquisition of a self-concept through processes of socialization and normative internalization (Thoits & Virshup, 1997) and, as argued by Cross (1991), it might be a sort of theoretical trigger for the study of ethnicity or race. By this perspective, community members allow actors to acquire some «psychological traits, expectations, customs, beliefs, and ideologies that are associated with belonging to a particular social group or category» (Brewer, 2001: 118), where identification refers to the centrality of a particular minority membership perception to the individual’s sense of self and the meaning produced by that same identity.

33 Brewer takes into account different types of social identities by which she explains interrelationships between individuals and groups, within groups, and within actors. For further information about the topic, see more classic works by Brewer (2001), Abrams (1999), Brewer & Gardner (1996), Cross (1991), Deaux (1996), Ferdman (1995), and Freud (1960). 43 Secondly, the relationship constructed by the interaction between individuals belonging to the same group or between different groups with different characteristics and cultural claims recognize identity as a self-representation of a “me perspective” (Thoits & Virshup, 1997). In this sense, identities allow individuals to be recognized by other members of the group to which they belong, or to a second one, externally represented. In both cases, the actor will be recognized as a certain kind of person, characterized for being representing a “person-based identity”, with a specific position and role within his or her own symbolic universe (Theodore & Vernon, 1968). A kind of dynamic that produces thus a sort of “role identity”, derived by interpersonal relationships within a larger group, and which corresponds closely to a process of self- interdependence defined by cultural differences and self-construals (Cottrel, 1950; Dasgupta, 2004; Goleman, 2006). This way of relational social identities is strictly interdependent, in the sense that while traits and behaviors expressed by one are dependent on and responsive to the behavior and expectancies of the other parties in the relationship, the individual-based identity contributes to the way through which individuals can produce culture and relate it with the symbolic universes of “the others”. This dynamic also allows actors to perpetrate old symbols or the “socially-appreciated” norms, without forgetting the influence of self-concept on social norms and expectations, associated with occupying particular roles or social positions, and the nature of the specific interpersonal relationships within which these roles are carried out. In the third one, group-based identity refers to the exact perception of the self, considered as an integral or interchangeable part of a larger group, minority or cultural community (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Taylor, 1992b). The meaning of a group-based identity is thus closer to a definition of a collective one where “the other” starts to be part of what the individual-based identity is supposed to define as a necessary way to understand membership (Pollini, 1987). In this case, group-based identity is constructed starting by the action each member of the group or community makes for the existence of the minority itself, by exercising a specific role, in conjunction with the dichotomous relation between parts and whole (Tajfel, 1978b; Foreman & Whetten, 2002; Messick & Mackie, 1989). The relationship between actors and group come to be re-organized by a sort of socio-cultural continuum among a community, and by maintaining a standard of normative reproduction, which includes the self – contributing to build up actors as an

44 interchangeable exemplars of some social categories and away from the perception of self as a unique person (Tuan, 2002) – and engages a special kind of group identity. The effect of such dynamic appears threefold. In the first situation, the construal of self-identity extends beyond the individual to a more inclusive socio-cultural unit. That fact means boundaries between self and the generalized other are eclipsed by the importance of cultural limits themselves, because of the relationship between in-group and out-group, and especially referring to multicultural states where rights and recognition are strictly connected with both an individual and collective way of representation (Cerulo, 1997; Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Appiah, 1994, 2005; Barry, 2002; Barth, 1969; Zwart, 2005; Barberá, 2003). In this context, fortunes and misfortunes of the group, as a whole, are incorporated into the self and respond to personal outcomes (Hirt, Zillmann, Erickson & Kennedy, 1992)34. Secondly, by modifying self-attributes and absorbing them into the local socio- cultural environment, group-based identity provides people with a common set of values, behaviors and norms that contribute to internalize the idea of collective representation, enhance the features that make the community or minority exclusive, and impulse the uniformity and cohesion between members and within the group. Finally, although group-based identity conditions the content of self-representation throughout the processes of identification and assimilation (structured in “others perception” and mutual recognition), on the other hand, social dynamic of sharing beliefs, values and norms, contributes to re-form collective meanings attached to the specific group identity, which characterizes communities’ members (Deaux, 1996). What it means is that collective identity is not only comprehensive of all those cultural elements actors choose to characterize with, but also of those new values and ideologies such identification entails. That fact supposes the existence of two core elements: the social effect cultural and racial syncretism actually has on personality and self- definition (the best example for the Latin American case); and the presence of a certain set of shared experiences that, exactly because of the historical, cultural and racial misgenation, activates a process of shaping and forging a peculiar image for communities. A collective perception of the group standing for the real way communites’ members see themselves, but also representing how it wishes to be viewed

34 Mentioned by Brewer (2001: 119). Especially referring to social values and political equality, related to identity negotiation process, see Iheduru (2006). 45 by others (Melucci, 1989; Klandermans, 1997; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher & Wetherell, 1987). Thus, collective identity represents the main result of a collective effort, produced by groups’ members, and what they want to be recognized for, as actors with something in common and different from the standard national frame. The main result of this process is what we consider the only thing being able to re-construct (or negotiate) community identity and allowing us thinking about an institutional (or, as in the Latin American case, a constitutional one) response to minority claims. Thus, not only as an utopist way of representing equality within multicultural societies, but also as a potential way to understand standard identity as just an element of a very much more extended symbolic universe we define plural society (Turner, Oakes, Haslam & McGarty, 1994). Finally, this process requires actors change their self-identity, activating a new one, produced by the conjunction of their standard identity with socio-cultural principles community considers to be necessary to its own definition as a whole. When the identity is activated, the individual perceives the meanings supposed by his or her ongoing behavior in the situation (either observed directly or received through reflected appraisals). In this way, the conjunction between identities and behavior lies in the shared meanings of each. Actors engage in behavior to create meanings that correspond to the meanings of their identity standard, and «the perceptions of these self- relevant meanings are fed into the comparator, a mechanism that compares one’s perceptions of self-relevant meanings with the self-defining meaning of the identity standard…[by generating]…differences between these two…as an error or discrepancy signal. The discrepancy represents a lack of correspondence between the meanings in the identity standard and the meanings in the situation» (Burke, 2006: 82). Therefore, the quality of identity can be variable and assumes an individual or collective meaning. That fact would depend on the position occupied by who takes part in a group, or the way he chooses to be represented. In this context, the cultural frame of reference within which actors are involved is characterized by both an individual recognition, based on the diversification of parameters of personal identification, either by a local and collective perception of identity, produced by a process that stands for direct conditioning members of a specific community. Such collective perception of identity will thus allow members to define particular features within the group of reference, and start to explain some kind of idiosyncratic uniqueness existing in it.

46 It may further produce two general sources of identity change resulting in both a problem of “verification” for a particular identity and the generation of multiple identities activated together (Burke, 2006, 85). «The difference between these sources of change lies in the source of the conflict of meanings. In the first case, the source is a disturbance to the meanings in the external situation, causing them to be perceived as discrepant from the meanings of the identity standard. In the second case, it is an internal conflict manifested when two identities, each controlling the same dimension of meaning, but at different levels, are activated at the same time. In view of each of these sources, the meanings in the identity standard(s) are likely to change in the service of making identity verification possible. What it means to be who one is will change» (Burke, 2006, 85)35. Because of the direct (or indirect) relationship between groups and civil society (or dominant culture), membership feeling ensures the modification of definite cultural parameters of social actors without letting them lose their own identity. In addition, this guarantees a mutual recognition, which, initially outlines the generation of a socio-cultural similarity between minorities and civil society. Subsequently, it proclaims a clear diversity between dominant culture and national sub-groups. In the first instance, it generates a continuity process that feeds intergroup feelings confirmation and is aimed at strengthening local unit. In the second, that means, starting by a formalized recognition by part of a community’s member (or in case of a collective actor, from a “generalized alter”) to another member of the same minority, collective identity comes to be institutionalized and, finally, the community begins to exist socially and publicly. In both cases, the effect of need for cultural recognition and the use of culture as an element for the identification of specific parameters of behavior, habitus, national minorities ancestral traditions, refer to both an objectified social dimension in itself (which results in the presence of institutions and observable practices) and a subjective dimension of individual and collective cultural standards. In the first case, the reference to the objectification of cultural characteristics of groups dates back to the need for individuals to self-identificating as a part of the specific context to which they belong, which they contribute to characterize, and by which they are conditioned in their forms of behavior. In second instance, the problem is more complex and it can be addressed on the base of two dimensions.

35 For our case study, Mexican population of African descent is losing its “original identity” and is replacing it with new standards of behavior by mixing the original African values, traditions and norms with indigenous or “Mexican-Mestizo” customs. The problem will be explained later. 47 First, they can be directed to define social actors from an ad intra-ad extra recognition that seeks to reconstruct the dynamic of differentiation between communities and national framework. Consequently, this fact imposes a membership- diversity dynamic between subjects and social environment without value judgments based on a qualitative characterization of any other member of the group (Messick & Mackie, 1989; Gleizer Salzman, 1997). Second, they tend to emphasize the difference between community social context and “national culture”, by recontextualizing the image of the group that is related with the construction of a representation of a “generalized other”, distinct and separate from the symbolic universe of minority. In this case, the concept of identity appears twofold. On one hand, it underlines the idea of “process” that seeks to explain socio-cultural identity as a flexible status constructed from specific historical dynamics that are at the core of cultural group formation and represent a set of social, cultural and political trajectories that serve as a common background of meanings for actors. On the other, it tends to explain diversity from a praxis-structure dichotomy, taking into account the need to define specific cultural and social parameters in spite of differences that exist between minority and dominant culture (Bauman, 2002). In the first dynamic, the effect of conditioning historical events affects both feeling of belonging to a community (by contributing to explain reasons why members of one group seek cohesion) and the institutional response to their presence36. In the second, which we consider to be an effect of processuality of collective identity, the conditions of subordination that normally accompany minorities impose an amplification of difference (often resulting in a “generalized alter” negative perception) that, on one hand, asserts the existence of different socio-cultural parameters that take part in the general symbolic universe. On the other, it leads to define minorities as local

36 The reference includes both effect of global historical events (the colonization of America), and more recent cultural dynamics (as in this case of social movements as a way for negotiating collective identity). In spite of what we said, if in both cases we can talk about “collective identity” and “background of meanings”, on the other hand (as regarding with ethnic minorities or cultural communities) the historical background and the collective memory linked to race or ethnic identification obtain a weight considerably above of what the political or social affiliation show. In particular, as regards cultural minorities which have undergone a process of social, cultural or linguistic transformation, as well as an imposition of “racial whitening”, we must refer to a “standard identity” which is very hard to modify only starting from some “last generation” political or cultural affiliations. This fact supposes the presence of a feeling of emotional responsibility, linked to the dynamics of ancestral memory, reinforcing more vehemently the reasons for internal groups’ cohesion, and obtaining a greater community response in the socio-cultural differentiation process with civil society or other groups existing within the territory. See Burke (2006). 48 sub-groups that are independent of the Nation and show a set of characteristics generated by the imposition of a subjective criterion of diversity. Such socio-cultural process establishes a dilemma between universalism and particularism, which offers the individuals the option of judging a physical or social object taking into account specific social general criteria for all objects of their category, or deciding to focuse their attention and interest only on the cultural object that characterizes them and, at the same time, they directly or indirectly condition’ (Sciolla, 2007: 67)37. In the first case, actors choose a criterion of “universal representation”; in the second they prefer an idea of “relative particularism” (Sciolla, 2007: 67).

37 «Il…dilemma è tra universalismo e particolarismo…se l’attore decide di giudicare un oggetto fisico o sociale partendo da criteri generali relativi a tutti gli oggetti della stessa categoria, allora opta per l’universalismo. Se al contrario, considera l’oggetto secondo criteri che si applicano solo a questo oggetto...[la cultura]...e a condizioni particolari, allora opta per il particolarismo». 49

Chapter II Identity as a Way for Recognition

51 52 1. Social Implications of the Identity Concept The concept of identity, from its massive imposition on academic research, especially on psychology and social sciences, has marked many of analytical dynamics in the study of relations between actors and institutions, cultural minorities and civil society, within States. More clearly, it refers to all daily life aspects and it seems to be the main result of both specific cultural dynamics representing forms of artifact or observable behaviors; and habitus, cognitive schemata or internalized social representations processed by actors during their intra and inter-group relations. In this context, and starting from the internalization of norms, values or traditions that characterize a group, cultural meanings generated within the collectivity contribute to organize symbolic forms of common experience, and they extend to the members of the community’s “world of life”. At the same time, they generate specific socio-cultural representations that are shared by the members of the same symbolic universe, and distinct from the widespread dominant cultural framework. The problem of negotiation of identity, then, poses two specific and complementary analytical lines. On one hand, they explain self-perception of who contributes feeding the socio-cultural space of a collectivity as a “full member” of a certain symbolic- cultural frame, a symbolic universe established as a generalized way of recognition for that minority. On the other, they suppose a process of inter-group distinction, based on differentiation of cognitive schemas and local cultural frameworks aimed at developing an “us-them” relationship in which both social roles and sense of belonging assume the existence of a unique and distinguishable socio-cultural space featured by exclusive characteristics. Such local socio-cultural elements establish a new limit of separation between what falls within a certain scheme of thought, use, value or practice, and a socio-cultural context that, on the contrary, ensures a specific systemic heritage related to a shared set of symbols that differs from it. In the first case, identity serves as a cohesive principle according to which members of a group are characterized by a “mutual equality”. In this case, identity turns itself into a hypothetical space through which pluralism and multiculturality are not more considered as analytic principles constructed by an utopist set of local processes of representation. Conversely, it seems to be rooted to what Assies, “echoing” the theoretical perspective of Hale, considered a twofold socio-cultural continuum aimed at defining self-definition and governance of minorities, and promoting both a sort of 53 “managed” and a “transformative multiculturalism” (Assies, 2005: 3). In this context, minorities come to be avoided, inducing them to seek for the recognition of their cultural identity as part of a homogeneous environment within which each actor contributes for the establishment and maintenance of that specific socio-cultural unity. The managed multiculturalism promotes indeed cultural pluralism, but it is not possible to translate it into a concrete and durable effect for members of misrecognized cultural groups. In contrast, transformative multiculturalism makes a real redistribution of power and resources. The two models, in turn, correspond to a “from above” and a “from below” multiculturalism. In the first case, essentialist expressions and “bounded group’s identities” are reinforced, while the latter would be associated with the progressive identity politic expressions such as “diversity” and “hybridity” (Assies, 2005: 3). Meaning that, not avoiding the fact that, as argued by Messick & Mackie, «in- groups are seen as more variable than outgroups…[, and]…variability judgments depend on (a) the retrieval individual exemplars from memory, and (b) the use of an availability heuristic to estimate the shape of the group distribution» (Messick & Mackie, 1989: 55). In this context, if we consider the concept of identity in explaining the reasons for acceptance or rejection, it does not limit us to describe dynamics of exclusion, potential hostility to the community, personal degree of self-perception, internalization process rules. It also allows us to consider a degree of systematic construction of prejudice, acceptance of in-group communicativeness and modification of normative parameters, depending on social mobility among minorities (Tajfel, 1981: 133, 1982: 56-61). What it means is considering the processes through which an actor decides to participate in a group or, in the case of a community, assuming the conditioning mechanisms among minorities as a continuous tension between self and hetero-recognition. Such relation also allows the analysis of individual behaviors of social actors according to their own judgment about community values, emotional involvement, or kind of identity recognition (Cerulo, 1997). If actors have a positive evaluation of a certain level of representation created by a self-recognition criterion, we would talk about what social psychology defines a process of self-relevant meanings construction (Tajfel, 1981). On the contrary, if minorities and their members take part into a society whose practice involves the presence of a transformative multiculturalism, the concept of identity will take the meaning of an “autopoietic system” which allows the assimilation of minority’s value patterns with the 54 generalized cultural system, without avoiding the differentiation process between the localized symbolic universe and dominant culture. In this case, the State will promote both the internalization of normative patterns of the out-group and the creation of a multiple identity level for all participants in the dynamic. In second instance, the idea of multiculturalism takes the meaning of a “structured system”, where universal value patterns are not the “glue elements” for the unity of community members that belong to a specific socio-cultural environment. It is established as a way for differentiation between diverse symbolic universes, by supposing identity as just a method for separating minorities from the national cultural frame. Therefore, while taking part in the national socio-cultural context, local communities or cultural groups define themselves in accordance with their own representation criteria and seek recognition of their identity starting by a twofold dynamic. Thanks to a sense of belonging to a generalized cultural frame (often identified with the national culture), and through the conviction they own unique characteristics placing them in a position of distinction and otherness. Finally, groups are recipients within which social actors can recognize themselves and others as part of a collectivity characterized by shared values and norms. Simultaneously, they ensure their internal cohesion and demarcate a thin cultural boundary between local and national culture that supposes what Giménez defines a “criterion of distinctness” (Giménez, 1994, 1997a, 1997b).

1.1. Identity as Equality The idea at the base of the concept of identity, primarily dates back to Aristotle’s conception of the essence based on the consideration that, the subject (above all) was equal to himself and therefore his identity represented the set of his all internal qualities that were innate or apprehended from a logical sequence of thought (principle of identity)38. What it means is that, it was felt the concept was aimed at building a virtual space guaranting a psychological background able to create for the individual an intimate super partes personal identity. At the same time, it was considered capable to feed the cultural environment of actor’s experience, starting by a principle that Larraín

38 Even if considering identity as a principle of equality (from which actors perceive themselves as “entities equal only to themselves”) which dates back to Aristotelian conception of ᾖν εἶναι (“essence”), we do not intend to enter into the merits of the problem. This would be extremely huge and not relevant for our topic. On the contrary, we limit our reference to its mention. For further information on concepts of “essence” and “identity principle”, we refer respectively to Book IV and Book X of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. 55 defines «a subjectivist position that conceives of identity as emerging from personal disposition and which neglects the role of social environment» (Larraín, 2000: 24). In spite of it, if we understand the concept as a way for self-recognition, based on the relationship me-mine, actors experience an extension of their self-perception that comes to be aimed at both modifying their own self-identity – supposing, within the socio- cultural environment to which they belong, their own recognition as social entities equal only to themselves – and recognizing the presence of a generalized other to which they can decide (or not) to direct a specific set of “meaningful actions”. By this, they suppose the presence of a relationship that, on one hand, implies self-recognition as a way to conserve individual identity; on the other (by recognizing a generalized alter as the receiver of their stimulus), it supposes the existence of values, norms and beliefs objectively completely different from those shown by the given social actor. If we consider recognition as a way of self-awareness, this principle can establish a sort of collective action aimed at generally define essence, by taking into account the standard identity of each member of a community or group, and turning itself into the sum of specific individual identities through which individuals feel and share the same problems for recognition (Jenco, 2008). Individuals start to use their identity as a set of meanings that can lead them to the creation of a specific collective action through which groups are classified and recognized by both community’s members and civil society. In other words, if we understand identity as a way thanks to which people recognize themselves as equal to others, we also suppose recognition and representation able to be changed into something that does not preclude the possibility of a certain kind of equality within a category of reasons. Such reasons allow people to consider themselves as a unit ethically established and considered as a sort of privileged moral station of autonomous beings. An essence community’s members consider «something to be reckoned with...» (Bird, 2004: 211) and thanks to which see their rights, beliefs, and values formally (or informally) recognized. By contrast, while difference represents “formally” the main motive for socio- cultural separation between actors or groups, identity is supposed to be able to organize a dynamic of “active respect” that acts even if that kind of diversity impulses a principle of separation some multiculturalists call “profound diversity” (Habermas, 1995; Beitz, 1989; Kymlicka & Norman, 1996b). A principle, which can be seen by a twofold perspective.

56 On one hand, it establishes the need to differ from a generalized alter; on the other, it imposes a political practice of recognition we call, referring to John Rawls, to a conception of “shared justice” (Rawls, 1971, 1992, 2001; Taylor, 1992b). In both cases the construction of identity comes to be directly conditioned from a dynamic of inclusion-exclusion. Meaning that allowing actors not only to identify the “non-generalized other” as a conditioning and positive heterogeneous externality, but also like a symbol of a homogeneous collectivity with which the same actor may have more or less affinity, depending on his own affiliation degree, needs, desires or emotional disposition. This “within-group” similarity creates a dynamic of “between- groups” difference but it also establishes an identity-connection, which produces what Wright (1964) defined a “perfect community dynamic”. «A perfect community – he writes – is objectively one which manifests cultural uniformity, spiritual union, institutional unity, and material unification in the highest possible degree and subjectively one with which the members resemble one another closely in evaluations, purposes, understandings, appreciations, prejudices, appearances, and other characteristics which any of them consider important. They are all in continuous contact with group sentiment, contributing to group policy and group decisions» (Wright, 1964: 204). Finally, identity as equality can be the trigger for respect in the sense of a special way to be aware of others through a recognition-respect dynamic, or an appraisal- respect one. In the first case the concept «consists in giving appropriate consideration or recognition to some feature of its object in deliberating about what to do» (Darwall, 1977: 38)39; secondly, it involves holding people in high regard, or admiring their “character-related features” without any cultural, religious or racial identity conditioning (Darwall, 1977: 41). The actor interacts with the group in which he/she takes part and establishes a sequence of stimuli-responses based on a way of mutual and bidirectional recognition. The first one is directed to identifying the self as a single subject endowed with unique features that show its knowledge background, ways of thinking, and habitus (Gleizer Salzman, 1997). The second attempts to generate a socio-cultural connection between “micro symbolic universe” and “symbolic universe of reference”. Identity thus takes the semblance of a set of mixed behaviors and modus vivendi generated by both personal

39 See also Sanchez-Burks & Huy (2009), Bird (2004), Hill (2000), Barrett (2006). 57 contributions of each actor in an attempt to enrich community culture, and dynamics of group directed to connect each other the actors which share the same cultural space. Therefore, this dynamic establishes a kind of qualitative identity, as suggested by Larraín, which refers to the set of qualities «with which a person or group sees themselves intimately connected» (Larraín, 2000: 25). Such type of identity can be analyzed in a threefold perspective, meaning that strating by how individuals define themselves; from the relationship individuals have with tangible and intangible objects that help to characterize the essence of community awareness; and by taking into account the relationship between self-image and others-recognition. In the first case, actors and cultural community reflexively and reciprocally recognize themselves, by generating a social dynamic from which they can mutually perceive each other and accept common cultural patterns. In the second instance, from a process of appropriation of cultural objects, individuals develop a certain sense of membership and recognize each other as “full members” of the same group in which they take part. In this case, in the measure the social contract between the group and the social environment increases, the number of elements of in-group similarity and characteristics based on which actors differ will also increase, impulsing both perceived variability and differentiation (Messick & Mackie, 1989). Thirdly, through an ego-alter relationship, the identity of groups is institutionalized and comes to define both the space of common experience shared by members within a particular symbolic universe and the boundaries existing between community socio- cultural identity and national culture. At this juncture, identity is defined not only as an element of cohesion between actor and structure. It also embodies a form of mutual recognition in which the equalization process is directed to the definition of themselves, contributing to self-recognition of social actors as entities separated from a general acculturation process. Subsequently, it refers to the perception of a “non-generalized other” comparable for its own characteristics, values, attitudes or culture to any other member of the same group. That fact supposes not only the presence of a standard identity which wants to understand equality as the unique way to comprehend each others or to interchange some values that are not part of the “generalized cultural framework”. It also supposes the existence of both a “population” and “cultural variation” which embody a sort of continuum, «…illustrating the state of multiculturalism ranges from an ultimate level of intergroup diversity» (Nemetz & 58 Christensen, 1996: 438), and a way to accept diversity as part of a much more general national identity, based on rights and mutual recognition. Ultimately, the concept represents an evaluation process of equality of conditions which characterizes the members of a group or community as part of a specific context and as co-generators of the same social, cultural, political or economic conditions against a generalized national framework (rights)40. This factor enhances groups ability to become institutionalized and demonstrate their active presence in the society to which they belong, not only by enjoying recognition of their culture, but also by gaining respect of their habitus, practices, customs and race starting from a distribution of special rights directed to recover, maintain or develop cultural parameters that characterize communities. Thus, minorities cannot only get a formal institutionalization of equality; they can also gain a peculiar way of recognizing their difference41.

1.2. Identity as Difference In the context of global societies, reducing under-representation, institutionalizing difference and formalizing group representation are the central aims of identity process negotiation within those states that contemporary political philosophers defined polyethnic or multinational (Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007; Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992). Thus, while it has been said social, cultural, political or racial identity represents a principle of equality between members of a given community, we can also argue identity embodies a cultural connection between social actors and minorities, and

40 The reference to an equality of conditions and rights within a cultural group or a national minority, and the need of an egalitarian recognition between individual and collective identity refer both to the rawlsian theory of justice, summarized in the idea of primary goods. From this perspective, individuals and groups’ identity becomes not only a formalization of mutual recognition. It also embodies a way of mutual representation of freedom leading to a sort of interdependent relationship, necessary to social, cultural, political or economical dynamics, within modern multicultural societies, and aimed at obtaining specific «rights and liberties, opportunities and powers, income and wealth» (Rawls, 1971: 92). 41 Legislative perspective, based on obtaining special rights for national minorities, refers to two items. Firstly, an individual that belongs to a specific community should enjoy automatically the same rights any other member of the group actually does. Secondly, communities should have the opportunity to confront each other with other minorities, existing in the territory, and find the presence of an equality of rights (depending on characteristics of specific clusters) for them and other groups. For our case study, Afro-Mexicans enjoy neither an institutional presence guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution (in which only appears a special mention directed to the national ab-origine population – Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos: art. n.2), nor a classification by “race” or “phenotype” in the statistics of INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía). See the link “Socio demografía y género” at INEGI web page (http://inegi.org.mx/inegi/default.aspx). 59 symbolizes a socially recognized way for highlighting specific differences between individuals and civil society, communities and States. Especially for what concerns diversity, the role of distinctness, as mentioned by Giménez (1994, 1997a, 1997b), takes three different meanings. Depending on the one chosen, it refers to a kind of distinguishable unity whose function is crucial to differentiate itself from others of its species; a special way of communication which supposes the presence of two or more interlocutors (different between themselves) that confront their own specific positions and their exclusive requests on the base of linguistic, social or cultural different codes aimed at obtaining a benefit; a kind of socio- cultural recognition based on a perception of diversity as a way for institutionalization of representation (Habermas, 1992, 2005; Melucci, 1985)42. In the first case, an actor is not only different from all others by definition. He also differs qualitatively from his individual performance in a number of socially recognized roles (role identity), because he belongs to certain groups in which he is also recognized as an effective member (membership identity), or because he has a not exchangeable history or biography that is also known, recognized and even appreciated by others. In this way, senses of a human group come to be measured not only thanks to the degree of membership feeling or acceptance level, by members of community, but also through the range and sensitivity that actors are found to differ (Tuan, 2002). In this sense, a group represents a cluster leading to its own «construction of identity...[as]...an intersubjective process of mutual recognition» (Larraín, 2000: 27), developed in a continuous tension between dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion. On the other side, it embodies the socio-cultural environment in which actors can generate both their own collective identity and a specific set of “default” and shared cultural codes that allows them making cognitive comparisons between local and national culture throughout an “other” and “self-categorization” (Foreman & Whetten, 2002). In the second, both groups and individuals embody subjects able to communicate each other by means of a cathetic structure of thinking through which they direct their specific “speech acts” to a “generalized other” which represents the receiver of information. Therefore, while actors try to generate a connection between them and

42 The references to Habermas and Melucci are both intended to develop a theoretical trajectory that could explain diversity as a perspective aimed at constructing representation dynamics in modern societies. The communication aspect or allusion to the idea of membership can be dated back to individual or collective identity context, or explain the relationship existing between local symbolic universe and national frame. For the Mexican case, it will be explained later. 60 other members of the community, the principle of difference pass through an instrumentalization of the group culture and generates a sort of common appraisal of a sense of belonging, mutual recognition and cohesion within the group of descent. Accordingly to that, is generated a mechanism of comparison that, on one side tends to increase the willingness to reproduce the same codes, beliefs, behaviors inside the group (perpetrating community culture); on the other, it seeks difference from a socio-cultural context that doesn’t take part of the communitarian environment. Such identity comparison process can be operationalized in two ways: «as a member’s evaluation of the organization’s identity based on…self-identity…[of actors]» (Foreman & Whetten, 2002: 619; Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Dutton, Dukerich & Harquail, 1994); and «as a comparison between a members’ perceptions of what the organization’s current identity is with what they would prefer the identity to be» (Foreman & Whetten, 2002: 619; Reger, Gustafson, De Marie, & Mullane, 1994; Whetten, Lewis & Mischel, 1992). On one side, depending on the mutual recognition degree of members, the principle of difference helps to reinforce internal unity of groups and valorizes the sense of belonging. On the other hand, because of the inter-relationship between communities and national context, the process of identity construction supposes the generation of a cultural divide of homogeneity of groups that leads to the creation of new forms of self- recognition and representation that are directed to the production – within a community and starting from an “us-them” relationship with the socio-cultural national environment – of an undefined number of multiple identities. This kind of process can be created, firstly, by ensuring continuity of ownership and internalization (at least partial) of the cultural complex that serves as a collective symbol for the protection of «...‘special’ interests...to the member of a specific group» (Réaume, 2000: 245); secondly, by «justifying the ‘special’ character of minority cultural rights» (Réaume, 2000: 245). At the same time, multiple identity creates an acceptance-rejection dynamic, which ensures a dichotomic relation between a phase of “cultural defense” and a process of acculturation based on the internalization of customs, values, norms or language of those who do not belong to the community but takes part in the national cultural environment. Finally, groups constitute specific local unities that, in spite of taking part in national cultural framework, they can decide of self-representing starting by a particular construction of socially-valued cultural meanings. Such meanings are comparable to generalized national values and produced from a sense of belonging that tends to 61 improve the social perception of historically under-represented groups and aims at generating a kind of national consciousness to account for the presence of communities by means of a process of legitimization de facto of minority rights as well (Mansbridge, 2000). This not only refers to a dissonance between perceptions regarding “who I am” and “who we are”, but also supposes a new way of perception for identity comparison gaps, which seeks the activation of a set of a congruence-enhancing responses by part of the State. The challenge for identity is thus not more being recognized as part of some cultural environment similar to another; its aim is getting recognized and represented by (respectively) somebody who does not take part into that specific socio-cultural space and somebody who cares the presence of diversity as a worth for society. If that condition is provided, communities turn themselves into an intermediate cultural space where traditions and norms are valued by members, but also by part of civil society. Indeed, if identity is considered a way to distinguish somebody from some other actor, the State should assure the respect of a principle of inclusion that assumes the existence of both. Community members are part of the generalized symbolic universe but they are also part of their own micro cultural environment, and they assure the continuity of a certain dynamic, which is considered by Nemetz and Christensen as a functional perspective of identity aimed at resolving the potential conflict cultural diversity represents (Nemetz & Christensen, 1996). If it is true, identity is supposed to assume the role of a “socially desirable” element of conjunction between an assimilation process that would be tended to absorb (not integrate) minorities into the society. On the other hand, it would formalize the exercise of collective rights, which guarantees a kind of identity and representation, in respect of the principle of cultural security (Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992; Young, 1990). With the affirmation of diversity, group identity is avowed and individual rights become not only the determining factor for the generation of some inter-cultural homogeneity within communities. They also start to embody the social channel through which those same national sub-groups acquire a real institutional importance in the political organization of diversity. In this context, while dynamics of recognition and the struggle for minority rights help to define formal aspects of the criterion of distinctness, the effect of such processes generates an opportunity of representation through «recognizing and accomodating the distinctive identities and needs of...groups» (Kymlicka & Norman, 2000: 2). As regards 62 to the former, the presence of a specific identity which brings together the members of a group with similar characteristics and guides them towards a common goal or ideal, represents a principle of inter-homogenization that contributes to a clear demarcation «...of who is a member and who is not» (Pallí, 2003: 317). In the second case, State plays a decisive role for the recognition of diversity by both defining personal or group identities and taking into account needs of national minorities and socio-cultural image of the country. Therefore, while a specific negotiated accommodation process is generated for national minorities, sub-groups may obtain the opportunity to participate in social life «...in a way that does not improperly diminish the prospects for peace...and...in a way that pays proper attention to the interests, wishes, and opinion of all the inhabitants...» (Waldron, 2000: 155). Moreover, the relationship at the base of minorities’ identity negotiation process supposes not only an institutional relationship with State, which offers to the members of local cultural groups the option to obtain a variable number of special minority rights according to their own characteristics and needs. It also assumes an equitable management of freedoms and rights that leads to the representation of presence and identity of the groups that are seeking a social, cultural, economic, political or racial recognition for their members. On the other hand, if national minorities are not institutionally recognized by the State, the identity of groups cannot be negotiated and the obtaining of institutional improvements aimed at recovery or maintenance of their culture is avoided. As a consecuence, the socio-cultural context within which minorities and national society are embedded turns itself into an exclusive symbolic universe that, because of its autopoietic properties, allows actors negotiating a new way of collective recognition. A sort or intercultural method of representation that supposes a process of acculturation where the presence of exclusive communitarian characteristics impulse cultures melting into each other, but also increasing the difference between sub-groups and national society. In this sense, the “identity as difference” generates a situation of widespread exclusion and marginalization against minorities and creates the socio-cultural conditions through which variability of value judgments depend on «retrieval individual…[and collective]…exemplars from memory and…the use of an availability heuristic to estimate the shape of the group distribution» (Messick & Mackie, 1989: 55). So, while the degree to which group members are seen as being dispersed (variability) reflects the spread of a distribution, the likelihood of distinguishing among group’s members on a particular attribute differentiation reflects the number of attribute 63 levels and their likelihood. «Because increased contact with a group increases the number of exemplars as well as the number of ways in which they differ, such contact should increase both perceived variability and differentiation. Because…[of]…people have more contact with in-group than out-group members…the former are seen as more differentiated and variable»(Messick & Mackie, 1989: 55). This fact supposes a differentiation that not only establishes the presence of variable human, cultural, social or whatever attributes of actors belonging to a certain limited community. It is also generates a perception of specific qualities that, if present, contribute to the acceptance process in a specific cultural environment and, if absent, generate a dynamic of rejection and discrimination (Link & Phelan, 2001; Goffman, 1963; Levin & Van Laar, 2005; Major & O’Brien, 2005; Reskin, 2012; Pincus, 1994; Pincus & Ehrlich, 1994). The causes of this lack of recognition are not limited only to generate a situation of group destabilization that, for example, depends on social dynamics that show a deficiency in employment, on consequent needs for out migration to both national and international destinations, on breakdown of family links and local cultural activities. In addition, and based on the above mentioned, the phenomenon contributes to an ideological construction of ethnic or racial stereotypes which are automatically attributed to those who are in a position of subordination, which causes a negative perception of minorities’ image and reduces opportunities for integration and development for these groups. In this way, instead of promoting the improvement of the social perception and integration of minorities, difference contributes to amplify dynamics of prejudice and results in building a permanent relationship «...between an attribute and a stereotype»

(Link & Phelan, 2001: 365). Its effects are the loss of status and the presence of discrimination against who, by choice or cultural origin, is part of sub-groups. Within the national cultural symbolic environment, minorities’ identity comes thus to be undervalued and sub-groups do not get any recognition of their rights (that State should ensure by decree), nor enough political power for self-representating as groups. Now, while we assume that identity, specially the individual one, cannot be separated from the perception that a certain “generalized other” has about us (creating an a priori way for race classification) and the “real” aesthetic appearance of individuals, we also have to accept people can choose a different way to define themselves, depending on their own historical trajectory, social context, social classes, social structure. In this 64 case, race comes to be a specific way (a very powerful one) to understand how phenotypes work for both self-recognition within minorities and civil society (Martínez Montiel, 1993). Who does not take part into a specific group, culturally, ethnically, racially or religiously defined (and often territorially located) can assume the acceptance of a certain identity which differs for ones’; on the contrary, actors could decide to refuse any opportunity of integration for communities’ members. In the same way, «…the personal and political bases of racial identity cannot be neatly separated. For many of mixed race, the personal choice of identity is implicated by the public and political question of identification» (Leverette, 2009: 435). Minority members can thus decide if they want to be identified as part of a specific micro cultural symbolic universe, or as a limited proportion of the national frame. In both cases, identity represents the unique way for defining some parameters for acceptation or rejection by part of State or civil society. If an official recognition takes place, communities obtain a status and a specific social position within a society and start to formally exist. This fact conditions the resolution of public policies in favor of minorities depending on two core factors. On one hand, if members prefer to be recognized as part of their own symbolic universe they should be prepared to accept social conditions imposed by the generalized cultural environment they belong to. What it means is that they have to respect the decision of a majority that can also choose to reject their position and status as “official citizens”. This practice impulse a specific process of identity negotiation based on the principle of diversity. On the other, if the acceptation is complete, it means society chooses to organize the ideological space, which composes national identity, and inserts a new way to negotiate parameters of recognition and representation of a sort of “legalized” diversity. Minority members are thus not necessary tended to define their groups in either term. They conceptualize the Nation as strictly bounded between insiders and outsiders, and seek to define attributes of national identity or character that all members share. By another perspective, «…claiming such an essence for the nation…sometimes…oppresses individuals within who do not conform to these national norms, and sometimes oppresses outsiders against whom national members set themselves in opposition» (Tebble, 2006: 467; Allport, 1954; Blumer, 1958). State can thus decide to integrate minorities by some parameter of respect that permit to combine 65 national identity with the local one, and suppose the existence of a combination of both a social intelligence, aimed at organizing cooperation and self-recognition as a specific collective dynamic of identity definition, and an emotional one, based on a way of organizational renewal directed to structure a methodical production of minority claims (Goleman, 2006; Barrett, 2006; Côté & Miners, 2006; Salovey & Grewal, 2005). By contrast, if that kind of collective stimulus is lacking or State does not take place into the process of designing public policies destined to the recognition of identity, the specific claims of groups cannot obtain any opportunity to be heard, nor to be solved, producing a specific problem of misrecognition and exclusion. Reasons for exclusion are several, and for the purpose of our research, we consider two mayor ones: a lack of self-recognition with the own group of descent (which represents the main result of social implications of dynamics of stigma) and race. In both cases, the concepts are complementary and they feed one another. As regards to the former, the concept of stigma refers to dynamics of exclusion produced by a prejudice generated by the formation of stereotypes that lead to a negative classification of an individual or a group of actors. That is thanks to three core factors: the group identification and collective goals; the dominant culture; the reasons for seeking recognition for themselves as members of a community or a specific minority. In the first case, actors decline their self-recognition with the cultural parameters of the group to which they take part and start searching similarity to the general cultural framework. In the second, they recognize national values and norms (the dominant characteristics of national culture), by preferring them to the originals values that, before, they shared with the group of belonging. Finally, they lose their interest in the original symbolic universe preferring to perceive themselves as part of the Nation away from theirs racial and cultural origins (Major & O’Brien, 2005; Link & Phelan, 2001). Subsequently, members of a national minority may be engaged in a process of self- marginalization that either depends on a loss of self esteem (or self-recognition) that tend to the neglect of the group, or on a weak self-identification with the characteristics of actors belonging to the same cultural environment. That fact would explain a lack of cultural self-consciousness43.

43 This point will be taken into account later. 66 More specifically, studying the idea of stigma lies not only in describing dynamics of exclusion-inclusion that are at the core of social interactions to which both the concept and its effects are inextricably connected, but also, it is based on the importance of approaching its definition from two other additional reasons. The first one refers to the perception of a “generalized alter” examined in light of the socio-cultural differences that stand out within the national symbolic universe; the other seeks to explain the effects of stigma on the behavior (then on modus vivendi, traditions, and sense of community membership) of people that belong to subordinated national minorities. So contrary to our evaluation of the concept of race, stigma does not represent a human quality (Klineberg, 1935, 1963; Loehlin, Gardner & Spuhler, 1975). It reflects a specific type of individual or collective attitude that results in the negative perception of a person, set of individuals or attribute of any of them. This set of attributes is deeply discrediting and contributes to change «…the stigmatized person from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one» (Goffman, 1963: 3). At the same time, stigma stands between a perception of a “generalized other” and a social reality that takes place in a constant tension between acceptance and rejection of diversity. This sort of relation supposes that, stigma represents, specifically, the effect of a prejudice that «constitutes a special discrepancy between virtual and actual social identity» (Goffman, 1963: 3) and corresponds to a specific dynamic of discrimination. As Goffman argues, it has three different interpretations: first, stigma is based on a repulsion of body, which the author refers to peculiar physical deformities and that predominantly acquires significance in the medical analysis of the problem. In the second instance, the concept refers to a process of marginalization that depends on social behaviors resulting in any psychological dynamic that may harm who is stigmatized (such as a marked alcoholic addiction, a specific sexual preference that leads to homosexuality or lesbianism, a lack of work integration, a rigid political position). Finally, stigma is attributed to an attitude of discrimination based on mechanical dynamics of exclusion resulting in both the presence of a cultural prejudice (aimed at generating a process of self-devaluation), related to the socio-cultural environment in which individuals or minority live, and an a priori intolerance process provided by nationality, religion or racial origin of a generalized other. In this case, the effect of stigma does not only affects the ways by which dynamics of respect-disrespect of a generalized alter take place within the society (Kukathas, 1997). While the prejudicial effect of stigma reduces effective changes of minorities to interact with local 67 institutions and civil society, opportunities of social integration and development for these groups decrease and finally disappear (Goffman, 1963). As it was suggested by Major and O’Brian (2005), mechanisms by which stigma affects individuals or collectivities are fourfold: a negative treatment and direct discrimination; an expectancy confirmation processes; an automatic activation of stereotype; an identity threat processes. The negative perception of others generates a process of labeling which «can produce stereotype-consistent behavior even among people who are not members of the group, as long as they aware of the stereotype» (Major & O’Brien, 2005: 397). From this follows that, the direct effect of discrimination is amplified and «affects the social status, psychological well-being, and physical health of the stigmatized» (Major & O’Brien, 2005: 396)44. Therefore, members of stigmatized groups come to be discriminated «against in the housing market, workplace, educational settings, health care, and the criminal justice system» (Major & O’Brien, 2005: 396). The accumulation of such practices finally is “institutionalized” and collective label generation takes place under the name of “cultural stereotyping”. In this case is also possible to distinguish between the simple “action of stereotyping”, what is meant to be a discriminatory action temporally located, and a sort of “stereotype assignment”, what is clearly worse than the former. Indeed, assigning a specific stereotype to somebody or (even worse) to an entire cultural group means the identity of some specific actor (or actors) can be perceived exclusively through a classification that will persist not only along that person’s life, but also along his/her next generations and across much more societies. In this way, minorities start to be identified as somebody (a collective actor) who has a discapacity (a social one) that does not allow them being integrated into the local social structure. This same sterotypization will legitimate the general socio-cultural frame to automatically exclude all those actors identified with certain socially-recognizable features. The main result of this kind of stereotypization is a general exclusion, something we can define the product of a socio-cultural marginality that limits the recognition outside the group, but also starts to legitimate a sort of self-generative sickness, assumed from minority members as a problem produced by part of their own culture or social behavior, within the communities.

44 See also Crandall & Eshleman (2003) and Sidanius & Pratto (1999). 68 Stigma is then an action, applied on people, but also it can be considered as an effect produced by the conjunction between external and internal ascription to a specific stereotype (Ehrlich, 1962). This effect, as argued by Koenig & King (1964), can start to represent a specific way for stereotyping people and oppressing a generalized other, by using an expression of cognitively simple perception. The term “minority” takes thus the meaning of a despised group of people (not necessary lower to a larger dominant cultural community by the number of its members) that has serious problems in defining itself. By one side, if a minority decides to choose some kind of identity that is not appreciated by part of society where the community is inserted, its members start to be part of an automatic dynamic of exclusion. On the other, if the group chooses to accomplish the general social need to not be defined as black, Jews, female, mixed-race, or any other kind of undesirable definition, communities assume their real identity shall not be taken into account (Rockquemore & Laszloffy, 2003; Helms, 1990; Root, 1997). That means accepting culturally disappearing. In this context, if the problem for identity negotiation is the main limit for minorities in the struggle for self-recognition and representation, accepting to culturally disappear would be the confirmation of being a socio-culturally limited group that, in the future, could certainly suffer a consequent reduction of its opportunities to be institutionally part of the society the community belongs to. Despite of that, direct and indirect effects of stigma are not limited to reduce opportunities for access to services, work or health system. It also contributes to determine more or less constant changes in the behavior of social actors that are members of a stigmatized group. What it means is that, depending on the degree of discrimination and the continuity through which a stereotype is applied on the socio- cultural reality to which a given community belongs, individuals begin to modify momentarily or constantly their behavior whitin a socio-cultural environment that does not require such a change. On the contrary, actors who participate in this experience tend to develop a personality that both generates a process of confirmation of the stereotype by which they are defined within the society or other minorities, as well as leads actors to «…denigrate their…[own]…phenotypical reality, manipulate perceptions, and engage in what amounts to social racism» (Nutini, 1997: 228). Something that does not only negatively affects the self-identity perception of groups, but also generates a dynamic of cultural invisibility within the general national framework (Levin & Van Laar, 2005). 69 What it means is that cultural invisibility produces a twofold socio-cultural dynamics, distributed between disparity and discrimination. If minorities suffer a certain level of disparity, it means some interests come to be favored over others, where the former are those, which belong to the dominant cultural groups and the latter those, which are represented by lower classes or socially stigmatized ones. On the other side, if communities suffer a dynamic of discrimination, this is meant to be understood as an unwarranted differential treatment of persons based on group membership, supposing an unequal treatment between equals (Reskin, 2012; Dasgupta, 2004). Which it is the result of a different way of institutionalized discrimination, between wages, job type, taste- based prejudice (Lang & Lehmann, 2011). Recognition of individual and group identity decreases, and the affected communities suffer a reduction in both their chances of cultural representation and their social status. Depending on that, national stigmatized sub-groups are unable to begin a negotiating process to their specific identity and cannot improve their conditions. Cultural reconstruction process is interrupted and the lack of community dynamics of symbolic reproduction affects traditional culture in several areas: family links are weakened by reducing strength of basic structures of community life; use of original languages or ancient religious practices tend to disappear; sense of social consciousness and belonging, within the groups, loses its own relevance (Ampola & Corchia, 2010). Moreover, the effects of stigma reduce security of collective identity by imposing on members of groups the elusion of traditional standards for cultural reproduction, and creating a disadvantage that, instead of bringing civil society and communities together in an attempt of cultural integration, it amplifies the opportunity gap between minorities and Nation. Finally, legitimacy of groups is affected, and “national minorities” obtain neither formal (or informal) recognition of its existence, nor the presence of what Kymlicka (1996a) considers a socio-cultural environment which should guarantee same rights, equal respect and opportunities to achieve success or failure based on personal effort, dedication and personal attitudes despite differences in race, social class or gender. A social environment within which people should have equality of opportunity, and be able to obtain success of failure only depending on his or her own performance. If somebody fails, it should not be because he or she happened to be born into the wrong group. His or her fate «…should not privileged or disadvantaged by such morally

70 arbitrary factors as the racial or ethnic group we were born into…» (Kymlicka, 2002: 58)45. Thus, referring specifically to race, it embodies a twofold representation of the problem: on one hand, it provides a barrier between minorities’ and national culture; on the other side, it stands out as an element of pride and self-representation for cultural communities’ members that share a unique historical trajectory and a peculiar set of physical traits. Because of its importance for the discussion about identity negotiation, it will be analyzed separately.

2. Race The importance of analyzing the concept of race lies on two distinct and complementary reasons. On one hand, because of historical dynamics of mestizaje experienced by Latin America, the concept of race is particularly suitable for analyzing human diversity within the regional social context, and the relationship between cultural groups involved in this process (Skidmore & Graham, 1990; Harris, 1964; Beals, 1955; Carroll, 1991; Cope, 1994; Chance, 1978; Gilroy 2000; Brubaker, 2002; Picotti, 1990). On the other, because despite of the negative meaning race assumed in the past and the decision to replace it with the “more comfortable” concepts of human typology or ethnicity46, it reflects specific theoretical and practical aspects of the problem of recognition that, especially for the Latin American case, can lead us to generate an innovative reinterpretation of its significance. In the first case, and specifically regarding to our research, the concept of race adapts perfectly to Afro-Mexican reality that represents our “target population”47. In the second, a further interpretation of its meaning may offer an opportunity to discuss socio-cultural dynamics of inclusion-

45 About the topic of recognition, representation and shared justice for the Mexican case, we will discuss in the last part of the work. 46 About the meaning of race, Van de Berghe affirm that ‘we must discard the concept of race, at least as a category of analysis...[and is more]...consistently...to talk about ethnicity…’ [personal translation of the Spanish consulted version] to «…exorcise the evil of racism». In the original work of Michel Wieviorka, the author refers to Van de Berghe to explain the idea of race. See Wieviorka (1992: 91). 47 Dynamics of mestizaje affected the most part of Latin American countries and imposed the generation of new aesthetic parameters that actually, regionally speaking, are called races, being Mexico not exempted from that. Although this section is not considered going into the merits of the Mexican case, it will be a conceptual approach (to the concept of race) suitable for the further empirical research approach. 71 exclusion of the national minority we studied, by generating a new perspective of analysis for our specific problem. Historically, the idea of race represents an extremely controversial topic of debate and it has been generated as a social construction that, both in the past and the present, represented (still representing) an emblem of cultural, social and phenotypic discrimination of stigmatized people (Vinson III, 1995; Palmer, 1976). Despite of it, race represents a dimension of an integration-exclusion process that embodies not only a discriminating way for perceiving difference, but it also offers the opportunity to analyze other dimensions of its significance, that lead to a new evaluation of its methodological importance. So, while the “cultural-biological” meaning of the concept has represented the main result of the hegemonic ideology of earliest racist theories developed during the eighteenth century and was tended to define race «as a social classification that reflected…[a]…greatly expanded sense of human separateness and differences» (Smedley, 1998: 694), the concept resolved in the generation of a hierarchical classification of “human trunks”. Then, it is possible to explain it from a perspective that does not take into account the specific aspects of discrimination that, hitherto have almost exclusively characterized the concept. On the contrary, it allows us to generate a theoretical trajectory that assumes race as a social factor that explains a dynamic of recognition and pride within national minorities. We will examine this by trying to draw a theoretical approach to the concept, highlighting two specific meanings that characterized earliest theory about race. Subsequently, we will propose a third interpretation of it, taking into account both a brief historical background of Afro-Mexican descendents (focused on deculturation- transculturation process of Latin America) and the ideas of color and collective memory. The first interpretation embodies a strictly biological significance and refers to the late eighteenth century. Specifically, it refers to the production of racist theories for the demonstration of a genetic human diversity. In the second instance (over the nineteenth century), the term embodies not only the human diversity itself, but also determines a kind of reallocation of different human types into unique cultural typologies. That is, human types were identified by their distinctive cultural and physical parameters, and assigned to exclusive social categories. Finally, we consider a twofold meaning of the concept: firstly, as a discriminatory group factor that establishes clear parameters of 72 distinction between minorities and national civil society. Secondly, as a common cultural heritage justified by phenotypic, political, social, ideological motivations and based on both a collective memory and an aesthetic quality that provide actors with a strong sense of membership, brotherhood and pride. The section is divided into two stages. Firstly, we propose a brief historical trajectory of the concept of race starting from its earliest pseudo-scientific interpretations and proposing a theoretical debate directed to the further development of our research. Subsequently, while suggesting a personal understanding of the idea of race, the text seeks to establish a connection between the concept and the problem of negotiation of identity for Afro-Mexican population.

I For what concerns in the earliest interpretations of race, they refer to a biological significance, which in the past represented the most relevant element to justify a supposed inferiority of blackness (Lesane-Brown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005). As a result, race was perceived as a kind of lineage, which supposed a biological- cultural connection between individuals and communities starting by some specific “genetic endowment” and cell behavior (Rosenblueth, 1982: 32)48. These human types were classified according to their intellectual characteristics and considered lower- intellectual-endowed than white-raced people. Moreover, the concept has been referred to a more specific subdivision “by category” where «…races...[were]...permanent, separable types of human beings with innate qualities...passed on from one generation to the next» (Wade, 1997: 9-10, 12). Forth with, through a process of social alter inferiorization, race emerged as the reason for a process of stigmatization directed to the marginalization, exclusion and institutionalization of prejudice in relation to a specific human group (Hsin Yang, et alii, 2007; Corrigan, Markowitz, & Watson, 2004; Kurzban & Leary, 2001). This means that, while physical appearance began to influence the idea of race, by categorizing human beings starting by a valorization-devaluation process aimed at defining Africans provided by a low biological heritage, physical appearance embodied the element through which blackness was considered a

48 The importance of the concept of “lineage”, originally, refers to a tribal recognition based on a “blood ritual” that supposes a virtual brotherhood connection between members of the same group or community. For the Mexican case, the idea of lineage seems more appropriate to explain some kind of in- group connection produced by a communitarian sense of membership. That fact, later, will be confirmed by the existence of a color-self-recognition. Skin color turns itself into an indelible connection within communities’ members and represents both the motive for mutual recognition and identity self-definition. 73 representation of race with poor intellectual skills and physically imperfect (Lesane- Brown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005). This dynamic imposed a certain number of social negative meanings on physical variations among human groups, and it served as the base for the organization of social structure. Since that time «many people…have continued to link human identity to external physical features – and it has been associated with – an ideology about the meaning of these differences based on a notion of heredity and permanence that was unknown in the ancient world» (Smedley, 1998: 693). As a result, individuals were classified and reallocated, starting by their “original human trunks”, and they fell into a dynamic of identity construction that not only conditioned the perception of their skin color or their physical traits, but also contributed to reduce the value of their position in the society (Rosenblueth, 1982). In particular, race started to embody a form of «social identification and stratification that was seemingly grounded in the physical differences of populations interacting with one another in the New World…whose real meaning rested in social and political realities» (Smedley, 1998: 694). Consequently to that, race passed to represent not only a way of recognition for diversity between who was “pure” and who was not. It also embodied an idea of hierarchy of human beings by establishing standards of race perfection synthesized by what authors call Western civilization theory (Hrdlička, 1953: 205; Lowie, 1953)49. In this context, we can thus infer that race supposed a criterion by which the natural difference between human types was aimed at constructing specific social profiles, attributable to certain social groups, and referred to an acceptance-rejection dynamic between “non-hybridized phenotypes” and “undoubtedly genetically hybrid human trunks”. A criterion clearly referred to an assessment of human characteristics based on a purely aesthetic judgment imposed on conquered and enslaved people, and attributing to them an identity as the lowest status groups in society (Morgan, 1975). The importance attributed to skin color represented a dimension of racial problem that marked the limit of quality and human acceptance, and symbolized the determining parameter for inclusion or exclusion of actors to social, economic, cultural or political dynamics.

49 Early theories produced about race have been based on the demonstration of genetic diversity among human phenotypes. Moreover, they were aimed at showing a marked difference between individuals’ aesthetics, and intended for the confirmation of a white superiority above “human trunks” considered intellectually lower. The differentiation based on biology and race hierarchy, subsequently, was called “scientific racism”. 74 Otherwise, color, associated with social status inferiority, embodied collective and individual characteristics of a stigma that acted as a separator between who stigmatized and who was stigmatized in a process of chronic exclusion, which responds to a twofold social and cultural dynamic. In the first instance, the concept represents a way of marginalization of individuals who take part in specific cultural communities (in referring to an association between color and culture) by establishing a threefold mechanical prejudice: devaluating social identity of minorities’ members (Hrdlička, 1953; Lowie, 1953; Kleinmann, 1996), imposing them a sort of virtual social identity that could eventually turning itself into an element of a more generalized symbolic universe (meaning that being absorbed by a dominant culture) (Goffman, 1963), conditioning people in assuming to be part of a stigmatized environment, so they start to authomatically devaluate themselves (Jones, et alii, 1984)50. In the second, it represents a way of social cohesion which is directed to both self- identification of members of a specific group, and maintaining a «sense of community consciousness and commitment...by some mystical ‘racial’ essence» (Smedley, 1998: 699) based on both a «community into which…[actors]…were born and reared...[, and]...a consciousness of the historical realities and shared experiences of their ancestors» (Smedley, 1998: 699). In this sense, while such experience took into account the relational stigmatized aspects based on a colonial relationship between race and social status, the concept embodied a kind of socio-cultural phenomenon that helped to produce a specific sort of intra and inter-group dichotomous relationship between self-distinction and other- recognition directed to the construction of a new perception of the self (Jones, 2005; Duster, 2001; Taylor, 2000; Hill, 2000). While the idea of race supposed a specific social dynamic of marginalization and human devaluation, it finally started to ensure a way for mutual recognition that, over time, passed to represent a particular type of identity «…bound up with particular projects, personal attachments, and traditions» (Hill, 2000: 79), supposing multicultural forms of mutual respect, difference, and otherness.

50 The idea of “old ethnology” was aimed at classifying human being depending on their skin color. In the case of the “Negroid phenotype”, it was considered the “black human type” that didn’t have intellectual complex capacities and so, able of being comparable to animals. 75 II Regarding to the definition of the concept, «it is impossible to deny that we are living through a profound transformation in the way the idea of race is understood and acted upon…[A]…problem that arises from the changing mechanisms that govern how racial differences…[must be]…seen[,]…how they appear» (Gilroy, 2000: 11), how they should be used. In this way the concept of race, may not only been constructed on a stigmatized perception of generalized others from a priori prejudices about their abilities, or culture conditions. We can also consider it as a way of self-recognition lying on some exclusive communitarian characteristics reflected in both corporal aesthetics (clearly shown by human phenotypes taking part in a specific group) and the presence of an ancestral connection (among community members) generated by the collective memory of individuals that compose the socio-cultural context of the group. Thus, as stated by Wieviorka (1992), race does not provide an unambiguous interpretation of its meaning and, conversely, may represent a key element in the study of diversity and cultural pluralism within modern multicultural societies (Taylor, 1992: 58-59). What it means is not defining a blindness of difference far from recognizing specific cultural parameters as part of a wider national framework, but legitimating the presence of «…a system based on a form of recognition strong enough to attract a large number of people, and large enough to lead them through the various experiences and situations of everyday life, guaranteeing to them a specific place in society, a cultural background derived from a common history and collective memory, some common goals that influence positively their sense of consciousness and belonging» (Wieviorka, 1992: 76; Banton, 1987, 1988). As regards the specific case, race represents a “connection concept” between diversity and cultural homogeneity. Firstly, it explains the dynamics of cultural fusion that are at the base of the idea of “national misgenation”. Secondly, it seeks to define a process of transculturation which is based on two points: one explains the phenomenon of deculturation exemplified (for our case study) by the European colony in the Americas; the other shows new ways of resistance and cultural association of national minorities involved in a negotiating process aimed at establishing their own exclusive racial identity. Therefore, on one hand, we accept a definition of race emboding a way to distinguish somebody through an unquestionable phenotypic diversity, potentially connected with 76 culture. On the other, and referring to modern multicultural Latin American states, the concept can be understood by a twofold meaning. As essential for defining the presence of a specific cultural pluralism within those States we defined, jurisdictionally speaking, absolutely spurious (Volpato, 2012; Huntington, 1997; Moreira, 2001), and needed for negotiating self-recognition of minorities. Specially referring to black minorities and depending on the regional area we refer to, Latin American concept of race can be assumed as a way for self-recognition, a method to classify minorities starting by specific cultural-aesthetic parameters, or as an empathic relationship between members of the same community51. Understood in this descriptive sense, racial subjects are driven by what Du Bois used to call the blacks’s double-consciousness (Du Bois, 1903), and they start to assume the natural essence of two kinds of race definition. By one side, we can say race is only a term that contributes to separate human beings, by constructing a sort of boundary between, for example, who is black and who is white. If that fact is granted, it means a society has chosen to forget its roots over exalting the presence of a certain parameter of recognition. By the other, race can also impulse the conjunction of those all elements (cultural, aesthetic, religious, and linguistic) that, as for the Latin American region, contribute to produce a social dynamic where diversity comes to be expressed by physical difference and is able to negotiate a sort of collective identity for sub-groups (Alonso, 2004; Dean & Leibsohn, 2003; De Castro, 2002). A kind of identity that, especially for Latin American region, represents the main result of a threefold cultural stocks’ mixing: African, Indian and European. This identity cannot be broke down by separating social classes into races and so, into specific human beings with different aesthetic features; by contrast, it only contributes to affirm the real, racially-mixed essence by which Latin American culture and identity are both build up by. Therefore, while as in the North-American case (the blacks’ double-consciousness) we said race is an element of mutual recognition, tended to understand minorities as specific micro- symbolic universes defining State as a whole, referring to Latin American’s, the idea of race is almost a synonym for misgenation, attribuitable to every social classes and depending on the degree of mixing. In this sense, race is the result of a threefold process

51 Latin America is a culturally diverse region that hosts not only specific groups or minorities that show differences in aesthetics, language, traditions, religions or values. Minorities define themselves starting by cultural elements but also thanks to a sort of membership sense that does not depend on an strictly defined aesthetic future, but also established (as in the Mexican case) by members who take part in a specific symbolic universe characterizing identity and behavior of actors belonging to it. 77 of deculturation, transculturation and acculturation that modified original cultural habits of minorities and, currently, allows us understanding regional societies through two core elements. A valorative imposition that changed behaviors, social positions and idiosyncrasy of people, creating new autochthonous regional cultural elements (Creole), and a dynamic of cultural re-construction, whose main result is what, echoeing to Gabriel Izard Martínez, we define a dynamic of philosophy of return52. In this context, race stops representing a self-enclosed interpretation that Fong, echoing Du Bois, interpreted as necessary to «…render present something of the strivings of black folk, as their noble aspirations, their cultural resonances, the drama and tragedies that make their experiences poignant» (Fong, 2008: 661). By contrast, the concept embodies a set of factors that suppose the existence of race as a way to understand mestizaje and those socio-cultural dynamics that, because of historical factors, created a twofold way of recognition. On one hand, such historical process embodies a specific pluricultural habitus actually contributing to homogenize the image shown by Latin American countries. On the other, the transformation and stratification of social structure by part of Colonial dynamic provided an ambiguous conscience for minorities of being integrated into two different worlds. A locally shaped symbolic universe and a national, socially respected, cultural framework. Such interrelation worked in favor of the integration between minorities’ original normative parameters, and the new socio-cultural standards imposed by the New World’s society. Because of that today we have a twofold vision of Latin America. By one side, we understand the region through a global point of view that has the worth to understand diversity as an integral element of a larger symbolic universe including communities into a generalized national frame, where culture takes «...the property of an ethnic group or race...» (Cowan, 2006: 16). By another, we can also choose a multicultural vision of it produced by some new ways to organize pluralism and difference, by choosing to get involved into a socio-cultural process of identity construction that exalts difference over homogeneity and standardization of cultural reproduction socially appreciated parameters (Kymlicka, 2007b).

52 The authors who mostly fed the accademic discussion about historical and cultural Latin American dynamics, especially referring to mestizaje, transculturation and diversity, are (between others) Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán (related with the Mexican case), Miguel Acosta Saignes in Venezuela, Gilberto Freyre in Brasil, Aimée Césaire in Martinica and Fernando Ortiz, for the Cuban case. For further information about their scientific production (mostly based on anthropological, ethnographyc and historical approaches) we refer directly to their books. For the concept of “philosophy of return”, see Izard Martínez (2005). 78 Race, identity and collective representation are thus not only considered as local elements through which communities’ members choose to locate themselves into the national socio-cultural environment, without avoiding the opportunity to highlight their presence through the use of some standards of behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or specific values. At the same time, being part of a certain community represents a space of election defined by the presence of some shared elements that define a heritage including common uses and habitus, aimed at characterizing groups’ identity and the Nation they belong to53. In conjunction with that, and granting a specific equality standard of social, cultural, political or economic conditions (both for citizenship in general and cultural minorities), race takes a central importance in multicultural states and seeks for the conservation of traditions through a social element some political-philosophers decided to define a sort of “cultural insurance” (Kymlicka, 1995; Rawls, 1971, Barry, 2002). An element that, as argued by Waldron (2000), if present would promote the institutionalization of diversity as a national worth. Especially for what concerns the relationship between mestizaje and race, we can understand the process through a twofold perspective. On one hand, the factor that started the mixing process that today characterizes the Latin American region is ascribed to what De la Fuente (2000) defines with the concept of race whitening. A factor that primarly was aimed at preventing African slaves brought to the region for the work in sugar fields and mines of revolting against their owners (De la Fuente, 2000; Harrison, 1995; Bakewell, 1971). Such dynamic, established as a must throughout Latin America, resulted in encoding some specific ideals of blanqueamiento (“racial whitening”) which today «accept the implicit hegemonic rhetoric of the [United States] with regard to ‘white supremacy’, and often blames those classes as blacks and indigenous for the worsening state of the nation» (Witten & Torres, 1992: 18). As a consequence, and even after the abolition of slavery (late nineteenth century for the most part of Latin American and Caribbean countries),

53 In the Latin American case, cultural groups existing before American slave trade were characterized by values and traditions that came to be transculturated. In the context of multiculturalism, members of a minority can decide to self-identify or claim for the recognition depending on their ancient norms or “mixed-raced” traditions as well. Both principles contribute to generate a certain kind of membership for social actors in defining self phenotypic features as well as community identity. This dynamic impulses the State producing some public policy to recognize minorities and establishing diversity, not as a problem, but as a cultural worth for the society. About cultural representation and recognition in Latin America, see constitutional documents reported in the notes n.210-211. 79 dynamics of mestizaje54 and blanqueamiento were accepted as two different but mutual ways for self-recognition. In the first case, mestizaje had the power to turn the concept of race into the idea of national ethnicity55. In the second, racial whitening allowed Indian and African races being diluted, by ensuring the most powerful Latin American classes having also some white (or even better, European) roots. On the other, the problem leads to the issue of cultural integration of national minorities starting from a dichotomous dynamic of inclusion-exclusion that seeks for the maintenance of communities members’s traditions by «dividing, exchanging, and sharing social goods, first of all among themselves» (Walzer, 1992: 65), and contributes to make decisions, in the present, about their present and future. In the first case, race becomes a special form of cultural hybridization that correlates who takes part in a group and who does not, by offering to the actors the opportunity to choose their own position in the society, without losing their own identity, status or self-perception. Meaning that generating a new way of representation based on the connection of different socio-cultural factors aimed at modifying original traditions, language or skin color of individuals participating in the process, and taking into account the relation existing between self-perception and national recognition, by supposing a specific way of seeing and composing difference (Tuan, 2002; Nemetz & Christensen, 1996). In the second, as suggested by Taylor, race emerges as a miscegenation process that leads to «the creation of…[a]…community…[as]…an act of collective intentionality, bringing into being new modes of institutional practice and new social facts» (Taylor, 2000: 128). A socio-cultural mixing that while allows sub-groups being part of the national environment, also excludes them from it. What it means is that race embodies the “starting point” for two peculiar socio-cultural dynamics. In this way, while it creates a break point between national and local culture, it also represents a sort of cultural bridge thanks to which communities’ members realize being part of the same symbolic universe, characterized by modus vivendi, rules, traditions or basic values oftenly diverse from national’s. A dynamic of cohesion supposing the presence of a

54 The colonization of the Americas forced the process of miscegenation between indigenous, Spanish and black slaves. This dynamic created a new form of social interaction that actually favored the white man’s position in the colonial society, and generated new human aesthetics (in the Latin American region are called races), whom classification also modified the way through which classes were organized and enpowered. Classical phenotypes are Mestizos, criollos and Mulatos and they will be explained later, togheter with the concept of mestizaje. 55 This is the case of Mexico, which we explain through the first and second sections of next chapter. 80 «vast family of human beings, generally of common blood and language, always of common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and involuntarily striving together for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideals of life» (Back & Solomos, 2000: 80). Such ideals symbolize specific elements of recognition and aesthetic representation of who belongs to a group and are derived from a common original root established from a shared historical memory, virtual and ideological inextricably anchored in the land where ancestors were born and where, members of the community have the roots of their essences. In this way, race corresponds to a physical way of distinctiveness and an aesthetic mutual recognition, which represents not only a potential cause for exclusion or marginalization of groups identified by color. It also ‘…marks a boundary within which communal sentiments operate…’ (Banton, 1977: 1) and assumes the meaning of a human quality that, devalued, helps to develop a sense of rejection which results in a «political action...that intensifies the original unwillingness» (Banton, 1977: 106); if accepted, it represents the reason of self-recognition and pride for the members of many cultural communities. Such feeling of pride represents thus a visceral connection between minorities’ members, and potentially leads to a sense of belonging and brotherhood intended to remain for generations in and out of the group of descent. On the other side, it contributes to define race as the symbol of a collective memory built on a shared cultural and historical dimension fed by a common ancestral memory, virtual or tangible, aimed at building a sense of belonging and mutual respect from the objective recognition of specific and exclusive aesthetic features. In this sense, race is a symbol of a historically located socio-cultural trajectory which comes to be constructed starting by an idea of representation of color and culture that, in some cases, contributes positively to mutual recognition and acceptation (as for Afro- Latin American communities), in some others, it seems not to be enough56. In the first case, the most important principle is the obtention of a specific racial status through a common and tacit agreement, which wants to accept people into a group (a race-defined one) because of culture, attitudes and empathy, and depending on a specific way of understanding Africanism (Cole, 1985). That means accepting somebody who is not

56 An example is the relation between Afro-Americans and Afro-Latin Americans or Africans. The first do not recognize the brotherhood with other communities that are not part of the American territory. That fact probably depends on the “one drop blood” factor, which is used by Afro-Americans for establishing who is a “brother” or “sister” and who is not. In the second case, Afro-Latin Americans use community for race association, since misgenation had a strong influence on physical traits modification. The latter define themselves through ethnicity and tribe. 81 objectively black into an Afro-descent community, and establishing a within-group relationship of equality between its members. In the second, black-American’s, the “one drop blood” principle regulates recognition and acceptance. The difference between those two points of view is based on the assumption that, because of the difference of the logic used by the Spanish and English for the colonial conquest, racial mixing was greatly dissimilar. The Spaniard accepted and, actually, impulsed a very important process of misgenation that created a new social cathegory (the Mestizo) for the definition of new conquered nations. The second wanted the English separated from Indians or Africans, creating a fragmented society, composed by neatly divided socio-cultural minorities (McCorkel & Rodriquez, 2009; Lewis, 2000; Vinson III, 2006; Zelisky, 1949; Yelvington, 2001). Related with the first point, «the majority [Negroes] had diluted their blood by union with the aborigines and whites, thus giving rise to the mixture of bloods biological basis of Mexican nationality» (Aguirre Beltrán, 1944: 431), so allowing the creation of a third root through the conjunction of blacks and Indios (Martínez Montiel, 2001, 2006; Lewis, 2000; Yelvington, 2001). Secondly, the social and cultural exclusion was much clearer in separating classes and people from any possibility to create a mixed-race, and obliging backs to change their culture and language into that spoken by the slave-owners (Parrillo, 1994: 527- 532). As a consequence, Latin America today offers a definition of race that comes from mestizaje and only partially takes into account color as the main difference between minorities. It comes better to define a special way of recognition that includes aesthetic futures, languages, genealogical roots and, more in general, culture of actors who take place into that dynamic. A dynamic that, extensively in Latin America, took the image of a demographic and cultural process constitutive of dominant “mixed-race” patterns that «…entail the demographic dispersal and cultural adaption of blacks in contexts where whites and mestizos predominate» (Witten & Torres, 1992: 55), and where aesthetic features and color are not forgotten. In this sense, race is not defined by an essentialist fashion, as a term for identifying natural kinds, by connecting the elements in its definition (physical traits, geographic and cultural elements) and making each element severally necessary and all together jointly sufficient. Race is thus a cluster concept that supposes the existence of some special common elements able to define membership and empathic cultural association, by connecting actors through a symbolic 82 space where «each property is severally sufficient and the possession of at least one of the properties is necessary» (Outlaw, 1996: 154-155) to avoid any need of linage or blood. Finally, while is tended to explain dynamics of integration, marginalization or recognition, by taking into account specific dynamics of accommodation between who is part of certain minorities and who is not, race embodies a particular way of «heterogeneity, cultural interchange and diversity…[that]…now have become the self- conscious identity of modern society» (Young, 1995: 4).

83 84

Part II Mexican Frame

Chapter I Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social Effects

87 88 1. Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population When we refer to the Afro-Mexican population, we need to take in account two specific problems. The first one refers to an unconscious society (the Mexican) who, by its most part, ignores its existence. Secondly, if we account for the academic production about the topic, related to Africans located within Oaxaca’s coast, it comes to be insufficient. By contrast, the national and international academic attention about the issue is mostly dedicated (and so it was in the past) to account for African presence in Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico (Moya Palencia, 2006), and Guerrero State, on the Pacific coast (Zeleza, 2005; Hall, 2007; Hoffmann & Pascal, 2006; Lewis, 2000; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Cruz Carretero, 1992; Juárez Hernández, 2001). As a consequence, currently, Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican population suffers a threefold way of discrimination. On one hand, the lack of knowledge of local black settlements by part of civil society causes a dynamic of stigmatization that reaches to endanger personal security of Afro- descents. Indeed, it is not unusual that communities’ members, because of the absence of their personal documents or because of the ignorance of authorities, come to be arrested and sometimes deported to the border of Nicaragua or Honduras. That means the local African population is usually mixed up with illegal immigrants or any other kind of Central American transmigrants directed to United States57. On the other side, this same dynamic of exclusion and prejudice negatively affects blacks out of the area that is not strictly part of the coastline of the Jamiltepec District, especially referring to social, economic, health services and labor integration. Thirdly, usually the black population of the area seems not to be conscious of its African origins and chooses to define itself as Mestizo58. In this context, and specifically for the latter element, it seems to be relevant specifying not only the fact that Oaxaca’s black population has a clear African descent, what it would be an absolutely tautological achievement and frankly empirically

57 Some references about the topic are Caicedo (2010), Carretero Rangel & León Vega (2009), Castles & Miller (2004), Faist (2000), Levine & Verea (2010), Massey, Durand & Malone (2002), Massey (2004, 2008), Passel & Cohn (2011), Pellegrino (2003). 58 Only recently (2012) the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca (UABJO), of Oaxaca City, implemented a “cultural conscientization program” through which the population of many villages near to Pinotepa Nacional were informed about origins of black local population. As a consequence, some community leaders started a campaign to divulgate the information and impulse a larger participation of local Afro-Mexicans to any kind of initiative or cultural meeting. More recent events (2013) are Los pueblos afromexicanos, la lucha por su reconocimiento (“Afro-Mexican people, the struggle for their recognition”) promoted by Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico City and the meeting Afromexicanos (“Afro-Mexicans”), stated in Guerrero State (see note n.6). 89 useless. It is also important to understand the way through which Oaxaca’s current cultural African background comes to be built up, and accounts for some socio-cultural dynamics that actually are needed to justify the importance of an identity negotiation for this peculiar minority. That fact supposes both a dynamic of cultural re-construction − so echoing to Ortian transculturation theory (Ortiz, 1906, 1916, 1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985) it seems to be the result of an explicit syncretic process of socio-cultural modification − and a sort of integration process produced across the centuries and actually depending on the way through which Oaxaca’s African population arrived to the country. For the understanding of the Afro-Mexican background and the reasons because of which black population appeared in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, it is necessary referring to a dichotomous historical dynamic: the colonial slave trade and the “voluntary migration”. As regards to the former, and specifically related with the Mexican colonial period, located between 1521 and 1640, the country received a legal amount of black slaves that Vaughn and Vinson estimated to be between 110,000 and 200,000 units (Vinson III & Vaughn, 2004b: 11; Bennett, 2009; Seed, 1982; Lewis, 2000) coming from West- Central Africa (specifically from the coast of Guinea, Cape Green, Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, and mainly belonging to the Bantu, Congo and carabalí ethnic groups), or directly from the Great Antilles (Martínez Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Moreno Fraginals, 1977, 1978, 1985; López Valdéz, 2000; Ngou-Mvé, 1994, 2005). In the first case, the slaves came directly from Africa and, because of their lack of knowledge of the Spanish language and for not having been baptized, were defined bozales. In the second, those slaves were people who had settled in Spain during the centuries of Moorish domination of Andalusia and, before arriving in New Spain had been part of the Puerto Rican and Cuban colonial societies (Volpato, 2013b). These dynamics supposed a specific modification of the cultural parameters of the Africans who arrived in Mexico and successively sent to the city of Oaxaca. Cimarronaje represented then the most common practice among slaves employed in the city in an attempt to reach nearby areas but sometimes enough isolated to make slaves owners being discouraged to their rescue (Carroll, 1991; Naveda Chávez-Hita, 1987)59.

59 An exahustive explication about cimarronaje and palenque can be found in Guevara Sanginés (2005: 142-154). See also Castile, Kushner & Adams (1981). 90 In the first case, the slaves who came from Cuba or Puerto Rico had been previously evangelized. That fact, at least formally, facilitated the relationship between blacks and the Spaniard, and allowed them maintaining ‘diverse forms of cultural survival and syncretism among the most varied ones’ (Martínez Montiel, 2001: 26), perpetrating a certain dynamic of resistance to all attempts of total assimilation (Martínez Montiel, 2001: 26). In the second, ‘first blacks who arrived to the Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, from the early sixteenth century, did not came from Africa but from Spain, where they were born in captivity or had a free social status. Those slaves were called “black Ladinos”, term that was applied to any foreigner living in the Iberian Peninsula and could speak Castilian’ (López Valdéz, 2000: 32; Mörner, 1967: 22-31). This fact favored the mobility of Africans arrived in Mexico and allowed them being employed by the Spanish for the fieldwork or as house servants in the area today defined Costa Chica. Such dynamic was created mainly because of two different reasons: economical and medical. Socio-economic factors were the abolition of slavery for the indigenous population (facilitated by the 1542 Nuevas leyes de la India), the discovery of silver deposits in Zacatecas and Guanajuato (Bakewell, 1971: 4) and the need for more workers in the sugar fields and European haciendas (Martínez Montiel, 2000: 489). Secondly, because of so many diseases that decimated a total of 25 million Indians − which corresponded to 97% of the population during the Spanish colony60 – the slave trade and its sale value, from 1580 and 1640, increased and began to “justify” the reasons why a large number of slaves were sold from Zacatecas to Mexico City and Puebla or were sent to more distant and isolated regions as Oaxaca (Cue Canovas, 1963: 120; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Bakewell, 1971: 122, 123; Seed, 1982). In that place, blacks were employed with higher prevalence in the local haciendas, as peasant (especially in cacao or cotton fields), cowhands, fishermen, miners or “sugar makers”61 (García Martínez, 2009: 262, Centro de estudios históricos de El Colegio de México, 2009; Motta Sánchez, 2005:191, Motta Sánchez & Correa Duró, 1996; Beals, 1975; Clarke, 2000).

60 As argued by Phillips, at the beginning of XVI century, indigenous population was 27,650,000, and it declined by 1595 to 1,375,000 (Phillips, 2009: 762). 61 As stated by Crespo (1990: 50-58), between XVI and XVII centuries, Oaxaca had 12 ingenios (“sugarmills”) where blacks were employed, but the information is actually umprecise, being not specified the territorial location where ingenios were located. An interesting example of slave owners within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca is Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano who, after the 1548 Mixteca pacification, established his 30-years domain, within the area (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 41-44). 91 On the other hand and specially related with blacks’ recognition, slave trade played a central role for both the presence of a consistent Afro-Mexican population within Mexico and the social effect that Spanish colony had on their status and social position, a social effect that obtained a real presence, statistically speaking, on the formal existence of Afro-Mexicans. More clearly, the presence of black population within the Oaxaca’s region, for the year 1646, corresponded to 898 Africans and 4,712 Afro- Mestizos, resulting in 3,4% of the whole population of the state (Bennett, 2009, 59, table 2.1)62. Indeed, as argued by Bennett, black-Mexican population, at 1646, «…constituted the largest concentration of Africans in urban New World. The African population in New Spain also represented the second largest assemblage of Africans in the Americas» (Bennett, 2009, 58). Meanwhile, Miller states that there ‘were 15 successful crossings [to the Americas] from Central Africa in the 1590s, 30 in the 1600s, 47 in the 1610s, 27 in the 1620s, 21 in the 1630s and none in the 1640s’ (Miller, 2011).

Table I63

Region Europeans Africans Indians Euro-Mestizo Afro Mestizo Indo-Mestizo Mexico 8,000 19,441 600,000 94,544 43,373 43,190 Tlaxcala 2,700 5,534 250,000 17,404 17,381 16,841 Oaxaca 600 898 150,000 3,952 4,712 4,005 Michoacán 250 3,295 35,858 24,396 20,185 21,067 Nueva 1,450 5,180 41,378 19,456 13,778 13,854 Galícia Yucatán 750 497 150,053 7,676 15,770 8,603 Chiapas 80 244 42,318 1,140 1,330 1,482 Totals 13,830 35,089 1,269,607 168,568 116,529 109,042

That fact explains at least two core socio-cultural factors. First, the extent between indigenous and African-descent population justifies the effort of blacks to maintain certain traditional patterns across the centuries. Secondly, the need for integration within the local society made blacks mixing with Indians or white population, giving birth to a new social category (the Afro-Mestizo) that came to be superior in number also to Euro-Mestizos (being classified by Bennett, 2009: 59, into 3,952 units at that moment) or Indo-Mestizos (registered as 4,005 individuals). Such social categories

62 See Table I. 63 The reference is to Bennet (2009: 59). 92 started to represent the real, but also the ideological status, of African minority, throughout Mexico64. Neverthless, as argued by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 90-91) the Spanish kept considering African blood people being infames de derecho (“biologically evil”), of mala raza (“bad race”), or mala casta (“bad caste”), and having a negative influence on indigenous population (Lafaye, 1990). Such kind of perception was so clear that «…one viceroy advised his successor that mulattoes and Negros criollos were naturally arrogant, audacious, and fond of change»65. Such Spanish attitude and policy toward the Negro, clearly conditioned by the fear of slave revolts, started to create a social stereotype of who was good and who don’t, and (as a worse effect) it was confirmed by the favor of Cardinal Cisneros, who asserted «…they…[Negros]…[were]…fit for war, men without honor and faith, capable of treason and vexation, which, as they increase, infallibly lead to rebellion, for they wish to impose on the Spaniards the same chains which they wear»66. By contrast, and despite racial mixing, the Spanish regarded themselves as gente de razón (“people of reason”) attempted to establish a social system designed to maintain their purity of blood, in order to ensure a superior status for them, and relegate Negros to the lowest rung social system. This fact imposed a «…very elaborate color bar…and a caste (casta) system…[that]... were the specific devices employed to accomplish these purposes. One’s’ position in colonial Mexico was to a considerable degree determined by his color» (Aguirre Beltrán, 1967: 90). Such restriction, by April 14th 1612, decreed it was illegal «for more than four Negro women and men to be present at the burial of a Negro man or woman, or of a free or slave mulatto, male or female»67. A different perspective can also interpret race mixing as a sort of vehicle for cultural expression dedicated to the explication of Mexico’s African “third root”. Especially referred to Afro-Mexicans of the area, this sort of historical process imposed valorizing

64 Casta paintings are a clear example of what we mentioned. For further information we refer to Phillips (2009: 765, 767, 770, 772, 776-778, 780). 65 Instrucciones que los virreyes de Nueva España dejaron a sus sucesores, México: Imprenta Imperial, 1867, p.259, mentioned by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 90). 66 Quoted by Aguirre Beltrán, referring to Carlos Federico Guillot, Negros Rebeldes y Negros Cimarrones, Buenos Aires: Fariña Editores, 1961, p.16. 67 Eusebio Bentura Beleiia, ed., Recopilación sumaria de todos los autos acordados de la Real Audiencia y Sala del Crimen de esta Nueva España, y providencias de su superior gobierno: de varias reales cédulas y órdenes que después de publicada la Recopilación de Indias han podido recogerse así de las dirigidas a la misma audiencia o gobierno, como de algunas otras que por sus notables decisiones covendrá no ignorar (4 vols. in 2; México: Imprenta por Don Felipe de Zuiiiga y Ontiveros, 1787), II, 73. Cited by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 91). 93 certain physical and cultural characteristics over others, by providing Mexicans of African descent with some lax cultural traits aimed at forgetting, more than increasing, recognition for black minority. By contrast, and echoing Phillips’s vision of African traits, especilly in artistic and historical representations of blackness, race mixing started to obtain some kind of exotic qualities, sometimes suggesting a powerful heritage directed to characterize a Mexican race feature, and sometimes dedicated specifically to discredit black race. Meaning that, avoiding its presence and influence in Mexican history an idiosyncrasy, and impulsing a sort of “repression about the mixing” by imposing also the forgiveness of the mestizaje itself demonstrated by the African presence and participation in Mexican memory (Mills, 1998). «This persistent angst, passed of the collective unconscious, may explain contemporary from one generation to the next as a component Mexican culture’s failure to fully acknowledge in Mexico’s history the completeness as an essential ingredient of Africa’s participation in the formulation of Mexican cultural identity, Mexican mestizaje» (Phillips 2009: 784). This fact not only did not stop African importation, but also contributed to develop a more intense prejudice against blacks and increased slave trade between Europe and New Spain. Recent researches confirm that fact, and due it can be found that although Portugal’s independence from Spanish domain (which resulted in the abolition of all contracts with the Portuguese slavers, and, in 1640, caused a momentary collapse of the Spanish Crown in the slave trade), blacks trade did not declined as major economic force in New Spain until 1750 (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 14-15). As a result, for the year 1793, in the city of Oaxaca, Afro-Mexicans are estimated to be accounted for 14% of the state total population, against 28% Indian, 38% white, 18% mestizos (Vincent, 1994: 269), which in proportion to the country whole population accounted for more than 620,000 “light brown” (pardos), Mulattoes and “brown” (Morenos), resulting in 10% of the national population (Aguirre Beltrán, 1972: 234; Lewis, 2001). In this case, and related with demographic change within the area, African-descent population contributed actively to the production of a specific dynamic of ethnic reproduction. By one side, the presence of black and indigenous population produced a demographic development that subsumed a process of mestizaje that implied some specific cultural and biological fusion. By the other «…the category of casta…[started to subsume]…the variety of black identities…bozal, ladino, negro criollo, mulato, 94 pardo, and coyote…» (Bennett, 2009: 143; Cope, 1994; Mörner, 1967). A mestizaje that contributed hardly to reduce Afro-Mexican local population. Such amount of Afro- descent people has been registered by the 1889-1890 local census into a total of 9,816 blacks, and being part of the Jamiltepec district (the area that currently corresponds to our Costa Chica’s communities) only 7,796, at that moment corresponding to 34.4% of the whole Oaxaca state African population (Motta Sánchez, 2005: 197; Motta Sánchez & Ethel Correa, 1995). From this perspective, it is possible to say Afro-Mexican experience appropriated a sort of colonialist lens, through which blacks started to conceive casts as a way of social organization they had to assume, a sort of ideological element they came through and went to incorporate as a local cultural element. This factor explains also, what we will be able to define a way through which stigma conditions individual self-perception by imposing the development of a personality, generating a process of some kind of confirmation about the presence of a pre-existent stereotype or legitimating a new one within the social environment68. As regards the second African arrival to Oaxaca, Mexico’s historical dynamics set the stage for political independence and the subsequent abolition of slavery in the country. At the time of the War of Independence (19th October 1810) Hidalgo issued the first institutional decree thanks to which any slave holder would be punished, plus imposing him releasing the slave (or slaves), within the first ten days of validity of the decree itself. A document that, after three years, was recognized and modified by José Maria Morelos into an amendment of 150 words (Vincent, 1994: 259; Hernández y Dávalos, 1985: 243-244, 297-298)69, and thanks to which, a year later, was established the first constitutional document of Mexico, the Apatzingán Constitution. Such dynamics, especially referring to the War of 1810, involved two key factors: an inscription of

68 A specific development of the topic will be made later, through the sections about self-perception, gender, matrilineage and family structure. 69 See also the 29th November and 06th December 1810 original decrees of Hidalgo. The reference in the text is about the latter and the original document recits: «Se ordena a todos los dueños de esclavos y esclavas que a partir de esta fecha, tienen un plazo de 10 días para poner en libertad absoluta a todos sus esclavos y esclavas, y no haciéndolo así, los dueños de esclavos y esclavas sufrirán irremisiblemente la pena capital y la confiscación de todos sus bienes…» (‘From this moment, all slaves owners are ordered to free their slaves in a time of 10 days, by not doing that, they will inevitably suffer the death penalty and the confiscation of all their goods’); see Image n.1. The original document is possible to be seen in the Archivo General de la Nación, in Mexico City. 95 Afro-Mexicans in the army that was moving along the Pacific coast (Chance, 1978), and a widespread mobilization of African slaves from the United States to Mexico. Since the Spanish recruited “local militia” and since much of the fighting was in the lowlands where blacks lived, there occurred battles pitting blacks versus blacks. So first militia separated Mulattoes and Negroes, obliging them to struggle ones against the others, and secondly it favored the fact that Afro-descents turned around and chased their fleeing countrymen. Morelos slipped out of Cuautla, one detachment of his black army, and stationed in Huajuapan (nearby Oaxaca City), fought against a force of Spanish-led black costeños, and later in 1813 beat a force of Negroes on the Oaxaca’s coast thanks to spies informing the black insurgents of the Spanish approach and a reluctance of Spaniards to continue the battle. «After the battle…», as argued by Vincent, «…the insurgents sent a report that the victory ended with Spanish military presence throughout Mexico’s southern coast» (Vincent, 1994: 264). That fact confirmed two-core point of “race status affirmation process”. First, from the death of Hidalgo in 1811 until the spring of 1821 the military leadership was an increasingly black “rainbow coalition” that explained the existence of at least eight black-skinned Mexicans occupying, between 1810 and 1821, the role of “leadership” or “commander-in-chief-position, being them who, in proportion with other races occupied those kind of military roles most frequently. Between them Afro- descents were who, echoing Vincent’s information and as it is shown with the Table II, occupied the “commander-in-chief-position” with much more frequency over Mestizos and Indians (who never achieved a military role like that), and white-skinned. In that moment all Afro-Mexicans, Mestizos and Indians started to identify themselves as “Mexicans” or “Americans”. Secondly, with the National Independence in 1821, and the declaration of the Plan de Iguala, Mexico was established as a sovereign nation, by ensuring (at least formally) the birth of a new society. A recognized State that, in the future, would be able to abolish the picturesque jargon of Indian, Mulatto or Mestizo, and to guarantee American nationalization as a predominant feature for the definition of those who were part of the continent within which Mexico had officially begun to belong once obtained the Independence. In that moment, the 1821 Plan de Iguala not only marked the first official document recognizing the equal rights for all Mexican citizens, without distinction for Europeans, Africans or Indians, and forcing the formal respect and non-discrimination of castes 96 occupying the lowest positions within the social structure of that moment. It also embodied the political base that indirectly obviated the recognition of ethnic, cultural and aesthetic diversity as a constitutive value of the national culture of Mexico (Mörner, 1967: 60-78). In its replacement it was generated a sort of Mestizo consciousness that across the centuries included the indigenous population in the national political discourse Héctor Díaz Polanco chose to define the historical effect of indigenismo (Díaz Polanco 1995, 2010)70.

Table II71 Afro 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 Juan Alvarez * L L L L L L L L L L L Juan del Carmen * * * * L L L Hermidigildo L L L L L L Galeana Vicente Guerrero * * L L L L H H H H H H Gordiano Guzman * * L L L L L L L L L L Jose Maria Morelos L H H H H H Antonio Jose “Amo” L L L Torres Valerio Trujano * L L L Mestizo Gertrudis Bocanegra * L * * * * L * Albino Garcia L L Jose Gonzalo L L L L * * * Hermosillo Mariano Matamoros * L L L Jose Francisco * L L L L L L L L L Osorno Padre Antonio “ ” * * * L L L L L L Torres Guadalupe Victoria * * * L L L L L L L * Indian Andres Delgado * * * L L L L Pedro Ascensio * * L L L Serafin Olarte L L L * * * * *

Migratory effect of such declaration promoted the arrival (between 1840 and 1850) of at least 4,000 slaves coming from the United States, starting to move across the country and create an unlimited number of new settlements that were integrated into the

70 See also Barberá (2003), Beals (1995), Bobes (2004), Harris (1964), Lomnitz (1982), Nutini (1997). 71 Information refers to Vincent (2009: 266) and it was organized by the author. 97 pre-existing ones and contributed to a double socio-cultural process (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 11). On one hand, the palenques, created by the increasing number of Africans along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, guaranteed an at least partial protection of the original African cultures and values. In this sense, while we consider Afro-Mexican culture a sort of syncretic position aimed at explaining the only presence of an in-between African status based on slave or maroon culture, we cannot forget highlighting the relevance the palenques had in maintaining peculiar elements of the original African cultural background (Benigno, 2004; Martínez Montiel, 2000; Castile, Kushner & Adams, 1981). Historical dynamics thus not only affirm the existence of a clear African past, provided with all those element slaves came with, but it can also explain a current reality that caractherizes African-descent population both in its more explicit aesthetic features and in some other lees precise traditional elements. On the other, by increasing local population thanks to internal migrations, mestizaje and racial miscegenation began to represent the daily practice within the area, especially for what concerns new cultural traditions today currently used by part of black local population, as the chilena music (García Arreola, 1990). About that fact, it is also possible to infer the existence of two more ways, a lot less studied, through which some black slaves arrived to the South-West Mexican Pacific coast. That was during the XIX century, when, because of the Californian gold rush, many Chilean vessels came to San Francisco looking for the metal. Dynamic that was much more undertaken by part of South American countries (as in the main case of Chile), then the Americans themselves. Actually, many American cities, such as New York, were ironically very much more far away from the opportunity of buying some Californian gold. «New York was sixteen thousand nautical miles from San Francisco, compared to two thousand for Acapulco and Honolulu, four thousand for Callao…[and]…six thousand for Valparaiso…» (Brands, 2002: 47). Chile was one of the biggest gold buyer of the moment and, because of being Valparaiso the first port in the South Pacific (Ramón, 2003: 67), its ships, as the well known Araucano, were the most frequently moved along the Pacific coast (Brands, 2002: 47-53)72.

72 During the XVIII century, Chile was one of the biggest mineral owners in the Americas and it started to represent the most important re-exporter of European products and black slaves. “Goods” that Chile was buying in Argentina and transfering to its own coast or Peruvian Pacific one, or moving to other Pacific regions, as Central and North America (Ramón, 2003: 59). More information also in Collier & Sater (1996). 98 Because of that, it is inferred in 1849 came to California about 90,000 people (also called the fourty-niners) whose half came by sea and the other probably by land (Starr & Orsi: 2000: 57-61). Between 30,000 and 40,000 of them were foreigners (Starr & Orsi: 2000: 57-61), being for the year 1855 the gold seekers, merchants and other immigrants about 300,000 (Starr & Orsi: 2000: 25). The main group was American, but were also many miles of people who came from China, Europe, Mexico, or coming from other Latin American countries, followed by some small groups of Philippinos, Spanish, and some (almost 4,000) African-descent miners (Brands, 2000; Rawls & Orsi, 1999). During the travel in direction to United States, Chilenean vessels were frecuently stopping in Puerto Ángel and Acapulco, allowing many immigrants, including many African descents, to remain along the coast (Velasquez & Vaughn, 2002:10). In second instance, because of the need of Chile for building its own war fleet to resist Spanish navy, United States built a specially armed 217-ton ship, the Columbus, which for November 1817 was sent to Valparaiso – where it arrived in June 1818 (Vale, 2008) – fully manned and carrying a cargo of munitions, under the command of Carlos Guillermo Wooster. The Columbus was sold to Chile for $33,000 (Neumann, 1947). On August 10th it was renamed Araucano and on 14th August was under the command of Wooster and took part, on October 1818, of the First Chilean Navy Squadron. Successively, with the objective to help in Mexican Independence, in 1822 the Chilean Navy Squadron – consisted of six ships (O’Higgins, Independence, Valdivia, Araucanian, Mercedes and Aranzazú), under the command of Lord Cochrane, who at the moment was at the service of the Chilean government – arrived to Mexican coasts, probably to the ports of Puerto Ángel, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, or Acapulco, in Guerrero State. In that moment some Chilean sailors were supposed to remain in Mexican soil and started to live within the South Pacific Coast, being this dynamic responsible to produce a new race and cultural mixing, by introducing the traditional Chilean cueca dance, now transculturated and re-named chilena (García Arreola, 1990; Velásquez & Vaughn, 2000).

2. Some Effects of the Historical Cultural Mixing The mixing dynamic and the coexistence of blacks and other races created a threefold process.

99 I While the declaration of Independence and the abolition of caste system promoted the opportunity for sub-represented races obtaining a certain degree of equality for their social and political representation within Mexico, such declaration of freedom and cultural respect created a twofold way of institutional recognition. Thanks to it, José María Morelos produced then the document Sentimientos de la Nación (“Feelings of the Nation)73, where the Mestizo condition (what is currently respected as the “straight” and easiest way to be Mexican), and the ab origine one came to be formally legitimated. So, despite of the first 22th October 1814 Constitutional document, thanks to which blacks born in Mexican soil started officially to take part of Mexican Nation as citizens74 and enjoyed equality, security, property and freedom75, Mexican Constitution hadn’t considered any minority right or the opportunity for any kind of special recognition for the new institutionally integrated black population. This fact meant blacks were theoretically integrated into the Mexican society of the moment, but practically freely stigmatized by civil society and unprotected by law. Moreover, all those decrees that constituted first Mexican legislation between 1813 (with the Sentimientos de la Nación) and 1917 (the first official Mexican Constitution) established all those constitutional principles characterizing freedom, obligations, popular sovereignty, federalism, especially in the case of 1824 Constitutive Act and Constitution – an explicit «…copy of 1787 North American and Spanish Constitution…» (Rabasa, 2000: 91) − but never appeared any kind of plural vision of Mexico, aimed at producing a specific social perspective based on difference. By contrast, 1824 Constitution could introduce a sort of liberal though directed to impulse a real modification of the political way of deciding and organizing citizenship and State. Meaning that, giving birth to an institutional division of powers into Legislative, Executive and Judiciary, plus offering some sort of protection for human rights, and producing a first approach to self-government “politics” (Rabasa, 2000: 91; Dary, 1988; Joseph & Henderson, 2002), but avoiding to mention both indigenous or any more else kind of minority. That fact was gradually intensifying when, with the establishment of federalism, 1924 Constitution established the sub-division of Statal Powers and the

73 See Rabasa (2000: 88). 74 Decreto Constitucional para la libertad de la América mexicana, sancionado en Apatzingan á 22 de Octubre de 1814, art.13 (see bibliography for web reference). 75 Idem, art.24. 100 “free use” of local authority, same that was available only for who had shown the most close European racial futures (Rabasa, 2000: 105). So, when finally national freedom was granted, some aspects of insurgents’ radical agenda were implemented. Between the twenties’ and the forty’s decade of XIX century, both intellectuals and politicians took hard dispositions aimed at avoiding the use of caste distinction, in that moment generally mentioned by official documents. In this way 1824 Mexican Constitution was a early manifestation of those kind of politics whose prosecution was the 13th July 1824 Acta de la Federación (by which the slave trade ended) and the 15th September 1829 decree, through which slavery got an end. Those documents implied a more extended guarantee of freedom for Mexican citizens, by creating a sort of national conscience thanks to which the idea of “population” started to be a synonym for national identity being able to be beyond class, ethnicity and race difference. Official abolition of caste system not only created a way to be recognized as part of the Mexican Nation. It also represented an unofficial way for the demonstration of existence of black population (though the abolition of castes and the forgetfulness of racial and ethnic discourse within official documents and daily social context), especially in some parroquial records of Oaxaca city, before thirty’s nomenclature (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 36; Ochoa Serrano, 1998). On the other hand, slavery abolition promoted a stronger intervention by part of the Government and its institutions in the struggle for the definition of racial discourse, and even more clearly, Mexican blackness (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 36; Aguirre Beltrán, 1967: 11-27; Love, 1967, 1970). So, when government saw the advantage or need to use racial differences for organizing powers, blackness took a real importance as an acceptable social category, within political vocabulary, as during the Mexican colonial period, when using a specific caste system aimed at separating aesthetic features and cultures, was clearly useful for increasing white power. By contrast, when the government considered racial difference a counterproductive element for Mexican society, political discourse started to avoid mentioning or using it (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 36; Love, 1967, 1970). The effect of those kind of ideas imposed to Mexican politicians choosing for a homogeneous self-definition based on race supremacy theories of XIX century, being that racial though a strong stimulus for the development of a national discourse increasingly constructing itself thanks to scientific racism (Chance, 1976, 1978; Von Mentz, 2000). 101 II Because of the negative association with black heritage, Mexican intellectuals argued the diminution of national black population and promoted a sort of social restriction to the acceptance of Afro-Mexican presence. A position taken also by José Maria Luis Mora in his 1836 México y sus revoluciones (“Mexico and its Revolutions”). Through his work the author affirmed the imminent disappearance of all those who were settled within Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and their totally insignificance to inspire any kind of threat to Republican tranquility nor able to obtain a better luck for their own fate, as class (Luis Mora, 1986). At the same time, other intellectuals, as Sartorious, wrote that black Mexican race would be disappeared, and it would have been yet disappeared if many Cubans would not have been able to migrate from the Island and establish within Mexican coasts (Sartorius, 1859; Zavodny, 2003). A migration that obtained an increasing socio-cultural effect on what it was defined the relationship between a “direct slave trade” and “an indirect one”, and produced the most interesting Mexican racial and cultural variation (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Castellanos & Castellanos, 1988; Martín Quijano, 2005; Bojorquez, 2000; Hoffmann & Pascal, 2006; Hernández Cuevas, 2004; Leverette, 2009; Lewis, 2000; Guerra Vilaboy, 2003; Notimex, 03 de Enero 2003). Such dynamics induced, for the year 1870, Mexico having to face a new socio- cultural problem that started to justify the increase of black population through a useful migration aimed at economically developing the country. Especially for what concerns Cuban immigration, the Mexican Congress established that black Cuban population, who helped the Island in the betterment of its economical situation through the sugar fieldwork, promoted the black immigration and started to divulgate some specific information about blacks’ potential in work and technical development (Vaughn, 2004a; Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b). As a result, for the year 1895, and althought the most important local newspapers announced the need to engage blacks in copper-mining work and sugar cane fields, Mexican government finally decided to limit African immigration, arguing African blood was horrible and it wouldn’t be able to better racial mixing between Mexican dark-skinned people (Vaughn, 2004a). Reaction that for the 08th July 1927 justified the interruption of blacks’ immigration, by considering that mestizaje between them and “the other” would have being able to degenerate Mexican race (Vaughn, 2004a; Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b). 102 Only with the first 1917 official Constitution, Mexican State guaranteed for all persons the opportunity to enjoy all the rights recognized by the Mexican Constitution and international treaties signed by the Mexican State. It also assured the right to not be suspended except in the cases and under the conditions laid down in the Constitution itself, forcing the Mexican authorities to respect and protect the human rights and also prevent, punish and remedy human rights violations, by also prohibiting slavery in the country and protecting slaves entering Mexico, avoiding all kind of discrimination76. That fact supposed, and actually, supposes two different kinds of problems. By one side, the existence of specific rights in an official document brings to minorities a way to construct some kind of claims that impulses Mexico being defined as a liberal-democratic and multicultural state. By the other, the only importance given to ab origine minorities, supposes a sort of institutionalized disappearance of all those cultural minorities that are not defined as originally Mexican. More specifically the indigenous population itself started to self-define as the only local population with any kind of right of being considered autocthonous, indirectly and directly excluding blacks from the official definition of Oaxaca’s State population. So even though sometimes race was gendered in ways that favored unions between Indian women and Moreno men, blacks kept being marginalized77. That fact caused Indian women coming from the village where “their people” settled, engaging socially and geographically indigenous, and resulting in Indian encroachment on Moreno. So their future (the women’s) started to be anchored to their husband’ parents territory, where Indian women moved into the homes of son, and starting to inherit his parents’ house. This kind of relationship developed, in the future, a mixing way of traditional marriage and family African ancestral way of relations that today could be defined an element of socio-cultural tension between a per sé female power imposition and a “by descent- gender inheritance” of family responsibility attributed to women within black communities of Costa Chica. Some in-group dynamics that anthropologists would define respectively as matriarchy and matrilineage78. By this dynamic Indian wives might strongly demarcated as female, in the future came to inherit de facto the houses of their “Moreno in-laws”, to “take over” its center

76 Constitución política de los estados unidos mexicanos, que reforma la de 5 de febrero de 1857, in Diario Oficial, tomo V, 4ª, Época, n.30, Lunes 05 de febrero de 1917, pp.149-161, art. I and II. 77 More in Meza Bernal (2003) who presents an interesting reference about the concept of Moreno. 78 For a classic reference about the topic, see Malinowski (1924). In-group relationships and gender dynamic are two of the most African-representative elements of Costa Chica’s black population, so we will illustrate them in depth and separately, through the Chapter IV of the “Mexican Frame”. 103 from the inside out, as it were. At the same time Moreno women instituted specific marriage margins, establishing some defined boundaries between her sons (natural or acquired) and those who were deceptively defined macuanos. So “mixed-race” women started to prefer the Mestizo definition, arguing they were not only ‘…Indios, nor Spanish…Blacks are not from here…the real Creole population are we, with straight hair…but blacks do not want us, so they call us macuanos…’ (16th November 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Tive)79. Finally, these facts defined two clear socio-cultural points. On one side, Indians were defined as the unique ab origine population and the only one with special minority-rights supported by the Mexican Constitution. On the other, black population of the area took part in a socio-cultural dynamic that produced a circular marginality process, destined to exclude Afro-Mexicans from the daily practices between their own villages, and from a potential official recognition.

III If we take into account the mestizaje as a result of specific socio-historical dynamics, on the other hand it is needed to be defined which kind of patterns kept representing the black culture throughout the Costa Chica and still represents some core elements of local black population. Thus because of discrimination and racism, black settlements started to be isolated from local civic society. Such dynamic imposed to settlers a twofold process of construction of identity: on the one hand, race started to be understood as a value (not more an element for shame), as a distinctive signal able to make blacks easily recognized within Mexican population; on the other, “being black” was extremely useful in the maintenance and externalization of traditions. This socio-cultural trayectory contributed to impulse the process of collective identity construction, at least by two ways: through an individual ability to internalize specific forms of cultural behavior and expectations of a generalized other, and thanks to a new way of building senses of belonging and membership (Pollini, 1987). In the first case, members of black population within the Costa Chica started to build up a specific self-perception dynamic that today characterizes the communitarian

79 The information is part of an interview we obtained in San Juan Bautista lo de Soto, where black and indigenous population live together, and where relationships are clearly not always positive. The problem of self-definition and race marginalization is actually present and it conditions daily in-groups and outgroups’ relationships. 104 symbolic universe and some kind of new perceptions of a widespread socio-cultural environment of which black national minority began to be formally part. In the second African population developed some traditional elements that today actually allow understanding in-group claims based on potential recognition, by the construction of a new socio-cultural environment, completely different from what we can find out of the area. In this way, Afro-Mexicans obtained the maintenance of a certain level of aesthetic features, the use of specific cultural traditions, and an ancestral way of organizing inter relationships within families and communities; some elements that actually turned themselves really relevant for the recognition and representation of black population within the Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, as a unique cultural minority80. In this sense, it is possible to say Afro-Mexicans created a sort of “cultural insurance” (Kymlicka, 1995) that, referring to African identity recognition, establishes a peculiar way for representing blacks within the area. A socio-cultural dynamic that imposes some kind of ideological need to re-organize local culture starting from an aprioristic process of identity negotiation, and a way of collective representation that potentially facilitates Africans’ territorial location and a certain degree of inculturation81. What it means is taking into account the presence and use of certain standards of beheaviour, beliefs, norms or values that are the main results of a sociohistorical dynamic that produced a complex of shared elements characterized by the influence of both national and local culture. In its historical meaning Oaxaca’s black identity represents thus an attempt to mutually incorporate local and national symbolic universes without avoiding communities’s peculiarities nor generalized cultural elements. Accordingly as such historical trayectory, Costa Chica’s Afro-Mexicans seem to be a threefold mixed population: in its aesthetic traits; its self-perception as cultural minority; its socio-cultural structure. Those principles impulse both the process of recongition of Costa Chica’s black identity, and the use of the constitutional historical trayectory as a way to justify their presence. From another point of view, they also offer an appropiate representation of black political identity aimed at conceiding African settlers being included into a definition, which does not limit the relationship between “them” and “the Mexicans”.

80 More information about the potential recognition of minorities and its “democratic modality”, in Kymlicka (1996b, 2002, 2007b) and Inglis (1996). 81 The last chapter of the work will be in charge to define the concept and its implications for identity negotiation. 105 By contrary, it represents the best way to recognize diversity and allows them to obtain any kind of advantage for being defined citizens (Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002; Habermas, 1989; Müller, 2007; Peces-Barba, 2003; Rosales, 1999; Sternberger, 2001; Velasco, 2002). Meaning that impulsing the local use of a democratic politic of conservation for traditions and communitarian uses – what Kymlicka defined a sort of local cultural insurance82 – and promoting the institutionalization of diversity as a national worth (Waldron, 2000). In this way, and referring to the current situation in which Afro-Mexicans are, both national and local constitutional documents83 should be understood as a sort of formalization of a principle of emotio, whom specific function would be to assume the human condition as an emotional space. Doing that would mean not only politically understanding the historical process to which Afro-Mexicans underwent. The aim of such a local historical consciencie about national culture would be better ensuring the realization of human processes, rather than institutional, towards the creation of a multicultural social consciousness. A way of interaction that allows perpetrating a certain level of lieto vivere without forgetting the fundamental principle of the democratic constitutional State. Such principle would result in living also through consensus of irrationality, no only taking into account a political discourse based on consensus or dissensus related to what was historically, and socially, considered rational (Häberle, 2003: 117). The “institutional effect” of what we mentioned would be fed by a degree of nationalism aimed at including diversity as a cultural worth for the multicultural environment. Meaning that also avoiding an aprioristic way of cultural homogenization built on the idea of “ethnic purity” (in the Mexican case, historically disproved) and aimed at propagating a certain level of stigma and “shame” (Major & O’Brien, 2005; Link & Phelan, 2001; Douglas, 1970). An effect of historical dynamics that Mexican State seems to have chosen for the representation of its current national identity. Indeed, instead of promoting the improvement of the social perception of local cultural groups, the State indirectly impulses the dynamics of prejudice, giving life to a continuing social relationship between an attribute and a historically-based stereotype,

82 Kymlicka refers specifically to those special rights that could be useful in producing some rights for “self-definition” or “self-government” aimed at defining cultural boundaries of local minorites. Especially about such dichotomy, we refer to Kymlicka (1994, 1996a, 2007a). 83 We refer to both the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos and the Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca. 106 whom main effects are the loss of social status and the production of a certain degree of self-discrimination for Afro-Mexicans. By contrary, if Mexcican State would choose for valorizing pluralism and integration as national identity’s values, we would be referring to a cultural effect that Habermas chose to define “constitutional patriotism” (Habermas, 1989: 94). In this case, the historical trayectory that made Africans discriminated within Mexico would be based on a reflexive identification that avoids any particular content of cultural tradition, and embraces a universal set of national elements, collected by the normative order sanctioned by the Constitution: human rights and the fundamental principles of the democratic state of law. In this sense, the idea of community would be included into a more extended conception of Nation, where, as for the multinational states, each sub-group represents a Nation itself, which exists thanks to its own culture, but it couldn’t be territorially located without the institutional frame granted by the official Government (Spencer, 1994; Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007a; Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992). As a consequence, the purpose of recognition in favor of local minorities, theoretically exposed by the constitutional documents and promoted by the Mexican State, wouldn’t represent a sort of recognition attributed spontaneously thanks to a specific place of birth, but only a way to show some requirements of civility, necessary for democratic constitutionalism. Depending on that, black communities’ members produced a special sense of belonging that currently does not take part into a national idiosincrasy, constructed by a Mexican consciousness about the need or the right to understand black identity through the colonial past or some specific dynamic of deculturation and transculturation. It is built up only starting by a feeling of being part of an autopoietic group legitimately proud of taking part into Mexican Mestizo identity (Crowley & Silva, 2002). Thanks to its universalistic component, this kind of “patriotism” contrasts with a sort of ethnic-cultural nationalism, which in turn it would be opposed to the comtemporary democratic position of classical multiculturalism (Bell & Newby, 1971; Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Anderson, 1983)84. Moreover, the sociocultural value of blacks minorities’ symbolic universe is measured not only by the degree of belonging or acceptance expressed by members, in relation to the cultural framework that characterizes that same cultural environment, and can be understood as a man’s natural habitat which establishes a set of common cultural

84 For many other information about “classical multiculturalism”, see note n.24. 107 and standardized parameters among its members. It also is built on the range of elements and sensitivity depending on the degree of difference actors are materially impulse to feel, and where ‘differentnesses within actors are covered up by including all those kind of elements that can be assigned under that group and potentially or generationally different’ (Tuan, 2002: 309). So, on the one hand, local black minorities embody a cultural group whose demands are made up through an intersubjective process of mutual recognition that has no legal basement nor institutional protection, which means being in a continuos tension between a potential inclusion and a social exclusion (Okpewho, 1999; Bennett, 2003, 2009; Zeleza, 2005). On the other, black population of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca represents a sort of micro socio-cultural environment within which actors have the opportunity to maintain their own sense of collectivity and create a specific way to define themselves through an Afro-Mexican identity. A cultural complex based on a set of shared codes only by a limited portion of population, allowing it to create a dynamic of comparison between local and national culture thanks to an ad extra recognition. By contrast, Oaxaca’s black population embodies a witness of state and social forgetfulness, enjoying not a status of legal entity, or the opportunity to take part into what the Sentimientos de la Nación should have ensured as the first element of respect and understanding of diversity: citizenship (Joseph & Henderson, 2002)85. Finally, while history has taken away the social status of Afro-Mexicans and the opportunity of being registered as a relevant cultural sub-group of the Nation, the feeling of being African, its traditions and its ancestrality have never abandoned communities’ remembrance nor memory. Next sections will be aimed at expliciting Afro-Mexicans’s cultural exclusivity and the elements through which we would be able to prove their traditions and modus vivendi exist, and justify the need for formally recognizing the African as a national cultural heritage.

85 See Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (2010: 15-21). 108

Chapter II Some Cultural Traits of Oaxaca’s Black Communities

109 110 1. Some Traditional Ways of Cultural Expression The effect of acculturation and deculturation processes for Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican population was the most important among the historical influences suffered by such national minority, within Mexico. Thus, because of territorial position of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca – far from the main cultural colonial centers – and the proximity to an indigenous population, proud and inclined to the preservation of its own ethnic roots, Africans arrived within the area during the colonial period faced two socio-cultural adaptation processes. While black minority learnt cohabiting with Indians within the area, meaning that racially mixing with them, it adaptated its own in-group culture to new traditions and social dynamics. In this sense, Afro-Mexicans contributed to expand their racial elements and culture, by creating a neat separation between blacks and Indians, but they also contributed to melt differences (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992), creating a hard problem to define them separately. Because of what we said, and in order to analize cultural traditions and their local peculiarity, we have to take into account each of them and describe which elements seem to be tipically black and which ones could embody some local representation of Indian and African mixed traditions (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992). This kind of mixing process is thus not only a social, cultural and physical mixing, but it also represents a change into a very territorially located modus vivendi that seems not to be exclusively part of the one or the other group (the black and the indigenous), but also corresponding to both cultural traditions. Neverthless, if we seek for accounting the most relevant parts of African elements throughout settlements we analyzed, we found it could be possible distinguishing four different ways thanks to which Afro-descent population could be assume the role (and the status) of an unique cultural national minority. We organized the information depending on an in crescendo scale that examines African culture within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca through a circoncentric model, where the biggest set includes three more sets, whose African content is inversely proportional to the size of the set itself. That also means the biggest set respresents the most lax influence of African elements (including Afro-Indian traditions) and the smallest stands for the space where traditions are constituted by a major number of sub-Saharan cultural aspects.

111 Thus, insofar as the set of Afro-Mexican meanings contacts with Mestizo or indigenous culture, its level of dispersion increases. By contrast, as the symbolic universe of blacks moves away from the national identity, it comes progessively less affected. In the first set of caractheristics we found currently an African use of a “modified modality” of Spanish language that refers predominantly to its pronuntiations (depending on indigenous language sounds), and a few words that seem to have a Mexican origin strictu sensu86. Secondly, we account for dances. In this case we will analize four types of them, by explaining some origins and meanings of each, and including the Danza de los Diablos (“Devils’ Dance”), Danza de los Negritos (“Little Africans’s Dance”), Danza del Toro de Petate (“The petate-Bull Dance”)87, and Danza de la Tortuga (“Turtle Dance”). In this case, we will highlight both the importance of African original elements and some specific territorial and social characteristics. Such as the use of masks during the “Devils’ Dance”, or celebrating natural environment and resources, as concerning to the “Turtle Dance”, where the turtle represents the symbol of a new historical location within which slaves were obliged to stay. Thirdly, we take into account two ways of creating and mantaining family and community patterns about wedding and inter relationships: the matrimonio ideal (the “perfect wedding”) and the queridato, a sort of a concubinate. The first one would be the traditional way to produce some patterns of behavior based on an acencestral memory perpetrated as far. The latter embodies a real African element that allows men having different women and create a second family where the legitimated sons and daughters come to be considered some kind of “adquired children” of the men’s wife, not the querida’s88. This dynamic will be central in our further discussion, especially talking about matrilinage and matriarchy − we will study separately − thanks to which

86 One example is the word chimelo (“thoothless”), where the chim represents a corruption of the word sin (“without”). Ramos i Duarte also explains the word chimuela, a hybridism resulting by the conjunction between the Mayan cham, chamil (“thooth or theeth”) and the Spanish muela. See Ramos i Duarte (1895: 168, 169), but also Santamaría (2005: 391), who refers to the word chimuelo. 87 The petate is a bedroll woven from the palm of “petate”, a local variety of the plant. The dance specifically takes its name by a “puppet” shaped as a bull covered by the petate bedroll. 88 Querida means literally “beloved” and it refers to all those women men are legitimated to “use” in order to create a new family and increase the number of members of the community. That fact will strongly and positively affect social recognition within the area, especially regarding opportunities to find a couple or to obtain some favor between families, as work, money, or any other kind of help. 112 women (though to the men’s power within the communities) will obtain a certain level of equality and shared justice. Finally, we account for the perception Afro-Mexicans have about the human being, death and deseases. This is the most relevant African element we will take into account in this section. Indeed, as among African original tribes, black Mexicans show some ancestral origins, especially through a peculiar vision about the dycothomy life and death, and some specific techniques for healing, by avoiding “bad spririts” and maintaining certain patterns of “good life” (Aguirre Beltrán, 1972, 1989). Firstly, we account for human conception, which means understanding the way individuals are composed (by soul and spirit). In second instance, we explain some detailed deseases and their potential solution by the use of natural elements. Finally, we try to figure out the socio-cultural role of local “sorcerers”.

2. A Spanish “Dialect” Modality Regarding to language use and variation in cultural meanings, related to the African environment of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, we have to take into account two key elements: the original language derivation and the mixing process. In the first case, we can further separate the influences between a “direct contamination” of language and an “indirect” one. In the second, we highlight the process of language adaptation to the specific local context, modified over the centuries. As regards the former, language modification refers necessarily to the way through which Africans were originally “imported” to Mexico. Those who came directly from Africa (Guinea, Cape Green, Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast) and were part of the original Bantu, Congo and carabalí ethnic groups (Martínez Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972), were defined bozales, same ones that had no knowledge of the Spanish language. Therefore, they had to produce some new a priori linguistic codes constructed on the base of three linguistic influences, their African language, the Castilian language (they were learning once in Mexico) and linguistic influences of indigenous origin. Thus, those who were defined bozales developed also a certain set of self-relevant meanings (Tajfel, 1981) starting by three or more dependent linguistic influences that imposed to the Africans of Costa Chica some mixed cultural patterns currently taking part of local language and spirit. As regards the latter, it refers to a type of linguistic contamination based on the differentiation of parameters of language’s usage aimed at shaping a sort of historic 113 memory. In this case, slaves employed from time to time their original words, and started to mix them up with new terms and concepts they were learning. This process began to be characterized by a mixture of languages that depended by the coexistence of native local idioms prevailing at the time of blacks arrival (and still existing) as Nahuas, Tarasco, and Mixteca, and African languages of slaves (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 202). Because of such dynamic, it is very difficult to separate a current way of talking of the Costa Chica African population, by isolating a large number of African-origin words. This fact depends on the way of slaves “extraction”, since large concentrations of slaves were never integrated of the same ethnies (Moreno Fraginals, 1977). In this sense, slaves had not to modify but substitute their own languages with the new ones. Castilian turned itself into a sort of lingua franca, and was established as the only way slaves had to communicate to eachother (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 202). An explicit and important effect of this dynamic is the loss of many core African concepts and words. By contrast, some cultural elements, probably the most rooted ones (especially religion) have been maintained and, currently, contribute to shape a specific sort of Afro-Mexican language. In this sense, the Afro-Mexican Spanish modality only accounts for some African-religion terms. A lack of linguistic influence that depended on the importance and presence of indigenous culture within the area and an imperative racial mixing process, highter than what we can find in other Afro-Mexican areas, as Mexico City (Campos, 1999). Here, though to a very weak black population presence (compared with the non-black one) it is possible to find many African religious elements, as for the Palo Mayombe and Santería (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Cabrera, 1986, 2006; Alpizar, 2006; Jiménez, 2004). By contrast, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca is not possible to find any specific religious influence and, consequently, many terms, which we would have been able to account for, don’t exist. Because of what we said, it is possible to understand the way through which Oaxaca’s black settlers speak as a sort of Spanish dialect, conditioned in its own pronutiation and use of the meanings, and often employed with sexual implications, during folkloristic manifestations and the very common chilena music89. In this case, the only explicit African element we can find is the importance of sexual topics, love and familiar relationships between who take part in the local cultural event.

89 Because of the very few information about the chilena music of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, our reference is explicitely to the empirical data we obtained during the field work. 114 On the other side, concerning to the African-Spanish modality, the most notable difference between the standard Spanish spoken and the one used routinely within the area is the “deaf aspiration”, represented by the j, s and z when they close a syllable or word (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 203-205). Such aspiration, being oftenly too weak, sometimes disappears, especially as final consonant of a word (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989), as in cruce-cruz-cruj-crú, or pisce-pece-pez-pej and peje-pejcao (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 203). Other linguistic modifications are the transformation of ju into f; the substitution of “you” with “You”90; the use of simple future instead of standard ways of Spanish present progressive (as boi a cantar, instead of the right grammatical voy a cantar, for cantaré – “I’m gonna sing” instead of “I will sing”); the use of conjunctions between two words (ontá for donde está – “wher’sit” and not “where is it?”); the use of the neutral article lo (as lo fortuno for la fortuna – “the luck”); the use of ll as y; the equivalence between b and v (written and spoken); the elusion of some words’ structure (as orita for ahorita – “now”, “in this moment”, but in the Afro-Mexican idiosyncrasy also meaning “maybe later but not sure”, “yes, but I don’t know when”…ecc…); the lack of a where it is needed (unque for aunque – “due” or “although”); the addiction of the vocal i where it is not required (trajieron for trajeron – “they took it…”). Because of such a combination, sometimes Afro-Mexican Spanish of the Costa Chica comes to be hard to understand, depending on both the words people use to express themselves and the cultural meaning they attribute to certain grammatical constructions. In this sense people oftenly use some local words in order of not being understood by part of a stranger or a non-local Mexican, especially concerning to the aesthetics of the person (in particular when they want to define a North-American or an European) or her ethnic origin, oftenly related with indigenous population. An informant offered an example of that: ‘…qué hace usted tan nejo,…anda si chando y chimeco que e’como el chambalé…’ (12th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Lucio)91. Or in the case of the following verse, corresponding to a

90 In Spanish, “you” (tu) is an unformal use of the language in referring to somebody. By contrast, “You” refers to the formal way to speak to eachother and is normally translated with usted. This kind of linguistic modality is not only tipical within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. It also comes out in different other places all around Latin America, as in Argentina, or some places of Central America, where the informal way can be substituted with vos; in Colombia, where the formal use usted is the most common way to refer to friends and familiars; Mexico, where it is mostly employed by African-descent people. 91 Literally translated: “why are you so dirty…you are so tousled and with an unwashed face you looks like a bug…”. In the example the “words” nejo, chando, chimeco and chambalé have not Indian origin, as it is easier to find. By constrast, we find a mixing and aspiration phenomenon associated to the use of some specific Bantu-origin words (Aguierre Beltrán, 1989). 115 locally known corrido92: Todo el barrio del Carmen/recuerda de su nombre/puej no era bergüenzoso/ser ombre entre loj ombrej93. By contrast, as Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 204) argued, another linguistic phenomenon exists and it is not possible to find in other places within Mexico, but only within the Costa Chica: the evolution of the f that doesn’t follow the standard linguistic norms of Spanish. It is substituted with an h but the sound has only a few differences fugimos- foimos-huimos-juimos, or, as we said ju turns itself into f, or the other way around (as Farej for Juárez, Fan for Juan or fej for juez). Different is the case of lo use, called loismo, and y, named yeísmo. In the first instance it represents an indiscriminate use of lo, not only, as we argued, in the case of a gender substitution (lo fortuno-la fortuna), but also as a way to interchange pronounces, as lo oyeron instead of le oyeron (“you heard him” where the latter is the correct one). The second is specifically a “pronunciation and writing” phenomenon where the word composed by ll comes to be replaced with a y: llorar-yorar (“to cry”), llenar- yenar (“to fill up”), and others (Menéndez Pidal, 1929: 9). Finally, a very tipical linguistic element within our settlements is the formation and use of diminutives by aphaeresis or apocope; aphaeresis and apocope; aphaeresis and syncope. In the first case, first syllables come to be avoided, or last ones are not pronounced, as for Anacleto, which turns itself into Cleto, Domingo into Mingo, Etelvina into Vina. In the second, diminutive is constructed through the use of medial syllables, as Leopoldo (Polo), Natividad (Tive) and Hipólita (Pola). Thirdly, the dimutive is constructed by the intervocalic syllabes, as for Alberto (Beto), Ernesto (Neto), Silvia (Chivis). Plus, all those names which end with io, ia, lio, sio or so, cio or cia, ro, no, lo, have more peculiar transformations, same that we describe in order of appearance: Antonio- Toño, Gorgonio-Goño, Amalia-Maya, Romelia-Meya, Obdulio-Yuyo, Refugio-Fuyo, Nemesio-Necho, Narciso-Chicho, Patricio-Ticho, Rocío-Chío, Alicia-Licha, Constancia-Tancha, Aurelio-Lelo, Teodoro-Lolo, Luciano-Chano, Gonzalo-Chalo.

92 The corrido is a traditional music that includes some North-American Texas notes and, oftenly relates some events of violence. Music and violence within the Costa Chica is widely explained by Gutiérrez Ávila (1988). 93 See Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 203). The verse says: ‘The whole “Carmen” neightborhood/remembers his name/it was not shameful being a man among men…’. 116 This kind of speaking addresses to different motives that are directly connected with the daily way of life of black settlers within the Costa Chica and the social importance language has for the mantainence of interrelationships between the villages. For what concerns the first case, Afro-Mexicans show a very active modus vivendi completely constructed on the ambiguity of inter-gender relations. In this context is very common to be included into many cultural events within the villages where the chilena and the corrido are not only the way to animate the party, but also to establish a new friendship or reinforce daily relationships. People comes thus to be involved into a social dynamic which we can say it is literally constructed on a specific way of telling the others something about life, personal emotions, desires (also sexual ones), and it expresses some basic values of Afro-Mexican way of being: cultural membership and family. In this way, language is the key element to understand certain patterns of behavior and the way through which people feel themselfes legitimated to express their own openness and familiarity with “the other”, especially relating with love. For example, we had the opportunity to take part into a vela (or velada), a local meeting during which people eat, dance and cultivate social relations, and that is made once a year, as an anniversary, for remembering the death of somebody94. The playing band was presenting some chilenas and participants were invited to invent some verses ‘to make a nice girl to “meet” somebody new’95. If the girl or man asked “for it” refuses to answer back, it is considered offensive and it comes to be seen as a way to brake down a potential continuity between social and cultural relationships within the community. The “game” of asking and responding continues until members reach a sort of agreement that not necessarily ends with a sexual compromise, but it guarantees the continuity of good relations between the couple.

3. Dances Dances of the Mexican South Pacific Coast have universal roots combined by the cultural experiences of indigenous, Spanish and African population gathered togheter thanks to the historical events of the region. Because of that, it is not possible referring to the black dances of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca as an authoctonous element of African

94 More details about the vela will be explained later. 95 The information refers to a direct explication gave to the author, nearby El Ciruelo, during the vela (12th November 2012). The meaning of the phrase is very much more explicit in Spanish, and it explains clearly a doble-meaning expression with an intentional sexual purpose: pa’que ‘na linda chica no lo dejprecie (“…with the objective a nice girl does not say no to it…”). 117 origin. We should better define them as the result of the conjunction of different ways of cultural representation. In general, when we refer to African dances within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, the information we have is really escase and it is mainly aimed at describing those traditions usually performed during the Festival Costeño de la Danza, in Puerto Escondido, or at the Guelaguetza, in Oaxaca City96. Despite such escase information, it is possible to find many evidences of Mexican dances in documents and art objects dating back over three thousand years. Their representations were found throughout Mexico since Tlatilco findings (1400 B.C.), where were clay figurines representing dancers with masks, rattles and bells hands in the legs and Bourbon codices Tlatelolco testimonials sixteenth century chroniclers: Sahagún, Durán, Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada and Landa (Niederberger, 1996; Diehl, 2004). The conquerors and colonizers also brought their dances to New Spain, transforming those dances by turning the Eagle-Knights (Caballeros Aguila) and Tiger- Knights (Caballeros Tigre) into the Moors’ and Christians’, and giving birth to some dancing ways and customs which today represent an explicit mixed tradition Africans of the Costa Chica have partially interiorized and they actually use. Because of that, it is possible to find different kinds of “typically Indian” dances performed only by indigenous population97, but it can be also addressed a set of musical representations which are traditionally (and often exclusively performed) by Afro- Mexicans. In this case it is very interesting noting that those dances and music, which are considered “African”, actually have not exclusive sub-Saharan elements and they are influenced by Antill’s African heritage (the son is an example of that) and South

96 The Festival Costeño de la Danza (15th to 17th November) is the second cultural event in importance after the Guelaguetza of the Oaxaca City. The first one gathers the most important musical and dancing traditions within the Oaxaca State and shows indigenous, Mestizo and African cultural expression of local settlements. The second (also called Los lunes del cerro – “Mondays on the Hill”) is an annual strictly indigenous cultural event that celebrates traditional dancing in costume in groups, often gender-separated, and includes parades with indigenous walking bands, native food, and statewide artisanal crafts (such as prehispanic-style textiles). The programming is variable and in 2013 was performed on Mondays 22th and 29th July. Both traditions, though of having become important tourist attractions, maintain a real cultural importance to the Oaxaca State and they allow communities to perpetrate some traditions, which, if not expressed through an intitutional and national event, they would be lost. 97 The most important Indian dancing traditions, not mixed with African elements, are: the Danza de los Tejorones (the “Dance of Shabbily Dressed Men”), performed during the Carnaval and allowing people to let their sexual instincts free; the Danza de los Tejorones Viejos (the “Dance of Shabbily Dressed Old Men”), whose significance refers to the Passion of Christ; the Danza de las Mascaritas (the “Dance of Little Masks”), a satire of French dances, after French invasion of Mexico of the XIX century; the “Chareos Dance” (Danza de los Chareos), local modality of the “Moors and Chistians” about Christian faith and its enemies (the Moors), and others. 118 America’s (as in the case of chilena)98. More specifically, dances performed within the area are not typically African but they relate peculiar events happened throught the history of the coast. In this sense, they are a sort of communities’ “scrapbooks”, which maintain the memory alive and contribute developing local culture in remembrance of some kind of imported ancestry. So while it is not possible to talk about African dancing traditions within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992), it is allowed to say that, throughout the area, people started to express their personality and roots thanks to the music or dancing performances that actually turned themselves into an authoctonous way to be recognized as Afro-Mexicans. The dances are usually performed during a festival (as the Festival de la Danza or the Guelaguetza) but they are also presented in occasion of festivities, local events, family reunions. The responsibility of the event rests in a group (normally women) or in a specific individual. In this case, it is interesting to note that normally men perform the dances but women are in charge of the whole organization. People form a special committee (locally called mayordomía) which organizes the dances, and all what is necessary to the event, as the decoration of the streets or the plaza (within black settlements of the Costa Chica people meets up in an open area they use as local square), the food for the visitors, and the payment for musicians or dancers. Sometimes the entire party responsibility lies with one individual (the mayordomo), who is looking for increasing his reputation within the community. Dancing events within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca are thus much more then a simple matter of fun. They embody a sort of major social event that has also a deep sense of magic and religion. ‘…The dancer (or

98 Studies about Mexican musical tradition emerge only after 1910, a period during which the country is re-configured and the notion of Mexican identity comes to be central in the political discourse. Within this phase of persistent search for the same in the indigenous and Spanish cultural roots, few intellectuals stressed the relevance of the African contribution to the national musical culture. The most relevant scholars who dedicated some interest to African cultural tradition within Mexico were Saldivar (1936), Aguirre Beltrán (2001), Mendoza (1956), Casanova (1986), Stevenson (1952a, 1952b, 1968). The first one’s contribution is doubly significant to emphasize not only the importance of the African influence to Mexican culture but specifically around music and dance performances aspects in the colonial period. His study provides solid data about the continuous interaction of blacks and Mulattos and indigenous descent people at the first half of the seventeenth century completely unknown. The second contributed with a very much more ethnographic vision of musical African tradition. The third, due his escase interest about blackness in Mexico produced a single article about folkloristic dances. The forth registered some influences within Veracruz, excluding the Costa Chica of Oaxaca and Guerrero, traditionally marginalized areas until mid-twentieh century; and the latter studied the African written musical influences (musical scores) during the Colonial period (early seventeenth century), including a lot of dances and songs of presumptive indigenous roots (like the tocotín) and African (zarabandas, cumbias, and others). Some more contemporary authors are Ramos Smith (1979), Geijerstam (1976), Reuter (1980), Chamorro (1984), Pérez Fernández (1986, 1987, 2003), Gutiérrez Ávila (1988), Mc Dowell (2000), Velásquez & Vaughan (2002), and others. 119 dancers) does not perform for fun or the public: the dance is a prayer that invokes the support of higher forces, which are considered dominating the world, so who prays (or dances) has to show some devotion and respect to the divinity…’ (16th November 2012, Santo Domindo Armenta interview, Chano). The most relevant dances we can account for are the following: the “Dance of Devils” (Danza de los Diablos), the “Dance of Little Africans” (Danza de los Negritos), the “Petate-Bull Dance” (Danza del Toro de Petate), the “Dance of Turtle” (Danza de la Tortuga). The first one is the most African in musical tradition of the Costa Chica and it takes into account two specific elements of sub-Saharan religions: the aesthetics (the devils cover their faces with some wood masks and horsehair-beards) and its meaning. In this case, the devil representation embodies the spirit of African ancestors and it celebrates their coming to the earth. The second is set in the colonial period and represents a healing ritual from a snakebite suffered by a slave while moving from a sugar cane plantation to another. This dance shows thus some traditional methods of medicine, by avoiding the occidental techniques of healing and exalting the power of local sorcerers. The third one illustrates the colonial life in the Spanish haciendas and relates the tale of the biggest and strongest bull of Francisco Acho – a Spanish hacendero who had 24 cow ranches within the Oaxaca’s coast, being one of the most important cow owners of the area, at that moment. In order to take his best animal to the city, he asks his 24 caporales (cowherders) for help, but it won’t be so easy. Finally, the “Dance of Turtle” explains two elements of black culture within the Costa Chica: the nature (the turtle represents one of the most common animal throughout the area) and the relationship the slaves had with the Spanish. The “Dance of Turtle” represents thus the occasion for mocking the penisulars by using a whip on the assisting public.

3.1. The Danza de los Diablos (“Devils’ Dance”) The most known version of the Danza de los Diablos is from Collantes. Interpretations of it have been shown oftenly during the Festival Costeño de la Danza of Puerto Escondido and recently it was performed at the Millennium Hall in Addis Abeba, Etiopia, on 25th May 2013. Despite its importance for African identity construction within the area, this dance is very little studied99.

99 The participation of Afro-Mexicans to the Addis Abeba Millenium Hall was arranged by the organization committee of the Casa Hánkili África of México City. 120 This dance is characterized by elements of diverse origins, some of them dating back to the Colonial era, when Spanish haciendas emerged within the Pacific coast and black slaves were employed as cowhands, farmers and domestics (García Martínez, 2009; Motta Sánchez, 2005; Beals, 1975; Jiménez, 2006). In that context, black men and women replaced the indigenous population of the area and, even though the wars of Independence against the Spanish Crown had some new and positive social consequences in term of the abolition of slavery (Hernández y Dávalos, 1985: 243-244, 297-298), such achievement was not carried out effectively and immediately, especially within the most remote areas of the country, such as Oaxaca and Guerrero. Therefore, even after the end of the subjugation of Indians and blacks to encomienda and slavery regimes, they continued living in similar circumstances to those when they were being commissioned or enslaved. As a result, black slaves started a socio-cultural process of manteinance of African original traditions that, despite of not being possible to be compared with the cultural action developed by the Cuban cabildos nacionales (Ortiz, 1921)100, was able to create a sort of enclave where ancient traditions, in order to survive, started to modify their own essence. On the other side, because of both being orally handed down and the rejection of young generations to keep perpetrating them throughout their families’ habitus, African traditions, as the Danza de los Diablos’ first African meaning, began to die. Neverthless it is possible to say the sense of the dance dates back to the most important principle of African religions: the spirit (or the energy of ancestors). By this meaning, the image of devils refers to a sort of materialization of the shadow that, in occasion of the traditional Mexican recurrence of the Day of the Dead, are called back from the grave and invited to stay with their families for a while (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992). At the same time, as some informants argued, it is impossible to account for the exact origin of this tradition. ‘…the “Devils’ Dance” has its origins in some kind of religious

100 In the early colonial times, the cabildos nacionales were unknown places to the Spanish. They were used as recreational spaces in which African slaves performed their religious rituals and cultural events. In an attempt to remain hidden from the Spanish, the cabildos de nación also represented unique cultural spaces where images of African deities, often mixed with Catholic iconography imposed by the Spaniards, were stored. Therefore, while some African traditions perpetrated thanks to a very effective action of cultural defence made by part of the cabildos, those spaces allowed a necessary transculturation and syncretism of the original religious rituals, as the Santeria and Palo Monte or Abakuá. For further information, see Cabrera (1977, 1979, 2006). 121 representations based on the veneration of Ruja101…our ancestors offered this dance to the supreme divinity…[Ruja himself]…and considered it capable to free black people from the extremely strict conditions imposed by the Spanish, here, within the Costa’ (25th October 2011, Collantes interview, Lalo). Currently the meaning of worship to Ruja was replaced by the veneration of the death (very traditional in Mexican culture), by imposing to the Danza de los Diablos being performed only during the 01th and 02th November, in occasion of the Chatolic Day of the Dead. ‘…Now it is normal dancing in the street but people don’t know the real meaning of this dance. Especially young generations are not conscious of their African origin and they use not to go to the tree…’ (29th October, Collantes interview, Chalo). ‘At the time of my grandmother the dancers went to the houses, where the altars for the dead ancestors were prepared, and they danced and ate. Then, they went back to the streets of the village and reached the most important spot and symbol of the community. The meeting point of all members of the settlement, and normally located in front of the City Hall…In this place there was traditionally a big tree that, for the slaves, represented an ancient element for the respect of ancestors and embodied the terrenal way to return spiritually and physically to Africa: the ceiba’102 (25th October, Collantes interview, Lalo). The dance is interpreted by a group of between 16 and 20 people (men) who represent all devils, with their chief and the Minga wife of the major Devil, mother of all devils, or sometimes considered the mother of the Earth itself.

101 It is very difficult to confirm the existence of an African divinity called Ruja and it seems to be much more legitimated understanding this religious figure as a sort of transliteration or an “erroneous” translation of the pronuntiation of Orula. It would be possible because of the similarity in the pronuntiation of both names, the ethnic origin of the divinity (it is a Bantu image of the supreme god, creator of the earth and human being, “controller” of the universe), and the religious aspect of its meaning (Orula is the most important god in the Santería). If we consider the Cuban migration to Mexico being very important, especially during 1868-1898 and 1959-1962, it is possible to argue Afro-Cuban religion influenced the cultural heritage of the marginated population of black-Mexicans within the Oaxaca’s coast. More information about slave trade and Cuba-Mexico immigration in Castellanos & Castellanos (1988), Curtin (1969), Bojorquez (2001), Bennett (2009), Fernández Robaina (2001), Guerra Vilaboy (2003), Lachatanaré (2004), and Martínez Montiel (2000, 2006). 102 In African religions, the meaning of the ceiba referes to the place where the spirits of ancestors are and it works as the point of reference for social, cultural and religious rituals connected with the mpungos (spirits). In the Palo Mayombe religion, for example, the ceiba is called Nkunia casa Sambi, the “tree- house of god” (Cabrera, 2006:171-218). Surprisingly the Palo Mayombe is not part of local cultural heritage and, in general, in Mexico, it seems not representing an African element but only a dynamics of social utility, occasionally, overlapping local Mexican cultural boundaries and assuming, depending on individual or communitarian needs, a decisive or relative role for actors (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr., 2014b). 122 As argued by an informant, the dance shows some mixed elements, like an explicit Sonoran influence. ‘…It is said the Devils’ Dance was created by the conjuction of traditions of Oaxaca black population with those black slaves that, escaping from the North of the country, arrived within the Costa Chica and were called tenangos103…The influence of Sonora is evident both in the clothes and in the execution of the dance. The devils are dressed in worn and torn clothes, mostly brown with fringed edges. They wear red bandanas in various parts of the body: on the hand, the waist, the neck or the head. All carry a wooden mask with antlers and mane hair and a beard of horsehair. The chief of devils uses some leather “legwarmers”, while the Minga wears a woven shirt with a shawl over her shoulders, a skirt with fringe at the waist and white lace. She always holds a doll representing her daughter…it represents the family, the most important value for Mexican culture and very important also for the African…’ (01th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). The dance is developed into two rows of devils. The chief, along with the Minga, dances back and forth in the space left in the middle. The steps are fast and strong. Often they crouch and suddenly stop, turn around and crouch again. At other times, they make some turns and rotations stomping hard on the floor, getting faster according to the rhythm of the music produced by a harmonica, a jawbone of a cow and a teconte (a drum with rhythmic sounds produced by the friction of a long rod with the overlying skin).

3.2. The Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”) It would be unprecise saying the Danza de los Negritos is an authoctonous dance that was born within the Costa Chica and having some exclusive African traditional traits. It must better be said this dance has ambiguos origins (especially about the place it has had its first origin) but a specifically Mexican paternity. Indeed, at the moment of being asked about the “Dance of Little Africans”, many informants shown themselves being

103 The concept of tenango is very ambiguous and it can be referred to a specific sort of indigenous textile crafts (coming from Tenango de Doria, a village within the Hidalgo state, at the Noth-East of Mexico City), or the meaning of the word tenango, Teotenanco(-go) or Teutenanco(-go). In Nahuatl (the original language of Aztec population) it means “sacred walled place”, from Teotl (“divinity” or “sacred”) and Tenamitl (“wall”). The meaning today is different and within Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica it signifies “people that move continuously”, probably because of internal mobility blacks had within Mexico, and especially from the North of the country to the South (Vaughn, 2004a; Cibernous, 1999). About that fact it is interesting to note that, more then the territorial location of a “potential black population” within Sonora, an evidence of “black human genoma” was found among the population of this State (Silva-Zolezzi, 2009). 123 surprised, being that dance not part of their culture. ‘…Here we have the Danza de los Diablos which represents our origins…this dance…[the “Dance of Little Africans”]…is much more present within Veracruz and Puebla’ (11th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Tive). More specifically, people relate that ‘…exists an African tradition among local blacks which tells the story of a woman (a black one) decided to accompany her only son from a cane field to another, probably changing his place of work (or slave owner). During the transfer, the boy was bitten by a snake. Thus, the mother asked for help to other slaves that were also transferring to the new plantation. In order to save the boy they used an African traditional method of healing by trapping the snake, dancing and calling for the intervention of some divinity….In that moment many totonacas104 were there and they came to be so frightened they have never forgot the practice. So now they also perform this kind of dance...but far away from here, in Veracruz...’ (13th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Mario). Currently, the dance is not really performed among blacks of the Costa Chica but ‘...somebody still dances it...’ (13th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Mario). This kind of dance seems thus having a Mexican origin, an African traditional way of healing (as the main topic of its ritual sense), but an almost unique indigenous divulgation. The dance is also religiously syncretic, being the indigenous culture imbued with Catholic elements that are represented during the dance through some screams or invocations to the saints. ‘…The clothing of the dancers consists of black wide trousers produced with thick textiles and edged by some brightly colored buttons that formerly were of silver. The shirt has white long sleeves and it is combined with a decorated tie with colored scarves crossing the front and back of the body. On their heads, they wear a crown, which is constructed on a frame of bamboo lined brightly with colored paper, and carry a canvas in the lowest border of the crown covering their foreheads. The crown is decorated with glass fiber, now replaced by plastic. A red stripe of textile and a scarf around the weap complete the costume...’ (15th November 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Neto). The 12 dancers performing dance 24 sons in order to acheive the cure for the sick person, being a chief and his assistant, the Maringuilla (the black woman), a chief of braceros (“day labourer”), and eight labourers the composers of this performance.

104 Totonaca identifies an Indian ethnic group residing in the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo and Puebla, Mexico. The term comes from Totonacapan, in Náhuatl meaning “people coming from hot land”. See the CONAPRED and Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas web sites (http://www.conapred.org.mx/; http://www.cdi.gob.mx/). 124 The Maringuilla is represented by a man (dressed like a woman) that has the snake in his/her hand and who will kill the animal by ending the dance. Concluding the dance, the tata, somebody who organizes and directs the permormance, is bitten by the snake, but the intervention of the Maringuilla will heal him105.

3.3. The Danza del Toro de Petate (“Petate-Bull Dance”) When we talk about invented traditions, the “Petate-Bull Dance” represents the best example we can account for. Indeed, it does not represent an African culture expression and it better embodies a clear folkloristic creation, produced and interiorized by part of blacks within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. In this way, it represents an adquired symbolic universe that currently contributes to the development of a sort of set of norms, which contributes to the unity of communities, empathic sense of membership, and cooperation. The origin of the Danza del Toro de Petate (the “Petate-Bull Dance”) is very recent but it is one of the most known dances within the coast. Its first representation took place in 1911 when the President Francisco Madero visited the community of San Juan Bautista lo de Soto106. Local people, concerned for giving a warm welcome to him, decided to perform a dance that could be characteristic for the region. So the people made an assembly and ‘…Doña Chucha Añorve proposed a dance relating to the history of the land, the history of Don Pancho…I do not know the exact moment but, many years ago, the Costa Chica of Oaxaca belonged to a single owner, a Spanish who lived in the city of Oaxaca called Francisco Acho. It is said he owned 24 cattle ranches and had a Spanish caporal in each of them…each caporal was recognized by the name of the ranch, so they were called the caporal of “Rancho Alegre”, the “Blessed Corporal”, the “Corporal Rancho Grande” and so on… At that time, a revolt happened among Indians and Mestizos of the area, so Don Pancho started losing many cattles. Therefore, he moved to the “Rancho del Santísimo”, where his most trusted caporal was also living. When he arrived, he was surprised there were no more cattles but only a single bull, a very strong stallion, which escaped from ten

105 It is interesting that, also among Indians, the person who comes to be bitten by the snake is called tata that originally, especially in Afro-descent diasporic religions, means “dad”. The Palo and the Santería represent, again, the most relevant example in African religious rituals. By the practicants of those religions, the tata is also understood as a “godfather”, the priest and a level achived by magic (tata nganga, the “priest of the altar” or “the ritual”). In Palo Mayombe, the nganga is both, the ritual itself and the prenda, the “place where the ritual is made”. 106 The information refers to the declaration of an informant, but its truthfulness is not proved. 125 farmers who insisted on being the owners…it could be seen because the bull had the evidences of their iron-brands. Furious, Don Pancho accused the farmers of the region stealing his cattles, and in order to demand them he wanted to take the bull to the court…but it was too rough for him, so he asked his 24 caporals for help’ (20th September 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Chalo)107. The story inspired the dance for President Madero who ‘…also was very pleased and went to the podium to shake hands with all the dancers. He also said they should have to continue performing the dance and promised them sending a royalty. With the hope of receiving the royalty of the President, people kept dancing it…and they danced it for so long it turned itself into a tradition…’ (20th September 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Chalo). The costumes used for the dance consist of bermudas and a shiny colored shirt at the Spanish style. The head of the caporals uses a binza (a leather handcraft used as a whip), “legwarmers” and a hat that marks his hierarchy. They also carry a rope sometimes used as a loop pretending to grab the bull. The rest of the dancers carry a ribbon across the chest with a bow at the crossing. The hats are adorned with bright textiles and they have four mirrors, imitating the Spanish zarco (a light blue color). The caporals use a fictitious machete hanging from their back. The Don Pancho image is represented by a white skinned-mask, with an aquiline nose and white beard. Pople also represent his wife, Maria Domínguez, known as the Minga, whose mask is also white skinned, red haired and having blue eyes. Her dress consists of a long skirt and brightly colored blouse, and she holds a doll wrapped in a shawl, which represents his daughter. The bull is constructed of reeds covered by a palm tree roll108. Four wind instruments usually make the interpretation of the music: two trumpets and two saxophones, accompanied by a drum setting the rhythm and, when the caporal faces the bull, it rumbles alone, adding suspense and interest to the dance. Although the number of dancers can vary, usually they are between 14 and 20, including the head of the caporals, the Minga and the bull. During the dance the chief of

107 It is uncertain the facts went exactly this way but it is interesting to understand the cultural African phenomenon within the area as a kind of oral tramandation. In this way the “Petate-Bull Dance” represents a sort of invention of tradition that actually offers to people a set of stories creating a heritage background capable to unify the values of communities and create a certain kind of “historic memory” within the area. 108 See note n.87. 126 the caporals and Don Pancho dance with the Minga (usually interpreted by a man), while all caporals are disposed into two rows or in circle, dancing alternately. The bull dances into the center and while dancing each caporal recits some verses alluding to the celebration or the personalities present at the party. Then they attack the bull, which responds roughtly. The dance ends with the domination of the bull by part of the caporals.

3.4. The Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of Turtle”) Within Mexico, the “Dance of Turtle” (according to our informants) seems to be recurrent, being it part of traditions of South-West and East coasts of Mexico. Within the Oaxaca State, it is possible to account for different versions of that. Neverthless, in general it is posible to explain some kind of generalized version of it (probably the most common one, as argued by our informants) that corresponds to the “Dance of Turtle” performed within the Pinotepa Nacional townships, as El Ciruelo and Santo Domingo Armenta. The Danza de la Tortuga is performed with the objective of mocking the Spanish and remembers the exploitation made during the Colony, showing the control and “discipline” imposed by the conqueror on black people. In order to represent the oppression ‘…we use the whip, taken by the Pancho, the caporal (or foreman) that represses his own “race-mates” just after he gained the confidence of his owner. His wife, the Minga is happy about that and, because of her “flirty” bahaviour she comes to be reprimanded by part of the Pancho himself who bit her and all those who “want” with her…’ (15th September 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Lucio). ‘…The Minga also offers his daughter to the visitors and when somebody refuses her, the Minga tell the Pancho and he bits the person who didn’t want, by imposing a punishment which consist in dancing with the Minga or, if the person doesn’t want to dance, he/she has to pay something to the Pancho (a personal object or money). All contributions are used to buy some alcoholic drink for the dancers, finishing the performance...’ (15th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). The turtle dances around the other characters pretending spawning. The dancer who interprets the turtle lays some real turtle eggs on the floor and the Pancho offers some of them to an important personality (if present) who assists to the celebration. The costumes used are the following: the man covers his head with two bandanas putting on them a mask and a hat, a shirt and pants, broken and patched, shoeing 127 huaraches109; the women, more then the bandanas and the mask, wears a veil on her head, a long and flowery dress covered with a black lace shawl, also shoeing huaraches. The Pancho wears leather “legwarmers” over his trousers, a cow horn, a binza in his hand, and boots with spurs. The Minga is the only one (among women) who wears a wig, a gown and a shawl crossed over her chest. In her arms, she carries a doll representing her daughter, and wears socks and slippers. The dancer who performs the turtle carries a wooden shell covered with some textile. Fourteen men are dancing, seven of them disguised as women, but all the dancers, including the Pancho, the Minga and the turtle are characters played by men. The dance consists of seven sounds that do not vary much in music, but in steps. The music is played by a brass band. Sometimes the choreography is improvised, as the steps of the music.

4. Some Kind of African Wedding? Because of the mestizaje, it is really difficult to say if African population of Costa Chica has any kind of typically African wedding traditions, based on some specific ethnic ancestral use. Conversely, it is licit to affirm marriage represents an element of interrelationship that impulses cohesion, cooperation and sense of belonging for settlers (Baumann, 1975; Vansina, 1984; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990). In this sense, the Afro- Mexican wedding can be considered an element of black traditions that allows black population to offer some kind of continuity to their, maybe unconscious but present, African roots. Within the Afro-Mexican communities of the Costa Chica, it is possible to highlight two kinds of marriage, each of which is characterized by its motives and embodiments. The first one corresponds to what Aguirre Beltran defined queridato, ‘an alternative way of marriage representing a polygynous reinterpretation of a pattern of a society that formally approves only monogamy’ (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 102)110. The second refers to the ideal marriage, produced through a civil and/or religious ceremony, resulting by a rapto (a formal way to kidnap a girl and, after sex, reconcile relations between the families), and depending on the escape or the death of a partner (Díaz Pérez, 2003).

109 The huaraches are handmade sandals, very common within the coast. They are completely made with leather, oftenly covered with cow hair, and with a rubber sole. 110 «una forma alternativa de matrimonio...[que representa la]...reinterpretación de un patrón poligínico en una sociedad que, formalmente, da sólo sanción aprobatoria a la monogamia». 128 I The queridato represents the first African tradition establishing some kind of in- group social connection, within the Costa Chica’s communities, and responds to a cultural practice that involves producing a network of trust between a married man and a widow, a single mother or divorced, who is not a virgin and man must maintain, by offering money or other material goods. By contrast, the official wife must be tolerant about the queridas and she can only pretend “the others” live in a different village or area. Instead, the children of the wife and the querida can live in the house of their father and work with him. In this way, social relationships perpetrate among the communities and permit creating a major number of connections between the villages. A social dynamic that, while seems to be a sort of “unfair” way of behavior that prejudices women in their social status, it actually helps female gender acquiring a better position within the settlements. The queridas develop an important social role, by maintaining the relationships for work, impulsing the education for the children (when they do not decide to live in the adquired-mother’s house), and facilitating the opportunity to perpetrate cultural traditions. As a consequence, the querida is not socially discriminated and, by contrast, she represents a sort of social bond between the official marriage and a relationship formally recognized, locally institutionalized, and internalized by members of communities as a socio-cultural habitus. The main importance for the settlements of having such familiar tradition is twofold. Having some women, for a man, permit to avoid or reduce the loss of community’s members (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989). It eventually would suppose a lack of “work force” within the settlements and a potential increasement of poverty throughout the area. By contrast, the presence of queridas comes to be considered necessary for the mantaneince of a certain demographyc pattern, which looks like a protection for both community members and their behavior. In this way, ‘…women are not offended by the fact men are allowed to have sexual relationships with other women are not their wifes…we [the women]…also have others but, because it is not possible for us to see somebody else, we go outside, to other villages…’(13th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Lucha). Queridas are thus not only the women some men pretend to have within a specific village. They represent a plural connection between the settlements and they take part into a mutual dynamic of cooperation. In the case of a widow, the man allows her to obtain some money, food or any other kind of thinks they can be usefull for her daily life, like pots, dishes, vegetables, rice, and beans. If the girl is not married and she is at 129 least 14 years old, the potential relationship with a man who has already a family (and a numbers of sons and doughters as bigger as possible) would guarantee her the opportunity to have a legacy and to be accepted into the community as a “proper” woman. In this case, the queridato seems to be a sort of necessary ritual of “social passage” aimed at actually helping women to obtain a socially recognized and appreciated status within the area. In second instance, the querida actually has contact not only with a man, but with all those men are part of other villages and she consider “good for her”. In this sense, we can say women ‘…have a certain level of power to obtain the favor by part of the masculine gender, without loosing their position within the society they are part of…and they also have the capacity of guarantee the continuity of local African socio- cultural traditions…’ (19th November, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). ‘We are the only ones doing things for the manteneance of traditions. The wifes are gelous and say we do nothing but it is not true…we only maintain the relationship between people and make our village having contact with others…’ (19th November, El Ciruelo interview, María). As a result, while the queridato offers to Afro-descent settlers of the area the opportunity to increase the potential work in the field (children will be employed as workers), assuring some incomes for daily life, such dynamic creates a sort of social network that allows villages being in contact and establishes a specific way of local interconnection. This fact will help to avoid loosing their socio-cultural potential and contribute to better community cooperation and sense of belonging.

II For what concerns to the matrimonio ideal, it is produced by the rapto de la mujer (“the kidnap of the girl”) and the huida (“the escape”). The rapto de la mujer is constituted as an “unofficial legal arrangement” theatrically prepared and made up by two families. One represents the family of the man who decides to kidnap the woman. The other consists of the family of the potential bride (Gutiérrez Ávila, 1997). A young man meets some friends who will help him organizing the “attack” and kidnapping the girl, but previously he would contact with his padrino espiritual (“Godfather”) who will eventually “fix” the conflict with the family of the bride, at the

130 moment of taking her to the mountain (Díaz Pérez, 2003)111. Some friends, carrying some horses and being armed by pistols and machetes, will accompany the boy, and wait the right moment to attack the girl, who will be walking to the river with her friends. When the girl is alone, they “pretend” attacking her (that usually pretends to protect herself and screams, asking for help), and the boy gets her on his horse and rides to the milpa112. Meanwhile the bride’s friends “try” to impede the rapto, but the attendants of the groom stop them. Now, if the rapto is organized, the boy and girl will return to the village and, respectively they will say to their families me la robé (“I took her”), in the case of the man, and me jullí (“I escaped”), concerning to the girl. The couple must then to pass the night togheter and, only at dawn, the families involved into the dynamic fire some rockets with the meaning of a new “not any more virgin status” for the bride. Only then, the community considers the rapto wasn’t real and the relationship between the groom and the bride becomes socially institutionalized and respected. Finally, if during their “first night” the bride refuses to have sexual relationships, the groom will have the opportunity to “return” her to the father’s house. By contrast, if the rapto is real and the woman declares of having been forced to sex, the offence will be “repaired” by a standard marriage, based on traditional rituals. If the girl will refuse that, her family will try to impulse a positive answer, by promising the opportunity for her to be, in the future, a querida. Moreover, her parents could demand for defloration and the boy would offer to her all those “privilegies” the queridato relationship guarantees. If after the “theatrical rapto” the girl was agree with, she decides to not marry her pretender, the penalty she would pay will correspond to the loss of her social status within the community, which means to be refused by others potential grooms or as a querida. If, on the contrary, the organized rapto will finally not be carried out, the chosen girl will conserve her social position and respect, and she will have new opportunities to get married. Neverthless, the potential bride’s family could

111 African diasporic traditions attribute a central role to the significance of the mountain (el monte), which is considered to be able to heal and protect people from bad spirits and the blanquitos (literally “the little white men”). The monte represents togheter with the image of the ceiba the most important element of diasporic African culture and religion and, if respected, it releases a special magical energy thanks to which black people has the power to act and obtain what they are looking for. This phenonon will be the base for all those kinds of African rituals that work throught the intercession of what the Palo Mayombe, Briyumba or Kymbisa define mpungos (spirits), or are essential for the realization of voodoo, obeah, Cuban santería or candoblé (Brazilian santería) celebrations. 112 It is interesting the fact that, as an informat told us, ‘taking the women to the mountain…is just a say… we go nearby, as in the corn field (the milpa) or somewhere else not to far away from the village’ (02th April 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Neto). 131 demand the groom’s with the justificaction of a “fake attempt of kidnapping”. The pretender or his family will thus pay a fine that will correspond to the degree of shame the girl would say he imposed on her honor. ‘…I had to pay 300,00 pesos…but it was because she did not want…she told me we were togheter, but then….in the milpa…she says no!...so I didn’t want her anymore…it is right no?...and now I paied’ (02th April 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Neto)113. Such amount of money, that is already hight for the area, can be even more increased to a maximum of 5,000.00 pesos (almost 17 months of a house rent in Santo Domingo Armenta). By contrast, when the rapto is realized correctly, the couple has to ask for the wedding permission at both the bride and the groom’s families. This action is carried out by a third person, respected, known and very special for the family of the groom, called portador (the “bearer”), whose importance depends exclusively on personal motives, which can be a friendship or any other kind of particular emotional attachment114. The portador goes to the bride’s family house and literally recites a formula. ‘The young boy…Juan…[for example]…kidnapped your doughter and at the presence of God and after God they…[the parents of the groom]...complain and plead me to ask you your permission; indeed he has kidnapped your daughter and asks for marry her and having good friendships…[within the village]’ (02th April 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Yuyo). The tradition wants the father of the girl, always, complaining about that, and, always, accepting the compromise with the boy. Then come two more kinds of marriage: the civil and religious, where the first is celebrated few days before the second, and the latter come to be really important for the couple and the community. Some days after the religious wedding, the family of the groom pays his unformal fine by offering a stewed turkey to the bride’s parents and asks for the entregamiento ceremony115. The father of the girl or somebody important in the family normally accepts, and the dialogue between the groom and the father starts:

113 300.00 Mexican pesos (M.N.) correspond to about 20.00 Euro but, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, it represents the price for renting an apartment. 114 Shapera (1941: 60) explains the groom is never supposed to “look for” (nunca tiene que buscar) the bride. Only his parents of a “third actor” can do that. The portador contacts with the father of the bride and asks for a water pumpking. When the father accedes to give it to the portador, the pact is established, so they boy and girl can be married. 115 The concept of entregamiento comes from the verb entregar (“to give something to somebody”) and it refers to the last phase of the wedding between a couple resulting by a “theatral rapto”. The pretendant takes the stewed turkey and dialogates with the father of the girl who responds depending on the claims of the groom. 132 The bearer: The father (or “the receiver”): Licencia vengo pidiendo, Señor Julano de Tal: licencia pide María, cuánto bueno a usté acompaño licencia vengo pidiendo, no es imposible desechar para el justo de este día. las apariencias del cielo. Licencia vengo pidiendo Por que son personas buenas al dueño de este aposento; y tienen razón que dar. después que me lo haigan dado Pase usté, belloso hermoso, pasaré a vuestras presencias. yo le daré su lugar.

The bearer: The father (or “the receiver”): Amado y compadre mío, Los novios que usté me entriega ay compadre mía: los recibí con infancia mire que grande hermosura y los doy por recebidos has recebido los novios: por que ma ha salido triunfante. en nombre del Salvador Recibo las almas puras, hoy se los vengo a entriegar. lavadas de todas manchas Alumbró en sus resplandor y con alabanzas doy una estrella matutina, al padrino muchas gracias. cantó el gallo en la pasión, Recibo su voluntad que el niño nación de Belém; de sus manos tantos hechos; estas palabras divinas siempre las personas buenas dan asunto al parabién. hacen sus cosas al derecho. Novios quedan entriegados Recibí su voluntad y toda en el portal de Belém. su gallardía; que quede este entriegamento asuntado al de María.

The bearer: The father (or “the receiver”): Aquí le entriego esta flor; Tomo la flor en la mano Quien se la da se la ofrece el aposento en el altar; Y el dolor que ella nace otro día por la mañana Que es conforme usté merece. le mandaré a colocar. Que sabor tan singual recibe 133 el alma dichosa, En el centro de las flores Siempre las almas gloriosas, la flor está muy florida, Aquí le entriego esta flor. que el Señor la ha escogido para usté que la merece; quien se la da se la ofrece116.

Finally, the socio-cultural importance of the marriage (the first phase, as the rapto, or the “official” ritual) is twofold. Because of the complexity and importance the wedding has within the area (the rapto is the most common way of the negradita’s interfamiliar relationships117) this tradition goes beyond an implicit rule of acceptance or rejection of lineage. If carried out, it will produce a sort of brotherhood perpetrated in the future within the families involved in the act. In this sense, it also represents a kind of conservation of ancestral traditions that contribute to respect a specific cultural mechanism that positively impulses the social balance Afro-Mexican communities of the area seem to need to perpetrate and maintain their “ethnic” presence throughout the area. Secondly, the “instrumental” use of women supposes the in-gender relation as an imprescindible element for the definition of local African identity. A local use of gender, based on what we chose to define to be the main result of a specific socio- cultural dicothomy between matriarchy (a sort of power theoretically gained by the women within their community but empirically granted by the men) and matrilinage. In this sense, the wedding and the in-gender relationships represent some concrete elements for the definition of Afro-Mexican cultural identity, and embody both the relationship among black Mexicans of the Costa Chica and a very special way to define themselves as a national minority118.

116 The core argument of the formula is presenting the offering (the turkey), by explaining the importance of the present for the wedding. The “bearer” also talks about the qualities of the groom, as a good person, and he bless the marriage through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and God. It is interesting to notice that even though Afro-Mexicans need to start the wedding process through an African tradition, as the rapto, they consider the ritual ready only after a Catholic consecration, which finally allows the marriage being considered socially valid. The formulas can change depending on the priest who celebrate the religious act (he, normally, gives some words to tell to the bride’s family) and his specific inclination for the ritual. The text we mentioned is taken from Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 156-157). 117 Aguirre Beltrán (1989) defines negradita the black population of Costa Chica of Oaxaca, contrasting with the definition of blanquitos, somebody who, because of a ‘…too much explicit white ancestry and a lax connection with black people and culture,…do not have the opportunity to be considered Afro-Mexican…’ (13th April Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Beto). 118 Chapter IV will be in charge to present and analyze the topic. 134 5. The Human Being The relationship Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica have with the meaning of human being takes place thanks to a dycotomous way of understanding life. On the one hand, the problem of defining body corresponds to what, occidentally speaking, we consider a sort of “soul container” that, once dead, frees the spirit of the person and disappears. In this sense, the person never dies, and integrates the memory of ancestors into a socio- cultural dynamic where, the idea of spirit is always present. On the other, the human being assumes the meaning of an individual space, a reflection of some good or bad behavior (which individuals choose to be identified with), and allows actors conditioning the socio-cultural environment they are part of. The person represents thus a micro-symbolic universe, characterized by norms and life parameters, and constituting the set of all those elements some sociologists defined “word of life” (Parsons & Shils, 1959; Parsons, Shils, Naegele & Pitts, 1961; Parsons, 1968). What it means is that, in order to be integrated with the socio-cultural environment the human being is physically part of, it has to interiorize certain patterns of behavior that, if respected, would help the person in his/her life; if not, they would produce the presence of some bad spirits that potentially harm him or her. Analizyng the idea of “human being” among Afro-Mexicans means thus considering not only the importance of the concept as a specific local African tradition. We also have to understand the composition of the human being itself (by analizing how it is constituted and which are the functions each part of it develops during its life time), and how traditional methods of protection from bad energies work, especially referring to social relations, and the peculiar way people use their spirit. In the first instance, to understand the individual and its function within the world of Costa Chica’s black Mexicans, we have to take into account two more elements that are not part of the, clearly Catholic, standard Mexican vision of the human being. On the contrary, they represent a twofold exclusive caractheristic of local African-origin population, sometimes mixed with a typically Indian worldview: the tono (or nagual)119, the result of a relation of dependence between the individual and an animal in charge of

119 The meaning of tono corresponds literally to “tone”, but in the socio-cultural conception we are referring to, it represents a sort of energy that caractherizes the person and qualifies its own spiritual elements, by introducing its body into a specific social and cultural environment connected with the nature surrounding it. 135 both protect and guide him toward a common destiny (Foster, 1944, 1945)120, and the shadow, the core element for defining the essence of the person. Secondly, it would be central analyzing some methods for healing from deseases and providing a certain level of phycal and spiritual wellness.

5.1. The “Tono” The tono, or tonal, as argued by Kaplan (1956), is connected with the use of horoscopes (from ancient Aztec calenders), and it «… contributes to determine the fate or fortune of each individual…from tonal-amatl» (Kaplan, 1956: 363). But, later, «…sometime between 1650 and the mid-nineteenth century, the term tonal had become fixed to cover the intimately linked animal companion» (Kaplan, 1956: 363), being reported «originally referring to a transforming witch…[naualli means “transforming witch” in Nahuatl]…according to Sahagun» (Kaplan, 1956: 363; Beals, 1945; De la Fuente, 1949; Parsons, 1936). The tono corresponds to an animal that, at the moment of the birth, is established by the brujo (“sorcerer”) or the curandero (“witch-doctor”) depending on some characteristics only the brujo or the curandero can recognize121, and corresponds to an animal living within the area where the person also live. In this way, ‘…if the person needs some herbs for the healing of a desease, it is necessary to look for them only within the area that corresponds to the animal representing the nagual of the person…On the contrary, the individual easily dies…’ (05th January 2012, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Licha). Therefore, if a person believes the tono exists, that person has a tono, or an animal offering him or her some protection. This fact supposes all those positive and negative effects produced by the death, for example, of the nagual, or the attack a nagual can make against another animal. In the first case, if a nagual is killed, the person connected

120 The reference to an animal, which protects and guides us through the right path, is not new in Mexico. Indeed, among ancient Aztecs, the nagual was referred to a mystical animal that, depending on its natural characteristics, corresponded to our way of being. Specifically about ancient Indian traditions and legends, see Foster (1945, 1950). 121 Such dynamic can generate many problems at the moment of birth because the mother usually prefers to be attended by somebody within her community. Somebody who ‘…can recognize the nagual…if you don’t know which animal corresponds to your son or daughter, if he or she gets sick, you do not know which kind of herb you should use to heal him or her…and they might die…’ (05th January 2012, Santa María Cortijos interview, Meya). Not casually, the interview was taken within Cortijos, where black and indigenous populations live togheter and where the cultural and racial mixing are the most visible within the area. A curiosity about nagual is that, though to the coexistence of both races within the area, Indians consider blacks being not good persons and, because of that, affirm they (blacks) are represented (referring to the nagual) exclusively by horrible animals, as alligators. 136 with it can suffer any kind of desease, and she can be healed only by applying the skin of the animal on the skin of the person. In the second, if a nagual kills another tono (or nagual), the first one only demonstrates to protect its “associated individual”122. By contrast ‘…if a person does not believe the tono exists, she doesn’t have one…’ (05th January 2012, Santa María Cortijos interview, Meya)123. In this way, the tono comes to be an element of relative importance that justifies the Negro of the Costa Chica considering the animal (represented by the nagual) in a mystical manner, only aimed at communicating with him and other naguales, and transforming his own essence at will124. So, while the indigenous population avoid domesticated animal for the election of nagual (they consider them not having the qualities required for protection, as in the case of jaguar, tigrillo, snake and others), ‘…Negroes − because of having served traditionally as cowhands for Spanish, and later, in Euro-Mestizo cattle ranches − also include cows and bulls into the possibility of tonal, and use their animal form for evil intents…’ (05th January, 2012 Santa María Cortijos interview, Xóchitl125). As a resume of such dynamic, the traditional Afro-Mexican conception of tonal demonstrates an important fact. Although Afro-Mexicans and Indians both inhabit the region, the first know almost nothing of the concept of tonal as actually held by Indians, especially by the Mixtecs. So, while refusing the original concepts of nagualism and tonalism, they also avoid an historical memory which wants blacks of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca culture created by Europeans, Indians and Africans, and consider the nagual an unknown traditional root. What it means is considering the use of tono, tonal or nagual being a sort of invention of tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983; Vásquez & Wetzel, 2009) that does not define the current use of internalized behaviours, values, norms or modus vivendi of black minority within the area. It embodies an implicit symbolic universe reproducing a certain kind of social conduct never stopped feeding for the past, continuing feeding for the present and easily coming to be modified to adapt itself to some very practical daily needs (Hobsbawm, 1983).

122 The man associated with a specific nagual is called hombre-tono (“a tono man”); his associated animal is an animal-tono (“a tono animal”). Both are different beings: the first one normally has a mark on the body (as a peculiarly-shaped mole); the second is probably six-toed. 123 Some examples of nagual for Afro-Mexicans within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca are the jaguar, the deer, any kind of bird, snakes, the alligator, the gato del monte (Nort American lynx), the tigrillo (“spotted cat”). 124 This activity is oftenly defined as wichtcraft (brujería). 125 Interview to Indian woman. 137 5.2. The “Sombra” The shadow represents the most untangible element Afro-Mexicans consider to be necessary for defining man. The concept of sombra (“shadow”) was introduced by African-descent slaves, during the Spanish colony, and it seems to be not the exact transposition of its original African meaning, but it represents the sense Christians missionaries, being uncapable to define it differently, imposed to the concept of African-soul (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 178), especially referring to catholic hagiography (Field, 1937: 92)126. In this sense, the literature about the shadow among some African populations is very clear in considering the sombra really relevant in the daily life of black settlers. It represents a vision of the shadow that can be interpreted as a sort of human energy that allows people live after death. This is possible thanks to that part of the human being like a mortal body and an inmortal soul, which comes to be identified as the breath of a person (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 177-184). From here the conviction a body, left by his soul, cannot project on the ground the shadow produced by the body itself. By the vision Afro-Mexicans have about the topic, the unique option a man has to loose temporarily its shadow without dying is while sleeping. In this case, because of the risk the shadow has of not having enough time to came back to the body, the person must not be aroused too quikly (Field, 1937; Junod, 1936; Schapera, 1941). Despite the invisibility of the shadow, it is considered body-shaped and having a very thin connection with the body itself. Meaning that, depending on what happens to the shadow, the body can be positively or negatively affected, as when the sombra goes around during the dreams looking for something interesting for the person, or when it is lost. Both are very common and loosing the shadow depends on specific reasons. Indeed, being similar to the soul but essentially distant from it in form (soul has not) and functions (it defines the human being but it does not provoque directly the death of the person if left), the shadow is considered a sort of “breath” that easily could “fall” depending on two motives. The kind of dreams we have, as being attacked by an enemy (dead or alive) or his shadow, being then uncapable to return into the person (this will provoque the death of the person); or loosing the way back to the body.

126 The reference is to the Ga Bible, where Ga is an ethny coming from West Africa, specifically from Togo and Ghana. Probably it would also refer to the Ehtiopian Bible, whose religious reference is explicitely Christian, with exception for the New Testament, replaced by an Ethiopian version of it. This kind of Bible is also very used by Rastas, in Central America and the Caribbean. See Barnet (2005). 138 In second instance, if a person is sleeping and she wakes up too quickly, the sombra that, while the person is asleep, “goes around”, has not enough time to come back to the body, so it’s left, causing what people call the espanto de sueño (“being afraid of a dream”). So the person gets sick. In this case, the witch-doctor starts to look for the sombra and he takes it back. If it is not possible, the person easily dies. This activity is normally hard to make because ‘…the shadow is very coward and it is not easy to convince to come back…maybe it doesn’t want the person gets angry with her…so the witch-doctor has to call her nicely, through a magical calling [the llamamiento mágico] that infuses enought courage to enter the body previously left…’ (14th February 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview, Beto). ‘…The witch-doctor calls the name of the person saying the body is a warm and protective site where it can stay without risks of being cought or killed. The shadow, if convinced, comes back…Something the witch-doctor says can be “come here…María [for example], come here to my hearth,…don’t be coward, the place is warm and you will be fine”…’ (14th February 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview, Beto). On the other hand, if a person falls down, for example nearby a river, the shadow can also fall, so the person comes to be negatively affected from what Afro-Mexicans call espanto de río (“being afraid of the river”). In this case, the witch-doctor procedes to call the shadow back and the person comes to be cured. By contrast, if the shadow is heavy (it is the sombra pesada desease) it is better to take it back as quick as possible, because ‘…somebody having a heavy shadow is very dangerous…if it goes around it can harm somebody…the wife or the housband of a person with a heavy shadow can provoque your death…if this person walks around the village nor dogs bark to her…If you don’t die but you can’t protect yourself from a bad person, it means that bad person has stepped on your shadow (te ha pisado la sombra)…’ (21th February 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Cleto). In this case, the reference to the African root seems to be very explicit, being the idea of taking back as quick as posible a heavy shadow dates back to African-origin religions, especially referring to Little Antills’. For example, in the case of Obeha, especially for what concerns the “duppy”, the sourcerer uses a heavy soul or shadow for harming; in Palo Mayombe a black mpungo (spirit) allows the palero (the Palo Mayombe priest) to harm people; in Voodoo, it

139 creates zombies; in the Santería it permits to obtain some “bad favor” from the orichas127. It is thus very important to distinguish between the concepts of “taking back” and “lifting up” the shadow. In the first case we refer to the action of catching the spirit of a person (alive) and establishing a sort of balance between the individual and he’s energy. In the second, the problem is more complex and it can be seen in two ways. On one hand, “lifting up” the shadow means calling the spirit of a dead person and using it for some religious practices. The name of this practice, in Spanish, would correspond to the local, but also Cuban expression (especially used during the Palo Mayombe rituals, as the llamdo del muerto – “the calling of the death”), dejar montarse por los espíritus (“to let the spirits mounted on somebody”). On the other, it is also possible to “lift up” the shadow of a dead person during he’s funeral. In the case a person dies far away from her village, people collect some soil material from a symbolic place where she died (the soil contains the shadow) and takes it to the village in order to bury it along with the cross to be rising in a second funeral. This action is called levantar la sombra del muerto128 (“lifting up the shadow”) . Finally, it is possible to loose the shadow when, moving from a place to another, a person does not call it. This surely causes many problems during the travel, including death. This practice will calm the bad spirits and the travel will be safe129.

5.3. Traditional Medicine If we talk about traditional medicine among Afro-Mexican population, we should include a very special way to understand the etiology of local deseases and the most appropriate remedies to them. More specifically, the most part of physical problems within Costa Chica’s African- origin settlements are caused by the loss of the shadow (something that, as we saw, seems not being under control of individuals and depends on daily events), or by a bad behavior.

127 More details in García Franco (1994), Jackman (1998), Newall (1978) Cabrera (1954, 1977, 1979), Ortiz (1906, 1916), Volpato (2014b), Lester (1972), Mosley (1989), Cannon (1942), Fernández Olmos & Paravisini-Gilbert(1997). 128 Sometimes, people say, it is also possible to cure the person, by avoiding death. It is through the intervention of a Chatolic priest who will read completely the four Gospels of the New Testament in presence of the sick or dead person. Once the reading is finished, the individual will be cured or safe. 129 Nobody, among our informats, could offer an exhaustive explication about what it should be done to call the shadow back before living any settlemet the person belongs to. 140 The most common and the best socially considered way curing deseases or any other kind of physical, social or “spiritual” problems is the magic. In this case, it is very interesting that asking for “traditional medicine” or hechicería among Africans, they not consider themselves sorcerers and they better believe ‘…blacks are not brujos…brujos are Indians…’ (22th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). Despite that, it is possible to account for a few “magical remedies”, each of them achievable through a special sequence of herbs frecuently mixed up with any kind of Chatolic prayers. Such combitation varies depending on the desease we want to cure: if it concerns to the loss of the sombra or the tonal. In the first case we can account for six sicknesses, each one has it own motive and possible cure; in the second, the process will be much more “easier” and it will suppose looking for the nagual (the animal connected with the person), cure (if injuried) or kill it.

5.4. Sickness Depending on the Loss of the Shadow I. The “bad air” desease (mal de aire or aire tirado): it can be caused by a sorcerer and it is manifested in severe physical pains. The witch-doctor can heal the person by praying and rubbing chicken eggs on the affected area by adding fire and some blood of a black chicken previously sacrificed. Sometimes the ritual is different, as in the case the sourcerer decides not using a flying animal (as a chicken or a little hawk) but a goat, a snake, or others130. The selection of the animal will depend on sourcerer’s opinion about which one would be the best for the ritual. The animal used during for the sacrifice can thus change everytime. The process of healing takes few days and the witch-doctor prays or recites some “formulas”, while rubbing. During the last section, the witch-doctor applies the fire and the blood on the hurting part of the body and recits a local version of the prayer to the Virgin of Montserratt:

“Esta oración…tiene tantas virtudes que en la casa en donde se halle no se verá cosa mala ni serán perseguidos por la justicia…es contra la cosa mala y la persona que la traiga consigo no morirá sin confesión ni sin recibir lo Santos Sacramentos y se librará de muerte súpita o de rayo. ¡Ah! Son muchas las virtudes de esta oración. Es probada por la Santa Sede y rezando una salve diaria a María Santísima lo acompañará en su

130 Such practice is very common within magic African religions, as we privioulsy suggested referring to Obeah, Palo and Voodoo. Especially in the case of Palo the blood must be of a winged-animal or a goat’s; in Obeah should be from a black chicken; in Voodoo it can came from different kinds of animals, including which we mentioned. 141 muerte, recibirá su alma en los brazos, tendrá aviso cuatro días antes de morir, por los ángeles, santos y serafines para que se disponga”131.

Or a second version:

“…humildemente rendido te ofrezco en esta oración, a impulsos de mi gratitud…Que para mí, sean vuestras luces fomento de virtudes y extirpación de vicios…halle por ellas en las tribulaciones consuelo, en los peligros amparo, en las tentaciones victoria y remedios en todos los males…”132.

The fact people use this prayer for healing from deseases, by mixing it with traditional African methods of healing, means at least two thinks. Firstly, Afro- Mexicans of the area show the presence of an historical past which contributed to mix original traditions. Secondly, they are very conservative and characterized by what Du Bois (1903) called double consciousness. In this sense, this context seems to be needed to understand both a concrete Afro-Mexican identity (established and perpetrated thanks to the presence of some specific cultural roots) and a specific way to understand the local uniqueness as just an extention of what history contributed to define national identity. From this point of view, Afro-Mexican culture shows its own peculiarity but also a very clear European influence that not only affects the language spoken during the rituals (as we said, Afro-Mexicans don’t speak any kind of African dialect or language). It also contributes to better define the Costa Chica of Oaxaca’s black culture

131 ‘This prayer…has so many virtues and in the house it will be found it won’t be anything bad and nobody will be prosecuted. It is against the bad thing and the person who brings it with him will not die without confession nor without receiving the sacraments, and he will be free from a sudden death or a lightning. Ah! Many are the virtues of this prayer. It is approved by the Holy See and, by using it once a day for praying the Hail Mary, he will be accompanied in his death, receive his soul in the arms, and he will be noticed four days before his own death by the angels, saints and seraphins’. Probabily, her popularity among Afro-Mexicans of the area refers to her physical features, being the Virgin of Montserrat black and usually referred coming from Africa. The most important sanctuary of the Virgin of Montserrat nearby the Costa Chica is the Exconvento San Bernardino de Siena, in Taxco de Alarcón, in Guerrero State. 132 ‘…humbly surrendered I offer you this prayer, as a demostration of my gratitude…be your lights the impulse for the promotion of my virtues and removing my vices…through them, allow me to obtain solace in suffering, protection in dangers, victory in temptations and relief from the evil…’. This prayer was bough in the Mercado de Sonora (‘Sonora Market’) in Mexico City and it is used for protection against sorcerers’s black rituals. It is interesting noting the skin of the Virgin is not black, but trigueña, an Indian-skin tonality, clearer than the Mestizo’s. See Image n.2. 142 as a product of specific historical socio-cultural dynamics based on the loss of ancestral norms and values, and an explicit process Fernando Ortiz defined “transculturation”133.

II. The “love sickness” (mal de amor): it is caused by a disappointment because of jealousy or a frustrated passion, which can be cured by spraying some salt water on the face of the person. To increase its magical effect it can be also added an unlit candle while rubbing his or her body with the saliva of a pregnant woman. Though to the “real effectiveness” witch-doctor says this kind of remedy has on the love sickness, it seems oftently it doesn’t obtain the expected result on the person. Therefore, he/she can decide to look for a different cure, by looking for a new beloved or querida, and interpteting a rapto. If the rapto will be successfully done, the person will be completely cured, being that a changing problem depending on the gender and individual disposition. What it means is that the healing techniques are flexible and normally they can be modified depending on the will of the sorcerer or witch-doctor and the way through which the person reacts to the cure. A woman tipically would aswers that ‘…everyone has the right to not remain sad…why can’t I look for another person? Somebody who wants me?...here women are stronger then men and if a man makes something wrong to his woman, she does something for herself, as taking a better one…I did it several times and I am proud of it!” (16th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, María). By contrast, the position taken by a man normally differs from the first one and it pretends to show the status of masculine gender: ‘The problem here is women are too free…a man must be a man and when your woman does not behaves as your woman, you can do what you want. If they do not want to be with you, they better look for anywhere else…’ (16th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Yuyo). ‘There are many people looking for somebody who can help…[we are talking about a witch- doctor]…but if you do not believe he is good, it [the magic]…can’t heal you…you have to be a man and take another…[other woman]…¿¿El mal de amor??...[laughs]…only somedoby weak has it…’ (13th August 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview, Cleto).

III. The mal de coraje (the “desperation” sickness). It appears because of some kind of moral or psychological pain and it can be cured through a gastric clean. The cause of

133 The whole work of Fernando Ortiz explains the phenomenon of transculturation. For further information, see Ortiz (1906, 1916, 1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985). 143 this sickness is very “strange”, and it can be used for both any kind of “amorousness” or to allow children stopping crying. In the first case, at the age of 14, boys and girls can look for a lover but ‘…when they find the right person and start to feel something different from sexual attraction and some emotion of intense passion gets into their body…the mal de coraje is started…so if they are not capable to understand or manage it, we have a good cure they can follow…’ (03th September 2012, Collantes interview, Doña Lucha). Sometimes it is used some candó134 and tobacco mixed with infant urine, or using some namorado herb (hierba del enamorado, the “in-love herb”) and a little brown mule droppings. The person is rubbed with the mix, so she is cured. In the second case, the child, ‘…because of the dropping or warm urine he feels himself comforted and he stops crying’ (03th September 2012, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Cleto)135.

IV. The mal de ojo desease (the “evil eye” sickness). This is tipical of children, and it is provoqued by the action of a vengeful or envious person, who asks for some services of a sorcerer. It causes pains and some bad events (as death or hard sickness, like infection, vomit, chest pains, and diarrhea). The only remedy is making a “counter magic”, often conducted by the same witch-doctor. In this case, the mal de ojo seems to be more a superstition and the effect of a comercial action by part of the sorcerer (or witch-doctor), than a real physical problem, being the vomit, the chest pains, and the diarrhea caused by the lack of preventive health measures and a dirty environment. An example of a magical healing is the case of a mal de risipela (or erisipela), manifested by the presence of some kind of skin abrasion, caused by an important exposition to the sun or by a constant contact of the skin with sweat. An informant said us ‘…this kind of sickness is very dangerous, but thanks to the intervention of the witch-doctor it easily goes away…he [the sourcerer]…ties up the legs of the patient with a piece of a red cloth, he prepares a herbs drink, which the sick has to take, and he rubs her body with the belly of a live toad…or some…better more than less…The sickness will be absorbed and, when the color of belly of the toad would be changed the child will be cured’ (03th September 2012, Collantes interview, María).

134 Candó is an herb that grows near by the South Pacific coast of Oaxaca. It comes to be cruched and mixed with some liquid. Then it can be drunked or used for rubbing a hurting part. 135 The candó is an herb also Indians use for traditional medicine. It is interesting noting that, as in the case of tonal (or nagual), the interview was obtained within a village where the presence of black and indigenous population is mixed. In general, those kinds of remedies are very common in both traditions but they are considered typical by each of those belonging to Indian or African local culture. 144 Considering the erisipela sickness is just an important erithema, maybe it would be enough buying the related medicine and avoiding the sun exposition for a while.

V. The tetlatía (mal de tatlatía) desease: it is caused by the tetlatía tree which, because of its trunk (it has some allergic elements in it) produces abrasions or allergic reactions to the skin and it also can provoque the death of the infected person. It is possible to get infected by the desease, only by touching the trunk and the effect would be the more dangerous the longer the contact will be. In this case it is not necessary any “magic intervention” and it better could be cured by rubbing the infected part (or parts) of the body with some nixtamal136. However, if somebody considers the intervention of a sorcerer imprescindible, he would just spit at the tree.

VI. Finally, the “shame desease” (mal de vergüenza). It is not manifested by a stardard way and it better depends on family and individual values. Therefore, what it can be shameful for somebody it cannot be for others. The mal de vergüenza appears when somebody is caught in the moment he or she is doing “something bad”. ‘For example…[says an informant]…if you are with a person who is not your wife or husband you have to be ashamed, but if nobody see you…why should you be this way?’ (17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). When the person comes to be ashamed ‘some part of the body swells…when your are swollen that means you felt the shame and your body received the effect of the bad thing they saw you were doing…so the shame is gotten into he body…[se te ha metido la vergüenza]…’ (17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). If the persons believe the shame was wrong, during that “bad act”, she will fall in a traumatic sense of guilt, which immediately inhibits her mind and body. In that moment the intervention of a sorcerer or witch-doctor can be very important, being the people incapable to look other members of the community at the face and get back the respect she had by part of the community before that “bad thing” was done. If it is decided the witch-doctor has to intervine, the family of the sick person have also to choose which kind of sorcerer

136 The nixtamal is a type of dough prepared with corn and lime primarily for the making of tortillas (a type of thin flatbread made by corn, like a bread of maize). The word comes from the Náhuatl nextli – “lime or ashes” − and tamalli − a cooked corn dough. The nixtamal is prepared by a Mesoamerican technique: corn is cooked in water having a fixed ratio of lime (calcium hydroxide), commonly three parts of water and one part of lime, while the calcium content may increase if the grains are very hard. Once cooked, the grain is allowed to rest overnight; the grain than bursts and it separates from the corn husk. It will facilitate to grind it. Then, to remove the excess of lime, it is rinsed and it is ground on the metate (a sort of horizontal mortar). This process will form the dough. 145 would be the best to solve the problem. When the family have dediced, it is needed going to the house of the witch-doctor asking about some remedies, explaining why he is required. Once accepted the healing, the witch-doctor intervens with herbs, salt or sea sand, by spraying the water to the face of the sick person, covering the swollen part of the body with some sand, and preparing some salted-herb drink for the purification of the soul, and ‘even it is a little bit expensive…the treatment could be really effective…’ (17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano)137.

5.5. The Thin Relation between Sickness and the Loss of “Tonal” When the witch-doctor tries to cure someone’s sickness and it does not go away, the doctor can suppose the problem is not caused by the loss of the shadow, but because of an accident or desease happened to the tonal. If the doctor considers the nagual is in trouble (it would explain the sickness is not going away thanks to standard medicines or magic) it is considered finding out the correspondent nagual of the sick person and cure it. About the topic Malcolm argued «…when the leopard or crocodile, or whatever animal may be a man’s upkong, gets sick or dies, the life thing happens to him…» (Malcolm, 1922: XXXV, 222). There are two methods to catch the nagual. To find out the animal connected to the person, the witch-doctor will play a bule138, by introducing and moving a stick into it. The noies produced will attrack the tonal, which will access to be cured, and the related person will also be healed. In second instance, when it is not possible to obtain a bule or the animal does not respond to the calling, it is also possible to look for the tonal of a person who, at the moment of the birth, has been identified with the same nagual the sick person also was. So, in order to find the cave wherein the tono would be refugeeing, the family of the sick person goes with somebody known (normally somebody belonging to the same community) and asks for reaching the cave of the gato del monte, the tigrillo and the snake; the nest of the bird; or the swamp where the alligator lives. Once the tonal has been found the person has to remove the skin from

137 The price for a “soul purification” because of the mal de vergüenza is 50.00 Mexican Pesos, corresponding to 3.5 Euros. 138 The bule is the fruit from the porongo tree (technically called “lagenaria siceraria” or popularly known as “long melon”) which can be harvested and used as a vegetable, or dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. In some different regions of Latin America, as in the Brazilian, Argentinian, Chilean and Uruguayan areas it is also used as matera (the container of the mate, a grass with a high content of caffeine and taken by a straw of metal or bamboo, also called bombilla). The bule is also an instrument used by Afro-Mexicans during the Danza de los Diablos (the “Devils’ Dance”) called bote, calabaza o guaje. See Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto (2012: 21). 146 the animal and take it to the house of the sick person. The skin will not be salted (it would attrack the family of the animal, which would try to avenge the dead nagual). Now, despite its clear effectiveness (as said by our informants), ‘…this method is not the most secure because many people do not know where finding the tono…it can also be that if their tonal refers to a potentially dangerous animal, they don’t want to risk finding and getting killed by it…the most important thing is always to remember you do not have to salt the skin because the animal will venge itself, and if it wouldn’t be the animal, it would be its family…’ (23th August 2012, Santa María Cortijos interview, Meyo). ‘It is always better to know somedoby who has the same nagual as you…if you don’t find somebody having it, it can be very dangerous for you…the sickness can take you away…’ (13th August Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Miguel).

147 148

Chapter III Afro-Mexican Consciousness: a Matter of Self-Recognition

149 150 In order to register self-perceptions of Afro-Mexican settlers within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca we chose to ask our informants about four topics aimed at capturing individual opinions that are at the base of traditions; ethnic identification; inclusion- exclusion; self and mutual perception of aesthetic and psychological features.

1. Traditions About the problem of traditions, the informants were asked about if being black had any kind of relation with having a specific African cultural heritage expressed by dances, music, family structure. The most part of our informants shown their lack of consciousness about three points: what was an African tradition; which kind of tradition was normally used by his or her family; and what having African-traditions supposes for self-definition. In the first case people expressed they were clearly used to celebrate, dance, play some music but they did not know if those kinds of dances or music were the product of an explicit Afro-descent heritage. In this sense, settlers ‘…have a very rich culture, but nobody understands what all this is about. In the past they…[black-Mexicans of the area]…had never be informed about their origins and only now, with some new social and cultural movements throughout the area, new generations are starting to understand black identity as something they have to be proud of…’ (17th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this context, men and women show the presence of two different visions of a “through-traditions” identity contruction. Men are very much less conscious of their black identity and they define themselves having specific uses, values and modus vivendi, and they consider the local “African way of being” resulting only by Oaxaca’s socio-cultural dynamics. As it is said by an informant, ‘…those kinds of uses are a product of our culture…the black-Mexican one’ (17th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Meyo). “Black-Mexican culture” can be thus understood in different ways. ‘…As a part of a more general national identity thanks to which African traditions are taking part into a regional and undefined framework’; ‘a local variation of Mexican way of being’; ‘the result of a cultural mixing process that actually incorporates some European, Indian and African elements, but finally has its own energy, based on so much variations that currently could be interpreted as an authoctonous expression of being black within Mexico’; ‘a generalized

151 African culture that developed itself within every place where blacks were established’139. So, as argued by an informat, ‘African culture is ours culture. The culture of people came here. We arrived here or we were left on the beach…so people started to mix or not with Indians and produced their own way of being. The Moreno is not only Mexican, he is Moreno…they came here [the informant is referring to the researchers of UABJO]…and they told us we are Africans. I didn’t know that, but it is obvious we are different…we are black and other people are not…’ (21th December 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Cisco). In the case of women, it seems they are much more conscious of their origin and it can be explained by two points. On one hand, the women we told with said African habitus ever was a topic of discussion among Costa Chica’s women. ‘We always had to be good women because our mother and the mother of our mother kept telling us we have an ancestral responsibility: maintaining traditions and the unity of community’ (12th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Miranda). On the other, it is clear women are the most important element of the family and they are in charge of perpetrating inter familiar relationships, their (or acquired) sons and daughters’s education, the economy of the household140. Because of that, they are much more focused on what the African tradition supposes and what it doesn’t. In the case of dances, especially referring to the organization and production of the costumes, womens are who take a main role into the process of drawing and sewing the dresses using for the Day of the Death; and ‘…altought men say women have to be good, they know they cannot do anything without us. The women here prepare all…it is true men dance but only because they do not want we dance. We also can perform. For example we prepare the food and we are good doing that…(13th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña María). ‘…There is always many people coming here, because they know my family prepares always something to eat. They come, eat, drink and then they go in the streets…Before the dances women always prepare the costumes, and so men can dance…do you understand who works…? (13th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta, interview, Doña Lucha).

139 The information corresponds to the Opinion Questionnaire and gathers the anwers of “Identity and cultural change” section. 140 About this point, we will discuss in the next chapter. 152 So, if we consider tradition as one of the most relevant topics in defining identity for Afro-Mexican population within the Costa Chica, on the other side it has to be said the most relevant aspect of the problem is not really having a specific consciousness about that, but only some kind of predisposition of doing what it seems to be at the very core of the African origin for the Costa Chica’s settlers. For example, when people were enquired about some specific traditions, they couldn’t account for the exact origin of them or the original ways through which they were performed by part of their ancestors. In the case of the Danza de los Diablos, the main African-origin musical tradition within the Costa Chica, some informants told us ‘…the Danza de los Diablos…it is said coming from Africa…but I really don’t know from where or why it came here…If you ask the people they perfectly can tell you the Danza de los Diablos is The African tradition of the Costa Chica but, you know…it is very different dancing a dance from knowing something about it…The most information we have about that is the information some persons from Oaxaca (they came here from the university or something like that) told us…’ (15th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Chano). In this way, it seems people only recently are assuming some kind of consciousness about the importance the African tradition has for the definition of a specific black-Mexican identity. ‘…African traditions…well, I can tell you we have a lot…for example the Danza de los Diablos…it is about some kind of presence of our ancestors…so we wait for them and on the Day of the Death we celebrate their coming. I feel very confortable with that because my mother used to prepare the constumes, the beards, and it remembers me a family’s tradition…if you ask me if I think it is something African to me I tell you yes, it is, but for me is something much more connected with the tradition of my family, here…in the Costa Chica…it is something we only have…’ (15th November 2012, Santiago Tapextlata interview, Toño). The perception of tradition as an element of identity is thus quite explicite, but it seems not representing a specific way of being African within the Costa Chica. More clearly, tradition looks like something static that comes from somewhere, previously from the family, but it is not able to define some kind of root, an explicit African one, as about musical instruments or rhythms. In this case, people don’t perform any kind of djembe rhythm as in the occasion of hospitality, festivity or some other kinds of celebration. Eventually they use a sort of drum that it is much more like a bomba, 153 something that remembers an African population, which, as for the Ecuadorian case, started its existence through the conjunction with indigenous population of the area141. ‘…People here feel themselves Afro-descent, but it is really something new…it is not as in Trinidad or in other places where blackness or africanity is a must…and where, maybe because we are very much more in number than Afro-Mexicans or maybe because we didn’t have any kind of mixing with some population, as the indigenous one, that contributed to change the habits…Traditions and identity are not really connected because people don’t know their traditions have an African origin…So why should they consider their dances or beheviour African?...’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth)142. The meaning of the concept of “African tradition” within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca takes thus a sense of empathy developed thanks to the weight or the worth the person attributes to it. If the person is close to her family and accepts its teachings, the traditional values will perpetrate. By the contrary, when the person decides to understand family values as a set of elements that are not part of her symbolic universe, those norms are avoided. The meaning of African tradition can thus be understood in a twofold way. By one hand, it explains some kind of undefined cultural and racial root anchored to a memory which seems taking part of what the ethimological sense of the concept of African diaspora supposes, which is “sowing seed across” (Izard Martínez, 2005; Braziel & Mannur, 2003). In that sense, the use of ancestral traditions (in spite of ignorance of people about their meaning or origin) contributes to explain the fact Afro- Mexicans of the Costa Chica could be recognized through some specific cultural elements which come from those ancestral norms constituting today a new way of being black. By the other, if we consider the importance in-group current traditions have for the definition of identity and self-localization (what we would define a “who am I-from where am I” formula143) local traditions are also the result of an undeniable historical

141 The bomba is a musical gender (typical of Chota Valley, in Ecuador’s Andes) that takes its name from the drum used during the performances. It is a drum with a unique tone that establishes a continuous rhythm to which are added other instruments. It is interesting that, as for Mexican case, Ecudorian black population of the Chota Valley had to live with the Indians of the area, so they changed some ways of cultural expression, by accepting the mixing of habitus. 142 The father Glynn Jemoth comes from Trinidad and Tobago and he was assigned to the El Ciruelo municipality twenty years ago. During the interview, he putted on an example, clearly referring to other countries, as Trinidad and Tobago, where African traits (physically and culturally speaking) are clear. 143 See Giménez (1997a), Burke (2006), Owens Moore (2005), Brewer (2001), Izar Martínez (2005), and Jones (2011). 154 heritage which explains a sort of a social organization of difference (Braziel & Mannur, 2003). In second instance, concerning the knowledge about families’ traditions there is no significant difference between men and women or across generations. People interiorize norms and traditions and all the members of settlements are aware about which costumes are good to follow and which are considered a bad habitus. For example, when a boy wants a girl, he organizes the rapto. ‘…If you don’t organize the rapto it means you don’t really want the girl and you don’t want also to use traditions for perpetrating family…Here we have an important value that is very African…the family structure…We have to respect the family and its importance, what it means understanding family continuity is the only thing permits you to survive…I don’t know if family is important there…[in Africa]…but here it is. You have to have respect for your mother and respect local traditions, as the vela, the dances, the marriage or whatever you have been teached…’ (25th October 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Beto). So, what is the meaning of feeling Afro-Mexican? ‘…Well…if I have to tell you what composes, through traditions, the identity of people, here, I would say: the sense of community life…; the sense of good human relations; the sense of hospitality; respect for authority and the elders; sense of language…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo, interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In the first case, the Afro-Mexican idea of “security” and the power related with it depends on personal identification with and within the community. In this sense, people lost the traditional sense of an originally “god-made” society and, by contrast, they express a sort of “man-made” community culturally understood as independent of those specific values, which directed the modus vivendi and habitus of its settlers. That means accepting an ancestral heritage that existed and gave some core cultural elements, which have been tranculturated and modified to the needs of new generations (Kanu Ikechukwu, 2012; Onwubiko, 1991). Therefore, the authentic “African way of being”, which is known and identified in, by and through its community is not only the custodian of individuals, hence it must go where the community goes. Related with traditions and the kind of traditions family shows within the Costa Chica, Afro-Mexicans must to stay in an ideal “communitarian space”, which guarantees the mutual perception between members or/and between community and members, in an attempt to constitute a sort of “man-made-space”. This 155 space starts to be very much more similar to current members than the African ancestors. In such a context, the perpetrating of traditions comes to be ever slower, until the moment when ‘…people decides to use only those elements their parents or grandparents gave to them…New generations do not want to follow ancient traditions…So it is very much better to remember only those traditions are generally considered African, and ignore elements that could be African but are not getting continuity…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo, interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this sense, the consciousness and the self-recognition embody a way of behavior that affects only to the old generations, being avoided from the new ones. A fact that, considering the very high birth rate within the area144, turns itself very relevant for the loss of cultural continuity. So, at the moment of being asked about ‘when a person can be considered of an African-descent’, the most part of the enquired people did not mentioned ancient traditions, nor some specific cultural practices the family teached to them, and they answered about color, arguing an Afro-descent person is possibly someone with a dark skin. Those kinds of perceptions explain at least two core points of the problem: settlers have no consciousness of an African traditional ancestry; and they ignore the main part of those other elements, which contribute to define African identity, beyond physical traits. In second instance, about good human relations, it is possible to say Afro-Mexicans of the Cost Chica are very “easy-going” people. A behavior that, as argued by Onwubiko (1991), comes to be based on the philosophy of live-and-let-live. So, ‘inter- community relationship realised in the interaction between individuals of different communities is different from the intra-community relationship based on interpersonal relationship realised in a definite community, among its members, to express the practical traditional African concept of human living’ (Onwubiko, 1991). In this way, what we consider an Afro-descent person, because of her aesthetics, within the Costa Chica is accepted as “black” only when the person is really part of the community. What it means is being defined by ‘...a way of life emphatically centred upon human interests and values…Not upon material values, like some black gringos

144 It is very difficult to quantify the birth or mortality rates, but a good aproximation is presented in CONAPRED (2006) and in the INEGI web site, specifically by area. In general, for the Costa Chica’s area, the most part of the data is missing. 156 that came here and shown some “simphaty for us”…but why? Only because we are both black? They are not part of us…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Leti)145. ‘…People help one another and they don’t ask money…they do that because you are part of the village and maybe then you can help him or her. That is what we call here cooperation…We gather togheter and a third person mediates between the persons who has to respect the decision the mediator takes; is that a tradition?...’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Nacho). What it means is that when you have a ‘friendship with the ferryman, in the dry season, when the rains come, you will be the first to cross…We are not greedy, because greed is the way to hassles…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Nacho)146. The art of dialogue and conversation is thus a really important value within African communities of Oaxaca, expecially to keep good human relations. People can freely discuss their problems and sometimes it provoques some embarrassing situation during which, people, looking for a solution to their problem, ask some suggestions, explaining in detail the wife betrated somebody because the husband’s lack of passion, or because somebody was “naturally better gifted”147. A kind of behavior that seems really similar to what, about African communities, Steve Biko defined a «…man-centred society. Westerners have in many occasions been surprised at the capacity we have for talking to each other not for the sake of arriving at a particular conclusion but merely to enjoy the communication for its own sake. Intimacy is a term not exclusive for particular friends but applying to a whole group of people who find themselves together whether through work or residential requirements» (Biko, 1978: 42; Mechthild, 2008). Within the Costa Chica, such situation can also representing a sort of an a priori contradiction. In this way, while you can talk with everybody about their “problems”

145 Gringo is the usual word (and in someway pejorative) to define North-Americans. In this case, the informant refers to a professor at Stanford University who conduted a research within the Costa Chica studying historically the habitus and modus vivendi of the people. He was accepted by the communities but ‘…his mentality and way of being are not African, they are tipically gringas…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Leti). 146 Surprisingly, the answer of the informant seems not to be new. Indeed, Hausa language offers many references of “popular wisdom”, as in the case of our informant: Kwadayi mabudin wahala (“greed is the way to hassles”). About the influence of Hausa ethny and language in New Spain, the most reliable hipotesis is its coming through those Nigerian slaves that worked first in Cuba and, subsequently crossed to Mexico (Volpato, 2014a). For further Hausa culture and language data, see Baldi (2008: 53-72). 147 During our stay within the Costa Chica, the author had to offer some opinions about sexual topics, especially concerning the “quality” of the man we were talking to. When the answer satisfies the person, she asks to another and so on. If the number of positive responses would be enough, the man or woman will decide if changing or not his or her behavior, or opinion. 157 and everybody can talk to you, you ‘…should be aware to not embarasse the person who is speaking to you or with somedoby else…You must never counting the fingers of a man who has only nine’ (24th November 2011, Collantes interview, Chivis). Moreover, enquired people demonstrated a special appreciation to convivial meetings during which men and women recite some sexual-based verses. That seems to be really relevant within the communities expecially because, as said by our main informant, the Chano, ‘…it is the most relevant value when you have to live here…If you have to live in these conditions, party and easy-living must be at the core of your life…especially with those kinds of women…[laughts]…you would also start to sing or recite something like that...’ (22th November 2011, El Ciruelo conversation, Chano)148. Thirdly, about the sense of hospitality, it seems traditions can also be used as an element of self-perception even though they are not conceived as a specific cultural heritage. For example, it is very traditional to accept a stranger or a visitor in the house, and the whole people of the village would be aware of the guess. Many of them will be very carefull to the guess and they would continuously ask some questions about the tratement, how he or she feels, if he or she wants something special. Such social actitude is a way of being that represents the ‘…values the family normally gives you…You have to accept the stranger and offer him something good, because you never know if you will be needed of that…So when people come here we give them all the good we can…for example, if you come with me to a vela, I’m responsible for your security, fun, social relations…If you want some company, I must also get you that…[laughts]…People will see me with you and judge my behavior depending on your feelings. If you feel ok, that means I was good with you…if not, I could have some serious problems with my mother, my father or my brothers. These are

148 It is interesting blacks within the Costa Chica recognize the “verses making” (el hacer versos) as a concrete tradition that anyone who wants to achieve some kind of success within the community must be able to do. Some examples are the following. About a woman that didn’t have any sexual relation and she is supposed will have soon: Allá en la cima del Popo, está una piedra bendita, a la mujer que allí se sienta se olvidó ser señorita (“Back at the top of the Popo – main volcan in Mexico, between Mexico City and Puebla – there is a blessed stone. If a woman sits there she will forget of being a ‘missy’”). About the obstinacy of a man when see a woman he likes: Hormigas del hormigal, abejas del abejal, aunque me picaron todas, pero me comí el panal (“Ants from the anthill, bees from the honeycomb, although I was very bitten, I ate the whole honeycomb”). About the kind of sexual relations men consider black women are able to offer: que cuando la enamoro me dice que luego luego…cuando ella se pone bizca yo me estoy quedando ciego (“when she falls in love with me, she wants it immediately…but while she gets cross- eyed, I’m getting blind”). Alternatively, hacer versos works also for offering some physical relationship: en el mar hay muchos peces, hay calamares y algas, primero me das un beso y después me das las nalgas (“in the sea there are many fish, squids and seeweed. First, you will give me a kiss, but then you will give me…”). 158 the values our families give to us…’ (20th November 2012, Llano Grande Tapextlata interview, Alberto)149. Fourtly, about the respect for authority and the elders, we have to split the concepts. In the first case, when we talk about “authority”, it does not refer to any institutional figure, as the police or the militaries, but to the image somebody respected has within the village. In this way, while oftenly people refuse to respect the formal authority, they feel some kind of obligation to follow what it is said by part of local priest, sourcerer, witch-doctor, and so on. ‘…Respecting the word of somebody more powerful than you is a good thing…The people here has much more respect for ours authority, when by contrast, elude formal authorities…why?...because we don’t recognize ourselves with them. We recognize with somebody who is part of the community and has the interest to be with us…We choose a person that is in charge of the relationships of the community [the municipality agent]…and we respect him; but also we have somebody who takes care of us and has wisdom, the elderly…’ (24th November 2011, Collantes interview, Chivis). In this case, people seem to be very much more conscious of their African origin, being the respect for the elderly a core element of daily life among Afro- Mexicans. ‘…Maybe they don’t know exactly how to explain it, but people here is very respectful of elderly population. They consider they are wise and, when they are not, they deserve respect because of the age. This is a very African sense of community and a strong example of identity. We also have those kinds of values, and as you can see there is not difference between mine and theirs aesthetics…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth)150. Finally, about the sense of language, people seem to be very proud of the way through which they express emotions, and they consider local language being really something that is part of their own idiosincrasy. About the topic, an informant was very clear about the fact blacks are very proud of their “way of being” and they have to be separated from “the others”, especially from all those who are not African or that come from Mexico City. ‘…Nobody has the costume to talk as we do…we communicate very much more with our local language. Maybe it

149 It is uncertain this kind of behaviour has a specific African origin, but it is known that among Bantus of West Africa, both the hospitality and the care of a guest is central in cultural relationships. If somebody accepts a stranger within the village and he or she shows not a feeling of complete openness and respect to the person it cames to be really offensive, and, because of that, the person who has to take care of the guest can also be punished. See Lord Lugard (1965), Sibthorpe (1970), Blyden (1906), Blake (1981), Owusu-Frempong (2005), Castile, Kushner & Adams (1981), Junod (1936). 150 The father Glynn Jemmoth is black. 159 can be a little bit hard151, but through it, we express our feelings. For example, if we want a girl we are very kind with her, even though it is said we are machos…the Indios are machos, defeños or chilangos152 are, but the Negro has passion…’ (12th November 2012, Collantes interview, Toño). Therefore, while blacks identify themselves thanks to a specific and local way, they also express a sort of collective recognition that is behind the idea of blackness. It better explains the language in speech embodies an important vehicle of local African thought and culture, and it represents some kind of what Swartz (1980) and Alland (1981) define as a different but effective way to make explicit habitus, modus vivendi and all those elements that express some kind of culture relativity. On the other side, Afro- Mexican sense of cultural sharing seems to be in contrast with Swartz (1982), by which sharing of elements of culture concerned with family life among nuclear family members indicate that members of family statuses share no more with one another than they do with members of their society in general. The highest levels of sharing are found not within statuses but within families. In the case of the language, Afro- Mexicans use it everytime and we have no perception of any kind of difference in the use of this kind of language between any subject living in the same house or representing a friend or a stranger. ‘…What is changing is the meaning of the words not the words themselves…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this sense, the principle of “relativity” comes to be understood at least in two ways. People use language as a way of communicating that has nothing to do with slaves’ original way of speaking. People also have no perception the way they employ the new set of cultural and linguistic elements they normally use, they have internalized, and they actually contribute to perpetrate. It is thus something much more emphatic; something that comes to be true only when communities start to assume it, as their real current cultural heritage, even though knowing ‘…who returns from a journey may tell

151 It refers to the way through which daily conversation is made. Blacks of the Costa Chica normally use a lot of “informal” words, oftenly ungentle, potentially aggressive or sex-based. So it is not uncommon being talked by using local linguistic expressions whose meaning, if unknown, can be offensive. 152 Defeño is the popular way to define the people born in Mexico City. It refers to the D.F. meaning, related with Distrito Federal (“Federal District”) and corresponds to the metropolitan area of the city. Chilango is a pejorative word that defines Mexicans who are not from the D.F. but they live there. The bad perception about defeños and chilangos is sometimes so strong that among Mexicans (all those are not defeños or chilangos) is very common to use the famous saying ¡haz patria! ¡Mata un chilango! (“Be patriotic! Kill a Chilango!”). 160 all he has seen, but he not necessary has to able to explain it…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).

2. Ethnic Identification About the problem of self-recognition through ethnic identification, there is not very much to say, and the motives for that are three: the way through which slaves were chosen and separated; the mixing process; and the unconsciousness of the pople about their ethnic origin. In the first case and, as we said in the Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population (pp.89-99) and A Spanish “Dialect” Modality sections (pp.113-117), slaves came to Mexico through four different rutes: directly from Africa; from the United States; from the Big Antills; and potentially through Chilean cargoes during the 19th century, because of the Californian Gold Rush. As concers to the direct arrival of slaves, they came out from Guinea, Cape Green, Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, taking part of Bantu, Congo and carabalí ethnic groups (Martínez Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972), and being defined bozales, somebody who didn’t talk Spanish or the “then called Castilian” (López Valdéz, 2000). In this case the large concentrations of slaves coming from Africa were never integrated of the same ethnies, ensuring slaves couldn’t understand each other, get organized and rebel against their owners (Moreno Fraginals, 1977). Secondly, the blacks coming from the United States between 1840 and 1850 were also mixed and doubly transculturated, in culture and language that, in this case, it was English. Many of them also decided to stay in the north of Mexico and it is thought they gave life to what authors define tenangos153, in the Sonora region, or mascogos, in the State of Coahuila, nearby the Texas border154. Thirdly, in the case of the Big Antills’s migration, Cubans came to Mexico in two different periods, between 1868-1898 and 1959-1962, being already mixed-race and traditionally transculturated (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Bojorquez, 2001; Curtin, 1969; Guerra Vilaboy, 2003; Martín Quijano, 2005).

153 See note n.103. 154 The mascogos, also known as black Seminoles, were (and actually are) descendants of escaped African slaves who joined the Seminole Indians in Florida to form a new identity. Their ethnonimous is clearly not African and it seems deriving from Muskogee, in the American state of Oklahoma, the city the mascogos (or black Seminoles), while being in the USA, used to live in. See Porter (1971), Opala (1980, 1981), Littlefield (1981). 161 Finally, the potential arrival from the coasts of South America, if true, it was really escase and it couldn’t be precisely quantificable. As a consequence, no slaves’ cargoes arrived to Mexico (and still less to Oaxaca’s Coast) were organized by ethny. Thus, it would be very unlikely to obtain any information about self-recognition of Afro-Mexicans of Oaxaca through ethnicity (Cardoso de Oliveira, 1992; Campos, 1999; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990). In second instance, related with the mixing process, it is possible to account for two ways of “racial classification” throughout the area: “standard” and “complex”. The first one refers to the Mestizo phenotype (produced during the Spanish colony by the union of Indigenous and white European). The second highlights two further way of mestizaje: a “twofold-mixing”, existing between black Africans (both persons having black origins), blacks and Mulattoes, zambos and Mulattoes (where zambo is historically the result between Indian and black), zambos and black; and a “multiple one”, Mixtec indigenous, black and white; Mestizo-black-white; Mestizo-Mulatto-white, light Mulatto-zambo-white, etc (Aguirre Beltrán, 1946; Pizarro, 1994)155. Thus, while the physical difference we can perceive between physical-aesthetic “blends” is quite noticeable, it is extremely complex to account for the exact origins of phenotypic traits of people, and it is impossible to eventually guess the original ethnic group. It is only possible to highlight the African-phenotype predominance. In this way, members of African communities of the area, not only do not consider the color of the skin as the decisive factor to identify themselves as Afro-descendents; by contrary people define “black” all those who belong to their community and show, aesthetically, some more or less objectively visible African traits, obviating any kind of ethnic origin. Therefore, while people absolutely ignore the idea of black ethnicity, they conceive that principle being specific and unique for Indians. ‘…well, do you ask me if we have here some ethnies…yes of course, there are many…like Amuzgo, Chatino, Mij’e, Trique…and others…’ (30th November 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Toño)156. ‘…You see? There are no African ethnies here…!’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).

155 Especially about physical traits and mixing, the probleme will be explained further. 156 The pronunciation is mistaken and the ethnic groups the informant talks about finish always with an “s”. In the case of the “j” for “x” in Mixe, we try to imitate the way blacks pronunciate those terms. It is interesting all the names the informant said exist but they correspond to indigenous. The last part of the work will be in charge to mention them. 162 3. Inclusion-Exclusion In order to understand the situation within which blacks of the area live, without avoiding understanding how their perception was, especially referring to the meaning of being Afro-descent, we asked our informants some questions about three topics: participation processes; perception of justice; institutional intervention. In the case of the participation processes, we tried to figure out the typology of activities people mostly are up developing within the communities. What it means is explaining how their settlements get togheter and construct a certain type of cooperation process that supposes the enforcement of all those social and cultural ties, which could be really relevant in the manteneance of local African identity. Our informants answered the main activities that are used to be performed within the area depend on traditional events, dances and the jaripeo157. Thanks to traditional events, ‘…people have the motive to move to other villages and can also meet new friends, lovers or somebody interested to work with them or somebody to work with…Here it is very common and we consider this kind of meetings very important to us….If you go a little bit more in Cortijos direction, it is not very important to seek the unity of the community. That is so because there are very much more Indians and they do their own activities….black pople come from there and they stay for days…’ (13th October 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Yuyo). For the organization of those kinds of events, people gather togheter and obtain a certain kind of participation process that supposes taking part into the different activities settlers organize. The informants show the complete adbsence of any kind of trader association, being very much more important the social relationships. ‘…You know…here people have as many contacts as they can. There is no help by part of the municipality or the state. If you don’t have friends you are not going anywhere…I organize what I want to sell. Now I have some fish and I sell it to you, being a friend of mine. Then I have a little bit more and I sell it to another friend or to a friend of a friend…’ (13th October 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Yuyo). At the same way, it is not possible to find any kind of syndicate or any organization for the

157 The jaripeo refers to a Mexican version of bull riding which can be executed through two different methods: the charro and the Colima. The first is a general way of riding and it refers to a common method, consisting in riding only small bulls or calfes. The second (coming from the state of Colima, at the East side of Mexico City, nearby the Pacific Coast) is more dangerous and it consists in riding also bigger animals. The jaripeo is very common throughout the South-Pacific coast and it represents one of the most important activities during the fairs and a social event to which everybody has to presence. In the past, the jaripeo «…became a test of courage and riding skill, for rather than ride the bull to death, the object was to stay on it until it was tame...» (LeCompte, 1985: 24). 163 protection of laboral rights. Therefore, people decided to organize themselves to get a little bit more security in obtaining any profit through their work. ‘Something very important for people here, is unity…they have no associations that could support their cause. They have no parties, no syndicate, no trade associations…the people are religious but they use their own religious wisdom…so oftently they refugee into their religious symbolic universe and they associate, between those are going to the church or that are part of a traditional group of “praying”, to discuss their problems and to try to solve them…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this way, it is not possible to refer to any religious association but it seems to be precise to affirm Afro-Mexicans of the area consider very necessary staying togheter and creating a sort of socio-cultural dynamic that, sociologically speaking, could be defined a sort of collective identity production. For example, in the case of cultural associations within the territory, we account for two: África A.C. and México Negro, headed by the Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea and Prof. Sergio Peñaloza Pérez. The most important activities the associations develop are basically centered on the divulgation of Afro-Mexican culture and the conscientization of people about roots and rights. In this sense, ‘…the organization…[we refer to África A.C.]…has produced a social network, which permits to gather people togheter and offer the visibility of local traditions through festivity, festivals, as the Festival Costeño de la Danza, and it serves to impulse African identity toward the affirmation and respect by part of civil society…But it is very difficult because not everyone wants his identity recognized’ (18th November 2011, Casa Hánkili África national forum, México City, Prof. Reyes Larrea). By contrast, some other informants argued that ‘…only somebody living and having his famiy here handles an African identity. It can’t be handled by who comes from a place where the most part of people is not black, even having the same traditions we have...’ (30th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano)158.

158 At the moment of asking people about association and the recognition of African identity through communitarian membership, our main informant, the Chano, argued Prof. Reyes Larrea wasn’t black, but Afro-Mestizo. By contrast, Prof. Sergio Peñaloza is actually perpetrating his action throughout the coast, impulsing the recognition of African identity even where the black population is not the most represented one, as within Cortijos or San Juan Bautista lo de Soto. Motives for that are twofold: ‘…Prof. Sergio is black, so people recognize themselves with him…he has curly hair, his African nose, his language…he is like an African…[; on the other hand]…he took the place of father Glynn, who is not more with us, here, in the Costa Chica. He started the México Negro association, fourty years ago…and now he returned to Trinidad…he is also black, but really black…the father Glynn here is well know for everyone…he is a todo dar! (Mexican expression which explains great appreciation by part of people…“somebody who gives it all and he is very appreciated for that”) (30th November 2011, El Ciruelo, Chano). 164 In this sense, it seems not enought for people having some kind of registered association that could help them to be more visible to the civil society or institutions. It is very much more important those socio-cultural groups are representing, also physically, the African population of the area. So being represented by somebody that is not considered African within the settlements not only won’t help to the institutionalization of diversity as a precept for multiculturality or pluralism; it won’t also create a socio-cultural dynamic through which people would recognize themselves as a whole, characterized thanks to specific cultural elements and a typical modus vivendi. On the other side, having an organization that can be physically representative for black population of the area could be really helpful. ‘…The “Mexicans” don’t know us and they consider we are not really national…but if we are born here, from where are we?...They constantly think we are from South-America, Honduras or Nicaragua…when we have somebody black who can represent us, maybe the institutions understand we are here and we are Mexicans…We have our traditions in which everyone participate…are we not a group?...’ (15th December 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Toño). In the second case, referred to perception of justice, people shown a concrete distrust of the local institutions. Especially for what concern the police, they consider the military intervention being constant and ‘…they are always suspecting about us. They come here and control everything and, do you think it is because the place is very dangerous?...no! It is only because they thing we are bad persons and we are different’ (16th December 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Neto). ‘…People think black Mexicans are aggressive, they steal things and they are lazy…but I tell you…if they are going to stay here, they will go away in three days. People here work a lot, too much, and don’t ask for nothing…So they come here and take away your son but it does not happen when it is a gringo…’ (16th December 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Beto). Indeed, people argued that, even though members of settlers participate to the construction of their own houses and contribute each other in looking for the materials, the transportation and all those activities that, by countrast, should be done thanks to the municipality in order to better the settlements, police is constantly controlling where the materials come from, why they don’t ask for any help to the Pinotepa Nacional Municipality and why they construct their houses without a permission. In these cases, 165 people said the municipality wants money. ‘…when somebody of ours goes to Pinotepa, they ask for very much money, but it is known we have no money…So why are we asked for that? We have the right to have children and to have houses…so we help each other and we build up our houses without any help of institutions…is that wrong? For this reason Afro-Mexicans try to escape from having any contact with local authorities and obtain the attention of political parties …only when candidates need some votes…so they come, they buy us some food or fix the streets…they think we are stupid. Therefore, we take all they give us and we don’t vote… (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Licha). Thirdly, regarding to the presence of governmental institutions the informants told us there were none. ‘…Government doesn’t have any idea we are here, so we have not any public office, nor any center for health care…That it also why our women prefer give birth in the traditional way, holding themselves to the mecate159 and half-standing…they feel very much more safe…And if they wouldn’t give birth this way they should move to Pinotepa Nacional and pay…which is not possible…In this way, we help togheter and if somebody needs help, the other women take part of that process’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Licha). In this context, it seems Afro-Mexicans are characterized by the cooperation of the members of the settlements and they consider the absence of any kind of governmental institution also a motive to perpetrate the interrelationships between communities’ members. ‘…Because of the fact the Costa Chica is marginated, people is very united…they always choose to help each other and if there is any problem, especially because of the lack of health care services, they assure the in-group cooperation…Local culture and traditions have thus the opportunity to be maintained…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). By contrast, in the case of shools, there are some building that theoretically guarantee the formal presence of the institution within the settlements, but the main problem we can account for is oftenly the absence of teachers. In this way, even if the physical structures do exist, they cannot be useful for the education of communities’ members.

159 The mecate is a rope, hanging from the crossbar supporting the roof. As for the Indians, women hold themselves to the rope and give birth bending the knees. Among African tribes, women also do that or they hold to a beam at the center of the hut. In this sense, the way through which women do this kind of activity can be an elements of African identity, maybe unknown but very usual. 166 ‘…Black people here are ignorant and we can also say that it is turning itself into a concrete element for the recognition of Afro-descent population throughout Mexico. When you see a black person in Mexico, you think she has no studies, so you will not give her a job, nor trust her…is it fair they have to be classified as happy, nice, fachosos160 persons and ignorant ones??...could be not better for them obtaining any opportunity for see themselves as good as another, by avoiding any inferiority complex?...If you ask me which is the effect of the lack of governmental institutions within the Costa Chica, I can tell you that it negatively affects the self-perception of identity blacks have and can produce in the future…It is a real problem we have to solve as soon as possible…Being stigmatized and isolated create a sort of inferiority perception of the self and people start to relate black identity to poverty, sickness, ignorance and exclusion…While imposing those kind of negative elements on the African identity within the Costa Chica, it also contributes to break down all those characteristics we should impulse in richness and value for the definition of a plural Mexican national identity…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO).

4. Self and Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features The self-perception of Afro-Mexicans of the area comes to be even more interesting and complex to study if we account for the phenotypic experience people acceded to explain, especially about the concept they considered the most precise for the identification of the black communities of the Costa Chica. What it means is explaining how we should define settlers, by taking into account their cultural and territorial roots (defining people as Mexicans with some kind of African ancestry); assuming the fact they are clearly part of the national citinzenship (enfatizing on “territorial location at birth”, and defining Costa Chica’s settlements as Afro-Mexican); and accounting for some specific physical traits by arguing Afro- Mexicans are basically black. In order to understand what people think about that, we analyzed three different core points: self-identification; self-definition; and self-description. Where self-identification explains the way through which people culturally locate themselves within a specific symbolic universe equal or distinct to the general space of reference; self-definition

160 Fachoso is somebody who shows what he has, or pretend having. See note n.166, for further information. 167 supposes explaining some specific characteristics based on physical and personality aspects; and self-description refers specifically on aesthetic features that permit define somebody having (or not) African origins.

I In the case of self-identification people argued they were part of a black community because all the members they belong to the same settlement were black. Therefore, being part of the same community where everyone is black was a clear indicator they were also. By contrast, at the moment of asking which cultural element should have a person for being considered African, Afro-descent, Afro-Mexican or black, they assured people should have had a set of traditions that could be a clear signal of their origin. As argued by an informant, ‘…my family has many traditions and many ways to express their origin, as the food or the music. My grandmother also told us many histories about her ancestry and, in her tales, she was always referring to Africa. She told us we are different from other Mexicans but we are also Mexicans…it seems we are something special…and we are different…so we are also separated from “the other”, being at the same time part of a bigger culture…’ (21th December 2012, Collantes interview, Goño). In this sense, it seems enquired people accept to be “different” from the general cultural universe but they also look for a certain kind of identification that is established thanks to some traditional parameters that highlight the presence of a symbolic space requiring local cultural elements and claims. In this case, many people, especially women argued the condition of blackness impose to them some kind of a priori discrimination dynamic that allows others to obtain easier ways of living and better daily conditions. More then defining themselves as Morenos and “curly haired”, people also affirmed black women are very “hard workers” and they are persons of “good feelings”. In this context women associated the concept of “being black” also with discrimination. A process that, in the case of gender definition, lies not only on being perceived as “different” because of their physical features but also, and ‘…especially from white women or Indian…because of the poverty of the face…You see, look at me…if you look at me you can se somebody poor…not as an Indian…You can only see I’m really poor…So are black women in Mexico…African people here are humiliated and it comes to pass because of poverty…so they will be discriminated for ever…’ (21th 168 December 2012, Collantes interview, Lucha). In this sense, being African within the Costa Chica seems to be a sort of synonym of poverty and discrimination, but also of lazyness. ‘I don’t know why but people think blacks are lazy, they think we do nothing and we are waiting for food. They don’t know nothing…we are always working…’ (21th December 2012, Collantes interview, Lucha). In this context when people were asked to identify a black person, they associated the concept mostly to “poverty” (0.7653), “discrimination” (0.7534) and “marginalization” (0.6758). On the other hand, an Afro-Mexican is also “very happy” (0.8764), “somebody always dancing” (0.7968) and “doing party” (0.7696), somebody “nice” (0.6419) and physically “handsome” or “goodlooking” (0.5976)161. This point seems to be very relevant. Indeed, while people think Africans of the area are very happy people, on the other side poverty, discrimination and marginality obtained a really hight lexicon index that explains a concrete problem. So, if being happy can be understood as an element of a “blackness-based personality” (Lesane-Brown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005), being poor should be assumed as a constant parameter of daily living that could affect very much more then being a happy person or goodlooking. This kind of relation intensifies when we relate the perception blacks has in relation with Indians, where, enquired people admitted they are “good as other groups” but possibly better (in certain aspect) to indigenous one. ‘…They thing we are in their territory but we also arrived here many years ago…Is it fair they consider us dangerous and should we live the land?...’ (20th December 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview, Tive)162. In the case of women, the problem is even harder, especially related with two points: “being black” and “being female”. So, while it seems to be of African descent

161 Reference to these concepts has been captured through the Lexicon Questionnaire and thanks to the “Identity and cultural change” and “Participation processes sections” of the Opinion Questionnaire. For further information, see the “Introduction” of this work. Indicators show the preference of people, where while as near as possible to 1.0, the indicator supposes the perfect correspondence between the preference and the characteristic expressed by the person. In this case, we divided the positive and the negative perceptions of people about “being African”. That’s why for example “poverty” has an indicator of 0.7653 and “happiness” of 0.8764. That fact doesn’t means people consider Afro-Mexican more happy than poor by only that, in relation with positive of negative characteristics associated with blackness, people considered the main negative element is the poverty and the best positive one is being happy. 162 Relations between blacks and Indians are not very good and, as posible, they do not mantain any relation between them. The only contacts they possible have is during the trades when Indians and blacks offer their products. Also in this occasion, the problems are many, especially in relation with prices. So when Indians have better prices than blacks, blacks consider they (the Indian) want to take away their business, and if blacks have better sales than Indians, those consider black being “tricky”. 169 necessarily means being poor and living under discrimination from an early age, specifically because of not having enough resources to buy basic products or obtain a good job to survive, it is observed discrimination suffered by the female gender not only is based on having an African-ancestry or being poor, but precisely because of being women. In their homes they face domestic violence and while recognizing that men are more valuable to them, they argue that ‘…a good black woman has the obligation to obey and serve her husband…It is not necessary violence, because we are very helpful for them and even if you don’t believe me, they respect us…’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Licha); in this sense domestic violence, while not being a perceived problem by part of women it can also be understood as a sort of cultural element that should allow us to indentify some kind of Afro-Mexican self-identification parameter.

II Many of the enquired people consider the word black not being offensive, but they also argued it was depending ‘…on the way you say it…Of course between us saying for example pinche negro can be offensive or a signal of friendship. But if it comes from you, you could have serious problems here…’ (21th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano)163. Others believe that black is not a good denomination and they prefer the word Moreno (“brown”), even if, in general, it is possible to use both Afro-Mestizo and Afro- Mexican. In the first case, people accept the concept because ‘…they know they come from Africa but they are also Mestizos. So the easiest way to understand them is the Afro- Mestizo concept…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). On the other hand, not everyone understands this notion of identity and they prefer the word black, something they consider being ‘…very much more direct and clear to identificate…physical traits…That fact would be very much more direct for the understanding of African origin of local population, but for me it very explicative the use of the word Mestizo…That supposes the three roots of Mexico, the European, the

163 The word pinche is very offensive but also very common in Mexican Spanish, and it can be used as a demostration of confidence but also to verbally attack somebody. For example, in the street it is not suggested to use it when the person to which we are referring is not known by us. On the contrary, between friends practically it is an “each-five-words concept”. About the negative meaning of the word we refer to Santamaría (2005: 853) and Ramos i Duarte (1895: 405). About the twofold senses (positive and negative), consult the Académica Mexicana de la Lengua’s (2010: 465) Diccionario de Mexicanismos. 170 Indian and the African…Nowhere people is racially pure, and less in Mexico…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO). So, because of the fact people is mixed-race, the individuals seem to accept being denominated as Afro-Mestizos and they avoid the definition of Afro-descent. The motive for that corresponds to the fact the most part of people has no education or a very basic level of studies, so, while they perfectly understand the idea of negro (“black”), African or Mestizo, they completely demonstrated not having incorporated any idea of “ancestry” which could explain their African-descent origin. After the pilot research, in the Opinion Questionnaire, all the questions related with the word Afro- descent were thus eliminated. In this context, the easiest way to define Africans of the area is black and Morenos, also if between them they use the word prieto which is much more explicative about physical traits and color. ‘…It is not the same if you call somebody Moreno or prieto…Moreno is more general and everybody here can be this way…but prieto is used when somebody is really black. On the other hand, there are some people very dark-skinned but their traits are Indian. So we call them prietos, not Morenos, because Moreno has a much more important element of Africanness in itself….the Moreno is normally “African-featured”, not only black…so when you say “that Moreno is very prieto” that means the person you are talking about is practically African, in traits and color...’ (21th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). In this sense, it is possible to be argued Moreno explains the physical way of being (especially about color and traits) but it also suggests something about the African origins (almost genetically speaking) the person shows. By contrast, at the moment of introducing the concept of “Afro-Mexican”, people demonstrated this was the idea they were looking for self-definition. In fact, ‘…if we understand the black population here came from Africa we can use the word Africans, and that could be enough fair in the moment they arrived, in 16th century. But now? Do you think we can call us Africans? Do we speak any African language or dialect? In Trinidad, for example we define us Afro-Trinidadian, exactly because we came from Africa but we are Trinidadian…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). So, as father Glynn suggested, they idea of defining blacks of the Costa Chica has to have some really concrete meaning that could not only identify people through their aesthetics, but also because of their way to be citizens. Indeed, obtaining the recognition of some specific origins would be important 171 as long as it would also guarantee for this minority some kind of social, economic, or political effect that could better its daily conditions. In this sense, it should be very relevant defining blacks of the Costa Chica (and for extension of the whole Mexican Republic) as Afro-Mexican. The representation of the status could be thus embodied through two different elements: nationality, explained by the Mexican definition; and “quality” of the minority, expressed by its origin. ‘…It would be the same in the case of Mexican- Indian…we all know when we talk about indigenous population we refer to indigenous living in Mexico and we also know the Constitution of Mexico accounts for them as the “basic” population of the country…so talking about Afro-Mexicans could be very explicative of a specific sense of nationality which it also could be appropriated by part of the Costa Chica’s settlers in order to create a membership way of recognition based on their own communitarian way of recognition and the way of being Mexican offers to them’ (Suárez Blanch, 1999). So, while they were choosing predominantly between the words “blacks” or “black- Mexican” (0.8549), or “Afro-Mestizo” (0.8761), the most important positive response was achieved when asking for the correlation between self-definition and the word Afro-Mexican, being almost the totality of the people choosing it as the best concept defining them as Mexican citizens and African (0.9870). Specifically for the case of women, they call themselves “brown” (Moreno) but also “black” and they do not mind of being called that way. One woman explained: “…as we are black, we cannot get angry when they call us his way!...What I want to make clear is that there are many people who use the word black to humiliate and harm us…when you know…we are also enough humiliated…Maybe, if they understand us as Afro- Mexicans we would have more chances to be integrated…’ (18th December, Collantes, Tivis). The motive because of which women define themselves Morenas is based on two approaches: a physical and a psychological one. In the first case the physical element explains not only the color but also the traits, as the nose, the lips (what people call bemba ‒ literally “the mouth”) or the hair, they call chino, not because of some kind of Chinese origin but only because in Mexican Spanish chino “means curly” or “hardly wavy”. In the second, if we talk about the psychological aspect of blackness within the Costa Chica we refer specifically to the way through which Afro-Mexicans behave and 172 maintain hospitality. ‘…You know…black people is very good hearted people…We want to get along with everyone, so when you come here you are always welcome…it is really too bad we have nothing to give…Neverthless, nothing is left if you decide to stay here…we will take care of you…[laughs]…You see, when you say Afro-Mexican you understand a very nice part of Mexican culture, the most heartly one…’ (18th December 2012, Collantes interview, Tivis).

III About self-description we recollected the most interesting information about perception among Afro-Mexicans. In order to obtain a general picture about the topic we used a colorimeter, a research instrument composed by two different cards with nine Mexican face-typologies on it, ranging from the most distant to the closest to the African phenotype164. The question the enquired persons were asked to answer corresponds to the section “Identity and Cultural Change” of the Opinion Questionnaire, n.I, and it was organized by gender. The information was also associated with the results of the Lexicon Questionnaire, where color was the first descriptor appearing to identify African roots, as in the case of “dark” (0.8762), Moreno (0.8239), “dark-skinned” (0.7953), “black coastal” (0.7576), normally associated with some proper physical traits as the “curly hair cuculustre” or “puchungo”165. About physical traits, it is also noticed that people identified the Afro- Mexican as somedbody handsome, as in the case or the women, where informants said ‘…they couldn’t not being Morenas…’ (18th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). For example, many persons said most relevant elements of the female black body are their “curves”, the “good body”, the “smooth skin”, and the “soft lips”. ‘…You can also recognize a real good Morena from the way of her clothes…very sexy…But in general everybody here is nice; people is very opened, but we can also be very aggressive if you don’t respect us…they love dancing, singing, and they are very fachosos166…That is also a problem…they use a lot of money to show themselves good to the community. If you show your poverty it is a bad signal and people do not have

164 For the colorimeter see the section “Instruments”, at the end of the work, and the note n.176. 165 Cuculustre and puchungo are local words to say “curly”. 166 Fachoso refer to the word facha (the way how dressing), and it explains the elaboration in clothes, especially when people try to show more than they really have, by using some expensive or showy garment. 173 very much respect of you…And they are very worried about the perception people can have because of their color…’ (18th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). About that fact, it is possible to distinguish between the perception men and women have about that. For what concerns to the men we asked them indicating which phenotype, among those shown by the cards, was the one they would consider the most similar to theirs. The options for choosing were between nine typologies of Mexican traits that included the whitest phenotype to the closest to the African’s. The most part of the men chose those figures which shown a darker complection than the one the respondents effectively had, as in the case of the nose (the enquired people indicated those noses which were the most African as possible), and the black “Afro- hair”, even if theirs were not curly. In this case, the importance to account for self- description through aesthetics is rooted to the phycological meaning of recognition. Members of local black communities can choose to define themselves justifying their election thanks to what some social-phycologists define forced-choice design. This kind of phenotypic selection and self-attribution is normally related with culture through two motives: a theoretical and an empirical one. Forced-chose impulses emotions to take the place of a natural chategory that evolves depending on individuals and their life problems and evoluting or maintaining some kind of socially appreciated way of respecting aesthetics or general choices (Ekman, 1992; Izard, 1994, Russell, 1980). Which it means is that people, while choosing to define themselves as black, white, Mulattoes, Indian, Mestizo or whatever else racial chategory, they also take into account what “the others” may think about them and the choice they made (Izard, 1994; Vásquez & Wetzel, 2009). On the other hand, as an empirical effect of such decision responds to the emotional answer people have regarding self-defining through a socially respected way of definition or a not usual one. In this case, some individuals choose to define themselves as they consider they are; others choose to identify their aesthetics depending on the social status those kinds of phenotypic features attribute to them. In the case of Afro-Mexicans it is possible to split the perceptions and the attributions of the phenotypes depending on gender. Moreover, it seems depending also on the expectations and social roles traditionally attributed to men and women within black communities of the area. So, if in the first case being black can be considered an

174 element of pride and a socially valued status, in the second, it can harms social actors and also impulse the denigration of their original social position. More in detail, for men, the confirmation of their African identity was a sort of socially empowerment they must highlight in order to obtain a sort of in-group recognition. In this way, they considered to achieve a sort of membership exclusively anchored to the place they were belonging and referred to some kind of remembrance, which, against national frame, could work as a specific way to guarantee their locally grounded cultural security. By contrast, in the case of women, they were tended to choose a “less-African” phenotype, especially in the case of the hair, by indicating those women reported on the cards that were clearly more similar to an indigenous or Mestizo phenotype. The motives for that (we will explain it in detail in the next chapter) are twofold. Women have to assume their condition of being part of the female gender (Woodward, 2004), fact that guarantees them suffering the discrimination and the prejudice within their community, and the reality of being black, so meaning facing the discrimination and marginality within the civil society. ‘…You can see me…I’m black, and I’m a woman…if I stay in my village I have to be a good wife, accepting the queridas167 and serving my husband…if I go outside I also have to accept people looking at me as I was a stranger…They really don’t make me feel Mexican…’ (17th December 2011, Collantes interview, Maya). Now, color is not the only element people consider relevant to describe themselves, but also the way through which they feel, assuming they have to admit their ancestry and their doubtless African origin. That’s why many people feel themselves “black”, more than Afro-Mexican; ‘…not because of the color but in reason of the cultural aspects of the “black race”, which is acquired through rescuing all those African values, as the sense of community, the fact of sharing the festivities and the food, the musical traditions, the aesthetiscs…’ (18th December 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Necho). This vision of Africanness seems to be very effective for self-identification of the settlers and it also offers to them a twofold way of consider blackness within the area. In the first case, we refer to a sort of advantageous position that allows people having

167 The concept of querida refers to the lovers of the husband. The wife has to accept their presence and it is a legitimated element for the manteneance of the African traditions of matrilineality and matriarchy. It will be deeply explained in the next chapter. See also the section Some Kind of African Wedding? (Part I, 129-130). 175 enough confidence in both their traditional and cultural component, and modus vivendi, for “not regretting” of being black. ‘…Neverthless the biggest problem of our aesthetic is that because of it we have no opportunity for studying, we have no economic resourses and no institutional help…Of course, I do not consider that being black is a bad thing, because our identity is not negatively affected by that, but the others have many prejudices…in the case of indigenous population, for example, they are well known everywhere and the Constitution of Mexico has a special mention for them…but what about us?...When you talk with somebody out of the Costa Chica and you tell him something about blacks in Mexico he looks at you and it seems really he does not known even we exist…it is sad…white people has much more visibility…They can participate in term of politics, but it is this way because blacks have no collective consciousness and they are not organized…(05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). On the other hand, being Afro-Mexican has also many advantages that, as argued by the informants, supposes having “a rich and important history” (0.8642), “living in good climate conditions” (0.6341), “being strong” (0.5465), having “good blood” (0.5389). In this sense, they consider themselves lucky of having some environmental and physical conditions that other supposedly do not enjoy. But then, how Afro-Mexicans see the others? In order to understand the perception black have about all those are not part of their communities but live within the territory within which they also belong, we asked our informant about discrimination, racism and the “quality” perceived by part of Africans of the other ethnies of the area (Leverette, 2009; Lewis, 2000; Nutini, 1997). It seems that blacks are also discriminatory but it depends on the fact “the others” are against them, so they turn themselves into somebody racist. As we said, an informant argued that ‘…when they discriminate me, they make me racist…so I answer that it is better being black than Indio…For example, when I go to Pinotepa Nacional people don’t want me to give a job, because they think we are lazy, so I tell them I’m not Indian and when I ate I don’t go away168…’ (15th November 2011, Collantes interview, Doña Lucha).

168 In many countries of Latin America, as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador (or, in general, in those countries which show the most extended number of indigenous population) there is a saying reciting Indio comido, Indio ido (“the Indian who has eaten, is already gone”). The meaning of the saying is that Indians take advantage of the situations and they naturally seek to obtain the biggest profit without any effort. 176 In the case of discrimination, the informants argued that it is not needed to go outside the villages. ‘…Your same people discriminates you because of your color…especially when somebody black goes to work for a Mestizo…they don’t pay us in time because they say we know how to survive without money…that is a need or a quality, not a must!...the Moreno is also discriminated if he goes to a public school because he can’t buy an uniform or some good shoes…or he has nothing to eat at the lunch breake…’ (16th November 2011, Collantes interview, Doña Tive). ‘…The worst of all is that if we meet a good girl or a stranger your family is not always happy for you. I remember a nice girl I was talking with…my family told me we saw bad togheter; not because they didn’t want me to stay with her. It was because if somebody of your own community meets you or sees you with someone güero they think you want to go away and you are using her or him for having a document…only because they think she comes from the gabacho169;…they also say we…[blacks]…look bad near to a white person…’ (16th November 2011, Collantes interview, Maya). This also explains that the foreigner is very much more opened; ‘…they come here and they shake hands with us…they understand we are different and they respect us…so we prefer the gabacho…’ (16th November 2011, Collantes interview, Maya). Therefore, the general perception of Afro-Mexicans is that the Governent does not pay attention to them because they are black. ‘…The Government comes here and, after asking to the community what is needed and they give them “white elephants”…they make a boulevard when people here do not have even drenaige or water…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). A problem of blackness that is seems also being clear in the case of education. In fact, a professor working in a local school said ‘…Morenos are not discriminated, they are just a little bit slower than the others…when indigenous children are faster than blacks but slower than Mestizos… (16th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Carmen). Finally ‘…people have a very bad conception of themselves…They think they are stupid, as in the case of a woman who came to me complaining about the opportunity she had to obtain a job…She was saying she wouldn’t have any opportunity because of

169 Gabacho is a pejorative word for a person who comes from the United States or who has explicit occidental traits. Its origin is from the Catalan gavatx (“foreigner”), and it was probably interiorized by the Mexicans because of the Spanish conquest. Therefore, it is practically impossible to find this concept outside Mexico or the United Stated where it is used for definine Chicanos, those Mexicans who are born in the United States and they speak predominantly English, oftently avoiding the Spanish language. By the other side, güero means white-haired, and it refers especially to the phenotype. The güero can be also Mexican and it has not a negative connotation. See Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (2001) and Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (2010: 241). 177 being black, but finally she got the work…Black people here are so oppressed by the stereotype the others have against them they stopped to struggle…They feel themselves less good than others, so often they do not even try to move on…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo, father Glynn Jemmoth).

178

Chapter IV The Importance of Oaxaca’s Black Women in the Construction of Local African Identity

179 180 1. A Problem of Gender The problem of recognition of African identity within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca comes to be even more complex and difficult to be analized when we take into consideration the gender perspective related with the socio-cultural role the women have for the manteneance of traditions, family unity and communities’ membership. In this context, the woman represents actually the most important member of the family in terms of monetary resources, education, traditional events, and communitarian interrelationships (especially directed to the collaboration between members of different villages). By contrast, men consider women ‘…not so important as it is said…they work a lot, so do we...I don’t understand why people say we [the men] do nothing...we have the right also to stay with friends…if women also go there to talk with their friends or I don’t known with who or doing what…who takes care of the house?...’ (21th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). In this sense, Afro-women of the Costa Chica suffer a chronic sort of marginalization that goes much more beyond a masculine power socially recognized as a legitimated cultural element. It also turns itself into a concrete modus vivendi that conditions both the real and the potential importance women have or could have in terms of family care, resourses, or the manteneance of ancestral African traditions. In this way, women seem not to be relevant for the definition of a certain kind of black identity, throught the area, and they better come to be considered actors that ‘…sometimes it is very difficult to being related with (21th September 2011 El Ciruelo interview, Chano). ‘…Black women are very difficult…they are critic and they want to have everything under control…we have to say something about where we go, with whom we are going, what are we going to do…but finally it never works this way…’ (21th September 2011 El Ciruelo interview, Chano). Moreover, this kind of marginalization embodies the clearest example the 2nd article of the Mexican Constitution represents a color-blind document, which seeks for legitimating homogeneity over pluralism (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2)170. By contrast the “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” (Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca) takes into account the presence of black population but it doesn’t specify any kind of special right for black women of the area (and Afro-descents in general). Such political position

170 About the concept of color-blind Constitution we refer to Kymlicka & Norman (2000), Kymlicka (1994, 1996a), Zwart (2005), and Wallerstein (2003). 181 contributes increasing women exclusion within both the communities and the national civil society171. In the first case, men attribute to women a socio-cultural subordinated status that creates a gender stigmatization within the settlements. In the second, being black and woman impulse an explicit a priori discrimination, also among who is not taking part into the local African communities, using some kind of sub-Saharan traditional way of being, nor showing any black-origin physical trait. In order to analize the dynamic of recognition among Afro-Mexican settlements of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, accounting for the importance women have currently for the production and mantainence of the African identity within the area, we took into account a twofold perspective. A theoretical approach based on the concepts of shared justice, race and African-gender identity (Woodward, 2004), and an empirical one which allows us to explain why we consider women being central for African identity construction within the area (Suárez Blanch, 1999). First, we used the information obtained thanks to 120 Opinion Questionnaries aimed at registering some specific elements of self-perception, sense of membership, self- racial identification. Secondly, we applied 15 In-depht Interviews chosen through a “snowball sampling” among female population. In this case, we analized daily

171 The decree referring to the modification of the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca – “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” − was established on 13th-14th May 2013, and today guarantees the formal “existence” and protection for indigenous and Afro-descent communities. ‘…The state of Oaxaca has an ethnic-plural composition supported by the preponderance of its indigenous peoples and communities whose cultural and historical roots intertwine with Mesoamerican civilization ones; they speak their own language; they have occupied their territories continuously and permanently, within which they have built their specific cultures, which is what internally identifies and differentiates them from the rest of the state’s population. These peoples and communities have their existence before the formation of the State of Oaxaca itself and they were the base for its political and territorial conformation, so they have their social rights recognized by this Law. This Law recognizes the following ab origine ethnies: Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos, Chinantecos, Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixes, Mixtecos, Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos and Zoques, and their related communities. This Law also protects Afro-Mexican communities and indigenous people belonging to any minority coming from other states of the country and, for any reason, reside within the territory of the State of Oaxaca…’. Literally the 2nd article of the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca recites «…El Estado de Oaxaca tiene una composición étnica-plural sustentada en la presencia mayoritaria de sus pueblos y comunidades indígenas cuyas raíces culturales e históricas se entrelazan con las que constituyen la civilización mesoamericana, hablan una lengua propia; han ocupado sus territorios en forma continua y permanente; en ellos han construido sus culturas específicas, que es lo que los identifica internamente y los diferencía del resto de la población del Estado. Dichos pueblos y comunidades tienen existencia previa a la formación del Estado de Oaxaca y fueron la base para la conformación política y territorial del mismo, por lo tanto tienen los derechos sociales que la presente Ley les reconoce. Esta Ley reconoce a los siguientes pueblos indígenas: Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos, Chinantecos, Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixes, Mixtecos, Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos y Zoques, así como a las comunidades indígenas que conforman aquellos. Esta Ley protegerá también, a las comunidades afromexicanas y a los indígenas pertenecientes a cualquier otro pueblo procedentes de otros estados de la República y que por cualquier circunstancia, residan dentro del territorio del Estado de Oaxaca». 182 activities, gender relationships, and social position of women within the settlements. The main result we obtained combines individual perceptions about the problem of female cultural role within the area, caractherizing the Afro-Mexican woman and her importance for the definition of a unique African identity of settlers (Lewis, 1995). While accounting for social and cultural local dynamics, by taking into account the problems of exogamy, residence and organization of resources, it will be central the interpretation of gender relations, studied through the principles of shared justice and equity (Kopytoff, 1977; Rawls, 1971). Which it means emphasizing how women represent some kind of potential development of the matrilineal principle, analyzing how the family organization is built up, and accounting for the capability of Afro- Mexican women of the area in producing a certain level of informal power that could obtain enought traditional relevance to reduce (or at least contain) males’ control within the settlements. The objective of the analisis is twofold. By one hand, we show the role of women related with social organization, recognition and socio-cultural power; by the other, we will try to “rescue” a gender image that not only suffered the social pressure caused by a clear “hierarchical institutionalization” of the masculine gender but also an important increasement of stigma, forgetfulness and racial prejudice.

2. Between Matriarchy and Matrilineage As it was mentioned, the settlements occupying the area of Jamiltepec District, within the Oaxaca State, represent the territories with the most national high levels of discrimination, exclusion and poverty (CONAPRED, 2006)172. Therefore, if marginalization limits the presence of Afro-Mexican minority of the Costa Chica in the labor market and among social civic society, this level of discrimination seems to be even much more present in the case of the local sub-group of women. Indeed they ‘…suffer a doble way of discrimination that explains why African people of the coast are not really able to emerge in national economy…We are continuously stigmatized because we are women…and when we go to ask for a job they do not recognize us, because we are black…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Leti). But ‘…it is unfair because we normally do all the family need…we give some education to our children, and to those who are not ours’173…We are the economy

172 See note n.3. 173 The reference is to the children of the querida. 183 and the work of the family, and we carry on family traditions…so why should it be this way?...’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Ceci). In this sense, African women of the area seem to represent the most relevant actors in the dynamic of a local identity costruction, and they perpetrate the relevance the study of gender social position and presence within Costa Chica settlements has for our study. Because of that, Afro-Mexican settlements of the area are also important because of the central role they respresent for the organization and local representativeness of Afro- descent culture throughout the Costa Chica. They also contribute to analyze both inter and intra familiar dynamics that, in the case of women, allow us to analize the local gender-identity together with the potential recognition of blackness for female population within the region. In order to measure the importance of women for Afro-Mexican identity we are not limited by presenting the situation as an element of a socio-cultural ethnographic description of traditions and uses. Beyond that, this vision of Afro-Mexicans allows us to advantageously use the information came from the study of inter-gender relations, social role women develop within the communities, and dynamics of integration- exclusion. Which it means analyzing cultural power of women and the potential it has for being part of a direct family heritage. In general, the discussion of matriarchy and matrilineality has its roots with classic anthropological studies of Bronislaw Malinowki, an intellectual production which establishes a pricise theoretical difference between the concepts and a dichotomous relationship between a per sé “feminine power” (embodied by dynamics of matriarchy) and a sort of “by-descent gender inheritance” (also known as matrilineality) (Malinowski, 1924)174. In the first case, creating channels of values production by part of women produces a sort of gender power decision established by a porous social structure that, while giving to women a total and indiscriminated power related with cultural and physical presence in the family, it does not ignores the role men held in a certain community. In the second, the concept refers to the legitimacy of female inheritance as a symbol of an imaginary, but constant, heritage line throughout family generations (Aberle, 1961; Bloch & Sperber, 2002; Fortes, 1970). This kind of heritage provides women with an undisputed cultural power, built on an informal local family presence ‒ by imposing the

174 About the topic, see also, Bachofen (1973), Bloch & Sperber (2002), and Knight (2007). 184 family name of the mother to the sons and doughters, despite the importance the word of the husband or brothers has within the socio-cultural context (Beckerman & Valentine, 2002) ‒ or ensured by the institutional existence and inheritance of natural children or acquired that are part of the household in which a certain woman is recognized as the legitimated producer and receiver of the lineage. The socio-cultural effect of this process is represented by the following three elements. First, by assuming the role of a privileged actor in terms of development and maintenance of a matrilineal pattern, the woman also has to assume the existence of a certain kind of structural patrilocal presence. She would so retain her own kinship, matrilineally recognized. Secondly, the matrilineality ensures the power associated to the lineage of the woman within a certain territory. Depending on that, descendants of the matriarchal family, underlying the socio-cultural household headed by that same woman, may suffer a territorial displacement of the members of the local cultural group who take part into what anthropologists define matri-sib, meaning, in a matrilineal system, the cultural group of reference. These dynamics lead to a dispersion of social actors belonging to a certain group and the loss of the matriarchal power, within the original territory (Fox, 1967; Keesing, 1975; Kopytoff, 1977). Finally, the woman who has adquired a certain level of local matriarchal power must underlie to exogamy dynamics. In this case, according to Murdock (1949: 211), because it is not based on a strict territorial relationship, it may lead to the loss of matrilineality itself. By contrast, if the endogamy is maintained, or if the exogamy is lost, matrilineal descent will endure, despite of potentially contradictory local cultural rules (Murdock, 1949). Therefore, on one hand, this dynamic represents a potential problem to the internal organization of the groups headed by the woman − suggesting the presence of an internal sort of disharmony which could create some kind of determinants cultural inconsistencies (Murdock, 1959b: 135) or impose a new way of unstable and mutable socio-cultural identity negotiation (Murdock, 1959a: 31-32). On the other side, it suggests that, as in the Bantu tribes (Richards, 1950; Shapera, 1941; Herskovits, 1938: I.260), the woman stays at home, exercising its power over children (natural or acquired), and the man keep practicing his exogamy within cultural groups far or structurally distinct from the matrilineal original household. In this way ‘…we do not 185 never know where our husband is or with who, or doing what…moreover it is not proper asking him about that…he would probably get ungry. Anyway…why asking for that if we all know what they are doing… (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Ceci). So, while this process creates a socio-cultural tension that potentially limits the legitimacy of female power, it also allows a twofold dynamic. On one side, women impose their authority, by representing who is in charge of both the children’s education and protection, and the household organization. On the other, and echoeing Héritier (1996: 210), local matriarchy is built not only as a undisputed female power, but it also suggests most respected rights are not those who should head the relation of matriarchy itself, but who are their spouses. So, even due women has the most relevant role regarding their family socio-cultural position, men ‘…just feel themselves superior’ (Vendrell Ferré, 2002: 33). It also means that matrilineality should solve the problem of equality, a subjectivist position that conceives identity as the result of some special personal disposition rejecting the role of the social environment (Larraín, 2000), and the principle of shared justice. A socio- cultural practice whose main importance, attributed to the subject of representation of rights, turns itself into a “gender-problem” that actually doesn’t matters to women, but it is much more representative of a specific masculine power affirmation. In this sense ‘…masculine population comes always to be very much more valued than female is, as in the case of social programs where men obtain generally the most attention by part of ONGs or civil associations…It should be really usefull understand women are empirically important for the communities. So it would also be possible to change the masculine vision of the world, actually predominating throughout the area’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). The problem of role of women within the Afro-Mexican settlements of the area is thus far to be solved.

3. Social Position, Exclusion and Female Cultural Power In order to define the role of women in terms of matrilineality and matriarchy within the African communities of the Costa Chica, we took into account three different and complementary variables: the residence (associated with aesthetic perception); the exogamy; and the organization of family’s resources.

186 3.1. Residence and Aesthetic Perception The dynamic of residence refers to the place where a woman lives and cares of the family, no matter what her origins (within the coast) or aesthetic features are. In this sense we can affirm ‘…women are allowed to move across the Costa Chica taking part of different villages even if their physical traits are not referring to a specific African- descent…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this way, and especially referring to women, residence is not limited to a geographically restricted area, but it also guarantes a sort of territorial mobility that allows potential members of community not necessarily being caractherized by an explicit way of recognizing aesthetics. So the structure of kinship is not only determined by a sort of tribal lineage, which determines social roles, the use of socially accepted norms, beliefs and traditions or aesthetic perception within the settlements. It also come to be constituted through a mixing process being responsible for giving to the problem of African female gender of the area, a multiple origin175. On one hand, being a woman supposes a certain kind of an a priori discrimination degree that casts some doubts on the local matrilineality. On the other side (the positive one), it suggests women carry the aesthetic-cultural genes allowing local African population perpetrating within the area and under certain socio-cultural conditions. So, while women are discriminated because of their female identity, they are also who ‒ for natural reasons ‒ allow the physical existence of members and who ‒ taking care of the children (natural or adquired) ‒ aim to conserve ancestral cultural traits distributed between an explicit local Africanness and an undeneible syncretism (Miller, 1992). Finally, based on the determination of African aesthetic features, or depending on the skin tone of women, they perpetrate the ancestral African traditions with more or less intensity. Thus, in the households where the “dominant” woman has a darker complexion, musical tradition, food and basic behavioral traits will be a clear result of a de facto African ancestry. By contrast, in the families whose dominant woman will be

175 The “multiple origin” of African female identity refers both to many variables taking place into this social dynamic (like stereotype, skin color and the gender itself) and the mixing process Afro-Mexicans underwent throughout the centuries. The topic was discussed previously, through the first section of the work. We refer to CONAPRED (2006), Martínez Montiel (2000) and Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto (2012), for further information. 187 characterized by lax or indefinite African physical traits, traditions, norms, and the use of sub-Saharan customs would be less176. So, ‘…to identify Afro-Mexicans within the Costa Chica area, characterization of physical features becomes relative. By contrast, it can only be established a criterion of categorical allocation including some more or less explicit African features, or the presence of a more or less intense skin color’177. In this sense, and especially associated to phenotypic representation, customs and folk traditions are composed of hybrid elements that, while dating back to African roots of sub-Saharan Mexican population, they also account for the many cultural influences accross the centuries impulsed the modification of their beliefs, socio-cultural normative reproduction patterns and habitus. Today, they contribute to justify not only the principle of cultural and racial diversity that actually characterizes the local black communities. They also feed (and occasionally accelerate) a process of loss of identity and creates specific conditions of exclusion and social marginalization, by reinforcing the presence of a very strong phenotypic stigma that ‘…evidences the existence of unequal interethnic relations and racial discrimination…’ (González Manrique, 2006: n.p.)178, aimed at favoring the presence of ‘…an outrageous privilege based on color…’ (González Manrique, 2006: n.p.)179, and referring to some status of “good presence” (Link & Phelan, 2001; Major & O’Brien, 2005).

176 In order to understand women aesthetic self-image we included into the local survey a question about the perception they have, especially referring to skin color, hair complexion, nose and lips. The information was captured by a colorimeter, a card with nine Mexican typical faces on it ‒ including European, Indian, African and all mixed cathegories like Mestizo, Mulato, Mulato claro (“light Mulatto”), Mulato oscuro (“dark Mulatto”). Surveyed people had to choose one of the faces shown in order to point out which was the skin color and aestethic traits they considered the most similar to theirs. Very little women expressed their opinion in order to affirm their African descent, while the most part of them (111 “surveyed” on 120) considered to express a very light self-perception of their black ancestry, by choosing the images which were as farther from the African phenotype as possible, even when their aesthetics clearly suggested some kind of sub-Saharan origin. By contrast, men chose stronger skin tones, even if their skin wasn’t. The motive for such behavior explains women look for a “betterment of their status”, being their condition doubly discriminatory and marginalizing. Being female, puts them in a situation of a lower social status within their community. Being black limits them especially regarding job opportunities and territorial mobility outside the locally recognized African areas. The colorimeter is reported in the “Instruments” annex. 177 “...para la identificación estética de los afro mexicanos de la zona, la caracterización de los rasgos físicos llega a ser relativo y sólo es posible establecer un criterio de asignación categórica que incluye la presencia de características africanas más o menos marcadas, o la presencia de un color de la piel más o menos intenso…”. Words of the Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea, member of the Casa Hánkili África organization, holder of the África A.C. civil association, leader of the José María Morelos settlement, near Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca. The declaration was heard on 18th November 2011, at the Casa Hánkili África national forum, México City. 178 «demuestra...la existencia de relaciones interétnicas desiguales y de discriminación racial». 179 «escandaloso…privilegio fundado en el color». 188 Because of that, ‘…despite the prejudice and stigmatization, and being “objectively black” considered an innecessary element for mutual recognition within the settlements, skin color is associated with a specific form of self-building of phenotypic traits, through which we identify race. So defining Mexican Africanness only through aesthetics becomes an extremely unprecise way to understand our real origin. Now people are much more conscious of their descent and they want to be recognized as blacks but also as Mexicans…’180. In this context, black-Mexican women of the area do not consider the differentiation of skin tones and physical features as a right-property based on a cultural continuity aimed at preserving a kind of idiosyncratic uniqueness of the settlements. By contrast, the idea of blackness came to represent a principle of recognition self-perceived and shared by the members of the groups, and color is understood as an empathic cultural heritage181. A heritage built on a certain kind of potential historical memory (Izard Martínez, 2005) that could be also understood as a process whose concreteness comes to be proved by an undeniable mixed phenotypic aestethic (a physical evidence of African- origin settlers), and the degree of the sense of membership individuals show within the communities. Thus, being considered “black”, Morena or prieta, does not depends primarily on physical traits of individuals, but on a visual perception corresponding just to an “added” cultural complement of a more general principle of “Mexicanity”, and actually helping to define the limits of the African identity within the area182. In this way ‘…it comes to be very much more important having a right female actitude based on the conscience a black woman has to attend to the needs of the community she belongs to or to the man she is “tied” with…’ (28th October 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).

180 “…a pesar del prejuicio y la estigmatización, y ser “objetivamente negro” un elemento no imprescindible para el reconocimiento mutuo dentro de los asentamientos, los miembros de las comunidades asocian el color de la piel con una forma específica de auto construcción fenotípica – a través de la cual identifican la idea de raza. Entonces, definir la africanía mexicana representa un método extremadamente impreciso para entender nuestro origen. Ahora las personas son mucho más concientes de su descendencia y quieren ser reconocidos como negros pero también como mexicanos”. The citation is part of the declaration of Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea at the 18th November 2011 Casa Hánkili África national forum in México City (see note n.177). 181 Words of Antonio, México Negro local ONG member, heard on 18th November 2011, at the national fórum Casa Hánkili África, Mexico City. 182 Because of its many uses and areas within which it is applied, the concept of Moreno is ambiguos. Among Afro-Mexicans it can be understood as an indefinitely “dark” person, but it can also be referred to somebody aestetically similar to a South-European, like a South-Italian, Spanish from Andalusia, or an Arab. In turn, prieto expresses a very similar “sub-Saharan modality” of skin color. So while “black” is generally used for identifying somebody similar to an African, Moreno and prieto are chosen depending on the subjective perception of the person who is going to define somebody else. See section Self and Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features (Part II, pp.170-173). 189 Now, if we consider the residence of the spous, the problem is characterized by a certain type of masculine behavior directed to women and children who share the same household183. In this context, man can choose between endogamy and exogamy, respectively understood as monogamy and polygamy184. In the first case, the husband or partner will stay closer to home, without seeking another potential family, and contributing to the dynamics of matriarchy (not matrilineality), headed by the woman he would been cohabiting with. In the second, the man will be responsible for creating a potential household, beyond the one his wife would have been heading. In this case, while the matrilineal conduct (characterized by the empirical predominance exercise of some specific patriarchal rights) will be developed, men will decide where living and with whom (at their will), with his wife, with the querida, or in a third house, close or far from the first one (information taken from the 28th October 2011 discussion, in El Ciruelo, with Chano). Now, if we consider the third aspect, the residence of children, we will take into account a twofold perspective: natural children living under the household headed by the “dominant” woman, and the children born thanks to the exogamic relation between the husband and the querida, and accepted (or not) by part of the wife. In this case, if the woman decides to consider the children of the relationship of the husband as her own sons, they will live in the mother’s house. Therefore, while acepting the existence of an exogamous relationship by part of her husband, she will indirectly invalidate the queridas’s matrilinage. By contrast, if the “dominant” woman won’t accept the coexistence of the querida’s children, the querida will obtain the opportunity to marry the husband of the dominant “woman” (being that allowed by part of the community) and she will start her own matrilinage line. When the man will do not want to marry her or she wouldn’t permit it, the children will decide living with their natural mother, with the adcquired one or in a third place, independently.

183 Especially referring to in-group behavior see Tajfel (1978b). 184 Despite of being aware the concepts differ in quality and specificity, we refer to monogamy and polygamy as the potential effects of both endogamy and exogamy, within diasporic African communities. Indeed, in the context where man has to respect the exogamy of the group he belongs to, the possibility of creating a household outside the original family his wife (or querida) and natural children are part of increase. By the contrary, in an endogamic community, being the interfamiliar union accepted, the man won’t “need” creating a new family. For a classic definition of totemism and exogamy, we refer to Lang (1907). 190 3.2. Exogamy If we refer to the problem of exogamy within Afro-Mexican settlements of the Costa Chica, we assume these communities are not only characterized by an identity that allows local culture to be ascribed to a symbolic recognition dynamic, based on a Taylorian collective imaginary, built on a static idea of community culture, tacitly admiting its ancestral African origin185. The dynamics of syncretism and “gendered” social relationships underlying the problem, also allow us to admit a sort of Geertzian theoretical reliability, and guarantee a strictly semiotic local African culture186. Thus, the exogamic kinship structure characterizes family groups and their way to “weave” in- group relationships, without forgetting the effect of what Frazer defined a guarantee for peaceful coexistence and matrilineality within socio-cultural tribal environments (Frazer, 1910). That fact imposes a clear diversification of social roles, allows local families being separated into sub-categories, and imposes to avoid intermarriage, meaning associating and dissociating the family members depending on some bloodlines-distance relations. Thus, community members feed the exclusivity between familiar potential sexual relationships, and seek, when polygamy is given (quite common within the area and generally into disporic African culture) the non-conjunction of direct children and uncles, among acquired children, or between children and any relative. By dividing the households on the base of the matrilineal descent characterizing them, men have to choose their female partners (for marriage or sexual relations) from other communities, even perpetrating the original family relationships. While allowing polygamy separated by endogamy, this practice ensures exogamy within the community. In this context, the role of women is twofold: on one hand, as natural and normative space of production for social norms, she holds the family unity; on the other,

185 Tylor's interpretation of the concept of culture refers to an explicitly anthropological-evolutionist theoretical position. In its ethnographic sense, the concept was synonymous of a sort of “traditional universality” and it was defined as the whole set of customs, which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, and any other skills acquired by the man as a member of a society. For further information, see Tylor (1865, 1871, 1881, 1975). 186 About Clifford Geertz’s perspective it refers to the thick description, based on Gilbert Ryle’s philosophical though, and constructed on the base of a psychological and gestural cultural approach. Social actors are creators and receivers of signs and symbols used within a certain social environment and, depending on how such environment has been established, the meaning of culture and its derivatives are fed by those same meanings and symbols social dynamic imposes by obligation or election on a new set of evaluative and normative local patterns. If this signification is public and it explores the significance of culture, the logical conclusion of the syllogism is the interpretation of culture is public, precisely because significance is. See Geertz (1992). 191 matrilineality represented by the female gender, serves as a separator between the households and between social relationships she enables or limits. Each group constituting the local socio-cultural environment is so ideally divided into two parts, with all children of the same mother assigned to the same part, and men of every one of them required to have a wife who does not belong to the group of which these are involved (Frazer, 1910). In this way ‘…men can be a little bit more controlled…if we do not do that, they try with everybody…they have no control…in this way we have very much more option to impose our position and demonstrate we are also here…(29th October 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Doña Lucha). The communities’ brothers and sisters should not then underlie to the direct family relationship (which in some sporadic cases allows endogamy) but they only and exclusively come to be ruled by the exogamy of the group. Thus, the exogamic structure of the community will be maintained and, in the future, promote the permanence of a habitus of territorial respect. ‘…Image if everybody have sex with evebody else!…our children are also the children a women living into another village or city…or I do not know…If we also have some control about territory and mobility, so do the men. We have the right to be respected…for example, if a man goes to another settlement his wife knows why, and this is accepted, they [other women] are the queridas, and that is controlled…if we do not know who the queridas are or how much queridas they have…the situation is different and it is not right…’ (29th October 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Doña Lucha). So, on one hand, the territorial respect will be directed to organize families and children of “dominant” women. On the other, it would also guarantee the legitimacy of the position of predominance of women, and it will be understood as a communitarian figure allowing separation of family lineage, without avoiding cultural ties between parts the community comes to be divided into (Díaz Pérez, 2003; Gutiérrez Ávila, 1997; Foster, 1944). The effect of this dynamic is double. Firstly, local socio-cultural context comes to be modified by allowing a partial persistence of ancestral African traditions over time and transversely between families producing the social context of reference. Meaning that both creating some standard normative parameters or traditional cultural rules and perpetrating the cultural syncretism expressed by some specific traditions and

192 festivities, as in the case of dance, or music (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989)187. Secondly, because of being the bearers of internalized norms among members of communities, women will be socio-culturally respected, and the perpetrating of matrilineal family relationship in the future will be granteed.

3.3. Resources Organization Regarding the organization of resources, it is necessary to analyze three different types of them: production resources (depending on activities developed inside and outside the households); “human resources”, specifically related with education of children (natural and acquired); monetary resources (managed by women in order to reduce family’s costs caused by men’s alcohol consumption). In the first case, women are the productive conjunction between families and create better living conditions, not only feeding all members who belong to their household, but also cooperating with other women at the increasement of other families’ economy. In this way ‘…women are really important for the village because they help each other, for example allowing women who belong to a different family taking part of the field work, offering some food or beverages for the children, doing some errands for somebody else…(02th December 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Tive). The woman also participates in the activities of the house, for the development of the housework. ‘…We do many other activities, such as “collecting” vegetables, working in some public offices, doing the houseworks at somebody’s house, or chapear188…She cares of her own income, her husband’s and the children’s…men feel usually free from care and, by contrast, they are very dedicated to spend economic resourses (individually adquired or offered by part of their wifes) buying alcoholics or staying with friends…’ (02th December 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla Lucha).’ In this context, while women organize their own activities, they also assign tasks to other members of the communities

187 Some examples of ancestral traditions within the area are the wedding ‒ the queridato, ‘an alternative way of marriage representing a polygynous reinterpretation of a pattern of a society that formally approves only monogamy’ (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 102) ‒ the human conception (especially relating with death and deseases. About local syncretism, we refer to the Danza de los Diablos, Danza de los Negritos, Danza del Toro de petate, Danza de la Tortuga, and the use of Spanish language, we have already mentioned in Chapter II of the “Mexican Frame”, Some Cultural Traits of Oaxaca’s Black Communities (pp.108-146). 188 Chapear means “cleaning the soil from wild herbs”. This activity is normally done by using a machete for the cutting of the grass and the extraction of the roots. The concept is also expressed with the words chaponear (as within the Tierra Caliente − a cultural and geographical region in southern Mexico that stretches some areas of the states of Guerrero, Michoacán and Estado de Mexico), limpiar (cleaning), or machetear (using the machete). 193 (excluding men over 18), like to their natural children, being their work and money fully aimed at meeting the needs of the group. On the other side, because of their constancy in working and obtaining money for the other members of the community, they also gain some kind of social respect. In second instance, when economic resourses are sufficient they are used for caring children, whose education, feeding, work or other eventual activity, are totally atributed to female responsability. So, ‘…when we would obtain enough resourses to cover all the spendings our family needs, our children will study, eat, work, or what ever else. If we couldn’t, they will have to take part into local laboral activities’ (02th December 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Licha). Finally, regarding men’s spending, they sometimes contribute to family necessary expenses, but normally ‘…they prefer use the money for other activities…something they usually do not tell us…you can imagine how many problems this practice supposes…’ (02th December 2011, Santo Domingo Artmenta interview, Lucha). Therefore, matrilineage is not formally recognized as a family structure that allows controlling the households from a sort of “genetic-female” dominance, and the matriarchy represents the main factor for the construction of a certain standard of “justice for gender”, self-regulated and guaranted by two separate and complementary elements. The provision of male power by part of women within the communities, and the recognition of a “utilitarian” female predominance, by part of men, toward their wives or queridas. In this context, while women allow the formal social control by part of men, they obtain the opportunity to organize both households and financial or feeding resourses, by also limiting the cost and overuse of them by part of masculine gender. On the other side, men allow matriarchal predominance, because of the need such kind of social dynamic supposes in term of cultural security. Empirical effect of such dynamic, especially relating to social status, power and role of women, comes to be summarized by what John Rawls decided to define a principle of “shared justice” (Rawls, 1971: 92, 1975, 1988)189.

189 Reference to gender equality, as a condition for minority-rights (a cultural sub-category), and the need of recognition between individual and collective identity, refer to Rawlsian theory of justice, based on the primary goods theoretical approach. In this sense, individual and collective identity not only supposes formalizing mutual recognition. It also impulses a specific way of representation for individual and collective freedoms, by allowing to explain the interdependence relationship existing bewteen cultural sub-groups. 194 4. Between Gender Equity and the Ethic of Justice The Mexican Constitution recognizes formally only those national minorities defined by the constitutional document itself, ab origine. It is thus unrealistic thinking about of a Mexican applicability of the Rawlsian principle of shared justice that would, eventually, guarantee the same number, quality, relevance and normative equality, related to a specific recognition of vulnerable national minorities (Rawls, 1971). Neverthless, starting by the idea of justice proposed by contemporary political philosophy, it is also possible to reason about the empirical effects matrilineal structure and local matriarchy have regarding cultural response the African communities of the Costa Chica female gender potentially provides to, especially related with informal rights and power. In the first case, informal rights refer to two specific elements: the social status women have within the socio-cultural context, and the exercise of minority rights within the communities. This allows a micro-cultural analysis of a specific ad intra shared dynamic of justice, built starting by the local cultural group of reference toward the local socio-cultural perspective of the female gender within the same community. In the second, the informal power of women, as an African-descent local sub-group, within the Costa Chica area, allows maintaining a certain socio-cultural status that guarantees them a social position of respect, despite both female gender condition and what we previously defined a de facto aplication of patriarchal rights. As regards informal rights, and depending on the fact Afro-Mexican population does not enjoy any kind of recognition that would define Mexico as a liberal-democratic country with a political regime based on a multicultural vision of local pluralism, the recognition of black women is avoided. It would eventually represent a sort of institutional gender representation aimed at building a national political recognition of African women (Joppke, 2004). By contrast, in this context, the principle of in-group recognition underlying such sub-group makes possible solving the problem of local female visibility through the construction of a specific sense of belonging, characterized not only by the physical existence of women within the communities, but also because of the role they actually develop for the group they belong to. Such social role guarantees them a sort of advantage of informal rights (because non institutionally guaranteed) that, within the symbolic universe of reference, allows them maintaining family relationships and establishing specific rules of behavior socially valued (and respected) by all components 195 of the household headed by a “dominant” woman. In that sense, this dynamic supposes the formal exercise of specific minority-rights and guarantees a certain kind of identity and collective representation that informally reflects a Kymlickian principle of “cultural security” (Kymlicka, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2007a). Thus, women are not only considered official members of the reference group, differing from other national minorities by the presence and use of certain standards of behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or specific values. While being part of the physical cultural group, women are recognized as specific actors of the local socio-cultural dynamic, which allows to define the heritage and customs of common use (intended to characterize the identity of the group) and capable of carrying standard behaviors, internalized norms and the possible modification of the local habitus. Indeed, as argued by our informants ‘women are important to us…they probably tell you we have no interest in them but they develop many things here…they help for incomes, with work, and they are very understanding…you know, as men we go to other places and look for our queridas, but they [women] are always there…’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Ignacio). So ‘…their social position is respected here because they make a great job…and, even if they tell you they have not, they really have some kind of authority. Sometimes they do not want to go to the city, so, as her husband, I have to go…so you can see that. She tells me what to do and I do that…the house, for example is her space and nobody can tell her something while being there or about housework…’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Mingo). In this sense, it seems women require the exercise of matriarchy when they are at home and they also obtain the application and respect of the matrilineal principle. This dynamic allows them not only generating a number of individual rights, aimed at obtaining the recognition by part of men and creating a sort of “gender competition” between the social community’s men and women who, more than others, impose the exercise of their matrilineage. On the other hand, while generating such rights, women are given a socially respected power, over natural children and acquired, without forgetting the possibility of gaining respect and legitimacy, in terms of matriarchal power, also within near communities. Thus, Afro-Mexican women extend their territorial space of mobility, and they can select the area for establishing the family itself and offer to others a sort of fictional meeting space where people can eat, sit and stay for a while. ‘Black people are really opened here. You can come over and stay with us. If we have something to eat and we eat, you can also doing that…there is no person 196 coming over and drinking not in my house’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Licha). So it is not strange that, because of women’s hospitality, they impulse the opportunity for members of other households or nearby settlements taking part of their own family. Because of this socio-cultural dynamic, a certain settlement will increase its cultural credibility, while perpetrating an ancestral cultural dynamic. A good example of that is the recurrence of a vela, during which women are who serve the guests but also organize the night and the party. In that occasion, the girls look for new loves (or lovers) and a potential husband190. By contrast, related with the exercise of gender rights and the obtaining of some kind of shared justice, women use their socio-cultural status as a way to express a degree of individual autonomy, which gives them the opportunity to choose their daily activities without consulting their husband. Such dynamic impulses a better social position for them, by also allowing women to obtain a degree of gender equality (Spencer, 1994; Kymlicka, 2007a, 2007b)191. Thus, the dynamics underlying the matrilineal community organization embody a kind of process for distributive justice built on the determination of social positions and rights regarding minorities of African local sub-groups represented by women (French & Weis, 2000). What it means is impulsing a certain level of a per sé ethic of justice that not only takes part into the institutional system regulating the socio-cultural dimension of gender minority-rights within communities of the Costa Chica. ‘…It also contributes to feed a process of self-definition of collective identity built up on daily reality represented by communities’ blackness. In this sense, it means taking into account both folkloristic and ancestral traditions, and the syncretism that impulses their existence from the bottom of black culture of the area…In this way social actors (as women) allow their permanence, strength and disclousure both for women themselves

190 The vela is a party during which people celebrate or remember (each year) the death of a family member. During the party the family who wants to celebrate invites the people of other villages and offer some barbacoa (roasted or boiled lamb meat), alcoholic drinks and pays musicians who will play some traditional chilenas. It is very common in this occasion the girls ‘…try to meet somebody new…normally they send you a friend asking if you want some company. If you do want that, so you can talk with the girl but, if she does not want to…you have to wait she asks for it…and it is also very common…’ (28th October 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). 191 The only activity representing an exception to that is the recurrence of the vela or velada during which women serve men and guests rigorously, respecting the patriachal standards required by the occasion. In this case, as we saw, women allow men joking, inviting them to dance, and flirting. The vela represents also an occasion for women to meet a potential husband and lover, and, especially after the party, they “choose” a mate with whom passing the night. ‘Something very important here is being opened to new relationships, and we [the women] are really up to choose who we want. When men are drunkt it is easy to take one with you…you see, we have power on them…[laughs]’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Licha). 197 and their matrilineal power’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). This social dynamic also gives them the right to create a value judgment about in-family and out-family decisions, respectively to both household members and the community’s actors. Thus, despite not allowing to abviate of the duties that women, as women, have to accomplish with, the family or group may allow them retaining the legitimacy of power adquired by women thanks to their social action. Men will maintain the formal respect to the legitimated authority of women and perpetrate the legitimacy (also within other settlements) of the female social status, according to the fact they are the “receivers” and in certain socio-cultural sense, the producers of the local “power of gender”192. That fact supposes committing a certain type of localized citizenship that, beyond granting a certain kind of good status to a minority group usually discriminated (both institutionally and legislatively) it makes women given of a dichotomic way to build up their own identity. While they allow their habitus, modus vivendi, beliefs, behavior and cultural background being conditioned, women may decide temporarily or constantly changing their own individual identity. That would be done underlying locally the patriarchal power and modifying what Sanders, mentioning Barth’s perspective, defines a specific way through which the sense of the ethnic boundary encloses (Barth, 1969: 15) only those terms of cultural traits and a potential transformation of “the traditional” (Sanders, 2002: 328, Kibria 1993; Holtzman, 2000). By contrast, if women decide to keep their own rules and normative parameters of local socio-cultural environment, they assume their position as essential actors of the dynamics of collective identity construction of the community. If women impose such a socio-cultural position, they re-define some specific new representation parameters that, once established, can be maintained, changed or removed from the cultural context within which they have been produced or to which they have been transferred193. These new parameters can then be institutionalized (recognized by the community as socially acceptable) and start to represent an alternative way of behavior. This is not

192 There are not specific rules depending on which women should behave, but they “only” have to be subjected to the masculine of patriarchal formal will, within the community. By respecting the will of men, women can be legitimated in their socio-cultural position and are respected because of both direct inter-familiar decisions (those affecting the relationship between the spous), and the indirect power the female figure enjoys among the group’s members, especially referring to communitarian decisions. 193 This process is called “transculturation” and it originally pertains to the work of Fernando Ortiz, to which we refer for further information. See note n.133. 198 only feeds the individual identity of women as individuals per sé, separated from a naturalistic idea of community. It also creates a kind of collective consciousness directed to impulse the idea that every woman is a needed element that can be really usefull for the construction of a concrete local collective African cultural identity, extensible beyond of some kinds of aprioristic ideas of gender difference or shared justice (Bell & Newby, 1971: 22; Rawls 1971). This dynamic imposes to the community the obligation to recognize itself starting by a threefold perspective. Valorizing its own local characteristics, self-perceiving as a collective actor built on a sort of community’s fragmentation (by considering the female gender as a qualitatively distinct and autopoietic African sub-group throughout the area), and recognizing itself on the base of a principle of cultural homogeneity which excludes the segmentarity group structure (Larraín, 2000: 27; Giménez, 2010). What it means is that “being perceived” starts to represent an imprescindible element for recognition and self affirmation produced by an ego-alter relation that grants both the existence of diversity and a principle of self-representation even within the communities. If such a principle is present, we can thus talk about what Giménez considers the most relevant element for the negotiation of certain kind of exoidentity (Giménez, 1997, 2010). From this perspective, the role of African women within the area not only allows to define the gender identity, associating it with practical implications, through which, the idea of race stigmatization exacerbates an a priori principle that emphasizes the gender difference and the socio-cultural development limiting social positions of actors involved in the dynamic of local recognition. On the other hand, analyzing the importance of women for the definition of the Afro-Mexican identity, within the Costa Chica, forces us reflecting on the meaning of a sort of “gendered-blackness” as an example of cultural sub-cathegory of a national minority, characterized by the academic forgetfulness and under representation. More clearly, the woman, as an integral part of the local context, determines the dynamics of equity, fairness, shared justice and cultural definition, at least in three ways: by differing from the other members of the community because of her needs and social position; rationalizing communities’s intercultural relations; ensuring the unity of the groups. In the first case, the gender equity is built from the fact that women, differing from other members of the community, in terms of demands and specific duties, promote the creation of a process of identity construction “by difference”. Their identity takes then 199 three specific meanings (Giménez 1997b; Réaume 2000). Depending on what women decide to highlight, it represents a certain type of objective unity whose function appears to be clearly distinguished from group members; embodies a specific way of being “separated” from a more general African local identity; and serves as a sort of communication channel among group members. ‘…So women not only differ from other members by definition…they also feel different from “the others”…Here, within the Costa, the machismo effect is very important, so oftenly women try to show us the need they have for being considered different from men. These ones consider themselves superior so they limit work activities of their wifes. We are very conscious local institutions are doing nothing and we consider a very much more important fact giving a concrete opportunity to the persons who want to really change the thinks within the African communities of the Costa Chica…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO). In this way, ‘…especially through some social programs, as profesional workshops, we try to offer them a better consciousness of their blackness but also about the importance they have within the communities…Without women, African communities would be only other unscholared and poor villages of our country…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO). In this sense, it seems women are really qualitative distinctive from the other members of the communities because of their individual performance and the existence of a specific set of socially appreciated roles (some kind of “role identity”) which allow them being considered as effective members of their original or adquired community (identity “by membership”) (Deschamps & Doise, 1978; Tuan, 2002). Thus, the local matrilineal power comes not only to be measured on the degree to which women perceive their membership or level of acceptance by the other members of the community (being formally accepted as integral and essential actors to the everyday socio-cultural dynamics). It also depends on the degree to which group members perceive the diversity of women as potentially accepted and legitimized within the community context (Foreman & Whetten, 2002). According to this dynamic, women define their identity by a comparison mechanism that, on one hand, allows them reproducing the same codes, beliefs and behavior of the group (ensuring its cultural continuity); on the other, by developing their female role into the matrilineal organization (Foreman & Whetten, 2002: 619)194.

194 See also Ashforth & Mael (1989), Dutton, Dukerich & Harquail (1994), Reger, Gustafson, De Marie & Mullane (1994), Whetten, Lewis, & Mischel (1992). 200 Secondly, as regards the cultural rationalization, women exercise their matriarchal power as both for the maintenance of internalized normative patterns − which involves making festivities and rituals, as recurrences on the occasion of the death of a member of the community − and guaranteeing the inter-villages socio-cultural connection. ‘…Thanks to the communitarian action of women, people gather themselves togheter, celebrate and preserve some local recurrence and customs. So they guarantee Mexican collective African cultural reproduction of the Costa Chica…In this case the role of women is catering to the guests (preparing food for people who come to the house in which the meeting takes place), meeting members of other communities, and creating social bonds between the families of the villages. Their action promotes inter-group communication and local cooperation’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). Therefore, if on one hand, women contribute to the maintenance of the ancestral traditions of the community (such as preparing the musical arrangements and African religious dances), on the other, the female gender is a key in connecting families and members of the referential group. Thus, the men become virtually generalized “users” of local festivities, while women impluse the unity of communities’ members aimed at producing a specific process of negotiation for local Afro-Mexican identity195. ‘…In this sense, without women African men, here, are not able to be really African…if it would depend on them we would have almost none about sub-Saharan traditions…’ (21th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Tive). Finally, depending on the degree of mutual recognition between gender cultural groups that make up the local socio-cultural environment, the principle of difference helps to strengthen the unity of the group and enhance the sense of belonging. ‘…So, as I told you…men depend on women but we also need them. We are a group and we are not known in Mexico…it is funny but it is so. We have to be a group, or united, because we were told we are not very much and if we are a few we have to be togheter…’ (21th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Tive). In this way, thanks to the relationships between families and communities, the identity construction process begins to demand not only the homogeneity of the groups that make up the African population in the area, but also the relative uniqueness of each sub-group (Messick & Mackie, 1989). Although being essential to the existence of the cultural group itself,

195 Referring to communities’ interrelationships and the in-group process of negotiation of identity, see Pallí (2003). 201 such process will offer the women a sort of a multiple identity, primarily guaranteed by the continuity and internalization of a cultural complex serving as a symbol for the protection of certain specific interests of their vulnerable minority, (Réaume, 2000: 245; Savidan, 2010; Taylor, 1993; Appiah, 1994, 1996). Finally, the problem of recognizing a peculiar Afro-Mexican female identity is twofold. On one side, it supposes a ‘…dynamic that justifies the importance of female gender within the area for a local definition of a matrilineal presence, aimed at perpetrating some ancient African traditions came to Mexico during the early century of Spanish colony. On the other, it allows obtaining a certain degree of formalization of an Afro-Mexican identity whose existence and continuity are inseparably anchored and represented by the female gender and a very present matriarchal power…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra).

5. A Female Afro-Mexican Identity? If defining African identity is a topic of discussion that has been systematically ignored by both political theorists and national institutions, characterizing Afro- Mexican identity associated with gender, embodies an empirical challenge even more complex to account for. Neverthless, while recognizing national cultural reality, Mexico would not only enrich its national traditional heritage. It will also promote the knowledge of a socio- cultural environment that it could possible represent a special way of recognition for black identity troughout the area of the Costa Chica. Moreover, Mexico would prove to have started a political trayectory aimed at empirically recognize minorities as a constitutional practice, that could also gain a clear definition of Mexico as a “proper multicultural state”196. Thus, recognizing the presence of Mexican African women as a cultural sub-group that belongs to a broader population defined by some clear African roots, supposes the existence of a per sé Afro-Mexican community that could be also understood as a sort of specific symbolic universe that clearly contributes to the definition of a wider concept of “Mexicanity”. The same sub-group also supports the need to increase the representativeness of its members (meaning offering a formal recognition, institutionalized and constitutional), by integrating the African culture of the area with a

196 The difference beween “proper” and “fragmented multiculturalism” will be explored through the next chapter. 202 current homogeneous idea of national identity, as the “third Mexican root” (Martínez Montiel, 2000). By analizing the problem of matrilinage within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca we took into account a twofold perspective. On one hand, we emphasized the existence of blackness as a cultural element of Mexican national culture; on the other, we offered a different perspective of the presence of female population of the area that comes to be crucial for the definition of African-descent culture and identity throughout the Costa Chica’s social environment. Which it means is illustrating strength and weakness of women and offering a micro-sociological view of integration-exclusion socio-cultural dynamics for this sub-group. The first part of the discussion described the family organization of settlements starting by the matrilineal or matriarchal role of the woman with particular emphasis on the everyday activities distributed among cultural events, education and work, and stressing the importance of women have for both the definition of households and the creation of certain intra-communities relations. Secondly, we analized the effects of the role of women on the local socio-cultural dynamics in obtaining a certain degree of equity gender, built on the principles of shared and distributive justice, and race. The most relevant results of our discussion can be resumed by three specific social qualities locally attributed to the female gender: women as an essential element for the definition of the category of “African descent”; its economic importance within the communities; and the potential of Afro-Mexican women, in the future. The first point would explain why the African culture of the area has retained some ancestral traditions that from the sixteenth century started to be part of the Mexican local idiosincrasy, despite syncretism between African and Indian population within the area (Martínez Montiel, 2006; Chance, 1978). The second suggests women seem to represent the only communitarian actor, which guarantees a certain kind of social security, by providing job, food and education to the people that belong to the community a “dominant” woman is part of, but also being located in its immediate surroundings. This dynamic impulses the cooperation between the settlements and contributes to perpetrate the unity and a certain degree of membership. Thirdly, women embody an undisputed potential economic development that extends beyond the African communities of Oaxaca. In this sense, their socio-cultural action 203 represents a new clear incentive for the generation of specific public policies aimed at developing local businesses, so bettering daily conditions of settlers. Finally, recognizing Afro-Mexican women as a specific located sub-group would suppose a twofold dynamic. Offering a new analitic perspective about the topic of black-Mexican identity, and creating a sort of empirical conscience that could limit prejudice and discrimination within the area (Mansbridge, 2000), by impulsing the existence of a certain kind of “constitutional patriotism” (Habermas, 1989) aimed at defining a specific sort of local multicultural frame. This kind of multiculturalism will be organized starting by a dichotomous and potentially conflicting relationship with the local culture. A relationship involving the use of a praxis of pluralism that goes beyond a simple principle of diversity aimed at defining the presence of socio-cultural sub-categories more or less defined and that, by contrast, involving a certain degree of independence of the in-group from the widespread socio-cultural context. In this way, communities’ members would access to knowledge and idiosyncrasy of the “dominant culture” (by conditioning and being conditioned by it), without losing the opportunity to define themselves from their own cultural parameters. Despite contributing to the definition of a broader concept of Mexicanity, they could thus express a peculiar feeling of Mexican identity aimed at defining some sets of specific symbolic universes which, because of a certain degree of generalized cultural system operative closure, they would reproduce their own traditions and modus vivendi in a constant, exclusive and independent way. The system operative closure would mean the cultural environment within which minorities are inserted won’t contain any reciprocal mode of production for all those cognitive operations of the members of the settlements, and it would not have enough elements to understand and incorporate the specificity of each local national sub-system. Such situation explains why the possibility of cognition by the system (who produces and uses a model of multiculturalism directed to recognition) occurs only by part of some specific and unknown element of knowledge based on the same socio-cultural environment. In this sense, the exclusivity of certain local symbolic systems, like the Afro-Mexican women’s, comes to be charged of a solipsistic meaning that, only because of a certain degree of in-group convenience, makes the autopoiectic system getting closed and promotes the openness of the community symbolic universe and the interaction between the communitarian standard of cultural recognition with “the others”. Thus, female local cultural minority will not receive specific inputs from the 204 environment, but only some “disturbances” which in turn may eventually modify some aspects of the system itself (Maturana & Varela, 1980). In other words, while the external events to the Afro-Mexican community are mixed, in some way, with the culture of the in-group, the role of women expresses a concrete element of local idiosyncrasy retaining a clear control over both a certain “random cultural degree” and a standard way of recognition for the whole community. Such gender position allows women being part of the Afro-Mexican population but also separated from it. A gender behaviour that places women in a position of widespread control. That is, on both monetary resources, but also all those cultural aspects which, without women, would be lost. What it means is allowing the implementation of what Luhmann defined a kind of Auslösekausalität (“an impulsed causality”) instead of a normal development of social actions prefixed to the system (Durchgriffskausalität) (Luhmann, 2000: 401). In this sense, cultural dynamics impulsed by women are inserted on a specific way of being African that, despite of representing a homogeneous and unchangeable national symbolic universe, it expresses a concrete and peculiar local blackness, by the principles of exclusivity and autopoiesis (Luhmann, 1992, 1993a, 1993b, 1993c, 1986, 2000; Mingers, 1995). Therefore, while ignoring a classic definition of liberal multiculturalism for the Mexican case, we can say the practice and use of diversity as an essential element in the everyday coexistence, finally impulses some kind of local visibility of the Mexican multicultural model in its “fragmentary modality” (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Barberá, 2003; Assies, 2005).

205

206

Part III Multicultural Discussion

207

208 1. Presenting Mexican Multiculturalism The problem of Mexican multiculturalism is characterized by two specific topics that limit and impulse its regional debate. On the one hand, the local application of the principle of multicultural recognition for national minorities is exclusively aimed at formalizing a certain kind of representation ‘based on national indigenous people’ (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2.)197, excluding a priori the opportunity for validating the presence of any other minority not constitutionally classified ab origine. On the other, this dynamic explains the State is promoting the visibility of local aboriginal population, by offering to it some social, labor, educational or economic privileges, especially through the implementation of specific intercultural programs (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005). That fact supposes a sort of multicultural frame that seeks for recognizing and representing diversity within the socio-cultural local environment. In this sense, the direction taken by the Mexican State not only represents a multicultural approach that hides a fictive recognition of pluralism, but it also embodies, through the Mexican Constitutional Document, a specific element of an in crescendo process of negotiation of identity for national minorities. This is the case of the State of Oaxaca. Indeed, even though its constitutional document (Constitución Política del Libre y Soberano Estado de Oaxaca) does not provide any minority-right for Oaxaca’s African integration, the “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” (Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca) establishes a kind of indirect recognition of the African presence within the Costa Chica198. In this sense, it apparently seems to be directed to the construction of a sort of multicultural consciousness, appropriated by the social symbolic universe characterizing the state itself. With such condition granted, which would be the national benefit of implementing some specific programs directed to increase the opportunity of labor integration, health care, political representation, and social recognition? Which is the importance of Afro- Mexican identity in a context that, even recognizing the presence of cultural pluralism, does not understand diversity as a multicultural praxis?

197 The original text recites: «sustentada originalmente en sus pueblos indígenas». 198 ‘…This Law also protects Afro-Mexican communities and indigenous people belonging to any minority coming from other states of the country and, for any reason, reside within the territory of the State of Oaxaca…’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2). See also note n.171. 209 For the analysis of the problem, we face Oaxaca’s multiculturalism starting by three key elements: the multicultural frame, understood theoretically as a form of social behavior, rather than a method for public policies; the empirical applicability of cultural recognition within the territory; the in-group functionality of communities, related with the principle of local pluralism. Firstly, we try to reconstruct the idea of diversity, taking into account the classical theoretical approach of political-philosophers (Taylor, 1992a, 1992b; Kymlicka, 2001, 2002, 2007a, 2007b; Barry, 2002), by contextualizing the concepts of multiple identity, multiculturalism and cultural security. In this case, by taking into consideration the Constitución Política del Libre y Soberano Estado de Oaxaca and the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca, we will empirically locate the problem, and describe the pro and the contra of the Oaxaca’s multiculturality. Secondly, we take into account the “multicultural situation” of the Oaxaca’s State, starting by four regional socio-cultural elements. The need for organizing specific State’s programs in line with communities’ needs; the level of applicability of a certain degree of “culture insurance” for black communities (especially related with the opportunities to maintain, modify or ignore traditions and in-group modus vivendi); the potential socio-cultural response by part of the State or civil society; and the opportunities for an informal integration model. We discuss thus the existence and the potential effects the use of these principles can have for the political and cultural logic of the state. Finally, while analyzing some variables of Oaxaca’s legal pluralism and the potential institutionalization of the African collective identity, we reason about the ideas of self- consciousness and membership as the core elements for cultural recognition and representation.

2. A Matter of Context The 2nd article of the “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” protects Afro-Mexican communities residing within its territory (Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca, art.2). Despite of that, the Ley de Derechos doesn’t provide any definition for the concept of African community, nor formalizes the opportunity of black population for self-defining their autonomy, territorial location, individual or collective rights, in-group normativity. By contrast, the Ley de Derechos offers those same minority-rights to indigenous 210 population by reserving the full 3rd article of its text for defining Indian privilegies, as autonomy, territorial adscription, individual and communities’ rights, and in-groups normative system (Ley de Derechos, art.3). What it means is that, even though African communities obtain a certain kind of recognition (referring specifically and exclusively to their physical presence throughout the Costa Chica), the black population of the area does not enjoy the rights the indigenous actually do. Now, if we consider the problem of Afro-Mexicans as a definition-matter, we consider the African-origin population of the area should be firstly defined by a socio- cultural classification (meaning that avoiding any ethnic description) that includes a specific sense of representation. For example, while choosing a definition for the formalization of African presence throughout the area, the State should also take into account the way through which African see themselves, why they claim any way of recognition, and which kind of representation it should be organized. So, if we choose to define the blacks of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica as Afro-Mexicans, we suppose two differents point of the question: their ancestral origin, the African one, and the current right to be recognized as national citizens. More clearly, if we refer to the empirical applicability of the principle of legal pluralism, we would be assuming the Mexican constitutional framework facilitates the production or preservation of specific minority rights aimed at perpetrating the traditions of local sub-groups, maintaining language and medicine, in-group normativity, and religion (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 111). While respecting the demands of minorities and implementing a new constitutional perspective within the existing national political frame, the concept of legal pluralism would be transformed and it would assume a sort of human perspective, whose mission would be twofold. On one side, it would account for recognizing the existence of black communities. On the other, it would be aimed at analyzing all those socio-cultural mechanisms that would allow making an efficient use of the State Law and Right, without avoiding their relations with the in-group normativity (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 111). Meaning that imposing the development of a specific empirical availability of the concept of legal pluralism aimed at impulsing a sort of ideological challenge, rather than institutional, potentially guaranteeing the coexistence of black legal norms with some specific State legal instances.

211 In this context, although the Mexican carta magna formally attests the national cultural pluralism, and the Ley de Derechos of Oaxaca admits the presence of the black population within the state, both documents do not recognize any special right for such national minority. Mexican law appears thus completely spurious. In this sense, the absence of an explicit recognition for black-Mexican communities supposes the idea of a certain level of rejection of the constitutional order that promotes the forgetfulness and marginalization over the integration and use of existing legal instances directed to institutionally coordinate local minority-rights and the way through which the Mexican State should act for being defined a proper multicultural nation. By contrast, it indirectly impulses avoiding the assimilation of all those sub-groups that, constitutionally, have not obtained the definition of pueblos originarios (“ab origine people”). As a result, Mexican cultural pluralism, far from impulsing the visibility and development for black population, seems to be very much more helpful in hiding the African culture and “routing” all those cultures which are not explicitely Mestizas, toward a specific process of civilization (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 112). That fact supposes at least two core elements. On the one hand, the state of Oaxaca includes in its institutional concerns the presence of norms aimed at recognizing local African communities. Which clearly refers to a model liberal multicultural theory seems intended to promote. On the other, does not exist any formalization of the representation for African population built on a principle of self-government or organization, by contrary admitted in the case of the indigenous principle of usos y costumbres (“uses and traditions”). In that case, it would also be guaranteed some rights of self-identification; self-definition; and self-description, institutionalized by local laws199. In this sense, the use of the State’s law does not allow the flexibility of social roles of actors and it seems to be much more directed to a sort of “imposition” of a “by decree” socio-cultural standard of

199 In the case of the indigenous population, those kinds of rights are completely granted and they are recognized in many states of the Mexican Republic, as in the case of self-government or self-definition. Those rights are recognized in Chiapas (art.13, Constitución Política del Estado de Chiapas), Oaxaca (right to the territory, art.16, and self-determination, art.25 of the Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), Nayarit (art.7, Constitución del Estado de Nayarit), Chihuahua (art.8 of the Constitución del Estado de Chihuahua recognizes the right to autonomous justice), Campeche (art.7 of the Constitución del Estado de Campeche establishes the right of protecting the territories where the Indians are settled and solving local conflicts through in-group social and political organizations), Quintana Roo, whome Constitutional Document establishes the rights to solve controversies by usos y costumbres (art.13 of the Constitución del Estado de Quintana Roo), Veracruz, which accepts the right of self-determination (art.5 of its Constitution). 212 behavior than to the concrete production of any local methodology of State intervention and community self-realization. The Oaxaca’s adequacy to the classic multicultural model is thus in a liminal situation, standing between what Kymlicka defines a form of forced accomodation and a way for facilitating communities’ integration (Kymlicka, 1989; 1995)200. The negative aspect of this dynamic is the ineffective African presence, in terms of cultural visibility and recognition within Oaxaca’s social structure. The positive one is the fact the Ley de Derechos, by introducing the idea of Afro- Mexican community, emphasizes the existence of a sort of an in crescendo lax multicultural background seeking specific governmental programs in the struggle against discrimination and marginalization of local African minorities. By contrast, in Mexico, the nationalist Mestizo discourse and the use of the concept of “homogeneous identity”, as a way of recognition and self-definition aimed at producing a sense of National Culture, are clearly predominant. In this sense, Mexican State prefers mantaining a kind of cultural behavior based on a Nationalist pattern, over extending minority-rights aimed at positively responding to African communities’ claims. If it would be so, such a situation would produce a certain kind of shared cultural predominance of local restricted groups and create a generalized social multicultural vision of the problem (González Manrique, 2006)201. That fact not only means obviating the recognition of certain national minorities characterized by some unique cultural elements taking part of a larger symbolic universe, built on what, in the local case, we would call “Mexicanity”. Not formally recognizing the presence of national minorities and offering concrete solutions to the socio-cultural or economic demands highlighted by them, also limits the redistribution of resources and potential development of workforce for such groups.

200 Referring to the modalities of national minorities’ accomodation, Kymlicka suggests two typologies of intervention: an enforced assimilation, generally used by asimilationist countries, and a facilitating assimilation, integrated into the political structure of those countries defined traditionally as liberal-democratic. See also note n.29. 201 Negotiation of identity represents a complex subject of study whose development has not been seeked by academics nor local political institutions. Indeed, despite colonial historical dynamics impulsed the abolition of slavery and (theoretically) established racial equality within the region, Mexican State did not really recognize nor formalize cultural representation for both pre-colonial and imported national groups. By contrast, from Independence, Mexico began to enjoy the status of a sovereign nation and started to ignore all sorts of “egalitarian policies” aimed at homogenizing the rights of cultural groups that historically have not obtained the definition of “ab origine population”. Thus, the country chose to perpetrate a racial protectionism policy that, over the centuries, encouraged the substitution of the concept of “plural nation” (today characterizing the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) with a clearly nationalist idea based on mestizaje. 213 In the first case, the principle of national multiculturalism would entail the obligation to grant a set of specific rights for minorities and sub-groups, based on both the idea of Mexican identity and specific forms of an in loco recognition of pluralism. A socio- cultural dynamic that, while being understood as part of the national collective imaginary, it could also being mainly defined by local and unique characteristics. In the second, the consequence to consider “Mexican” only the result of those aspects that are being considered Mestizos, it would prove the presence of an a priori cultural constraint built on a sense of nationalism tended to define the country as homogeneous over than what we should outline as a sort of “ethnic salad bowl”, contrasting than with an explicit local ethnic hyphenation (Alexander, 2001). A symbolic universe fed and maintained by both the existence of a principle of diversity per sé, and a cosmopolitan effect granting the heterogeneous presence of pluralism and the manteneance of traditional national culture (Pallí, 2003; Sanders, 2002; Alonso, 2004; Miller, 1992; Hale, 1997; Barberá, 2003; Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2011; Kymlicka, 2002, 2007a, 2007b; Kymlicka & Norman, 2000; Volpato, 2012). If Mexican State obviates the presence of African minority who originally constitutes the cultural, linguistic and social structures of its territory (referring to Oaxaca but also, in an extended meaning, to the whole Mexican Republic), the standard identity of actors who take part into the African cultural environment thus tends to lose its meaning. By loosing its meaning, African communities would loose their sense of self-recognition, and the local perception of their collective identity. What it means is that Mexican dominant culture will absorbe local identities into a generalized national frame, which will impose to local realities disappear202. By contrast, if the State recognizes the presence of Afro-Mexicans and promotes the existence of a number of specific basic needs for them (like health services, employment or education), such group may get the chance to be integrated into the socio-cultural structure − what Parsons would define the “world of life” (Parsons & Shils, 1959; Parsons, 1968) – and begins empirically to exist. So, especially for the Mexican case, when we talk about multiculturalism and identity we cannot refer to an abstract idea of self-perception with which we are born, or

202 The idea of “dominant culture” contrasts with the concept of “national minority”, being respectively understood as: the most locally known, institutionally recognized as the autochthonous one, or the culture historically imposed by a nation to another (as because of the Spanish Conquest); and the set of customs, rules and practices of those groups characterized by a limited number of members, or that, because of historical, racial, religious or migratory cause, suffer any kind of discrimination or marginalization. See Rawls (1992, 2001), Kymlicka (1996a), Walzer (1992), Barry (2002). 214 a set of natural rules that never change throughout human life. On the contrary, if we reason about the idea of local multiculturalism we must take into account the social effects of two specific elements. First, recognizing cultural difference as an essential element for the integration, representation and shared justice, justifies considering the local Ley de Derechos’s African mention as an example of multicultural respect. Secondly, creating an institutional structure, which would eventually culturally integrate Afro-Mexicans through education, work or whatever else productive activity, means having imprended a political trajectory that not only values the presence or absence of certain national minorities within Mexico. It would also embody a specific political effort aimed at bringing the principle of “cultural security” to its full development and social commitment. Thus, while ensuring the internalization of liberal democratic values, together with a sort of multicultural awareness of social actors, local pluralism would become part of the normative system, and it would start to be essential in understanding local multiculturality through all those minority’s claims based on the historical living in certain economic, educational, social, cultural conditions imposed to them (Walker, 1997; Kymlicka, 1994; Margalit & Raz, 1990). At the same time, considering diversity as a local cultural worth, supposes to develop a certain kind of “shared individuality” − what Katherine Fierlbeck (1996) defines a fair and neutral selfhood – and protecting the collective identity of communities, without forgetting the local or generalized legal framework on which the Oaxaca’s Constitution and the Ley de Derechos actually are constructed. As a consequence, impulsing such plural mentality would suppose creating a local liberal-democratic framework, free from multicultural and international criticism, and aimed at implementating the principle of equality of rights for all groups that participate into the local socio-cultural structure, including indigenous, African and civil society in general. What it means is impulsing an equitable recognition policy, developed and carried out by a sense of justice based on the respect for the difference, rather than a nationalist feeling produced by a model of forced equality or ethnic homogeneity (Young, 1989). Thus, if the State is responsible for maintaining these cultural parameters by associating them to the representativeness and respect of African minority, it means the actors belonging to such group have specific cultural parameters by which they can 215 interact with a “generalized other” that defines two different symbolic universes separated but also complementary. Such cultural universes are aimed at representing, maintaining or modifying a psycho-social heritage through which they can self- represent and choose to take part or not in the environment into which they begin to be recognized as an imprescindible cultural ingredient203. This dynamic supposes taking into consideration the specific needs of minorities involved in the process, by considering and trying to solve African local demands. Doing that, would represent a concrete institutional response directed toward the development of a certain localized and in-group self-management of intellectual and human resources. For example, if the State guarantees a certain number of local policies for the integration of African population and establishes certain parameters of education for such program, it should be done in accordance with the current culture of black people and communities, and depending on the specific kind of education required by them. In this way, it should seek to promote education whose subjects and methods of teaching should be related (in the most appropriate way as possible) with the needs and problems of the people and communities whom students and teachers come from. Meaning that respecting minority-rights, by ensuring the continuity of local elements without avoiding the set of those cultural essentials belonging also to the collective Mexican imaginary. Therefore, promoting the integration of the Afro-Mexican population into the socio-cultural environment of Oaxaca would mean admitting the presence of black communities (in an institutional way), and accepting being part of the acculturation dynamics underlying social behavior of the non-ab origine population. For the formal affirmation of diversity and integration of those cultural elements, it is necessary to consider four key elements of multicultural recognition (Martínez Ayala, 2012): the organization of State’s programs according to local needs; the guarantee of a certain level of “culturally security” (Kymlicka, 1995; Rawls, 1971, Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Martínez Ayala, 2012); the localized socio-cultural response; the method of informal integration.

3. Identity, Sense of Membership and Informal Integration If we consider local multiculturalism as a socially transversal way of recognition of diversity, that fact supposes at least two things.

203 About psychological effect of recognizing and being recognized by part of a specific community or sub-group, we offer a classical reference to Mead (1974: 1, 135). 216 Theoretically speaking, if Mexican State is not according to an ethical recognition of cultural pluralism, local multiculturality indirectly contributes harming minorities in relation with the obtention of a certain level of representation and the possibility of being potentially understood as sub-groups seeking to promote their social and cultural status within Mexican society. Moreover, if the State does not apply the principles that, as in the Mexican case, are taken into account by its carta magna, the multicultural principle characterizing it appears spurious and weak. Meaning that, not having empirical purposes aimed at constructing a sense of community’s membership and being not directed to the improvement of the social and cultural image the African minority potentially could enjoy within civil society. Therefore, while recognition comes to be unilateral, directed exclusively to account for the needs of indigenous population, it is clearly unprecise defining the Mexican political model being able to implement some specific minority- rights for Afro-Mexicans. By contrast, if institutions fulfill local cultural policies designed for the specific needs of minorities, while they advance in the resolution of their basic needs, they also allow black settlements to formally exist within the local socio-cultural environment. As a demonstration of what we said, the Ley de Derechos shows a first interest for the Oaxaca’s black culture but, far from offering some kind of explicit ways of accomodation for African communities, the State looks for incorporating blackness by a sort of assimilationist political model. In this way, such settlements are only allowed enjoying those rights the Mexican Constitution or the Ley de Derechos guarantee (Ley de Derechos, art.2) for the whole Mexican society. Thus, the social impact on communities’ cultural structure appears twofold. On one side, the incorporation of communities’ mention in the constitutional text allows us to affirm that fact amplifies the level of State acceptance, by revealing its human side and regional pluralism. On the other, not highlighting any kind of minority-right, or mentioning some specific African tradition (or at least their existence), means impulsing the forgetfulness of African culture of the Costa Chica and moving the indigenismo discourse from a general view of it (aimed at worldwide defining Mexico as a Mestizo nation) to a local perception of equality far from the multicultural idea of pluralism. In this way, while the State of Oaxaca does not recognize collective ancestral traditions as part of the African communities’ organization (oftenly meaning avoiding 217 national and international migrations), the State demonstrates of not understanding the multicultural requirement based on local African communities, and forgets recognizing local identity. What it means is excluding a part of the Mexican society from existing. On the contrary, while respecting the customs of minority-rights and self- organization, self-definition and autonomous justice (Rawls, 1992, 2001; Young, 1990), Oaxaca’s State would contribute to a systematic integration of the local population, estimating the number of settlers and ensuring two types of cultural construction. Firstly, allowing maintaining the standards of territorial self-control, it would guarantee the African permanence within the area. Secondly, making visible the population, by offering a dynamic of specific “social acculturation”, black Mexicans would be allowed to be recognized by part of non-black or indigenous people (somebody normally ignoring their existence) as part of the socio-cultural environment. In this case, for example, providing the opportunity to study a career that would allow economic development of these communities would lead to the modification (not breaking) of the in-groups normativity parameters, and improving the quality of life for black people, without obviating the need for preserving local cultural traits (IEM, 2011). That fact would promote the respect for their culture, and the improvement of human capital. Such intervention would be thus essential in fulfilling the first article of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, by allowing the State impulsing ‘…human rights in accordance with the principles of universality, interdependence, indivisibility and progressivity...’ (Constitución Política, art.1), as the legal pluralism, multilingualism, respect of diversity and ethnic origin. In the first case, the affirmation ‘…the full realization of legal pluralism in the Americas remains a utopia…’ is invalidated (Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2001: 59; Ariza Santamaría, 2006). In the second, this dynamic encourages an idea of universal membership that, despite of avoiding the need for cathegorizing communities by social class or race, would understand aesthetic attributes not as a separator, but as a cultural trigger with a social function. Meaning that choosing to highlight the potential Mexican way to acculturation over feeding the rejection and the stigma that cultural diversity sometimes involves. In this context, the State of Oaxaca promotes the cultural diversity as a way to enhance citizens’ participation turning discrimination or stigma into an a priori guaranteed and explicit institutional and formal respect for the conditions of equality, human rights and all those fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, 218 cultural or any other dimension of public life (Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca, art.16, III par.). Such dynamic drives the process of group identity negotiation, at least by two ways: through an individual ability to internalize specific forms of cultural behavior and expectations of a generalized other, and from a new way of building the sense of group. In the first case, members of black minorities build a dynamic of self-perception that characterizes their basic symbolic universe and a new perception of a sort of “widespread” socio-cultural environment within which the national minority begins to be formally part. In the second, gaining recognition and an institutionally established collective representation imposes a potential integration process towards the creation of a multicultural social consciousness. In this sense, offering an ad hoc solution for local African people also means respecting priorities, cultural and basic needs aimed at producing and maintaining the socio-cultural environment characterizing them (Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002, 2007; Inglis, 1996)204. Now, in relation with the idea of “cultural insurance”, it is necessary to reflect on the way through which it should be the best method for recognizing the African presence within the area (formally offering to be present in the symbolic universe of reference). That fact supposes then understanding the problem of how “re-locating” the cultural base of Afro-Mexican heritage, by producing a specific process of identity negotiation aimed at formally and collective representating a portion of Mexican national culture and identity, without avoiding the importance the indigenous culture actually has and the need for the non-indigenous population of seeing national culture properly represented. Meaning that while being differentiated by the presence and use of certain standards of behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or specific values, being also recognized as a community representing a specific socio-cultural space. A symbolic universe produced by the presence of certain local elements defined and shared as a

204 Despite its originally-Canadian modality, Kymlicka’s democratic position seems not far from the idea of representation and rights Mexico seems to be needed. By contrast, his political proposal makes an explicit reference to both classical multiculturalism, expressed by Taylor and based on a “utopian” universal accommodation, as on all those new demands imposed by the phenomenon of globalization. In both cases he takes into account the requirement for recognition as an identity definition, or the negotiation of identity as an extension of national and international policies based on a theoretical model for the definition of a semiotic cultural concept. The result of this socio-cultural position justifies thus both the need of a legitimated claim by part of black minority and its right to obtain an equitable response by part of Mexican state. That fact would be relevant for the manteneance of socio-cultural African local traditions, the integration of black minority into the civil society, labor and economic market, or the obtention of some kind of health services. 219 proper cultural heritage intended to characterize the identity of the African sub-group and the nation black culture is part of. Together with the above, and ensuring the institutionalization of a certain standard of social, cultural, political or economic equality – for both citizenship in general and members of Oaxaca’s black minority – local multicultural project takes into account a twofold socio-political process. By one side, it seems to be tended to the conservation of the whole set of democratic political traditions and African uses205 − something Kymlicka (1996a, 1996b) would define a cultural insurance206. By the other, it promotes the institutionalization of national cultural diversity as a value (Waldron, 2000). In this sense, the Mexican Constitution obtains a sort of human principle, which was defined a sort of an emotio constitutional modality (Häberle, 2003), whose main function would be understanding human condition from individuals’ profund way of phycologically being perceived by “the other”. Such a process would then guarantee the recognition for local groups (meaning that applying the political principle of representation to some specific local minorities) and the psychological security their members have of being recognized not only by the cultural elements characterizying the generalized national symbolic universe, but also thanks to the peculiar ways they choose to be represented by. The concept of recognition would thus starts on an identification of diversity in reflexive terms, where its main element would not be a specific cultural tradition, as in the indigenous case, or concerning to Mexican Mestizo identity, but a set of mixed- African-origin universal traditions created and sanctioned by the Constitution: human rights and the fundamental principle of democratic state of law. In this way, the sense of a local approach of recognition and membership would be exclusive but included; a principle which would give to Oaxaca’s Africans a motive to self-representing as proudly Mexican (Crowley & Silva, 2002). Because of that, Mexico, even not being classified as liberal-democratic, as needed by political-phylosophers, would represent an ethnic-cultural nation, constrasting with the classical position about the topic, but legitimated of being peculiarly multicultural. What it means is not being forcely

205 About the processes of recognition and rights’ equality production, within multicultural states, we refer to Rawls (1971) and Barry (2002). Referring to the problem of “idealizing” the Constitution, as a way to negotiate a certain kind of political identity, see Habermas (1989), Müller (2007), Peces-Barba (2003), Rosales (1999), Sternberger (2001), Velasco (2002). 206 Kymlicka refers explicitely to a certain number of minorities’ rights aimed at converting themselves into in-group specific elements for self-definition or self-government, especially directed to define minorities’s cultural borders (Kymlicka, 1996a). 220 multicultural but aimed at developing a sort of integration of diversity, not a necessary regulated version of it. A regulation that, instead of imposing to follow a Canadian multicultural way of recognition, would impulse a specific dynamic of interactive pluralism (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Barberá, 2003; Assies, 2005). African minorities of the area would thus ensure their presence through the diversification of local culture as a result of a strict dynamic of integration, which automatically will classifies them as part of the formal civil society. Moreover, by considering the potential cultural local response, the problem assumes an even greater responsibility, which alternates itself between the social acceptance of a sort of “co-presence” of the African population into the institutions, public exercises and cultural integration, as a potential contrast for representation and sense of self- definition. So, finding the right way to carry out the integration of minorities, not only allows not excluding the requirements of all social groups involved into such dynamics. In addition, it will allows us to build up a mature vision of a “generalized other”, prepared for a concrete inclusion of actors in a strictly multicultural frame (Mead, 1974: 138). Thus, in order to impulse a process of “automatic integration”, who is part of such a dynamic takes part of a way of mutual recognition and potential respect for the diversity, by providing a proper consideration of all those cultural elements are ethically up to be included into the dynamic of recognition (Darwall, 1977: 38). On the other side, integrating minorities also means maintaining in high regard people being part of these groups, and in a certain sense, admiring their potential functions and skills related to the social, economic and cultural experience they represent (Darwall, 1977: 41). Such dynamic creates a way of cultural association aimed at offering a new definition of identity and self-recognition. In this context, identity must be understood not only as a natural feature that determines the production of a certain cultural heritage that allows the definition of certain attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values. It should be better considerd as a concept that incorporates the possibility of creating an understanding of people, and that is based on the consciousness of not only being “an observer”, but also part of the context we are analyzing and probably perceiving as a parallel world to ours. Starting by that, the effect of African integration into the local socio-cultural environment involves creating a kind of double consciousness aimed at defining a unique and generalized identity (as being African or Mexican), by assuming the use of a 221 specific number of cultural elements that can define rules and collective values. Such subjective way of self-perceiving produces then the conviction of communities they are also characterized by an Afro-Mexican identity which defines for them an ab origine et civitate representation. That fact means changing institutional recognition of diversity from a de jure way of understanding pluralism to a de facto empirical application of such concept. Therefore, identity appears as a symbolic project that social actors construct using empathetic and strategic interactions essential for the creation and maintenance of a certain standard of empirical uses and symbols (Habermas 1981, vol.II, 2009, vol.II), by allowing specific dynamics of integration and limiting the disintegration of their standards of life, thanks to the preservation of traditions, ways of being and customs. On the other side, such dynamic provides the opportunity for people within local minorities to obtain a kind of liminal status between integration and recognition, offering a position that gives them enough formalized status and presence within the territory to deserve a socially recognized respect and integration (Owens Moore, 2005; Du Bois, 1903). A fact which would construct a “cause and effect” relationship between social structure and minorities, and allow recognition being part of a specific constitutional democracy. While not being able to assure social and economic equality, such a principle, would at least offer two conditions: an unbreakable fairness of opportunities, and (unlikely to usual) a redistribution of resources so the most vulnerable communities being able to obtain the best conditions for social inclusion and integration (Rawls, 1992: 191). In the first case, Mexico would be more similar to a sort of cosmopolitist nation, a model thanks to which each group interacts with itself, other sub-groups and the system, and offers two different kind of socio-cultural facility: public, where the principle of shared justice would guarantee a sort of laboral blindness (that means not having any tendency for phenotypes – and so stereotypes); and private, where cultural manifestation would be absolutely granted, as an element of self-recognition (Alexander, 2001; Hollinger, 1995)207.

207 About the difference between multicultural political models, Hartmann and Gerteis (2005) explain there are four typologies, each of which understanding diversity as a risk for homogeneity and interculturality (assimilationist, A), as an element of identity integration (cosmopolitist, B), as the result of a socio-cultural situation based on self-representation of groups but characterized by a color-blind State (fragmentary pluralism, C), and an integral element for decentrating national culture (interactive pluralism, D). See Scheme I. 222 If the State promotes this kind of formal recognition, local African minority can thus create a new form of “standard-identity based” self-recognition. An identity that includes norms, traditions and all those elements recognized as the official national cultural heritage and part of the generalized symbolic universe which is supposed to take care of social and culturally local minorities within the society.

Scheme I208

A B

D C

Related with the second, those same minorities start to recognize themselves because of being similar with others, even if they show some specific differences and choosing a particular sensation to look at their own self through the others’ eyes and being perceived thanks to an exclusive double identity guaranteed by the State, as a formally institutionalized element of socio-cultural environment (Owens Moore, 2005: 752; Du Bois, 1903: 16-17). This would mean integrating a special social cathegory not only for the identification of the “right way” to recognize the Oaxaca’s African minority as an exclusive local symbolic universe. But also by the quality of being a whole “identity secundary system” through which members can be what they feel they are, and thanks to which they have not to avoid the best way they consider to define themselves and the culture characterizing their settlements.

208 Taken by Hartmann and Gertis (2005: 225). 223 If this process works, minorities enjoy what some contemporary multiculturalists decided to define “informal integration” (Nemetz & Christensen, 1996; Tebble, 2006; Kymlicka, 2007a). In this context, and even when informal integration seems to be empirically far from a concrete realization and respect, the case of Oaxaca contrasts with the option of a “fragmented pluralism” embraced by Latin American countries, and it really shows Mexico is trying to impulse a sort of social conscientization of diversity. In this sense, Oaxaca’s case embodies a very much more different way of being separated by an assimilationist vision of regional pluralism (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005) and, togheter with obviating the easiest way of forgetting about the African presence within the Costa Chica, in some way, it offers a social position that potentially could represent the first, concrete, institutional step for the production of some kind of special rights for the black national minority (Kymlicka, 2007a). Thus, contrary to the studies aimed at analyzing the multicultural phenomenon that characterizes explicitly the pluriethnic states, regional multiculturalism is presented by two different aspects. On one side, regional vision of the problem considers multiculturality as a certain kind of national identity including similarities and diversities in a clearly conservative Latin Americanist discourse (Volpato, 2012; Moreira, 2001); on the other, regional academic tendency shows to prefer an ethnohistorical and predominantly ethnocentric view of the phenomenon (Barberá, 2003; Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2001; Volpato, 2012)209. Such analytical perspective excludes a broader view of the issue of political representation for national minorities and limits the empirical study of how State could eventually produce some politics for the intervention on local minorities’ claims. What it means is that Latin American multiculturalism seems much more to be an “imported” analytical problem that, even theoretically recognized by part of many regional nations, didn’t obtain the development or the popularity we consider it should have (Volpato, 2012). By contrast, Oaxaca’s multiculturalism resists to the vision of regional cultural pluralism, at least in three different ways: in the relationship between universalism and

209 Latin American multicultural studies are tendentially based on a historical view that, thought to the invisibility of Indians during the Colonial period, they seem aimed at “preferring” an indigenous perception of the problem of diversity. In this sense, regional multiculturalism looks like as a sort of ab origin matter and avoids the principle of shared justice, central for the liberal-democratic perspective. As a consequence, the core concern of regional States is studying constantly pluriethnicism, and obviating all those groups that are not characterized (because of being inmigrated or diasporic minorities) by an ethnic social structure. In Mexico, all of them are institutionally and formally forgotten. 224 cultural relativism for the integration of minorities within the local socio-cultural environment; in the meaning of the concept of culture (which determines the perception of the possibility of adaptation of minorities, out of the context of their traditional experience); in the production of a dichotomous relation between a managed and a transformative multiculturalism (Assies, 2005). From this perspective, if we are intended to analyze the current aspects of Costa Chica’s multiculturalism and highlight the social role diversity has in the organization of local context, the dichotomous relationship between “cultural universalism” and “relative particularism” becomes an essential element of discussion (Sciolla, 2007). While the dilemma is between universalism and particularism, and we consider the historical dynamics Latin American societies have been through have marked a radical turning point between a pre-construction of current social environment’s idiosyncrasies (before the Colony characterized by an idea of traditional culture), it has also to be taken into account a twofold perspective, produced by such historical trayectory. The creation of an assimilationist project led to a kind of dissolution of local ethnic identities (Gros, 2002: 128), and the idea of a local pluralistic culture emphatically distinguishing itself from the multinational political model traditionally known. What it means is that in Latin America, classical multiculturalism is loosing its own first significance as a per sé theoretical category, and is starting to be in contrast with its classical perception, as liberal. Thus, although the idea of a liberal multiculturalism seems to be obsolete in a dynamic of globalization that embodies the urgence of adapting existing political models to new social and cultural needs, Kymlicka’s proposal (1989, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1996a, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007a, 2007b) still provides the theoretical base of reference for the definition of those states included into a definition of colonized nations, where a classical multicultural model is clearly not able to be employed. Neverthless, and especially referring to the Latin American region, the classical multicultural perspective has been replaced by some kind of legislation that is actually able to recognize indigenous and African rights, as for the case of Brazil and Colombia210.

210 For further information about modalities of recognition in Colombia and Brazil, see the Constitution of Colombia (http://wsp.presidencia.gov.co/Normativa/Documents/Constitucion-Politica- Colombia.pdf, art.1, 2, 7, 10, 13, 23, 37, 38, 40, 43, 55, 58, 63-68, 70-72, 74, 86, 103, 106, 171, 176, 247, 302, 350; laws 21/1856, 22/81, 70 /93, 99/93, 115/9; decree 1795/9, law 70; decree 2249/95, law 70 of the year 1993; decree 1122/98; Conpes 2909/ 97, 3169/02, 3180/02, 3169, 3310/04, Sentencia 225-98; sentency C-169-2001), and Brazil’s (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Brazil/vigente.html). 225 Indeed, despite of being established as a universalized set of values emboding an aggregate of behavioral patterns and customs that represent the whole of symbolic facts of a society (Giménez, 2005: 67, vol.I), local multiculturalism is far from what the Mexican general assimilationist context shows as a clear evidency of a potential liberal challenge. By contrast, the formal admission of presence for the Afro-Mexican identity within the Oaxaca State (at least theoretically exposed), especially through the Ley de Derechos, allows us infering the existence of a set of local African shared values that constitute to make up the social environment and implicitly accepts to define regional culture as a space of assimilation and miscegenation. In this way, it is also fed by the conviction that the diversification of being conscious about membership can be finally be understood as a new relationship between African and Mexican identities (Gros: 2002: 133), and supposes Oaxaca accepts a very local kind of multiculturalism produced by the conjunction of a multitude of peculiar and opened micro symbolic universes. About that fact, the case of the Costa Costa is also exemplary in relation to the region. Indeed, although from the 80s Latin America has been characterized by a series of constitutional reforms that were aimed at recognizing specifically (and mostly “Indian-shaped”) linguistic or cultural norms – as for Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Venezuela, Panamá and Perú211 − such legal formality has not only created a multicultural consciousness, understood as an explicit agreement created from a relationship based on mutual (not just ethnic) intercultural respect212. It also has perpetrated the permanence of racist practices, more or less

211 See local documents, especially referring to the Constitutions of Costa Rica (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Costa/costa2.html#mozTocId11182); Ecuador (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Parties/Ecuador/Leyes/constitucion.pdf); Honduras (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/ vigente.html); Nicaragua (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Nica/nica 0 5 . h t m l ); B o l i v i a (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Bolivia/b o l i v i a 0 9 . h t m l ); Brasil (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Brazil/vi g e n t e . h t m l ); P e r ú (http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/RelatAgenda/constitucion.nsf/$$ViewTemplate%20for%20 constitucion?OpenForm); Guatemala (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Guate/guate93.html); Panamá (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Pana ma/vigente.pdf); Venezuela (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Venezuela /vigente.html); Paraguay (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Paraguay/ p a r a 1 9 9 2 . h t m l ); Argentina (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Argentina/argen94.html). 212 Different types of formal or informal recognition for indigenous and Africans have been ratified, as in the case of the “169 Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Labour Organization” (Convenio 169 de la Organización mundial del trabajo sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales), which includes national programs for integration and local development for both minorities. By contrast, only a few states produced specific constitutional articles allowing the formal recognition of them, and none of those has ratificated any minority-right for European, Asian or Arabish origin sub- groups. 226 hidden, demonstrating the existence of unequal ethnic relations and racial discrimination, which create a dynamic of continuity about the privilege of being or not part of a specific color-defined sub-group (González Manrique, 2006). By contrast, Oaxaca’s multicultural dynamic does not allow defining its cultural space as a universal aggregated where groups define themselves as part of an unfinished nation which offers to them a collective identity ideally attributable to a clear definition of traditional culture (Bobes, 2007). Within such social space, the tylorian concept of culture − which according to the Western view of the problem has been embodied by pre-Columbian populations that currently characterizes ab origine ethnic groups – is turning itself into a sort of semiotic way of being213. Therefore, it not only embodies a process of modification of their traditional culture, accessing to modifying their multinational status, but it also conditions the empirical level of self-identification of local minorities through symbols, values and norms that, traditionally represent integral and inseparable elements of the collective local socio-cultural imaginery. The process of self-ascription and the construction of group identity underling these dynamics are thus defined by the production of new behavioral rules learned and internalized by minorities because of the need to adapt to the surrounding social environment. At the same time, those elements are established as cultural parameters that define a form of “passive multiculturalism”, dedicated to prove the existence of a certain kind of pluralism, without any State intervention. While such local version of it is potentially tended to accommodate minorities and politically recognizes local “Africanness” through a specific territorial recognition, it is also focused on developing a new collective social consciousness and, for the specific case, potentially representing a kind of “evolution” of Mexican politics about the topic. What it finally means is encouraging the institutionalization of multiculturalism as a way of acquiring local regulations aimed at importing a globalized socio-cultural model, but without forgetting to accommodate local needs of minorities and respecting an undeniably plural Mexican national essence. Such perspective of Oaxaca’s multiculturalism will be explained separately, by analyzing the most relevant factors which, within the coast, allow us reasoning about

213 See note n.186.

227 both the motives for empirically limiting the recognition of local “Africanness”, and understanding regional diversity.

4. The Multicultural Way of Oaxaca: Race and Ethnicity If we define Oaxaca’s black settlements as an example of pluralism and diversity it is also needed defining how physical features can be relevant (in the Oaxaca’s case it actually is) for the definition of multiculturality. So, while Mexican Constitution pretends of being the most important document that should define both the pluralism and its recognition through the production of specific minority-rights based on the principle of equality (but, instead, emboding what multiculturalists define a “color blind constitution”) (Kymlicka & Norman, 2000; Kymlicka, 1994, 1996a; Zwart, 2005; Wallerstein, 2003), the Ley de Derechos of Oaxaca seems to embrace a different perspective of the topic; a point of view that highlights the cultural difference through mentioning ethnic indigenous groups and African communities. By this perspective it can be said there are two main core points of the question that allow us asking about which are the principles that permit the Ley de Derechos looking forward the respect and admission of local diversity. In this sense we would be able to understand if Oaxaca State could (or couldn’t) be concretely defined a multicultural space respectfull of pluralism and diversity, and at what level: as a way to figure out a local criterion of representation based on history, territorial rights and race, or an empirical symbolic universe embodying the sum of the human contradictions built throughout life and the semiotic essence of the local culture. First: as argued by the Ley de Derechos, all minorities living within the area are, institutionally and constitutionally, protected. Neverthless and depending on which kind of minority we are referring to, the law establishes (or not) some rights and statements that actually allow some minorities being over others and obtaining some local privilegies other do not enjoy. So, while concerning to Afro-Mexican communities, the Ley de Derechos establishes only the right of “being protected” (without adding anything more)214, the approach referring to Indian population – especially for Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos, Chinantecos, Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixes, Mixtecos,

214 See art.2 of the Ley de Derechos. 228 Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos and Zoques (that represent the whole indigenous population of the area) – grants a complete article of the Ley de Derechos (art.3) that includes seven more sub-paragraphs contributing both to define and protect ab origine communities (par.II to V and VII to VIII). Referring to the indigenous population, it is defined being composed by ‘…those human, economic, social and cultural communities that have given historical continuity to political institutions which had their ancestors before the creation of the State of Oaxaca itself; having their own economic, social, political and cultural forms of organization; and claiming their free membership to any ethnic group mentioned by the second paragraph of Article n.2 of this Law. The State recognizes to those indigenous peoples the juridical status of legal persons of the public law, for all those effects derived from their relationships with State, Municipal Governments and third parties…’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, II sub-par.)215. In second instance, and concerning to Indian communities, they enjoy a especific definition as ‘…groups of people that constitute one or more socio-economic and cultural unities, belonging to a specific indigenous population that is part of one of those ethnic groups mentioned by the Article n.2 of this Law, and have a lower administrative cathegory than that of a municipality, as municipal or police agencies. The State recognizes to those indigenous communities the juridical status of legal persons of the public law, for all those effects derived from their relationships with State, Municipal Governments and third parties…’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, III sub-par.)216. Thirdly, ‘…The expression of self-determination of indigenous peoples and communities as integral parts of the State of Oaxaca…[is]…in line with the existing legal order, to take decisions for themselves and establish their own practices related to worldview, indigenous territory, land, natural resources, socio-political organization, administration of justice, education, language, health and culture’ (Ley de Derechos,

215 The original text recites: «…Aquellas colectividades humanas que por haber dado continuidad histórica a las instituciones políticas, económicas, sociales y culturales que poseían sus ancestros antes de la creación del Estado de Oaxaca, poseen formas propias de organización económica, social, política y cultural, y afirman libremente su pertenencia a cualquiera de los pueblos mencionados en el segundo párrafo del Artículo 2° de este Ordenamiento. El Estado reconoce a dichos pueblos indígenas el carácter jurídico de personas morales de derecho público, para todos los efectos que se deriven de sus relaciones con los Gobiernos Estatal, Municipales, así como terceras personas». 216 «Aquellos conjuntos de personas que forman una o varias unidades socioeconómicas y culturales, que pertecen a un determinado pueblo indígena de los enumerados en el Artículo 2° de este Ordenamiento y que tengan una categoría administrativa inferior a la del municipio, como agencias municipañes o agencias de polícia. El Estado reconoce a dichas comunidades indígenas el carácter jurídico de personas morales de derecho público, para todos los efectos que se deriven de sus relaciones con los Gobiernos Estatal y Municipales, así como con terceras personas». 229 art.2, IV sub-par.)217. The Indian population also enjoys an “Indian territory”, classified as a ‘…portion of the national territory that defines the natural, social and cultural space domain within which indigenous people and communities are located and operate; on it, Mexican State has fully sovereignty, and State of Oaxaca its own autonomy; within it, the Indian people and communities express their specific form of relationship with the world’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, V sub-par.)218. A territorial space where social rights are those ‘…powers and privileges of a collective nature that are recognized (in the political, economic, social, cultural and jurisdictional areas) by the Oaxaca’s jurisdictional order, to indigenous peoples and communities in order to ensure their existence, survival, dignity, well-being and non-discrimination, starting by the fact they are actually belonging to those socio-cultural groups’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, VII sub- par.)219. Finally, Indians can actually daily employ that set of oral jurisdictional norms of consuetudinary character that indigenous peoples and communities recognize as valid, use to regulate their public actions, and authorities apply to solve in-group conflicts’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, VIII sub-par.)220. By the other side, as we previously argued, if we consider the Mexican Constitution being the base for all other federal constitutional documents (as the Oaxaca’s), it comes to be relevant understanding that Mexican State, as we clearly see with the II article of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, chooses to identify minorities by a specific criterion of membership. ‘…The Nation has a multicultural composition originally based on its indigenous peoples that are those who descend from the populations which inhabited the present territory of the country at the beginning of colonization and maintain their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions,

217 «La expresión de la libre determinación de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas como partes integrantes del Estado de Oaxaca, en consonancia con el orden jurídico vigente, para adoptar por sí mismos decisiones e instituir prácticas propias relacionadas con su cosmovisión, territorio indígena, tierra, recursos naturales, organización sociopolítica, administración de justicia, educación, lenguaje, salud y cultura». 218 «…la porción del territorio nacional que define el ámbito espacial natural, social y cultural en donde se asientan y desenvuelven los pueblos y comunidades indígenas; en ella, el Estado Mexicano ejerce plenamente su soberanía, el Estado de Oaxaca su autonomía, y los pueblos y comunidades indígenas expresan su forma específica de relación con el mundo». 219 «Las facultades y prerrogativas de naturaleza colectiva que en los ámbitos político, económico, social, cultural y jurisdiccional el orden jurídico oaxaqueño reconoce a los pueblos y comunidades indígenas para garantizar su existencia, pervivencia, dignidad, bienestar y no discriminación basada en la pertenencia a aquellos». 220 «Conjunto de normas jurídicas orales de character consuetudinario que los pueblos y comunidades indígenas reconocen como válidas y utilizan para regular sus actos públicos y sus autoridades aplican para la resolución de sus conflictos». 230 or part of them...Awareness of their indigenous identity should be the fundamental criterion for determining to whom legal disposition will apply on indigenous communities...They are communities that belong to The Indigenous Peoples, those that form a social, economic and cultural unity, that are seated in a territory and recognize themselves according to their customs authorities...The right of indigenous peoples to self-determination is exercised in a constitutional framework that ensures the autonomy of national unity. The recognition of indigenous peoples and communities will be made in the constitutions and laws of the states that, in addiction, must take into account the general principles set out with the preceding paragraphs of this article, the ethno- linguistic and the physical location criteria’221. Now, by considering the principle of Mexican multiculturality, we can account for three different elements that seem to be needed for the declaration of pluralism and recognition within Oaxaca State: history; territory; and ethnicity. In the first case, referring also to the political action black minority developed during the periods before and after the European colonization of Mexico, the history seems to be a relevant issue for both indigenous and African-descent population. Concerning to the first, Indians represent an ab origine population existing before Columbus, but also for the latter, historical dynamic accounts for the importance the presence of black slaves had for the protection of Mexico and the Indians222. Moreover, historical dynamic of mestizaje turned Africans and Indians into one Mestizo population whose psysical and cultural traits actually characterize the most part of Afro-descents of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. Therefore, while Africans have an explicit color or traditions they also join a common origin of both their members and many of those Indians that have their roots into some of local minorities. This process has been registered by the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CDI – “National Commission

221 «…La Nación tiene una composición pluricultural sustentada originalmente en sus pueblos indígenas que son aquellos que descienden de poblaciones que habitaban en el territorio actual del país al iniciarse la colonización y que conservan sus propias instituciones sociales, económicas, culturales y políticas, o parte de ellas…La conciencia de su identidad indígena deberá ser criterio fundamental para determinar a quiénes se aplican las disposiciones sobre pueblos indígenas...Son comunidades integrantes de un pueblo indígena, aquellas que formen una unidad social, económica y cultural, asentadas en un territorio y que reconocen autoridades propias de acuerdo con sus usos y costumbres…El derecho de los pueblos indígenas a la libre determinación se ejercerá en un marco constitucional de autonomía que asegure la unidad nacional. El reconocimiento de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas se hará en las constituciones y leyes de las entidades federativas, las que deberán tomar en cuenta, además de los principios generales establecidos en los párrafos anteriores de este artículo, criterios etnolingüísticos y de asentamiento físico…» (Constitución Política, art.2). 222 See Chapter I of the “Mexican Frame”, Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social Effects (pp.87-108). 231 for the Development of Indigenous Peoples”) (2012) which, after analyzing historical dynamics of cimarronaje, mestizaje and racial mixing argued all kinds of national minorities produced by such socio-cultural trayectories have the right to be considered, understood and defined as pueblos originarios (“original” or “ancestral people”). A definition which constitutionally could obtain the recognition and so the minority rights the indigenous people actually are enjoying. In this sense, it is not possible to talk about history for legitimating the institutional presence or formal representation of minority within Oaxaca or much more extensively, within Mexico. Secondly, concerning to the territorial issue, it embodies a twofold problem. In the case of Indian population, indigenous people adquired the possession of the lands a long time before European coming, so today they look for being represented by a specific “territorial rights”, meaning that being represented as the main population belonging to a certain area. In the second, Africans came to Oaxaca because of work needs, but also depending on new familiar duties created by the conjunction of Indians with blacks, causing Indian women coming from their original settlement, mixing with Afro-descent population (sometimes blacks, sometimes any other kind of “in-between” race), and resulting into a new familiar label, caractherized by difference and homogeneity at the same time (Meza Bernal, 2003). In that context, blacks and indigenous mixed up, and began to occupy the same territory, which, by effect of misgenation, passed to be possessed by both, indifferently. In this sense, the right of territoriality should be given to both: to the Indians because of their ancestry; to the Africans because of their acquired local citizenship. Thirdly, as we said it is important to be remembered the problem of ethnicity, among Afro-Mexicans, has not a concrete relevance for defining identity (Cardoso de Oliveira, 1992; Campos, 1999; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990)223. By contrast, ethnic origins are the most important element for the recognition of indigenous population, both by part of commnities’ members and the State. In this sense, while referring to Mexican Indians as a set of different ethnies that constitutionally “prove” the existence of ab origine groups within Mexico, talking about blacks means reasoning about an eventually potential way for understanding how and why formally represent the African minority at national and local level.

223 See also the section Ethnic Identification, at pages 161-162. 232 The problem is rooted into historical dynamics, which conditioned the modern Mexican idiosyncrasy and, in consecuence to that, modified the way Mexican State actually has to account for pluralism and diversity in its political disclosure. Thus, at the moment of recognizing identity within Oaxaca’s State, the constitutional and the general legal approach to the issue looks for valorizing those groups which are based on a feeling of membership that depends on a specific way of “being part of”, and does not come from an election, but only from a territorial problem. In this sense the ideas of territory and ethnicity seem to be strictly anchored to identity and they play an essential role for the construction of in-group normativity, values, habitus, and ways of self- recognition. From this perspective, both the Mexican Constitution and the Ley de Derechos indirectly impulse the recognition only of those modalities of identity that seek to be valued by their “by-blood” or “by-national principle” (Ley de Derechos, “Exposición de Motivos”). In this sense ethnic groups are considered as nations, exacly because of their authonomy, in-group normativity, traditions and worldview (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2, par.A, I-V sub-par. and par.B, I-III sub-par., art.115, par.III, sub-par.(i). The “by-blood” principle, in this case, differs from the African feeling of brotherhood, where being part of the group means being part of a symbolic universe to which aesthetics are really relevant for the empirical recognition of “communitarian-family”. By contrast, concering to Indians, the principle of blood- recognition accounts for idiosyncrasy and mentality, not necessary because of traditional clothes or physical traits. If it would be this way, all those Mexicans corresponding to a Mestizo phenotype would be able to be included into an indigenous minority. Constrasting with what we said, Africans are clearly able to recognize each other thanks to skin color or phenotypical traits and, even they are not “completely” black or objectively African they take into account the importance memory has for the definition of race. Color comes thus to be relevant for in-group relations, at least for two reasons. Because of being a clear way of visual recognition and self-adscription, and because of the power color potentially has for the unity of such minority. In the first case, choosing a local criterion or self-definition means having a sort of African consciousness that allows communities’ members showing their knowledge about ancestral memory, traditions, physical traits or any other kind of African element. In the second, being a whole would eventually create a community-conscience able to insure the continuity of 233 self-perception in the future and granting the creation of an Afro-Mexican autopoietic group, capable of interacting with civil society without loosing its own way of being224. From this perspective race starts to embody the right way to understand diversity within the Oaxaca’s Costa Chica and it clearly offers to Africans a new way of self- identification that could be also relevant for the Indian population. In this case, it would be important accepting local minorities have the right of not feeling represented by the legal or the constitutional definition State imposes to ab origine sub-groups. Minorities, specially the black one, would be thus able to “suggest” an alternative way throught which being recognized without avoiding the importance Mexican national values be maintained. Second: concerning to the relation members of settlements have with their own way of understanding the local African identity, we should account for a peculiar method for self-defining, based on two socio-cultural processes: Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican identity as the result of the conjunction between historical processes and daily needs; and the fact that local culture is not exempted of being semiotic. In the first case, African local culture contributes to clearly invalidate the principle of a Mexican homogeneous way of being (Martínez Montiel, 2000; Aguirre Beltrán, 1967). Indeed, while during the Colony the slaves were mixed with Indians and Europeans, such dynamic imposed a new aesthetic parameter for Mexican race and started to represent the unique (or the best socially recognized) way of being “national”. On the other side, each individual that came to be part of the new Mestizo Nation produced his own version of local identity, assuring its African heritage being absorbed by indigenous traditions or European (Vinson III, 1995, 2006). In addiction, such process was increased thanks to the permanence of blacks within the territory. In this sense, it is much more logic understanding local Mexican culture as a product of the mixing between Indians and Africans, not a “contaminated” version of the official Mexican identity. From this perspective, the Costa Chica’s African population is allowed regulating its own value orientation with the world of life (Parsons & Shils, 1959; Parsons, 1968) and choosing their strategic actions (Habermas, 1981, vols.I-II) by two different ways: mantaining its original cultural position (represented by the existence of some kind of ancestral traditions and meanings); and because of that, creating its own sub-systemic

224 A classic reference to the meaning of “autopoietic” in Luhmann (1992, 1986, 1993a, 1993b, 2000). 234 symbolic universe. As concerns to the first, Costa Chica’s Africans use such cultural elements in developing some specific social relations between its members and the generalized socio-cultural environment. The latter explains the difference between being “ethnic” or “communitarian”, meaning that choosing between keep representing our origins through what they must to be represented by, or thanks to what we consider it would be the best way of doing that, by granting a certain degree of culture and human security (Beals, 1955, Lewis, 2000). The first would be representing the Indian case, the second the African. Now, if we reason about the difference between the concepts of “people” and “community” (those which legitimate, or not, sub-groups being defined as ab origine) and we consider them complementary in defining both identity and its way of recognition, we should account for a twofold dynamic. By referring to the concept of “people”, we would account for a unique way of measuring the representativity of the group and self-adscription as the best elements for recognizing indigenous’ presence throughout the territory. In this case, it would be necessary accounting for all those components that, if avoided, would make Indian people loosing their empirical difference from Mestizos: language and some local traditions. By contrast, the idea of community would be clearly better in defining micro-cultural realities of Africans. Indeed, even if (sometimes) having similar customs and traditions to non-black population’s, aesthetics will be the core element for the recognition of their presence as a group. Such element of self and direct recognition would thus suppose understanding race as the only element capable of being representative for them. As a consequence, such way of being black within the Costa Chica, supposes the existence of a certain parameter of “authomatically generated participation” to the in- group dynamic. In this sense, the African community itself would be constituted by the presence of a certain level of in-group multiculturalism, produced by the concrete existence of Mestizaje, but also by the conscience of each member of being the result (physically and culturally speaking) of it. In such a context, everyone black would be authomatically chategorized as Afro-Mexican, and his cultural elements will be openly detected, and attributed to his peculiar way of identity, membership and belonging, granted by the community of origin (Bustillo Marín, 2012). Such symbolic universe will be thus responsible for generating the personalities of social actors who will participate in constructing the sense of belonging itself, and it will be the socio-cultural bridge between communities and civil society. That’s why it is not possible to understand 235 Oaxaca’s multiculturalism without taking into account a special cultural identity that, at the same time is able to combine black settlements into one. Indeed, by talking about Indians, we have to account for the fact indigenous are many and distinct one another, but they are classified as a whole, as a certain kind of “people”. In this context, even if some community is not taken into account, the idea of “indigenous” still works and it is recognized everywhere (Bustillo Marín, 2012; Correas, 2007; Giménez, 1994). By contrast, referring to Africans, their settlements are very similar one to the other and they can really be distinguished only (but probably mistaking) by the tonalities of their skin color. In this case, not recognizing blackness as something concretely important for such minority, would make the whole black national population being not perceived. A misrecognition that explains we are in front to a model of managed multiculturalism, whose aim seems only being representative for pluralism itself, a superficial attitude which demonstrates its extrictly and exclusive descriptive nature (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Appiah, 1997; Chicago Cultural Studies Group, 1994; Assies, 2005). By contrast, if the local multicultural framework is constructed on Oaxaca’s black communities, the process of integration is measured starting by a liberal transformational model of pluralism and diversity, where the opportunity for social inclusion for minorities is concrete. What it means is that, ‘...while a concrete opportunity of recognition is granted, the set of dispositions the communities...implement and enforce within their communities,...are the product of the legal, political, religious, parental traditional regulatory systems, maintained through generations’ (CNDH, 2008: 23)225. Therefore, the only way to ensure the proper functioning of a political institution such as usos y costumbres (“uses and customs”)226, implies the necessary regulation and implementation of an ad hoc constitutional framework that provides certainty and some rules of general governance for minorities (IEM, 2011). In this context, “uses and customs” are distinguished from the common national law, and they represent a form of an institutionalized behavior produced by the communities constituting a per sé regulatory system which provides the full range of rights, protected or regulated by in-group laws, and its all forms of civic, political, economic, and religious organization (Bustillo Marín, 2012: 8). That fact supposes the empirical

225 «…disposiciones que los pueblos...aplican y observan al interior de sus comunidades y que son producto de los sistemas normativos tradicionales (jurídicos, políticos, religiosos, parentales, etcétera) mantenidos a través de generaciones». 226 See note n.199. 236 presence of a legal pluralism attesting communities’ legal systems, and confirming they are valid and equal to any other, as well as their authorities and rules, whether they coincide or not with the authorities and all the resolutions of the official legal system (Correas, 2007: 310-311)227. With such assumptions, the Afro-Mexican communities would not only get the institutional visibility for the obtention of a clear constitutional recognition, but also the opportunity to formulate some local claims directed to the affirmation, modification, or confirmation of their presence, needs and rights, within the territory. Since this is a social dynamic of essential importance to highlight the tension of collective over individual rights – in a multicultural society ‘legal diversity has to be subject to severe limitations in order not to fall into the moral pathology or immorality’ (Garzón Valdés, 2010: 8)228 – it is crucial establishing the boundaries between human rights and the constitutional law, especially for sub-groups. This principle is not supposed granting minority rights by accepting an alternative legal system, but impulsing the approval of the existing system with the demands a multicultural nation imposes, by definition: guaranteeing the foreign cultural respect and the integration of diversity in the classic form of national identity229. The Legislative Power should thus assume the responsibility for issuing the necessary laws so the institutional safeguards wouldn’t be weak, as well as monitoring the compliance of norms for ensuring the effective enforcement of justice into minorities and between sub-groups and civil society. The achievement of this goal will require the practice of what might be called a sort of “institutional paternalism”, in order to offset the ‘helplessness...subjugation, discrimination and poverty (Garzón Valdés, 2010: 101)230, faced by Africans. What it means is that, while defending the official national Mexican identity from any kind of illegal and potentially offensive way of “contamination”, the State would admit local culture is not only a human incongruence against the constitutive order, but only a cultural response primarly depending on local socio-cultural environment and now inseparably Mexican.

227 «…son válidos e iguales a cualquier otro, así como sus autoridades y resoluciones…independientemente de que coincidan o no con las autoridades y el conjunto de las resoluciones del sistema jurídico oficial». 228 «la diversidad jurídica ha de ser objeto de fuertes limitaciones a fin de no caer en la patología moral o en la inmoralidad». 229 See note n.24. 230 «desamparo [...], el sometimiento, discriminación y miseria». 237 On the other hand, if we consider Africans came to the Costa Chica and began to be integrated with local Indian ethnies, it would be unfair considering Oaxaca’s black culture a sort of an unmodified way of representation for ancestral traditions. As a consequence, local African way of being is much more similar to a Creole embodiment of it, than a rembrance seeking a sort of symbolic subjectivities constructed on a direct memory of diaspora (Hooker, 2005; Iheduru, 2006; Izard Martínez, 2005). It should be better understood as the conjunction of an undefined number of socio-cultural practices and life experiences which, when needed, arose and impulsed the construction of a re- invented ancestral collective memory. In this sense, members of Afro-Mexican settlements explain at least two points of view of the question: the relevance their permanence within the territory had for the modification of original habitus, and the fact that, even they had not been so long within the coast, their culture would have been modified anyway. The first element confirms what we have already discussed about history and the motives by which blacks began of being part of the local population231. But, in addiction, it enlightens the fact the African presence throughout the coast conditioned in a peculiar way their cultural background, creating a very peculiar manner of feeling Mexican. The second, explains the semiotic character of their culture. Oaxaca’s blackness seem thus seeking an explication that goes much far beyond a racial or cultural mixing. It does not imposes an interpretation of local diversity as a set of symbols (imported and modified) by a process of transculturation (Ortiz, 1906, 1916, 1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985), but as a symbol in itself, which allows people obtaining a new identity, “mounted” on another (the Mexican), without being absorbed by it. In this sense, it would not only be a way for representing the double consciousness of Costa Chica’s Africans, but an overlapped identity which can be assumed as part of the generalized symbolic universe, separated by it, or understood as an in-between manner of feeling somebody, among somebody potentially different (Deschamps & Doise, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Tajfel, 1978a, 1978b, 1982). Such perspective of the problem is completely avoided by the Mexican Constitution, the Ley de Derechos, and the Oaxaca’s Constitutional Document.

231 See the section Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population, at pages 89-99. 238 Indeed, while the Ley de Derechos and the Oaxaca’s Constitution define the presence of Indians as the natural composition of Oaxaca’s population, Mexican carta magna seems confounding both the institutional weight national minorities actually have in defining national identity, and a clear definition of what Indians and non-Indians are. In the first case, Mexican Constitution only mentions the pluricultural nature of the Nation but obviates all those sub-groups not being ab origine (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2). In the second, it impulses an ambiguous definition of what it calls the condición de indigenismo (“the status of Indian”), by defining it from specific territorial, linguistic, ethnic conditions, or starting by communities’ organization, self-determination, self-definition, traditions, knowledge, culture and identity (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2, par.A, I-V sub- par. and par.B, I-III sub-par.). Now, if we consider the article n.2 of the Mexican Constitution as the main relevant (and actually the only one) principle of multiculturality and respect of difference in Mexico, we can also reasoning about the fact that Afro-Mexican communities of Oaxaca have at least eight points in common with the definition the Mexican State provides for defining the indigenismo condition, corresponding them to territorial conditions, in-group organization, self-definition, self-determination, the presence of some specific and exclusive traditions, knowledge, culture and identity232, being left only ethnicity and language. The first condition was broken at the moment of slaves’ “extraction” (Moreno Fraginals, 1977; Cardoso de Oliveira, 1992; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990; Campos, 1999). The latter, that is a consequence of the first, was modified and finally lost233. In this sense, and depending on how much subjectively or objectively the Mexican Costitution can be applied on the socio-cultural context, the institutional condition of “national minority” turns itself into a specific symbolic element of local cultural experience that can define Oaxaca’s Africanity as a way to see an impassable ideal wall, or a way for interpreting Mexico in multicultural terms. On the one hand, if understood as a social artifact where the conception of humanity is not united into a whole, Mexican blackness represents what Hooker defined a matter of political tolerance of diversity (Hooker, 2005). On the other, while it takes part into a

232 We discussed such topics through the III Chapter of the “Mexican Frame” and the first part of this section (A Matter of Context, at pp.210-216). 233 About this process, we refer to the section A Spanish “Dialect” Modality (pp.113-117). 239 global image created by the existence of diversities and relative particularities, Oaxaca’s blackness would be perceived as the conjunction between some specific sub-cultural systems of interpretable signs where color represents the bridge of cultural difference from ethnicity to race. So while black Mexicans are a social cathegory theoretically needed to be highlighted, they are clearly already represented, both by their own way of being, and the collective national identity they clear also embody, in form of citizenship. That fact, finally justifies the affirmation by which the most «...important factor in determining success in winning collective rights under multicultural citizenship regimes is...the extent to which minority groups are able to formulate their demands in terms that resonate with the logic under which collective rights are justified in this citizenship regime, which is the possession of a distinct cultural identity... » (Hooker, 2005: 299). In this context, it is always possible arguing to be excluded from belonging to an ethnic group, since there is no aesthetic difference between who is indigenous and who is Mestizo, but it is certainly much less likely to do it when aesthetic differences and color do not allow people to hide their origins.

240 Results At the time of studying Afro-Mexican identity, two basic limitations are found. On one hand, Mexican State ignores (institutionally speaking) the existence of any minority which is not considered ab origin. Meaning that not providing minority-rights for non- Indian sub-groups, and avoiding potential claims by part of black population. On the other, African communities count with a scarce conscience about their own sub-Saharan origins. In this sense, black settlers are not concretely able claiming certain specific minority-rights for them, nor obtaining any institutional help and recognition. That fact also limits Afro-Mexican self-recognition and the creation of a clear way of defining identity for this group. In order to impulse the recognition of Mexican blackness, by justifying its relevance in defining national and local identities, we took into account the case of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, in the South-West coast of the country. Indeed, it is one of the most representative areas of African culture within the Mexican Republic, and shows the highest national levels of discrimination. Because of such situation, the objectives of the research were five. Three of them have being aimed at analyzing socio-cultural dynamics of Costa Chica’s communities (especially outlining exclusive cultural elements characterizing them); exploring settlers’ African-origin self-awareness; highlighting concrete needs of black communities of the area. The others have being built on the need of creating an identity- classification criterion that could be representative for African population of Oaxaca, and inspiring the production of some specific political, social, cultural and economic policies aimed at improving basic services within the communities. In this sense, we tried to demonstrate two points of the question: the Afro-Mexican culture being crucial in comprehending local diversity, as a clear indicator of regional multiculturalism; and Costa Chica’s communities representing a unique socio-cultural national group that “deserves” to be classified as different. The work was organized in four sections. The first two parts have been dedicated to theoretically analyse the concepts of community, identity and race. Therefore, we studied the concept of cultural community, corresponding to Oaxaca’s African population, contrasting it with the idea of ethnicity, exclusively dedicated to the definition of indigenous as the unique ab origine minority throughout Mexico. On the other side, the concept of race worked as a sort of universal

241 separator, socially transversal and essential for the definition of cultural categories and their position in Mexican social structure. In the context we analysed, it also represents a synonym for color, and embodies the clearest way to understand Mexican racial and cultural diversity. The third section was composed by four further moments, which explained the reasons of Afro-Mexican presence within the Costa Chica; cultural elements characterizing them; the level of self-perception of settlers in the definition of their socio-cultural identity; and the role of women throughout the communities. Finally, we discussed the idea of Mexican multiculturality by accounting the problems of recognition, representativeness and equality. It was made by comparing the Mexican carta magna, the Oaxaca’s Constitution, and the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca. In this context, we reasoned about the way through which it would be possible recognizing blackness as an element of Mexican identity and how, eventually, doing it. Results of the research can be organized in two specific moments which explain the most relevant achivements related with cultural uniqueness, and the need of recognizing Afro-Mexicans as a national minority deserving some special rights for its representativenes and integration. Five points, in accordance with the objectives of the work, can thus address the main results of our research. The first part of them is aimed at describing three “cultural” objectives of the work with their related results. The second will account for the problem of self-definition of actors and their institutional need for recognition.

I First: concerning to Afro-Mexican cultural elements, we studied language, dances, wedding, and the conception of human being. About the language were analyzed the pronunciation and its potential African origin. The main results are distributed between historical and practical motives. In the first case, blacks were imported directly from Africa, came from Big Antilles, United States or South America. In this context, they practically lost their original way of speaking; also losing some religious practices that, if present, would have guaranteed the maintenance of African-origin concepts or words. Secondly, the main empirical motives to the loss of their language are the coexistence with Indian communities, and the need for communicating with local ethnic groups, through a sort of lingua franca. In this 242 sense, by analyzing Afro-Mexican linguistic expressions, it is very much easier to find a clear indigenous influence than the African is, especially in colloquial expressions or in settlers’ strong concern in creating surnames for people. Africans of Costa Chica are thus tended to modify the language in pronunciation (as deaf aspiration, substitution of consonants, inversion of gender), or depending on its use, especially during festivities or with the intention of “creating verses”. In this occasion, they employ local words associated with sexual-cultural expressions to compliment girls or joking234. Afro- Mexicans count thus with no original idioms but only with a “Spanish dialect”, as we chose to define, which characterizes a generalized costeño (“coastal”) language. Referring to dances, we studied them starting by the most African to the less representative one, and we can say they embody a partial African heritage. The Danza de los Diablos is the most relevant performance that animates festivities, especially the recurrence of the Day of the Death, during the 01th and 02th November. It represents a heritage of African culture, since its significance refers to the spirits of ancestors who, for the occasion, come and visit their families. The dance refers also to Ruja, a divinity probably referred to the figure of Orula, the “supreme god”, creator of the earth and human being, “controller” of the universe, in the Santería religion. Clothes and original performance of the dance also seem to be inherited from Africa, since people carve and wear devil’s masks representing spirits, and, during first presentations of the dance, the devils used to go near to the ceiba (corresponding to a local version of the baobab tree, sacred among Africans) to give thanks to the spirits. The Danza de los Negritos relates the occasion when a slave has been bitten by a snake on the way to a plantation, and it represents a sort of Indian report about some African occurrence, not an example of African traditions. The Danza del Toro de Petate shows the Colonial life and, together with the Danza de la Tortuga (a clear tribute to the surrounding nature), it is an example of invented traditions that don’t refer to any African cultural heritage but to the main result of Africans’ permanence within the area. In this sense, Afro-Mexican dances show the existence of some cultural element potentially able to be referred to a sort or remembrance of sub-Saharan origins, even if completely modified and exemplifying the clearest example of the cultural miscegenation of Oaxaca’s coast. Thirdly, wedding shows a twofold way of representing culture throughout the Costa Chica. In the case of queridato, it expresses a clear African influence that does not

234 Note n.148 shows some examples. 243 characterizes any other socio-cultural group within Mexico. In this sense, it could be considered a way to understand sub-Saharan heritage starting by a sort of “proper-local” version of ethnic “pursuit for love”, where the man has the right (and actually it is the best way to do it) to “steal” his fiancée. On the other side, the woman performs the huida (“the escape”), justifying then the action of her potential groom. By contrast, this tradition is also syncretic, since to obtain social respect by part of other members of the settlement, African wedding has to be blessed by the intervention of a catholic priest who formalizes the so-called matrimonio ideal (“perfect wedding”). Fourtly, referring to the human being, Afro-Mexican culture seems to be very explicit in both its African and Indian origin. Firstly, settlers consider the human body as a container for soul and “shadow”, which can be lost, depending on different occasions, especially when a sorcerer makes some witchcraft or the person has a bad behaviour. In those cases, magic is the predominant way for obtaining any benefit, when, by turn, catholic hagiography and prayers work only when the whitch-doctor can’t solve the problem. In second instance, Africans believe everyone has a tonal, tono or nagual, a “guide-animal” (animal-tono) which defines personalities, attitudes and the fate of people. Such belief is not common within every community but only in those where the population is explicitly mixed with the indigenous one, or where Africans share the same territory with the first. This dynamic explains mestizaje by at least two points of view. By one side, Africans express their original habitus, by maintaining some cultural element, orally handed down, aimed at solving specific individual and collective problems. By the other, it seems to be an in-between tradition, since Africans also use the concept of nagual for understanding the tono. In this case, it is possible to say Africans have a different conception of nagualism as actually held by the Mixtecs, and it is much more similar to an invented tradition than an imported or transformed one. Second: in order to understand if people have any grade of self-awareness about their African origin, informants were asked about self-identification, self-definition, and self- description. The main results of the question are distributed by the motives they feel different from “the others”, the concept they prefer to be descripted by, and their perception of physical traits. In the first case, people said they are different because of three main caracteristics: color, traditions and social condition. About color, our informants explained they consider themselves blacks, so they are different from those who are not. By contrast, 244 asking for their relation with Indian ethnic groups of the area, they self-classify as Morenos. This is since the conviction people have about the fact color is useful only for defining individuals through physical traits. Instead, self-identifying Morenos, means obtaining an ethnic identification which allows them dealing with Indians as a group, not as dispersed and undefined people. Secondly, traditions are an element for self- identification but it seems they are not essential for being considered African-descents. Only referring to women, gender looks like the best element for understanding traditions as relevant. Indeed, black women consider themselves essential for defining African settlements of the area, since they are who keep traditions alive and perpetrate their use, constantly over time. Thirdly, both men and women said a black Mexican is a poor person. Therefore, they identify themselves through a relation of reciprocity, between the fact Africans of the Costa Chica are poor, so it was impossible not being black, and the conviction all blacks of the coast are more or less discriminated. Especially referring to this point, women’s position is very interesting, since they are doubly emarginated. On the one hand, being a woman supposes also being stigmatized within the community she belongs to. On the other, being black is an element for discrimination by civil society. Secondly, when being asked about self-determination, people argued they prefer being defined as Morenos, prietos, or Afro-Mestizos, when Moreno indicates somebody indefinitely “dark” (but also possibly used for South-European phenotypes, like South- Italian, Andalusian, or Arab); prieto means having a very similar sub-Saharan skin color and tone; and Afro-Mestizo identifying both territorial origins and race mixing. Thus, people showed their preference in defining somebody black as Moreno prieto, since Moreno supposes the race mixing and color, while the concept of prieto suggests the predominance of sub-Saharan origin. By contrast, at the time of introducing the concept of Afro-Mexican, everyone sympathized with the idea of being a “Mexican with African origins” in the sense while they are formally defined Mexicans, so being included into the national citizenship, they preserve their African heritage. Such concept is thus a new potential social category, which would allow blacks being, at least ideally, integrated into the socio-cultural Mexican structure. In third instance, we asked individuals to describe themselves through choosing between nine Mexican phenotypes ranging from the most distant to the closest to the African. Men and women answered by two different ways, being blackness very relevant for men, and less for women. By men’ opinion, color assumes an essential 245 weight for being considered part of any African community. In this sense race seems to be an element of pride, which allows people self-considering a sort of culture or heritage container in charge of maintaining and perpetrating it. By contrast, women’ position is quite different, since, as a response to communities and civil society’s discrimination, they chose the most far phenotype as possible from theirs. Such answers explain that, in the context we analysed, race is a relative concept that (depending on the use or idea people have of it) can actually harming whom demonstrates of not being part of that portion of population who shows the “straight way” of being Mexican. Third; about concrete needs of settlements, the results of our research highlight two dimensions of the problem: a lack of services, and a clear institutional absence. As concerns to the first point, every community shows the same limitations, being these a scarce presence of medicines and the attention of medical staff, the generalized absence of schools or cultural institutions235, the poor infrastructure of houses (including the lack of basic services, as water, drainage or electricity), the lack of labour opportunities. On the other side, the only presence institutions have within the African communities of the area is the University of Puebla, especially the Sociology Department’s staff, the civil association África A.C., and the local NGO México Negro. The first one is mostly dedicated to the study of blackness throughout the area, by analysing color and phenotype perceptions, and it led a recent (2011) campaign about “conscientization of African origins” for settlers. As concerns to the latters, África A.C. seems to be very active in organizing cultural committees, especially in regard with “identity negotiation”; nevertheless, though to its active participation to socio-cultural dynamic, it has not enough influence on institutions and people. The motive for its lack of influence on settlers is, as said by our informants, the leader of África A.C. is not black, but only Afro-Mestizo; therefore he is considered not fully legitimated to lead an African association. In the second case, concerning to México Negro, it enjoys a good response by part of settlers, since its leaders (both the founder, the father Glynn Jemmoth, and its current head, Prof. Sergio Peñaloza) are clearly Morenos prietos. The action of México Negro is aimed at negotiating Afro-Mexican identity through the inclusion of settlers into labour dynamic and institutions.

235 Only in Santo Domingo Armenta, El Ciruelo and Cortijos, primary or secondary school are present. In this case, the problem is often rooted into the unwillingness by part of people of being teachers, or, when the municipality assigns them, they show an important lack of preparation. 246 II Finally, regarding to the fort and fifth objectives of the research, they explain how we should understand African-Mexicanity and the importance of recognizing blacks having specific cultural and exclusive characteristics. What it means is explaining who Afro-Mexicans are and how are they. In order to answer to the first question, it has been proved Africans of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica actually count with a rich cultural background that consists in having been produced through the influence of three cultural roots and racial stocks: the Indian, the European and the African. Because of that, they show a set of mixed characteristics, which while demonstrating their cultural uniqueness, also want black culture being part of a generalized national identity. For example, concerning to dances or language, blacks do not perform any exclusive sub-Saharan music, but a local version of Indian dances with some kind of African significance; while language is influenced by Mixtec. Moreover, about aesthetics, many settlers consider they perform the Danza de los Diablos because of their African traits, even though they have no perception of its original meaning or provenience. They also consider of being Morenos, because it supposes a way of being a group, not only black persons. If it would be only depending on that, Afro-Mexicans would not be able to better their life conditions because of both the stigma civil society has on them, and a self-discrimination principle caused by a specific interiorization of black stereotype. As a response to such discrimination, people shown their intention of being defined by two different concepts referring to race and African origins as a value, not a motive for exclusion. Indeed, as a result of our research, and referring specifically to self-definition, we are able to say they self-consider “black-Mexicans” or “Afro-Mexicans”. That means they emphasize on color but not avoiding the right of being included into the national citizenship. In the first case, the concept of “black-Mexican” has the meaning of a person who counts with the whole set of elements characterizing the “straight way” of being Mexican, while the physical variation given by the color guarantees the empirical identification of settlers, by using race as an individual peculiarity, not a motive for stigmatization. In the second, being “Afro-Mexican” means accounting for origins (not necessary color) and the right of being considered “national”. Meaning that avoiding the significance of race in itself, by supposing the idea (potentially negative) connected with, would not produce any contradiction in defining Mexican identity.

247 In order to summarize this point we can thus say “Mexicans with an African descent” are a cultural sub-group, which is defined by an “African-shaped” phenotype, counting with a culturally-mixed traditional background, and self-defining blacks or Afro- Mexicans. Secondly, with the aim of clarifying the latter argument, we can say black-Mexicans of the area consider themselves discriminated, as we argue, especially because of the physical traits. Such affirmation represents thus a clear contradiction between the pride of being black and the importance of not being marginalized exactly because of that. It is since historical dynamic of Mexico, which imposed a socio-cultural process of affirmation of indigenismo. Its main objective was highlighting the fact Mexican citizenship was the product of a racial mixing destined to separate Indians from “the others”, by choosing the predominance of white (or European) race. By contrast, African population of Mexico is also relevant for its participation at the War of Independence of 1810-1821, giving rise to a new independent Nation based on values of freedom, equality and respect. In this sense, black population is allowed to be considered one of the bases of Mexican identity and it represents a concrete ideological and cultural worth of the country. Finally, through our research we consider us demonstrated two points of the topic. In the first instance, Afro-Mexicans represent a culture that is the result of the conjunction between cultural and racial roots actually allowing them being part of both the Oaxaca’s and the national socio-cultural environment. In this sense, local African culture makes settlers able defining themselves starting by a criterion of self- identification constructed on both the main Mexican principle of identity (Mestizaje), and a strictly local way of being black. Such dynamic allows then Africans of Oaxaca being in contact with other sub-groups and the civil society, without avoiding their cultural characteristics and habitus, and producing a sort of “in-between” identity that is actually part of three symbolic universes, the Indian, the Mestizo, and the African itself. Moreover, by considering its proximity (culturally and racially speaking) to Indians, and the fact that (even if needed) they do not enjoy similar minority-rights to indigenous’, Costa Chica’s black communities demonstrate “deserving” to be classified depending on settlers’s claims. In this case we demonstrated the princpile of pueblos originarios (“ab origine people”) is also aplicable to them, so authomatically offering to blacks the same rights (or similar) Indians have. Meaning that obtaining a Constitutional definition for them and the appropiated set of rights from which they are actually denied 248 to enjoy: territoriality, self-definition, self-government, traditionality and intercultural education. The first point would prove the fact Afro-Mexicans are a unique cultural sub-group ideally exercising a local version of multiculturalism as a praxis of life. That means feeding Mexican identity in both its historical trajectory and its current ideological value. The second would impulse the intervention of State’s institutions for the recognition of Afro-Mexican identity as a way to increase settlers’ life conditions, but also for better understanding Mexican identity itself. It would finally make senses of a human African sub-group being measured not only through the degree of membership or level of in- group acceptance, but thanks to the range and sensitivity Mexicans are also found to differ. While focusing on “promoting” the study of Mexican blackness by demonstrating substantial evidence of African uniqueness throughout the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, we may have contributed to this lack of acknowledgment. So we stressed on the “Afro- Mexican” as a local “modality” of national identity, and a way for developing a political idea of recognition and multiculturality (as far, lacking in Mexico), which assumes the existence of a peculiar way to understand difference. An understanding of diversity that, while representing a limit to the principle of cultural Mexican homogeneity, seems to be the clearest example of pluralism the concept of Mestizaje primarily supposes.

249 250

References

251 252 Books

Aberle, D. (1961). “Matrilineal Descent in Cross-Cultural Perspective”, in Schneider, D.M. & Gough, K. (Eds.), Matrilineal Kinship, Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp.655-727. Abrams, D. (1999). “Social Identity, Social Cognition, and the Self: The Flexibility and Stability of Self-Categorization”, in Abrams, D. & Hogg, M. (Eds.), Social Identity and Social Cognition, Oxford: Blackwell, pp.197-229. Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (2010). Diccionario de Mexicanismos, México: Siglo XXI. Aguirre Beltrán, G. (1967). “The Integration of the Negro into the National Society of Mexico”, in Mörner, M. (Ed.), Race Mixture in the History of Latin America, Boston: Little Brown and Co., pp.11-27. Aguirre Beltrán, G. (1972). La población negra de México: estudio etnohistórico, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica [1946]. Aguirre Beltrán, G. (1989). Cuijla. Esbozo etnográfico de un pueblo negro, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica-Instituto Nacional Indigenista-Universidad Veracruzana-Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz [1958]. Alba, R.D. (1990). Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America, New Haven: Yale University Press. Alexander, J.C. (2000). Sociología cultural: formas de clasificación en las sociedades complejas, Barcelona: Anthropos. Alland A. (1981). To be Human: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, New York: John Wiley. Allport, G. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice, Cambridge: Addison-Wesley. Alpizar, R. (2006). Palo Mayombe. El Legado Vivo De África, Madrid: Visión. Ammond G. (1988) (Ed.), Kultur, Identität, Kommunikation. Grenzen und horizonte, München, Theo Eberhard Verlag. Ampola, M. & Corchia, L. (2010). Dialogo su Jürgen Habermas. Le trasformazioni della modernità, Pisa: Edizioni ETS [2007]. Anderson, B.R. (1983). Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso.

253 Appiah, K.A. (1994). “Identity, Authenticity, Survival. Multicultural Societies and Social Reproduction”, in Taylor C. (et alii), Multiculturalism: Examining the ‘Politics of Recognition’, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp.149-164. Appiah, K.A. (1996). “Race, Culture, Identity”, in Appiah K.A. & Gutmann, A. (Eds.), Color Conscious, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Appiah, K.A. (2005). The Ethics of Identity, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ariño, A. (2000). Sociología de la cultura. La construcción simbólica de la sociedad, Barcelona: Ariel. Aristoteles. Metaphysics, Book IV and X. Bachofen, J. (1973). Myth, Religion and Mother-Right: Selected Writings, New Jersey: Princeton University Press [1861]. Back, L. & Solomos, J. (Eds.) (2000). Theories of Race and Racism. A Reader, London: Routledge. Bakewell, P.J. (1971). Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico Zacatecas 1546- 1700, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Baldi, S. (2008). “Breve profilo della letteratura Hausa”, in Toscano, M., Baldi, S. & Bertoncini, E. (Eds.), Panorama delle letterature dell’Africa subsahariana, Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale. Banton, M. (1970). Race Relations, London: Tavistock. Banton, M. (1977). The Idea of Race, London: Tavistock. Banton, M. (1987). Racial Theories, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Banton, M. (1988). Racial Consciousness, London: Longman. Barabas, A. & Bartolomé, M. (1990) (Eds.), Etnicidad y pluralismo cultural: la dinámica étnica en Oaxaca, México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Barry, B. (2002). Culture and Equality, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Barth, F. (1969) (Ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Bauman, Z. (2002). La cultura como praxis, Barcelona: Paidós Studio. Baumann, G. (2001). El enigma multicultural, Barcelona: Paidós Studio. Baumann, H. (1975). Die Völker Afrikas und Ihre Traditionellen Kulturen. I, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. Beals, R.L. (1955). Indian-Mestizo-White Relations in Spanish America. Race Relations in World Perspectives, Honolulu: A.W. Lind.

254 Beals, R.L. (1975). The Peasant Marketing System of Oaxaca, Mexico, Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press. Beckerman, S. & Valentine, P. (2002). “Introduction. The concept of Partible Paternity among Native South Americans”, in Beckerman, S.& Valentine P. (Eds.), Cultures of Multiple Fathers: the Theory and Practice of Partible Paternity in Lowland South America, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, pp.1-13. Beitz, C. (1989). Political Equality, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Bell, C. & Newby, H. (1971). Community Studies. An Introduction to the Sociology of the Local Community, London: George Allen un Unwin LTD. Bell, D. (1975). “Ethnicity and Social Change”, in Glazer, N. & Moynihan, D.P. (Eds.), Ethnicity: Theory and Experience, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp.141- 174. Bennett, H.L. (2003). Africans in Colonial Mexico: Absolutism, Christianity, and Afro- Creole Consciousness, 1570–1640, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Bennett, H.L. (2009). Colonial Blackness. A History of Afro-Mexico, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Bertaux, D. (1976). Histoires de vies-ou récits de pratiques? Méthodologie de l'approche biographique en sociologie, rapport au CORDES. Bertaux, D. (1981a). “Life Stories in the Baker's trade”, in Bertaux, D. (Ed), Biography and Society, Sage Publications, London, pp.169-189. Bertaux, D. (1981b). Biography and Society: the Life History in the Social Sciences, SAGE Publications, London. Bertaux, D. (1982). “Stories as Clues to Sociological Understanding”, in Thompson, P. (Ed), Our Common History: The Transformation of Europe, Pluto Press, London, pp.93-108. Biko, S. (1978), I Write What I Like, with personal memoir by Aelred Stubbs, New York: Harper & Row. Blyden, E.W. (1906). African Life and Customs, Freetown: Black Classic Press. Bobes, V.C. (2007). La nación inconclusa. (Re)constituciones de la ciudadanía y la identidad nacional en Cuba, México: Flacso México. Bodgan, R. & Taylor, S.J. (1975). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: a Phenomenological Approach to the Social Sciences, New York: Wiley. Bojorquez, C. (2001). La emigración cubana en Yucatán. La Habana: Ediciones Imágenes. 255 Brands, H.W. (2000). The Age of Gold: the California Gold Rush and the new American Dream, New York: Anchor Books. Brubaker, R. (2002). Ethnicity without Groups, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Cabrera, L. (1954). El monte, La Habana: Ediciones Erre. Cabrera, L. (1977). La Regla Kimbisa del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje, Miami: Peninsular Printing Inc., Col. del Chicherekú en el exilio. Cabrera, L. (1979). Las Reglas de Congo: Palo Monte Mayombe, Miami: Peninsular Printing Inc., Col. Del Chicherekú en el exilio. Cabrera, L. (2006). El Monte: Igbo-Finta-Ewe Orisha-Vititi Nfinda, Miami: Universal. Campos L.E. (1999). “Negros y morenos. La población afromexicana de la Costa Chica de Oaxaca”, in Barabas A. & Bartolomé, M. (Eds.), Configuraciones étnicas en Oaxaca. Perspectivas etnográficas para las autonomías, México: CONACULTA- INAH-Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI), vol.II, pp.145-182. Cardoso de Oliveira, R. (1992). Etnicidad y estructura social, México: Ediciones de la Casa Chata. Carretero Rangel, R. & León Vega, E. (2009). Indigencia trashumante. Despojo y búsqueda de sentido en un mundo sin lugar, Cuernavaca: UNAM-Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias. Carroll, P. (1991). Blacks in Colonial Veracruz, Race, Ethnicity and Regional Development, Austin: University of Texas Press. Castellanos, J. & Castellanos, I (1988). Cultura Afrocubana. Tomo I. Miami: Universal. Castile, G.P., Kushner, G. & Adams, W.Y. (1981). Persistent People, Cultural Enclaves in Perspective, Tucson: University Arizona Press. Castles, S. & Miller, M. J. (2004). La era de la migración. Movimientos internacionales de población en el mundo moderno, México: Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Secretaría de Gobernación, Instituto Nacional de Migración, Fundación COLOSIO, Porrúa. Centro de estudios históricos de El Colegio de México (2009). Historia general de México, México: El Colegio de México [2000]. Chamorro, A. (1995). “La herencia africana en la música tradicional de las costas y las tierras calientes”, in Jacinto, A. (Ed.), Tradición e identidad en la cultura mexicana, Zamora: El Cologio de Michoacán-CONACYT, pp.415-448. Chance, J. (1978). Race and Class in Colonial Oaxaca, Stanford: Stanford University Press. 256 Chicago Cultural Studies Group (1994). “Critical Multiculturalism”, in Goldberg D.T., Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader, Malden: Blackwell, pp.114-139. Cibernous, R. (1999). Nombres y significados de: los Municipios del Estado de México, Escuela Normal Rural “Luis Virrareal”: Del Mexe, Hidalgo. Cisneros, I.H. & Flores Davila, J. Metodologia para el procesamiento de las preguntas de léxico, México: Unidad de estudios sobre la opinión, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM, Annex IV (unpublished work). Clarke C. (2000). Class, Ethnicity and Community in Southern Mexico, Oaxaca’s Peasantries, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Collier, S. & Sater, W.F. (1996). Historia de Chile, 1808-1994, Cambdridge: Cambridge Uniersity Press. Cope, R.D. (1994). The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Correas, O. (Ed.) (2007). Derecho Indígena Mexicano I, México: Ediciones Coyoacán, UNAM, CONACYT, CEIICH. Correas, O. (Ed.) (2007). Derecho Indígena Mexicano I, México: Ediciones Coyoacán, UNAM, CONACYT, CEIICH. Crespo, H. (1990). “Los espacios del azúcar”, in Historia del azúcar en México, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2 vol., I vol., pp. 50-58. Cross, W.E. (1991). Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American Identity, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Cruz Carretero S. (1992). La herencia negra en Veracruz, México: CIESAS Golfo Xalapa. Cue Cánovas, A. (1963). Historia social y económica de México (1521-1854), México: Trillas. Curtin, P.D. (1969). The Atlantic Slave trade: a Census. Madison: University of Wisconsin. Dary, C. (1988). (Ed.), La construcción de la nación y la representación ciudadana en México, Guatemala, Perú, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala City: FLACSO Guatemala. De Castro, J.E. (2002). Mestizo Nations: Culture, Race, and Conformity in Latin American Literature, Tucson: University of Arizona Press. De la Fuente, A. (2000). Una nación para todos. Raza, desigualdad y política en Cuba. 1900-2000, Madrid: Colibrí.

257 De la Fuente, J. (1949). Yalálag una villa zapoteca serrana, México: Serie Científica Museo Nacional de Antropología, I. Deaux, K. (1996). “Social Identification”, in Higgins, E. T. & Kruglanski, A. (Eds.), Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles, New York: Guilford, pp.777-798. Deschamps, J.C. & Doise, W. (1978). “Crossed Category Membership in Intergroup Relations”, in Tajfel, H., Differentiation between Social Groups, London: Academic Press Inc., pp.141-158. Díaz Pérez, M.C. (2003). Queridato, matrifocalidad y crianza entre los afromestizos de la Costa Chica, México: CONAPO. Díaz Polanco, H. (2010). Ensayos sobre identidad. Visiones desde México, Santo Domingo: Ediciones Ferilibro. Díaz Polanco, H. (Ed.) (1995). Etnia y nación en América Latina, México: Dirección General de Publicaciones del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes. Diehl, R.A. (2004). The Olmecs: America’s First Civilization, London: Thames & Hudson. Douglas, M. (1970). Pureza y Peligro. Un análisis de los conceptos de contaminación y tabú, Madrid: Siglo XXI. Du Bois, W.E.B. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk, Chicago: A.C. Mc Clurg & Co. Ehrlich, P.R. & Holm, R.W. (1964). “A Biological View of Race”, in Montagu, A. (Ed.), The Concept of Race, New York: Free Press, pp.153-179. Etxeberria, X. (2004). Sociedades multiculturales, Bilbao: Ediciones Mensajero. Faist, T. (2000). The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Falconí, F., Hercowitz, M. & Muradian, R. (2004). Globalización y desarrollo en América Latina, Quito: FLACSO Ecuador. Ferdman, B.M. (1995). “Cultural Identity and Diversity in Organizations”, in Chemers, M., Oskamp, S. & Costanzo, M. (Eds.), Diversity in Organizations: New Perspectives for a Changing Workplace, Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp.37-61. Fernández Olmos, M. & Paravisini-Gilbert, L. (Eds.) (1997). Possessions: Vodou, Santería, Obeah, and the Caribbean, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Fernández Robaina, T. (2001). Hablen paleros y santeros. La Habana: Ciencias Sociales. Field, M.J. (1937). Religion and Medicine of the Ga People, London: Oxford University Press. 258 Fortes, M. (1970). Kinship and the Social Order, London: Routledge. Knight, C. (2007). “Revisiting Matrilineal Priority”, in Lassègue, J. (Ed.), Émergence et évolution de la parenté. Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm/Presses de l’École normale supérieure, pp.25-43. Foster G.M. (1950). “Mexican and Central American Indian Folklore”, in Leach, M. (Ed.) Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, II, pp.711-716. Foster, G.M. (1945). “Sierra Popoluca Folklore and Beliefs”, in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press, XLII: II, pp.177-250. Fox, R. (1967). Kinship and Marriage, Baltimore Md.: Penguin. Frazer, J.G. (1910). Totemism and Exogamy, New York: Cosimo Inc. Freud, S. (1960). Group Psychology and Analysis of the Ego, New York: Bantam [1921]. García Arreola, R. (1990). La música y el baile de la chilena en la costa oaxaqueña, Oaxaca: Proveedora Escolar. García Martínez, B. (2009). “La creación de Nueva España”, in Centro de estudios históricos de Colegio de México (Ed.), Historia General de México, México: Colegio de México, pp.235-306. Garzón Valdés, E. (2010). Los derechos electorales de los pueblos indígenas en México, México: Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación. Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books. Geertz, C. (1992). La interpretación de las culturas, Barcelona: Gedisa, (V ed.). Geijerstam, C. (1976). Popular Music in Mexico, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Giddens, A. (1973). The Class Structure of the Advanced Societies, London: Hutchinson. Giddens, A. (1977). Studies in Social and Political Theory, London: Hutchinson. Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society, Cambridge: Polity Press. Giddens, A. (1990). The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press. Gilroy, P. (2000). Against Race. Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Giménez, G. (1994). “Comunidades primordiales y modernización en México”, in Giménez Montiel, G. & Pozas Horcasitas, R. (Eds.), Modernización e identidades 259 sociales, México: UNAM-Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales / Instituto Francés de América Latina (IFAL), pp.151-183. Giménez, G. (1994). “Comunidades primordiales y modernización en México”, in Giménez G. & Pozas Horcasitas, R. (Eds.), Modernización e identidades sociales, México: UNAM-Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales/Instituto Francés de América Latina (IFAL), pp.151-183. Giménez, G. (1996). La identidad social o el retorno del sujeto en sociología, in III Coloquio Paul Kirchhoff. Identidad, México: UNAM-Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas. Giménez, G. (1997a). Cultura e identidades, México: Iisunam. Giménez, G. (2005). Teoría y análisis de la cultura, México: Conaculta, 2005, 2 vols. Gleizer Salzman, M. (1997). Identidad, subjetividad y sentido en las sociedades complejas, México: Juan Pablos Editor. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, New York: Prentice-Hall. Goldman, A.H. (2002). Practical Rules: When We Need Them and When We Don’t, Cambridge: University Press Cambridge. Goleman, D. (2006). Social Intelligence, New York: Bantam. Gonzáles Casanova, P. (1986). La literatura perseguida en la crisis de la colonia, México: Secretaría de Educación Pública. Gonzáles Casanova, P. (1986). La literature perseguida en la crisis de la colonia, México: Secrataría de Educación Pública-Cien de México. Guerra Vilaboy, S. (2003). Contrapunteo histórico Cubano-Mexicano. De la Conquista española a la Revolución mexicana. La Habana: Universidad de la Habana. Guevara Sanginés, M. (2005). “El proceso de liberación de los esclavos en la América virreinal”, in De la Serna Herrera, J.M. (Ed.), Pautas de convivencia étnica en la América Latina colonial, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, pp.111-162. Guillot, C.F. (1961). Negros Rebeldes y Negros Cimarrones, Buenos Aires: Fariña Editores. Gutiérrez Ávila, M.A. (1988). Corrido y violencia entre los afromestizos de la Costa Chica de Guerrero y Oaxaca, Chilpancingo: Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero.

260 Gutiérrez Ávila, M.A. (1997). Derecho consuetudinario y derecho positivo entre los mixtecos, amuzgos y afromestizos de la Costa Chica de Guerrero, México: Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero – Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos. Habermas, J. (1981). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns. Bd. 2: Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft, Frankfurt a. Main: Suhrkamp. Habermas, J. (1987). Teoría de la acción comunicativa, I. Racionalidad de la acción y racionalización social; II. Crítica de la razón funzionalista, Madrid: Taurus (or. ed. Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns. Band I: Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. Bd. 2: Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft, Frankfurt a. M., Suhrkamp, 1981). Habermas, J. (1989). Identidades nacionales y postnacionales, Madrid: Tecnos. Habermas, J. (1992). Teoría de la acción comunicativa. I. Racionalidad de la acción y racionalización social, México: Taurus. Habermas, J. (1992). Teoría de la acción comunicativa. II. Crítica de la razón funcionalista, México: Taurus. Habermas, J. (1995). “Citizenship and National Identity: some Reflections of Future of Europe”, in Beiner R., Theorizing Citizenship, Albany: State University of New York Press, pp.255-282. Habermas, J. (2002). Acción comunicativa y razón sin trascendencia, Barcelona: Paidós. Habermas, J. (2005). Facticidad y validez, Madrid: Trotta. Habermas, J. (2009). Philosophische Texte, Band 2: Rationalität und Sprachtheorie, Frankfurt am Main: Studienausgabe Suhrkamp. Hall, R.E. (Ed.) (2008). Racism in 21st century: an empirical analysis of skin color, New York: Springer. Hall, S. & du Gay, P. (Eds.) (1996). Questions of cultural identity, London: SAGE Publications. Harris, M. (1964). Patterns of race in the Americas, New York: Walker. Helms, J. (1990). Black and White Racial Identity: Theories, Research and practice. New York: Greenwood Press. Héritier, F. (1996). Masculino-femenino. El pensamiento de la diferencia, Bercelona: Ariel.

261 Hernández y Dávalos, J.E. (1985). Colección de Documentos para la Historia de la Guerra de Independencia de México de 1808 a 1821, vol. II, México: Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de la Revolución Mexicana. Herskovits, M.J. (1938). Dahomey, an Ancient West-African Kindom, New York: Auhustin Daly, 2 vol. Hill, T.E. (2000). Respect, Pluralism and Justice, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hillery, G.A. (1968). Communal Organizations, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hobsbawm, E. & Ranger, T. (Eds.) (1983). The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. Hobsbawm, E. (1983). “Introduction: Inventing Traditions”, in Hobsbawm, E. & Ranger, T. (Eds.), The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, pp.1-16. Hollinger, D.A. (1995). Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, New York: Basic Books. Holtzman, J.D. (2000). “Dialing 911 in Nuer: Gender Transformations and Domestic Violence in a Midwestern Sudanese Refugee Community”, in Foner, N., Rumbaut, R.G. & Gold, S.J. (Eds.), Immigration Research for a New Century: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, New York: Russell Sage Found, pp.390-407. Hrdlička A. (1953). “Las razas del hombre”, in Jennings, H.S. (et al.), Aspectos científicos del problema racial, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada-S.A., pp.165-192. Humboldt (von) A. (2004). Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España, México: Porrúa (I ed. in French: Alexandre de Humboldt (1811). Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, Paris: Chez F. Schoell). Huntington, S. (1997). El choque de las civilizaciones y la reconfiguración del orden mundial, México: Paidós. IEED, Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (2010). Comentarios a “Los Sentimientos de la Nación”, Toluca. Instituto Electoral del Estado de México. IIJ, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM (2008). Procesos de construcción de identidad, condiciones de vida y discriminación: un estudio comparativo de comunidades de afrodescendientes en México, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Jones, E.E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A.H., Markus, H., Miller, D. T., & Scott, R.A. (1984). Social stigma: The Psychology of Marked Relationships, New York: Freeman.

262 Joseph, G.M. & Henderson, T.J. (Ed.) (2002). The Mexico reader. History, Culture, Politics, Durham and London: Duke University Press. Juárez Hernández, Y. (2001). Afromestizos en el puerto de Veracruz, pardos, mulatos y libertos, Xalapa: Universidad Veracruzana. Junod, H.A. (1936). Moeurs et costumes des Bantous. La vie d’une tribu sud-africaine, Paris: Payot, 2 vols. Keesing, R. (1975). Kin Groups and Social Structure, New York: Rinehart and Winston. Klandermans, B. (1997). The Social Psychology of Protest, Oxford: Blackwell. Klineberg O. (1935). Race Differences, New York: Harper & Bros. Kroeber, A.L. (1952). Nature of Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kukathas, C. (1997). “Cultural Toleration. Some Contemporary Liberal Views of Toleration”, in Shapiro, I. & Kymlicka, W. (Eds.), Ethnicity and Group Rights, New York: New York University Press, pp.69-104. Kymlicka, W. & Norman, W. (2000). “Citizenship in Diverse Societies: Issues, Contexts, Concepts”, in Kymlicka, W. & Norman, W. (Eds.), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.1-42. Kymlicka, W. (1989). Liberalism, Community and Culture, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press. Kymlicka, W. (1994). “Individual and Community Rights”, in Baker, J., Groups Rights, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp.17-33. Kymlicka, W. (1995a). Multicultural Citizenship: a Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, W. (1996a). Ciudadanía multicultural, Barcelona: Paidós. Kymlicka, W. (2001). Politics in the Vernacular, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, W. (2002). Contemporary Political Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, W. (2007a). Language Rights and Political Theory, New York: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, W. (2007b). Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity, New York: Oxford University Press. Kymlicka, W. (Ed.) (1995b). The Rights of Minority Cultures, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

263 Lachatanaré, R. (2004). El sistema religioso de los afrocubanos. La Habana: Ciencias Sociales. Larraín, J. (2000). Identity and Modernity in Latin America, Cambridge: Polity Press. Levin, S. (Ed.), Van Laar, C. (2005). Stigma and Group Inequality: Social Psychological Perspectives (Claremont symposium on applied social psychology series), November. Levine, E. & Verea, M. (2010). Políticas migratorias y movilidad laboral en Estados Unidos, España y Singapur, Mexico: UNAM-CISAN. Littlefield, D.C. (1981). Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Loehlin, J.C., Gardner, L. & Spuhler, J.N. (1975). Race Differences in Intelligence, San Francisco: Freeman. López Beltrán, C. (2008). “Sangre y temperamento. Pureza y mestizaje en las sociedades de casta americanas”, in Gorbach, F. & Beltrán, C., Saberes locales. Ensayo sobre historia de la ciencia en América Latina, Zamora: El Colegio de Michoacán, pp.289-342. López Chávez, J. (1993). El léxico disponible de escolares mexicanos, México: Alhambra Mexicana. López Morales, H. (Coord.) (1983). “Lingüística Estadística”, in Introducción a la lingüística actual, Masdrid: Playor, pp.209-225. López Valdéz, R. (2000). Los africanos de Cuba, San Juan de Puerto Rico: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe con la colaboración del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Lord Lugard (1965). The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, Connecticut: Archon Books. Lowie, R.H. (1953). “Perfeccionamientos intelectuales y culturales de las razas humanas”, in Jennings H.S. (et alii), Aspectos científicos del problema racial, Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada-S.A., pp.193-251. Luhmann N. (1992). “Organisation”, in Küpper W., Ortmann G. (Eds.), Rationalität, Macht Und Spiele in Organisationen, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, pp.165-185. Luhmann, N. (1986). “The Autopoiesis of Social Systems”, in Geyer F., Van de Zeuwen J. (Eds.), Sociocybernetic Paradoxes: Observation, Control and Evolution of Self-Steering Systems, London: Sage, pp.172-192.

264 Luhmann, N. (1993a). Soziologische Aufklärung 3: Soziales System, Gesellschaft, Organisation, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Luhmann, N. (1993b). Soziologische Aufklärung 5: Konstruktivistische Perspektiven, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Luhmann, N. (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Luis Mora, J.M. (1986). México y sus revoluciones, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Malinowski, B. (1924). Mutterrechtliche Familie und Ödipus-Komplex. Eine psychoanalytische Studie, Leipzig: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag. Mansbridge J. (2000). “What Does a Representative Do? Descriptive Representation in Communicative Settings of Distrust, Uncrystallized Interests, and Historically Denigrated Status”, in Kymlicka, W. & Norman, W. (Eds.), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.99-123. Martínez Ayala, J.D. (2012). “Algunas reflexiones en torno al reconocimiento constitucional de los derechos de los pueblos negros de México”, in Reyes Larrea, I, Rodriguez Mitchell, N.J. & Ziga Gabriel, J.F., De Afromexicanos a Pueblo Negro, Foro Afromexicanos. Por el reconocimiento constitucional de los derechos del pueblos negro de México, México: UNAM, pp.49-62. Martínez Montiel, L.M. (1994). Presencia africana en México, México: Dirección General de Publicaciones del CNCA/Dirección General de Culturas Populares. Martínez Montiel, L.M. (2000). “África: la tercera raíz de México”, en Lorenzo Bautista, J.L. (Ed.), Litvak, J. & Mirambell, L., Arqueología, historia y antropología: in memoriam, México: Instituto Nacional de Historia y Antropología, pp.469-534. Martínez Montiel, L.M. (2006). La ruta del esclavo, México: UNAM. Massey, D.S. (et alii) (2004). International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Massey, D.S., Durand, J. & Malone, N.J. (2002). Beyond Smoke and Mirror: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration, New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Maturana, H. & Varela, F. (1980). Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living, Dordrecht: Reidel. Mc Dowell, J.H. (2000). Poetry and Violence, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Mead, G. (1974). Mind, Self and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 265 Melucci, A. (1985). “Identità e azione collettiva”, in Balbo, L. (et al.), Complessità sociale e identità, Milano: Franco Angeli, pp.150-163. Melucci, A. (1989). Nomads of the Present. Social Movements and Identity Needs in Contemporary Society, London: Hutchinson. Mendoza, V.T. (1956). “Algo de folklore negro en México”, in Miscelánea de estudios dedicados al Dr. Fernando Ortiz, La Habana: Úcar y García y Cía, vol.II, pp.1093- 1111. Menéndez Pidal, R. (1929). Manual de gramática histórica española, Madrid: Victoriano Suárez. Meza Bernal, I. (2003). Nosotros somos morenos. Etnografía de un pueblo de la Costa Chica guerrerense: Playa Ventura, Tesis de licenciatura en Etnología, ENAH. Miller, D. (1992). “Community and Citizenship”, in Avineri, S. & De-Shalit, A. (Eds.), Communitarianism and individualism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.85-100. Miller, D. (1997). Sobre la nacionalidad – Autodeterminación y pluralismo cultural, Barcelona: Paidós. Miller, J. (2011). “Central Africa during the Era of the Slave Trade, c. 1490s-1850s”, in Heywood, L.M. (Ed.), Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora, New YorK: Cambridge University Press, pp.21-70 [2002]. Mills, C.W. (1998). Blackness visible. Essays on philosophy and race, Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press. Mingers, J. (1995). Self-Producing Systems: Implications and Applications of Autopoiesis, New York: Plenum. Moreira, A. (2001). The Exhaustion of Difference: The Politics of Latin American Cultural Studies, London: Duke University Press. Moreno Fraginals, M. (1977). “Aportes culturales y deculturación”, in Moreno Fraginals M. (Ed.), África en América Latina, México: Siglo XXI, pp.13-33. Moreno Fraginals, M. (1978). El ingenio: complejo económico social cubano del azúcar, La Habana: Comisión nacional cubana de la Unesco. Moreno Fraginals, M. (1985). “Plantations in the Caribbean; Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in the Late Nineteenth Century”, in Moreno Fraginals, M., Moya Pons, F & Engerman, S.L. (Eds.), Between Slavery and Freedom: the Spanish- Speaking Caribbean in the Nineteenth Century, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, pp.3-21.

266 Morgan, E.S. (1975). American Slavery: American Freedom, New York: Norton and Co. Mörner, M. (Ed.) (1967). Race Mixture in the History of Latin America, Boston: Little Brown and Co. Motta Sánchez, J.A. & Ethel Correa, D. (1995). “El censo de 1890 del estado de Oaxaca”, in Chávez Carbajal, M.G. (Ed.), El rostro colectivo de la nación mexicana, México: Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás Hidalgo, pp.127-141. Motta Sánchez, J.A. (2005). “La población negra y sus orígenes en el Estado de Oaxaca. Siglos XVI y XVII”, in De la Serna Herrera, J.M., Pautas de convivencia étnica en la América Latina colonial, México: UNAM, pp.187-243. Moyo Palencia, M. (2006). Madre África. Presencia del África negra en el México y Veracruz antiguos, México: Editorial del Estadode Veracruz, App.: “Afromexicana”, pp.241-297. Müller, J.-W. (2007). Constitutional Patriotism, Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press. Murdock, G.P. (1949). Social structure, New York: Macmillan. Murdock, G.P. (1959a) Africa. Its Peoples and Their Culture History, New York: McGraw-Hill. Murdock, G.P. (1959b). “Evolution in Social Organization”, in Meggers B.J (Ed.), Evolution and Anthropology: a Centennial Appraisal, Washington D.C.: Anthropological Society of Washington, pp.126-143. Naveda Chávez-Hita, A. (1987). Esclavos negros en las haciendas azucareras de Cordoba, Veracruz, 1690-1830, Xalapa: Universidad Veracruzana, Colección Historias Veracruzanas. Ngou-Mvé, N. (1994). El África bantú en la colonización de México (1595-1640), Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Ngou-Mvé, N. (2005). “Historia de la población negra en México: necesidad de un enfoque triangular”, in Velásquez, M.E. & Correo, E. (Eds.), Poblaciones y culturas de origen africano en México, México: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, pp.39-63. Niederberger, C. (1996) “The Basin of Mexico: a Multimillennial Development Toward Cultural Complexity”, in Benson, E.P. & De la Fuente, B. (Eds.), Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, pp.83-93.

267 Okpewho, I. (1999). “Introduction”, in Okpewho, I., Boyce Davies, C., & Mazrui, A.A. (Eds.), African Diaspora: African Origins and new World Identities, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, p.XXII. Olivé, L. (1999). Multiculturalismo y pluralismo, México: Paidós. Onwubiko, A. (1991), African Thought Religion & Culture, Enugu Nigernia: Snaap Press. Opala, Joseph A. (1980). A Brief History of the Seminole Freedmen, Austin: University of Texas-African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, Ser.2, n.3. Ortiz, F. (1906). Los negros brujos (apuntes para un estudio de etnología criminal), Carta pról. del Dr. C. Lombroso, Fe Madrid: Librería de Fernando. Ortiz, F. (1916). Hampa afrocubana. Los negros esclavos (estudio sociológico y de derecho público), La Habana: Revista Bimestre Cubana. Ortiz, F. (1921). Los cabildos afrocubanos, La Habana: Imprenta La Universal. Ortiz, F. (1950). La africana de la música folklórica de Cuba, La Habana: Ministerio de Educación, Dirección de Cultura. Ortiz, F. (1951). Los bailes y el teatro de los negros en el folklore de Cuba, La Habana: Letras Cubanas. Ortiz, F. (1952-1955). Los instrumentos de la música afrocubana, La Habana: Ministerio de Educación. Dirección de Cultura. Ortiz, F. (1985). Nuevo catauro de cubanismos, La Habana: Ciencias Sociales. Outlaw, L.T. (1996). On Race and Philosophy, New York: Routledge. Palmer, C.A. (1976). Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570-1650, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Parekh B. (1995). “The Rushdie affair: Research Agenda for Political Philosophy”, in Kymlicka W. (Ed.), The Rights of Minority Cultures, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Parsons T. (1968). La sociedad. Perspectivas evolutivas y comparativas, México: Editorial Trillas. Parsons, E.C. (1936). Mitla. Town of the Souls, Chicago: University of Chicago. Parsons, T. & Shils, E.A. (Eds.) (1959). Toward a General Theory of Action, Harvard: Harvard Universiy Press. Parsons, T., Shils, E.A., Naegele, K.D. & Pitts, J.R. (1961). Teories of Society. Fundation of Modern Sociological Theory, New York: The free Press of Glencoe, 2 vols. 268 Pedersen, P. (Ed.) (1998). Multiculturalism as a Fourth Force, New York: Brunner- Mazel. Pérez Fernández, R. (1986). La binarización de lor ritmos ternarios africanos en América Latina, La Habana: Casa de las Américas. Pérez Fernández, R. (1987). La música afromestiza mexicana, La Habana: Pueblo y Educación. Pérez Fernández, R. (2003). “El son jarocho como expresión musical afromestiza”, in Loza, S. (Ed.), Musical Culture of Latin-America: Global Effects, Past and Present, Los Ángeles: UCLA Ethnomusicology Publications, pp.39-56. Pérez, J., Lavallé, B., Birckel, M., Aguila, Y. & Girault, C. (1980-1983). Essais su la formation des consciences nationales en Amérique Latine, Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Picotti, D. (1990). El descubrimiento de América y la otredad de las culturas: 1492- 1992. A los 500 años del choque de dos mundos. Balance y prospectiva, Buenos Aires: Rundinuskín. Pincus, F.L. & Ehrlich, H.J. (Eds.) (1994). Race and Ethnicity Conflict. Contending Views on Prejudice, Discrimination and Ethnoviolence, Boulder: Westview Press. Pincus, F.L. (1994). “From Individual to Structural Discrimination”, in Pincus, F.L. &, Ehrlich H.J. (Eds.), Race and Ethnicity Conflict. Contending Views on Prejudice, Discrimination, and Ethnoviolence, Boulder: Westview Press, pp.18-28. Pizarro, A. (1994). De ostras y caníbales. Ensayos sobre la cultura latinoamericana, Santiago de Chile: Universidad de Santiago. Pollini, G. (1987). Appartenenza e identità, Milano: Franco Angeli. Porter, K.W. (1971). The Negro on the American Frontier, New York: Arno Press and the New York Times. Rabasa, E.O. (2000). Historia de las Constituciones mexicanas, México: Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [1990]. Ramón (de), A. (2003). Historia de Chile. Desde la invasion incaica hasta nuestros días (1500-2000), Santiago de Chile: Catalonia. Ramos Smith, M. (1979). La danza en México surante la época colonial, La Habana: Casa de las Américas. Ramos y Duarte, F. (1895). Diccionario de mejicanismos: colección de locuciones i frases viciosas, con sus correspondientes críticas i correcciones fundadas en

269 autoridades de la lengua; máximas, refranes, provincialismos i remoques populares de todos los estados de la República mejicana, Méjico: Eduardo Dublan. Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. London: Oxford University Press. Rawls, J. (1992). “Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical”, in Avineri, S. & De- Shalit, A. (Eds.), Communitarianism and Individualism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.186-204. Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, Cambridge: Belknap Press. Rawls, J., Orsi, R.J. (Eds.) (1999). A Golden State: Mining and Economic Development in Gold Rush California, Los Angeles: University of California. Réaume, D.G. (2000). “Official-Language Rights: Intrinsic Value and the Protection of Difference”, in Kymlicka, W. & Wayne, N. (Eds.), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, New York: Oxford University Press, pp.245-272. Reuter, J. (1980). La música popular de México, México: Panorama Editorial. Richards A. (1950). “Some Types of Family Structure amongst the Central Bantu”, in Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. & Forde, D. (Eds.), African Systems of Kinship and Marriage, London: Oxford University Press, pp.207-251. Ronzon, F. (2008). Breve guida alla ricerca etnogragfica, Roma: Meltemi. Root, M. (1997). “Mixed Race Women”, in Zack, N. (Ed.), Race/sex: Their Same-ness, Difference, and Interplay, New York: Routledge, pp.157-174. Rosenblueth, E. (1982). Razas culturales, México: El Colegio Nacional. Salcedo Aquino, J.A. (2005). Hermenéutica analógica, multiculturalismo e interculturalidad, México: Editorial Torres Asociados. Saldívar, G. (1934). Historia de la música en México, México: Secretaría de Educación Pública-Publicaciones del Departamento de Bellas Artes. Santamaría, F.J. (2005). Diccionario de Mejicanismos, México: Porrúa [1959]. Sartorius, C. (1859). Mexico. Landscapes and Popular Sketches, México: Trübner. Satta, G. (2005). Teoría, metodi e problema dell’etnologia. Cultura e relativismo culturale dal “periodo classico” alla svolta interpretativa, Cattedra di Etnologia, Lecture notes 2005/2006 (version 2.0), Roma: Università di Roma “La Sapienza”. Savidan, P. (2010). Il multiculturalismo, Bologna: Il Mulino [2009]. Sciolla, L. (1983). Identità, Torino: Rosemberg & Sellier. Sciolla, L. (2007). Sociologia dei processi culturali, Bologna: Il Mulino. Shapera, I. (1941). Married Life in an African Tribe, London: Faber and Faber.

270 Sibthorpe, A.C.C. (1970). The History of Sierra Leone, New York: The Humanities Press. Sidanius, J. & Pratto, F. (1999). Social Dominance: an Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression, New York: Cambridge University Press. Skidmore, T.E. & Graham, R. (1990). The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940, Austin: University of Texas Press. Starr, K. & Orsi, R.J (Eds.) (2000). Rooted in Barbarous Soil: People, Culture, and Community in Gold Rush California, Los Angeles: University of California Press. Sternberger, D. (2001). Patriotismo constitucional, Bogotá: Universidad Externado de Colombia. Stevenson, R. (1952a). Music in Mexico: a Historical Survey, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. Swartz M.J. (1980). Culture. The Anthropological Perspective, New York: John Wiley. Taguieff, P.A. (1994), La forza del pregiudizio, Bologna: il Mulino [1988]. Tajfel, H. & Turner, J.C. (1979). “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict”, in Austin, W.G. & Worchel, S. (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Monterey CA: Brooks-Cole, pp.94-109. Tajfel, H. (1978a). “Interindividual Behaviour and Intergroup Behaviour”, in H. Tajfel, Differentiation Between Social Groups, London: Academic Press Inc., pp.27-29. Tajfel, H. (1978b). Differentiation between Social Groups, London: Academic Press Inc. Tajfel, H. (1981). Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tajfel, H. (1982). Gruppenkonflikt und Vorurteil. Bern: Verlag Hans Huber. Taylor, C. (1992a). Multiculturalism and “The Politics of Recognition”, Princeton: Pinceton University Press. Taylor, C. (1992b). “Quel principe d’identité collective”, in Lenoble, J. & Dewandre, N. L’Europe au soir du siècle: Identité et démocratie, París: Éditions Esprit, pp.59-66. Taylor, C. (1993). El multiculturalismo y la política del reconocimiento, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Taylor, P.C. (2004). Race. A Philosophical Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press. Theodore, R.S. & Vernon, L.A. (1968). “Role Theory”, in Lindzey, G. & Aronson, E., Handbook of Social Psychology, vol.I, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

271 Thoits, P.A. & Virshup, L.V. (1997). Me’s and We’s: Forms and Functions of Social Identities, in Ashmore, R. & Jussim, L. (Eds.), Self and Identity: Fundamental Issues, New York: Oxford University press, 1: 106-133. Turner, J.C. & Hogg, M.A. Oakes, P.J., Reicher, S.D. & Wetherell, M.S. (1987). Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory, Oxford: Blackwell. Tylor, E.B. (1865). Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, London: John Murray. Tylor, E.B. (1871). Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom, London: John Murray. Tylor, E.B. (1881). Anthropology: an Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilization, New York: D. Appleton & Co. Tylor, E.B. (1975). “La ciencia de la cultura (1871)”, in Kahn, J.S. (Ed.), El concepto de cultura: textos fundamentales. Escritos de Tylor (1871), Kroeber (1917), Malinowski (1931), White (1959), y Goodenough (1971), Barcelona: Editorial Anagrama, pp.29- 46. Vale, B. (2008). Cochrane in the Pacific: Fortune and Freedom in Spanish America, New York: I.B. Tauris. Vaughn, B. (2004a). “Los negros, los indígenas y la diáspora. Una perspectiva etnográfica de la Costa Chica”, in Vinson, B. & Vaughn, B., Afroméxico. El pulso de la población negra en México: una historia recordada, olvidada y vuelta a recordar, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp.75-96. Vinson, B. & Vaughn, B. (2004b). Afroméxico. El pulso de la población negra en México: una historia recordada, olvidada y vuelta a recordar, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Vinson, B. (2005). Estudiando las razas desde la periferia: las castas olvidadas del sistema colonial Mexicano (Lobos, Moriscos, Coyotes, Moros y Chinos), in De la Serna Herrera, J.M. (Ed.), Pautas de convivencia étnica en la América Latina Colonial (Indios, Negros, Mulatos, Pardos y Esclavos). México: UNAM; CCyDEL- Guanajuato, pp.247-307. Von Mentz, B. (Ed.) (2000). Identidades, Estado nacional y globalidad, México siglos XIX, XX, México: Ciesas. Wade, P. (1997). Race and Ethnicity in Latin America, London: Pluto Press.

272 Waldron, J. (2000). “Cultural Identity and Civic Responsability”, in Kymlicka, W. & Norman, W. (Eds.), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, New York: Oxford University Press, pp.155-174. Walzer, M. (1992). “Membership”, in Avineri, S. & De-Shalit, A. (Eds.), Communitarianism and Individualism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.65-84. Whetten, D.A., Lewis, D. & Mischel, L.J. (1992). Towards an Integrated Model of Organizational Identity and Member Commitment, Paper presented at the Academy of Management, Las Vegas. Wieviorka, M. & Gutiérrez Martínez, D. (2007). Multiculturalismo. Desafíos y perspectivas, México: Colegio de México. Wieviorka, M. (1992). El espacio del racismo, Barcelona: Paidós, Barcelona (or. ed., Wieviorka M. [1991] L’espace du racisme, Paris: Seuil). Woodward, K. (2004). Questioning identity: gender, class, ethnicity, London: Routledge. Wright, Q. (1964). A study of War, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Young, I.M. (1990). Justice and Politics of Difference, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Young, R.J.C. (1995). Colonial Desire. Hibridity in Theory, Culture and Race, New York: Routledge. Zavala, A.J. & Ochoa Serrano, A. (Eds.) (1992). Tradición e identidad en la cultura mexicana, Zamora: El Colegio de Michoacán de Michoacán-CONACYT, 1992.

Reviews

Aguirre Beltrán, G. (1944). “The Slave Trade in Mexico”, in Hispanic American Historical Review, XXIX: 412-431. Aguirre Beltrán, G. (1946). “Tribal Origins of Slaves in Mexico”, in Journal of Negro History, XXXI: 269-352. Aguirre Beltrán, G. (2001). “Bailes de negros”, in Desacatos, 7: 151-156. Alexander, J.C. (2001). “Theoryzing the Modes of Incorporation”, in Sociological Theory, 19(3): 237-249. Alonso, A.M. (2004). “Conforming Disconformity: “Mestizaje”, Hybridity, and the Aesthetics of Mexican Nationalism”, in Cultural Anthropology, 19(4): 459-490. 273 Appiah, K. A. (1997). “The Multicultural Misunderstanding”, in New York Review of Books, 44(15): 30-36. Ariza Santamaría, R. (2006). “Democracia con o sin pluralismo jurídico en América Latina”, in Cuadernos de Filosofía Latinoamericana, 27(94): 74-80. Ashforth, B.E. & Mael, F.A. (1989). “Social Identity Theory and the Organization”, in Academy of Management Review, 14: 20-39. Barnet, M. (2005). “The Many Faces of Rasta. Doctrinal Diversity within the Rastafari Movement”, in Caribbean Quarterly, 51(2): 67-78. Barrett, L.F. (2006). “Emotions as Natural Kinds?”, in Perspective on Psychological Science, 1: 28-58. Beals, R.L. (1945). “Ethnology of the Western Mix”, in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press, XLII: I, pp. 1-176. Bello, A. & Rangel, M. (2000). “La equidad y exclusión de los pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes en América Latina y el Caribe”, in CEPAL, 76: 39-64. Bird C. (2004). “Status, Identity, and Respect”, in Political Theory, 32(2): 207-232. Blake, C. (1981). “Understanding African National Development: Some Challenges to Communication Specialists”, in Journal of Black Studies, 12(2): 201-217. Bloch, M. & Sperber, D. (2002). “Kinship and Evolved Psychological Dispositions: The Mother’s Brother Controversy Reconsidered”, in Current Anthropology, 43: 723- 748. Blumer, H. (1958). “Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position”, in Pacific Sociological Review, 1: 3-7. Brewer M.B. (2001). “The Many Faces of Social Identity: Implications for Political Psychology”, in Political Psychology, 22(1): 115-125. Brewer, M.B. & Gardner, W. (1996). “Who is this ‘we’? Levels of Collective Identity and Self Representations”, in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71: 83- 93. Burke, P.J. (2006). “Identity Change”, in Social Psychology Quarterly, 69(1): 81-96. Caicedo, M. (2010). “Integración económica y desigualdad: tres generaciones de mexicanos en Estados Unidos”, in Revista Mexicana de Sociología, UNAM-IIS, 72(2): 255-282. Cannon, W.B. (1942). “’Voodoo’ Death”, in American Anthropologist, 44(2): 168-181. Cerulo, K.A. (1997). “Identity Construction: New issues, New Directions”, in Annual Review of Sociology, 23: 385-409. 274 Cole, J.B. (1985). “Africanisms in the Americas: a Brief History of the Concept”, in Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly, 10(4): 120-126. Corrigan, P.W., Markowitz, F.E., & Watson, A.C. (2004). “Structural Levels of Mental Illness Stigma and Discrimination”, in Schizophrenia Bulletin, 30: 481-491. Costas, D. (2002). “Identity, Recognition, Rights or What can Hegel Teach Us about Human Rights?”, in Journal of Law and society, 29(3): 379-405. Côté, S. & Miners, C.T.H. (2006). “Emotional Intelligence, Cognitive Intelligence, and Job Performance”, in Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(1): 1-28. Cottrel (Jr.), L.S. (1950). “Some Neglected Problems of Social Psychology”, in American Sociological Review, 15(6): 705-712. Cowan, J.K. (2006). “Culture and Rights after Culture and Rights”, in American Anthropologist, 108(1): 9-24. Crandall, C.S. & Eshleman, A. (2003). “A Justification-Suppression Model of the Expression and Experience of Prejudice”, in Psychology Bulletin, 129(3): 414-446. Crowley, J. & Silva Ochoa, H. (2002). “Los usos de la cultura o los límites sociológicos del multiculturalismo normativo”, in Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 64(2): 3-29. Darwall, S.L. (1977). “Two Kinds of Respect”, in Ethics, 88(1): 36-49. Dasgupta, N. (2004). “Implicit Ingroup Favoritism, Outgroup Favoritism, and their Behavioral Manifestations”, in Social Justice Research, 17: 143-169. Dean, C., & Leibsohn D. (2003). “Hybridity and Its Discontents: Considering Visual Culture in Colonial Spanish America”, in Colonial Latin American Review, 12(1): 5- 35. Dutton, J.E., Dukerich, J.M. & Harquail, C.V. (1994). “Organizational Image and Member Identification”, in Administrative Science Quarterly, 39: 239-263. Ehrlich, H.J. (1962). “Stereotyping and Negro-Jewish Stereotypes”, in Social Forces, 41(2): 171-176. Ekman, P. (1992). “An Argument for Basic Emotions”, in Cognition and Emotion, 6: 169-200. Fierlbeck, K. (1996). “The Ambivalent Potential of Cultural Identity”, in Canadian Journal of Political Scene/Revue canadienne de science politique, 29(1): 3-22. Fong, E. (2008). “Reconstructing the “Problem” of Race”, in Political Research Quarterly, 61(4): 660-670. Foreman, P. & Whetten, D.A. (2002). “Members’ Identification with Multiple-Identity Organizations”, in Organization Science, 13(6): 618-635. 275 Foster G.M. (1944). “Nagualim in Mexico and Guatemala”, in Acta Americana, II: 85- 103. French, W. & Weis, A. (2000). “An Ethics of Care or an Ethics of Justice”, in Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1/2): 125-136. García Franco, M.D. (1994). “Antropología de lo sagrado en el Caribe: culto Obeah in Jamaica”, in Boletín de Antropología Americana, 30: 135-142. Giménez, G. (1997b). “Materiales para una teoría de las identidades sociales”, in Frontera norte, 9(18): 9-28. Gros, C. (2002). “América Latina: ¿identidad o mestizaje? La nación en juego”, in Desacatos, 10: 127-147. Hale, C.R. (1997). “Cultural Politics of Identity in Latin America”, in Annual Review of Anthropology, 26: 567-590. Hall, R.A. (2007). “The Invisible Afromestizo of Mexico’s Atlantic Coast: the Folklore of Foodways as a Marker of Cultural Identity”, in Journal of Caribbean Literatures, 4(3): 93-96. Hall, R.E. (2005). “From the Psychology of Race to the Issue of Skin color for People of African Descent”, School of Social Work, Michigan State University, in Winston V.H. and Sons, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(9): 1958-1967. Harrison, F.V. (1995). “The Persistent Power of ‘Race’ in the Cultural and Political Economy of Racism”, in Annual Review of Anthropology, 24: 47-74. Hartmann, D. & Gerteis, J. (2005). “Dealing with Diversity: Mapping Multiculturalism in Sociological Terms”, in Sociological Theory, 23(2): 218-240. Hernández Cuevas, M.P. (2004). “Modern National Discourse and ‘La muerte de Artemio Cruz’: The Illusory ‘Death’ of African Mexican Lineage”, in Afro-Hispanic Review, 23(1): 10-16. Hirt, E.R., Zillmann, D., Erickson, G. & Kennedy, C. (1992). “Costs and Benefits of Allegiance: Changes in Fans’ Self-Ascribed Competencies after Team Victory Versus Defeat”, in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63: 724-738. Hoffmann, O. & Pascal, C. (2006). “Negros y afromestizos en México: viejas y nuevas lecturas de un mundo olvidado”, in Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 68(1): 103-135. Hooker, J. (2005). “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America”, in Journal of Latin American Studies, 37(2): 285-310.

276 Hsin Yang, L., Kleinman, A., Link, B.G., Phelan, J.O., Lee, S., & Good, B. (2007). “Culture and stigma: Adding moral experience to stigma theory”, in Social Science & Medicine, 64: 1524-1535. Iheduru, O. (2006). “Social Values, Democracy, and the Problem of African American Identity”, in Journal of Black Studies, 37(2): 209-230. Izard Martínez, G. (2005). “Herencia, territorio e identidad en la diáspora africana: hacia una etnografía del retorno”, in Estudios de Asia y África, 40: 89-115. Izard, C.E. (1994). “Innate and Universal Facial Expressions: Evidence from Developmental and Cross-Cultural Research”, in Phycological Bulletin, 115: 288- 299. Izquierdo Muciño, M.E. (2005). “El reconocimiento de los derechos de los pueblos indígenas en México”, in Cuadernos Constitucionales de la Cátedra Fadrique Furió Ceriol, 50/51: 109-124. Jackman, D. (1998). “How to Fight Obeah”, in Cariibean Quarterly, 44(3/4): 159-168. Jenco, L.K. (2008). “Theorists and Actors: Zhang Shizhao on “Self-Awareness” as Political Action”, in Political Theory, 36(2): 213-238. Jones J.A., (2011). “Who are we? Producing Group Identity through Everyday Practices of Conflict and Discourse”, in Sociological Perspectives, 54(2): 139-162. Jones, R.A. (2005). “Race and Revisability”, in Journal of Black Studies, 35(5): 612- 632. Joppke, C. (2004). “The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy”, in The British Journal of Sociology, 55(2): 237-257. Kanu Ikechukwu A. (2012). Inculturation and the Christian faith in Africa, in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(17): 236-244. Kaplan, L.N. (1956). “Tonal y Nagual in Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico”, in The Journal of American Folklore, 69(274): 363-368. Kibria, N. (1997). “The Construction of ‘Asian American’: Reflections on Intermarriage and Ethnic Identity Among Second-Generation Chinese and Korean Americans”, in Ethnic Racial Studies, 20: 523-544. Kleinman, A. (1996). “Sociosomatics: How the Social World Affects Bodily Processes”, in Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica, 98(8): 523-532. Klineberg, O. (1963). “Negro-White Differences in Intelligence Test Performance: a new Look at an old Problem”, in American Psychologist, 18(4): 198-203.

277 Knight Abowitz, K. (2006). “Contemporary Discourses of Citizenship”, in Review of Educational Research, 76(4): 653-690. Koenig, F.W. & King M.B. (Jr.) (1964). “Cognitive Simplicity and Out-Group Stereotyping”, in Social Forces, 42(3): 324-327. Kopytoff I. (1977). “Matrilineality, Residence, and Residential Zones”, en American Ethnologist, 4(3): 539-558. Kurzban, R., & Leary, M. R. (2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion”, in Psychological Bulletin, 127(2): 187–208. Kymlicka, W. & Norman, W. (1996b). “El retorno del ciudadano. Una revisión de la producción reciente en teoría de la ciudadanía”, in Cuadernos del CLAEH, 20(75): 81-112. Lafaye, J. (1990). “La sociedad de castas en la Nueva España”, in Artes de México, nueva época, 8: 25-35. Lang, A. (1907). “Conceptional Totemism and Exogamy”, in Man, 7: 88-90. LeCompte, M.L. (1985). “The Hispanic Influence on the History of Rodeo, 1823-1922”, in Journal of Sport History, 12(1): 21-38. Lesane-Brown, C.L., Brown, T.N., Caldwell, C.H. & Sellers, R.M. (2005). “The Comprehensive Race Socialization Inventory”, in Journal of Black Studies, 36(2): 163-190. Lester, D. (1972). “Voodoo Death: some new Thoughts on an old Phenomenon”, in American Anthropologist, 74(3): 386-390. Leverette, T. (2009). “Speaking Up: Mixed Race Identity in Black Communities”, in Journal of Black Studies, 39(3): 434-445. Lewis, L.A. (1995). “‘Blackness’, ‘Femaleness’ and Self-Representation. Constructing Persons in a Colonial Mexican Court”, in Political and Legal Anthropology Review, XVIII(2): 1-9. Lewis, L.A. (2000). “Blacks, Black Indians, Afromexicans: The Dynamics of Race, Nation, and Identity in a Mexican ‘Moreno’ Community (Guerrero)”, in American Ethnologist 27(4): 898-926. Lewis, L.A. (2001). “Of Ships and Saints: History, Memory, and Place in the Making of MorenoMexican Identity”, in Cultural Anthropology, XVI(1): 62-82. Link, B.G. & Phelan, J.C. (2001). “Conceptualizing Stigma”, in Annual Review of Sociology, 27: 363-385.

278 Lomnitz, M.L. (1982). “Horizontal and Vertical Relations and the Social Structure of Urban Mexico”, in Latin American Research Review, 17(2): 51-74. Love, E.F. (1967). “Negro Resistance to Spanish Rule in Colonial Mexico”, in The Journal of Negro History, LII(2): 89-103. Love, E.F. (1970). “Legal Restrictions on Afro-Indian Relations in Colonial Mexico”, in The Journal of Negro History, IV(2): 131-139. Luhmann, N. (1993c). “Die Paradoxie des Entscheidens”, in Verwaltungs-Archiv: Zeitschrift für Verwaltungslehre, Verwaltungsrecht und Verwaltungspolitik, 84: 287- 310. Major, B. & O’Brien, L.T. (2005). “The Social Psychology of Stigma”, in Annual Review of Psychology, 56: 393-421. Malcolm, L.W.G. (1922). “Short notes on Soul Trapping in Southern Nigeria”, J Am Folklore, 35: 219-222 Ji. Margalit, A. & Raz, J. (1990). “National Self-Determination”, in The Journal of Philosophy, 87: 439-461. Martínez Montiel, L.M. (1993). “Algunos aspectos metodológicos del estudio de la población de ascendencia africana en México”, in Del Caribe, 20: 25-32. Martínez Montiel, L.M. (2001). “América Latina y el Caribe”, in Catauro. Revista Cubana de Antropología, Fundación Fernando Ortiz, La Habana, 3: 23-27. Massey, D.S. (2008). “La racialización de los mexicanos en Estados Unidos: Estratificación racial en la teoría y en la práctica”, in Migración y Desarrollo, 10(1th Semester 2008): 65-95; (http://rimd.reduaz.mx/revista/rev10/c4.pdf). McCorkel, J. & Rodriquez, J. (2009). “‘Are You an African?’ The Politics of Self- Construction in Status-Based Social Movements”, in Social Problems, 56(2): 357- 384. Mechthild N. (2008). “‘I Write What I Like’: African Prison Intellectuals and the Struggle for Freedom”, in The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2(3): 68-80. Michéa, R. (1953). “Mots fréquents et mots disponibles. Un aspect nouveau de la statistique du langage”, in Les langues modernes, 47: 338-344. Mosley, W. (1989). “Voodoo”, in Callaloo, 38: 153-155. Motta Sánchez, J.A. (2006). “Tras la heteroidentificación. El ‘movimiento negro’ costachiquense y la selección de marbetes étnicos”, in Dimensión Antropológica, 13(38): 115-150.

279 Nagel, J. (1994). “Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture”, in Social Problems, 41: 101-126. Nagel, J. (1995). “American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Politics and the Resurgence of Identity”, in American Sociological Review, 60: 947-965. Nemetz, P.L. & Christensen, S.L. (1996). “The Challenge of Cultural Diversity: Harnessing a Diversity of Views to Understand Multiculturalism”, in The Academy of Management Review, 21(2): 434-462. Neumann, W.L. (1947). “United States Aid to the Chilean Wars of Independence”, in The Hispanic American Historical Review, 27: 204-219. Newall, V. (1978). “Some Examples of the Practice of Obeah by West Indians Migrants in London”, in Folklore, 89(1): 29-51. Nutini, H.G. (1997). “Class and Ethnicity in Mexico: Somatic and Racial Considerations”, in Ethnology, 36(3): 227-238. Ochoa Serrano, A. (1998). “Los africanos en México antes de Aguirre Beltrán (1821- 1924)”, in Publication of the Afro Latin American Research Association, 2: 79-83. Opala, J. (1981). “Seminole-African Relations on the Florida Frontier”, in Papers in Anthropology (University of Oklahoma), 22(1): 11-52. Ortiz, F. (1964). “Cubanidad y cubanía”, in Islas, VI(2): 91-96. Owens Moore, T. (2005). “A Fanonian Perspective on Double Consciousness”, in Journal of Black Studies, 35(6): 751-762. Owusu-Frempong, Y. (2005). “Afrocentricity, the Adae Festival of the Akan, African American Festivals, and Intergenerational Communication”, in Journal of Black Studies, 35(6): 730-750. Pallí, C. (2003). “Communities in Context: Undefinition, Multiplicity and Cultural Difference”, in Interamerican Journal of psychology, Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología, Austin, 37(2): 309-326. Parrillo, V.N. (1994). “Diversity in America: a Sociohistorical Analysis”, in Sociological Forum, 9(4): 523-545. Peces-Barba, G. (2003). “El patriotismo constitucional”, in Anuario de Filosofía del Derecho, 20: 39-62. Phillips, W.E. (2009). “Representations of Black Body in Mexican Visual Art: Evidence of an African Historical Presence or a Cultural Mith?”, in Journal of Black Studies, 39(5): 761-785. Rawls, J. (1975). “Fairness to Goodness”, in Philosophical Review, 84: 536-554. 280 Rawls, J. (1988). “The Priority of Rights and Ideas of the Good”, in Philosophical and Public Affairs, 17: 251-276. Reger, R.K., Gustafson, L.T., De Marie, S.M. & Mullane, J.V. (1994). “Reframing the Organization: Why Implementing Total Quality is Easier Said than Done”, in Academy of Management Review, 19: 565-584. Reskin, B. (2012). “The Race Discrimination System”, in Annual Review of Sociology, 38: 17-35. Rockquemore, K.A. & Laszloffy, T.A. (2003). “Multiple Realities: A Relational Narrative Approach in Therapy with Black-White Mixed-Race Clients”, in Family Relations, 52(2): 119-128. Rodrigues Pinto, S. & Domínguez Ávila, C.F. (2001). “Sociedades plurales, multiculturalismo y derechos indígenas en América Latina”, in Política y Cultura, 35: 49-66. Rosales, J.M. (1999). “Patriotismo constitucional: sobre el significado de la lealtad política republicana”, in Isegoría, 20: 139-149. Russell, J.A. (1980). “A Circumplex Model of Affect”, in Journal of Personality and Social Phychology, 39: 1161-1178. Salovey, P. & Grewal, D. (2005). “The Science of Emotional Intelligence”, in Psychological Science, 14(6): 281-285. Sanchez-Burks, J. & Huy, Q.N. (2009). “Emotional Aperture and Strategic Change: The Accurate Recognition of Collective Emotions”, in Organization Science, 20: 22-34. Sanders, J.M. (2002). “Ethnic Boundaries and Identity in Plural Societies”, in Annual Review of Sociology, 28: 327-357. Seed, P. (1982). “Social Dimensions of Race: Mexico City, 1753”, in The Hispanic American Historical Review, 62(4): 569-606. Silva-Zolezzi, I. (2009). “Analysis of Genomic Diversity in Mexican Mestizo Populations to Develop Genomic Medicine in Mexico”, in Proceedings of the National os Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 106(21): 8611-8616. Smedley, A. (1998). “‘Race’ and the Construction of Human Identity”, in American Anthropologist, 100(3): 690-702. Spencer, M.E. (1994). “Multiculturalism, ‘Political Correctness’ and the Politics of Identity”, in Sociological Forum. Special Issue: Multiculturalism and Diversity, 9(4): 547-567.

281 Stacey, M. (1969). “The Myth of Community Studies”, in British Journal of Sociology, 20(2): 134-147. Stevenson, R. (1952b). “The first Date Mention of the Sarabande”, in Journal of the American Musicological Society, 29-31. Stevenson, R. (1968). “The Afro-American musical legacy to 1800”, in Musical Quarterly, 54: 475-476. Swartz M.J. (1982). “Cultural Sharing and Cultural Theory: Some Findings of a Five- Society Study”, in American Anthropologist, 84(2): 314-338. Taylor, P.C. (2000). “Appiah’s Uncompleted Argument: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Reality of Race”, in Social Theory and Practice, 26(1): 103-128. Tebble, A.J. (2006). “Exclusion for Democracy”, in Political Theory, 34(4): 463-487. Tuan, Y.F. (2002). “Community, Society, and the Individual”, in Geographical Review, 92(3): 307-318. Turner, J.C., Oakes, P.J, Haslam, S.A. & McGarty, C. (1994). “Self and Collective: Cognition and Social Context”, in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20: 454-463. Vansina, J. (1984). “Western Bantu Expansion”, in The Journal of African History, 25(2): 129-145. Vásquez, J.M. & Wetzel, C. (2009). “Tradition and the Invention of Racial Selves: Symbolic Boundaries, Collective Authenticity and Contemporary Struggles for Racial Equality”, in Ethnic and racial studies, 32(9): 1557-1575. Velasco, J.C. (2002). “Patriotismo constitucional y republicanismo”, in Claves de razón práctica, 125: 33-40. Vendrell Ferré, J., (2002). “La masculinidad en discusión: reflexiones desde la antropología”, in Nueva Antropología, XVIII(61): 31-52. Vincent, T. (1994). “The Blacks who Freed Mexico”, in The Journal of Negro History, 79(3): 257-276. Vinson III, B. (1995). “Free Colored Voices: Issues of Representation and Racial Identity in the Colonial Mexican Militia”, in The Journal of Negro History, 80(4): 170-182. Vinson III, B. (2006). “Introduction: African (Black) Diaspora History, Latin American History”, in The Americas, 63(1): 1-18. Volpato, T. (2012). “Para una teorización del concepto de multiculturalismo latinoamericano”, in Visioni LatinoAmericane, 7: 7-29. 282 Volpato, T. (2013a). “El Palo Mayombe en el Distrito Federal. Práctica y normatividad inter grupal de un patrimonio cultural africano localizado”, in ed. pr. Volpato, T. (2013b). “Un análisis sociológico del multiculturalismo cubano entre ajiaco y diversidad. Aproximación histórica a los problemas del reconocimiento y de la raza”, in Visioni LatinoAmericane, 8: 60-81. Volpato, T. (2014a). “Algunas micro-dinámicas del mestizaje cubano entre homogeneidad cultural y autopoiésis”, in Visioni Latinoamericane, 10: 57-83. Wade, P. (2005). “Rethinking ‘Mestizaje’: Ideology and Lived Experience”, in Studies. Journal of Latin American, 37(2): 239-257. Walker, B. (1997). “Plural Cultures, Contested Territories: a Critic of Kymlicka”, in Canadian Journal of Political Scene/Revue canadienne de science politique, 30(2): 211-234. Wallerstein, I. (2003). “Citizens All? Citizens Some! The Making of Citizen”, in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 45(4): 650-679. Witten, N.E. & Torres, A. (1992). “Blackness in the Americas”, in Republican American, 25(4): 16-22. Yelvington, K.A. (2001). “The Anthropology of Afro-Latin America and the Caribbean: Diasporic Dimensions”, in Annual Review of Anthropology, 30: 227-260. Young, I.M. (1989). “Polity and Group Difference: a Critique of the Ideal of Universal Citizenship”, in Ethics, 99: 250-274. Zavodny, M. (2003). “Race, Wage, and Assimilation among Cuban Immigrants”, in Population Research and Policy Review, 22(3): 201-219. Zeleza, P.T, (2005). “Rewriting the African Diaspora: Beyond the Black Atlantic”, in African Affairs, 104(414): 35-68. Zelisky, W. (1949). “The Historical Geography of the Negro Population of Latin America”, in The Journal of Negro History, 34(2): 153-221. Zwart (de), F. (2005). “The Dilemma of Recognition: Administrative Categories and Cultural Diversity”, in Therory and Society, 34(2): 137-169.

Working Papers, Conferences, Documents

(1867). Instrucciones que los virreyes de Nueva España dejaron a sus sucesores, México: Imprenta Imperial. 283 Assies, W., (2005). El multiculturalismo latinoamericano al inicio del siglo XXI, at the congress “Pueblos Indígenas de América Latina”, Estados multiétnicos y multiculturales (Panel n.3), Program for International Cooperation (Programa de Cooperación Internacional), “Obra Social-Fundación. La Caixa”, Barcelona 27th-28th April. Benigno J.J. (2004). “¿Continuidad o ruptura cultural africana en el México actual?”, in IV Congreso d’Estudis Africans del Món Ibéric, África camina, “Generalitat de Catalunya i LISA”-ARDA, Barcelona, 12th-15th January. Bentura Beleiia, E. (Ed.) (1787). Recopilación sumaria de todos los autos acordados de la Real Audiencia y Sala del Crimen de esta Nueva España, y providencias de su superior gobierno: de varias reales cédulas y órdenes que después de publicada la Recopilación de Indias han podido recogerse así de las dirigidas a la misma audiencia o gobierno, como de algunas otras que por sus notables decisiones covendrá no ignorar (4 vols. in 2; México: Imprenta por Don Felipe de Zuiiiga y Ontiveros), II, 73. Bobes, V.C. (2004). Identidad nacional e identidad étnica. Lo racial como una dimensión de la desigualdad, Economía, Democracia, Estado y Sociedad. El Colegio de Tlaxcala. México. Camacho Quiroz, C. (1999). El derecho a la identidad cultural, México: Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado de México, 12th April, Toluca, Mexico, pp.107-112. Flacso Chile (1992). Transformaciones culturales y representación política – Work paper produced through the project “Evolución de las demandas Sociales y Políticas en un contexto de Democratización”, Serie Educación y Cultura n.25, FLACSO Chile, June. Guerrero State. Meeting Afromexicanos (Afro-Mexicans), Guerrero State, between 13th and 14th May 2013. Inglis, C. (1996). Multiculturalism: New Policy Responses to Diversity, Paris, UNESCO, MOST Policy Papers, n.4. Jiménez, A. (2006). “Salen los diablos a danzar sus sones a lo largo de la Costa Chica. Repuntan las costumbres de origen africano y la importancia de la negritud”, La Jornada de enmedio, Saturday 4th November. Lang, K., Lehmann, J.-Y.K. (2011). Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market: Theory and Empirics, NBER, Working Paper n.17450.

284 López Chávez, J. & Strassburger Frías, C. (1991). “Un modelo para el cálculo del índice de disponibilidad léxica individual: enseñanza del español como lengua materna”, Actas del II Seminario Internacional sobre Aportes de la Lingüística a la Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Materna, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico, pp.91- 112. Martín Quijano, M. (2005). Migración Cuba-México. Centro de Estudios de Migraciones Internacionales De La Habana, Working Paper, pp.1-18. Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) of Mexico City. Los pueblos afromexicanos, la lucha por su reconocimiento (Afro-Mexican people, the struggle for their recognition), 6th, 7th and 8th May 2013. United Nations’ International Year for People of African Descent Program, resolution 64/169, December 18th 2009. Velásquez, M. & Vaughan, M.K. (2002), Mestizaje and Musical Nationalism in Mexico, Paper prepared for WASHLA Conference, University of Maryland-College Park, 08th November.

Electronic Documents

Barberá, E.D. (2003). “El derecho frente al pluralismo en América Latina”, in Saskab, vol.5, 2003 (http://www.ideaz-institute.com/). Bustillo Marín, R. (2012). “Derechos político-electorales de los indígenas”, en Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Nación; (http://www.te.gob.mx/ccje/Archivos/Derechos_politico_electorales_indigenas.pdf). Carreño, J. (2005). “Falta de identidad en afromexicanos”, in El Universal, 15th May. CDI, Cominsión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas; (http://www.cdi.gob.mx/). CDI, Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (2012). Informe final de la consulta para la identificación de las comunidades afrodescendientes, C Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas/Garay Cartas, L.: México; (http://www.encuentra.gob.mx/APF?q=afrodescendientes&client=cdi). CIDH, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos; (http://www.cidh.oas.org/Basicos/Basicos3.htm).

285 CNDH, Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (2008). Informe Especial de la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos sobre el Caso de Discriminación a la Profesora Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza, 2008, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación; (http://www.equidad.scjn.gob.mx/IMG/pdf/INFORME_ESPECIAL_CRUZ_MEND OZ.pdf). CONAPRED, Consejo Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación (2006). Afrodescendientes en méxico; reconocimiento y propuestas antidiscriminación, Dirección General Adjunta de Estudios, Legislación y Políticas Públicas, Working Paper No. E-19-2006; (http://afrolatinoproject.org/wp- content/uploads/2012/04/Afrodescendientes-en-Mexico-2006-CONAPRED.pdf). CONAPRED, Consejo Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación; (http://www.conapred.org.mx/). Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, XXIII Edición, 2001; (http://lema.rae.es/drae/). Duster, T. (2001). “Buried alive: The concept of race in science”, in Chronicle of Higher Education, 48(3); (http://chronicle.com). Giménez, G. (2010). “La cultura como identidad y la identidad como cultura”. Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales UNAM; (http://sic.conaculta.gob.mx/documentos/834.doc). González Manrique, L.E. (2006). “¿Quiénes somos?: Multiculturalismo y relaciones interétnicas en América Latina”, in Ómnibus, 12(3); (http://www.omni-bus.com/). Häberle, P. (2003). “El Estado constitucional”, in Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM; (http://biblio.juridicas.unam.mx/libros/1/14/7.pdf). IEM, Instituto Electoral de Michoacán, Acuerdo del Consejo General del Instituto Electoral de Michoacán por el que se da respuesta a la petición de la comunidad indígena de Cherán para celebrar elecciones bajo sus usos y costumbres, Agreement n.CG-38/2011, 09th September 2011; (http://www.iem.org.mx/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view =category&id=110:acuerdos.2011&Itemid=76). INEGI, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (Mexican National Institute for Geography and Statistics); (http://inegi.org.mx/inegi/default.aspx). Jiménez A. (2004). “Yanga, símbolo de negritud y libertad”, in La Jornada: (http://clientes.igo.com.mx/9631/articulos/red743.htm), 02th Agust. Messick, D.M. & Mackie, D.M. (1989). “Intergroup Relations”, in Annual Review of Psychology, 40: 45-81; (https://www.annualreviews.org/). 286 Motta Sánchez, J.A. & Correa Duró, E. (1996). “Población negra y alteridentificación en la costa chica de Oaxaca”, in Dimensión Antropología, 8(9): n.p.; (http://www.dimensionantropologica.inah.gob.mx/?tag=motta-sanchez-jose-arturo). Notimex (2003). Publican investigación pionera sobre migración cubana a México, 03th January; (www.noticias.vanguardia.com.mx). Oaxaca State web page; (http://www.oaxaca.gob.mx/). Passel, J.S. & Cohn D. (2011). Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010; (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant- population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/). Pellegrino, A. (2003). “La migración internacional en América Latina y el Caribe: tendencias perfiles de los migrantes”, in Serie Población y Desarrollo, 35, Santiago de Chile: CELADE-División de Población, BID; (http://www.cepal.org/cgi- bin/getProd.asp?xml=/publicaciones/xml/0/12270/P12270.xml&xsl=/celade/tpl/p9f.x sl&base=/tpl/top-bottom.xslt). Suárez Blanch, C. (1999). “La reconstrucción de la identidad de los grupos negros de México: un recorrido histórico”, in Dimensión Antropológica, 16(7): n.p.; (http://www.dimensionantropologica.inah.gob.mx/?p=1211). Velásquez, M.E & Iturralde Nieto, G. (2012). Afrodescendientes en México. Una historia de silencio y discriminación, México: CONAPRED; (http://www.conapred.org.mx/userfiles/files/TestimonioAFRO-INACCSS(1).pdf). Volpato, T. (2014b). “¡Salam alaikum, alaikum, salam! dijo el brujo”, XXIXth International Congress of the Latin American Sociology Association (ALAS) ALAS proceedings, Santiago de Chile, Chile, January 2014; (http://actacientifica.servicioit.cl/biblioteca/gt/GT21/GT21_Volpato.pdf). Werner A. (1933). Myths and Legends of the Bantu; (http://www.sacred- texts.com/afr/mlb/index.htm).

Laws

Consitución Política de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Venezuela/vigente.html). Constitución del Estado de Campeche. Constitución del Estado de Chihuahua. 287 Constitución del Estado de Nayarit. Constitución del Estado de Quintana Roo. Constitución del Estado de Veracruz. Constitución del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca. Constitución Política de Colombia (http://wsp.presidencia.gov.co/Normativa/Documents/ C o n s t i t u c i o n - P o l i t i c a - C o l o m b i a . p d f ; art.1, 2, 7, 10, 13, 23, 37, 38, 40, 43, 55, 58, 63-68, 70-72, 74, 86, 103, 106, 171, 176, 247, 302, 350; laws 21/1856, 22/81, 70 /93, 99/93, 115/9; decree 1795/9, law 70; decree 2249/95, law 70 of the year 1993; decree 1122/98; Conpes 2909/ 97, 3169/02, 3180/02, 3169, 3310/04, Sentencia 225-98; sentency C-169-2001). Constitución Política de Costa Rica (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Costa/costa2.html#mozTocId11182). Constitución Política de la República de Argentina (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Argentina/argen94.html). Constitución Política de la República de Ecuad or (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Parties/Ecuador/Leyes/constitucion.pdf). Constitución Política de la República de Guatemala (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Guate/guate93.html). Constitución Política de la República de Honduras (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/vigente.html). Constitución Política de la República de Nicaragua (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Nica/nica05.html). Constitución Política de la República de Panamá (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Panama/vigente.pdf). Constitución Política de la República del Perú (http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/RelatAgenda/constitucion.nsf/$$ViewTemplate% 20for%20 constitucion?OpenForm). Constitución política de los estados unidos mexicanos, que reforma la de 5 de febrero de 1857, in Diario Oficial, tomo V, 4ª, Época, n.30, Lunes 05 de febrero de 1917. Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Constitución Política de Paraguay (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Paraguay/para1992.html).

288 Constitución Política del Estado de Bolivia (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Bolivia/bolivia09.html). Constitución Política del Estado de Chiapas. Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Brazil/vigente.html). Convenio 169 de la Organización mundial del trabajo sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales. Decreto Constitucional para la libertad de la América mexicana, sancionado en Apatzingan á 22 de Octubre de 1814 ; (http://www.biblioteca.tv/artman2/publish/1814_111/Decreto_constitucional_para_la _libertad_de_la_Am_rica_mexicana_sancionado_en_Apatzingan_22_de_Octubre_de _1814.shtml). Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca.

289 290

Annex

291 292

Maps

293

294 The Costa Chica (Mexico)

295 The Costa Chica (Oaxaca)

296 Santo Domingo Armenta Municipality Santo Domingo Armenta

297 Pinotepa Nacional Municipality Collantes

298 El Ciruelo

299 Santiago Tapextla Municipality Santiago Tapextla

300 Llano Grande Tapextla

301 Santa María Cortijos Municipality Santa María Cortijos

302 San Juan Bautista lo de Soto

303

304

Images

305

306 Image 1 Declaration of Independence 1810

307 Image 2 Prayer of the Virgin of Montserratt

308

Instruments

309 310 Limits in Data Collection

In order to organize the analysis of our target population, we created three groups of ages, each one aimed at analyzing population’s profiles between 15 and 25 years old (young), 26-60 (adults), and the elderly (over 60), divided by sex236. Successively, we met both communities’ leaders (men) and mayors. We built thus a general information network based on individual and shared perceptions of communities and local institutions about both characteristics and needs of settlements. In addition, we produced four further interviews with the father Glynn Jemmoth, founder of the local NGO México Negro (“Black Mexico”), Lic. Lucía Vásquez, Head of the Office for International Relations of the Government of Oaxaca’State (Encargada del Desapacho de la Coordinación de Asuntos Internacionales del Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca), Dr. Heriberto Antonio García, Director of the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights (Director de la Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos) of Oaxaca, and Prof. Gloria Zafra, from the Sociology Department of Autonomous University “Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca- UABJO)237. Two kind of limitations can be addressed: general problems, connected with the nature of the Costa Chica, as its territorial position; and technical, referring explicitly to data collection.

a. General Problems The Costa Chica of Oaxaca is one of the poorest areas within Mexico and, because of being located relatively far from the main cities of the coast, as Pinotepa Nacional (in the Oaxaca’s State), and Acapulco, in Guerrero, it is not a commercial area, nor touristic. In addition, people is under control of local authorities, which is constantly supervising potential conflicts between “families” along the coast238. Because of its territorial position and the roads often impassable, the Costa Chica represents also a very hard place to find, reachable only by truck or similar. Such situation imposes two kind of problems, which are the following. Firstly, depending on the absence of touristic structures and the Costa Chica’s isolated position,

236 See note n.9. 237 The whole material is in possession of the author and available. 238 The word “family” is locally used for identifying drug cartels (narcos), which look for isolated areas in order to hide themselves and being hard to find by authorities. 311 it is very unusual finding Europeans or North Americans, so at the time of contacting with settlers, people were very reluctant. Secondly, because of the presence of police and the violence potentially granted by “families”, people developed a strong feeling of distrust against who is not known by communities. Both restrictions were successfully solved thanks to the intervention of the father Glynn Jemmoth and the “Chano”, our main informant throughout the coast239. Father Jemmoth helped us making the first contact with the population by introducing us with the Chano himself and local authorities (presidentes municipales). Chano made us familiar to all other informants, and allowed us accommodating in his house. Therefore, during the data collection we could stay within the communities, constantly accompanied, and without any problem of security. Our informant also gave us the opportunity to take part into diverse activities, as the vela we talk about through the text, local meetings, and cultural events in Pinotepa Nacional. In such context, we faced two further problems: a “disturbance” of information, and an “inclusion matter”. In the first case, while interviewing somebody, especially men, more people were constantly approaching trying to offer their contribution to the survey. Meaning that people were answering together to the questions, and limiting the organization of the information. Therefore, we had to repeat completely some interviews, in a second moment. Such problem increased when, pushed by friends, some informants started drinking while interviewed, making this process impossible to be carried out. Referring to women, the restriction was different and, while they participated actively to the survey (actually more than men did), many of them (especially young) produced some kind of “uncomfortable” situations, by calling their friends in order to see the gringo240. That fact means interrupting interviewing. Secondly, while we participated into local events, people preferred enjoying the occasion, not answering to the survey. In such circumstances, it was practically impossible to collect any kind of data, with the exclusion of cultural traditions, as dances, music, and the local use of “making verses”241.

239 Chano is the responsible for the “Association for the Divulgation of Black Culture of the Costa Chica” (Asociación para la Divulgación de la Cultura Negra de la Costa Chica) at the Pinotepa Nacional Municipality. He also is a very well known and respected person within the Costa, so we had full access to local schools, shops, and houses of people. 240 As we said through the text, gringo is a local word for identifying North Americans or, sometimes, Europeans. Moreover, young black girls of the area are always flirting with strangers, creating eventually embarrassing situations, by proposing some company or similar. 241 See note n.148.

312 b. Technical Limitations Instruments of analysis we used in order to collect data were eight242: 7 “Settlements’ Location and Characterization” guides, 7 “Semi-structured Interview” guides, 3 Discussion groups, 15 “Histories of life” guides (applied to over 60 years old population), 35 valid “Household Questionnaires”, 220 valid “Opinion Questionnaires” (100 for men, 120 for women), 220 valid “Lexicon Questionnaires” (applied at the same time with the Opinion Questionnaire), and two “Colorimeters”, for men and women. As concerns to “Location and Characterization” guides, we had no problems, since once in the area we moved through the Costa Chica thanks to Chano who was constantly with us. That means easily locating communities and institutions. Second, referring to “Semi-structured interviews” they were also easy to obtain, since, while being in a community, our main informant introduced us with the mayors who, most of the time were available and opened to make the interview instantly. Third, about “Discussion groups”, they have been organized fully by part of local authorities who contacted with people, asking conceiding us some time to discuss some topics about problems of communities. Many people didn’t come, because they were not confidant (many politicians come and promise the betterment of services, without doing it) about what we were eventually asking. Despite it we could discuss with people who offered us enough valid information about the topics we analyzed. Fourtly, for obtaining the information related with “Histories of life” we had to access to people houses. In this occasion, relatives of elderlies were sometimes reluctant to let us get in, since they didn’t have any perception of why we were asking for their parents or grandparents. Through Chano’s friendship, we made it easier and we could contact with people. In this case, it was not possible to recorder the information, since people argued it was “for security”. Instead, we were allowed to write down the answers. Fifth, many problems were found at the time of applying Household and Opinion Questionnaires. In the first case, people didn’t want to show completely their conditions so, only 35 households have been correctly able to be surveyed. Despite of that, municipalities confirmed the severe lack of services in the houses, corresponding with drainage, piped-water, electricity and construction materials. In the second, local

242 In addition we made 15 in-depth interviews only to women. Such kind of interviews wasn’t comtemplated during the organizational phase of the research, but during our visit at the communities, it was very spontaneous talking with some women about the topics. Depending on that, doesn’t exist any format aimed at registering the information. We made it in loco, only “discussing and writing”. 313 authorities “asked” us to be useful for the population, through employing somebody for the work of collection. Indeed, municipalities “suggested” us to “employ” young students or unemployed young people (we successively trained) for collecting data. In this case, many incongruences were found at the time of organizing results, especially referring to incomes, and labour activities. In this cases, people preferred not saying how much they earned or what they were doing (been unemployed) for a living. In addition, referring to the recorders’ registration young contributors not always could make it easily. As a “fall-back”, we could obtain the information written, with all limitations it represents. Despite these problems we obtained a valid information (correctly reported) for an amount of 220 questionnaires, 100 of them thanks to the contribution of men, 120 by women’, corresponding to more than 80% we expected243. The same process corresponds to the “Lexicon Questionnaire”, whose information was obtained together with the “Opinion Questionnaire”’s. Finally, the “Colorimeter” was the easiest instrument to apply and the most interesting one. Indeed, at the time of choosing the phenotype, people seemed really questioning their physical aspect, so they showed us their hair, nose or skin, not being missed jokes about the “blacks’ body” or “females qualities”. In this case, we found no problem in asking people reporting the corresponding phenotype. Next pages show the whole instruments in accordance with the analytic exposition of them: Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide, Semi-structured interview guide (presidentes municipales), Discussion group (population between 15- 25, 26-60), History of life guide (male and female elderly population – 60 or more years old people), Household Questionnaire (households characterization), Opinion Questionnaire (Afro-Mexicans’ profile), Lexicon questionnaire (social representations for Afro-Mexicans), Colorimeters (men and women).

243 Original plan we made supposed the presence of 250 questionnaires, distributed between seven communities. 220 valid formats correspond exactly to 88% of the whole information we wanted to be collected.

314 Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide

Name: ______Municipality: ______Postal code: ______Number of inhabitants: ______

1. Urban infrastructure yes (1)-no (2) Water…………………………………………………..………………………...……….. Drainage…………………………………………………………………………………... Electricity…………………………………………………………………………………. Public telephones…………………………………………………………………………. Transport……………………………………………………………………………….…. Roads…………………………………………………………………………..…………. Asphalt…………………………………………………………………………………….. Dirt……………………………………………………………………………….………..

2. General structure Material Resources Human Resources

a. Educative

Schools: Administrative Staff primary schools Educators secondary schools Teachers bachelor Other (specify) ______Nursery

Adult Literacy centers

Other (specify) ______

Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)

315 b. Health Public Clinics (hospitals or similar) Nuerses Private Clinics Doctors (if present: how much)

Other (specify) ______branch ______Criterion: yes (1)-no (2) c. Cultural

Cultural center or similar Administrative Staff sport club Trainers sport-organized areas Supervisors Other (specify) ______Other (specify) ______Criterion: yes (1)-no (2) d. Public Security

Police station cops Public Ministry subsidiary office judicial officers Law office lawyers Other (specify) ______Other (specify) ______Criterion: yes (1)-no (2) e. Religious Church (s) or similar Priests Areas for other rituals (specify) Ministers ______Shamans Other (specify) ______“magic men” Other (specify) ______

Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)

3. Local enterprises or commercial / “leisure time” activities yes (1)-no (2) Pharmacies……………………………………………………………………………….. Libraries………………………………………………………………………………….. Bookshops…………………………………………………………………………..…… Cultural centers……………………………………………………………………….….. Malls or similar (specify)…………………………………………………………….…... Markets…………………………………………………………………………………… Cinemas………………………………………………………………………………….. Parks…………………………………………………………………………………….. Sport centers……………………………………………………..…………..…….……. 316 Hairdressing…………………………………………………………………………….… Theaters……………………………………………………………………………...…… Other (specify)……………………………………………………………………………

4. Local organizations politic: politicians comm.: social workers cultural: community leaders multicultural: nurses religious: doctors labor: engineers promoters for community social: development experts for environmental ONGs: development Gub. Org. Other (specify) ______

Other (specify) ______Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)

317 Semi-Structured Interview Guide (presidentes municipales)

Name ______Organization/Institution ______

The following information is aimed at analyzing three core points of the negotiation identity process for black community of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica: the knowledge about the needs of black settlements of the area, by part of local authorities; the presence of specific institutions or organization that work for the improvement settlers conditions (with their relatives programs); and the effects that those programs had (or are still having) in the mentioned task.

▬ Because of the lack of job, social, education or health (among others) services, basic urban structures, and the outmigration phenomenon, the most part of the black settlements of the area are suffering a profound process of identity loss. Moreover they can’t be integrated in economic activities and cannot get any political recognition of their presence and needs. This fact results both in a complete exclusion of those community from any opportunity to improve their daily conditions, and in a lack of chances to obtain some special minority rights.

Knowledge about the problem In your organization-institution, is the “black problem” known? Exist any special program directed to the improvement of black community life conditions? Or, maybe, exist any institutional area connected with any other local NGO (or Governmental institution) that takes care of it?

Did you receive any proposals by part of local organizations or community leaders about any specific need they would resolve within their settlements? Could you bring some example of it? How is your relationship with black communities of the area? Do you know them? Do the people who live in the communities know you? Did you (or some your substitute) ever been there?

318 Institutional actions Did your municipality organize programs for the integration of black people in the work market, propose any cultural festival to get black culture known in others areas of Oaxaca (and, more in general, in Mexico), promote any education campaign (or anything else) within settlements directed to better attend the need of communities and so to improve life conditions of settlements?

In what field the municipality considers that it would be better to invest? Education, health, basic services, urban infrastructure, security? Why? In addition to municipality structure, exist any other institution that is interested in working for the bettering of the area? Which ones?

Relationship with Federal Government How is the relationship that your jurisdiction maintains with Federal Government? Did the Federal Government do something for black communities? What programs or activities did? Currently, what kind of relation maintains Federal Government with Oaxaca’s institutions? How works the municipality intervention within communities? That means, the municipality to which you take part has to ask for any found or the permission to use them, to the central Government? If yes: How many time takes this process? Did you ever receive any complaint by part of some leaders, for example about the lack of intervention, the not enough effectiveness of it, or the too large time to wait for receiving attention? What considered the municipality to do about that?

“Proposals” and perception of the problem For what concerns indigenous people, they have both a constitutional article that formally confirms their presence in the Mexican territory and an official recognition as a specific “Mexican race” in the INEGI census. Do you think that registering all black people that live in African settlements would be possible? Why? Do you think that could be a useful idea for recognition of black population of the State? And what do you think about generating specific minority rights for black Mexicans? That means, some special conditions for the presence of blacks in governmental institution, in schools, in education-health-or any else public center? What effects do you think this action could obtain?

319 According to your experience, depending on what is the situation of marginalization and exclusion that suffer this part of Oaxaca’s (and more in general, Mexican) population? Do you think that black communities life condition can be bettered in a short, medium or large term? Why?

What are the limits you perceive to their development? What restrictions do you consider the municipality has for better attend black communities? The programs that have been applied in the territory got any relevant result? Which one? According to your experience, do you consider to keep working for blacks communities or do you think that it is not worth? Why? What is the most relevant action that you consider those communities need for the improvement of their life conditions? According to your opinion, how could black community get more attention from Governmental institutions?

Would you like to add anything else?

Thank you for your cooperation!

320 Discussion group (population between 15-25, 26-60 years) Location______

The importance of defining blackness, especially for what concerns Afro-Mexican population of Oaxaca, represents one of the central aims of our study. Indeed, obtaining a clear perception of what people consider the color to be, and understanding the ways through which this idea works within socio-cultural dynamics of integration, marginalization and “mestizaje”, embody the objective of the following discussion. For the construction of that “discussion group guide”, have been defined different core points about which I would like to discuss with you. Among others, we will take into consideration the topics of identity; material and human resources; justice and security within the communities; the effect of migration on in-group organization-cohesion dynamic; the relationship with outside environment; settlers’ perception about communities needs.

Topic I: Identity There are many ways through which people can perceive themselves or through which they can be perceived by others. That perception contributes to define the identity of those individuals that belong to a certain socio-cultural environment. Especially for what concerns physical aesthetics and culture, people confuse the terms of Afro- descendent, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Mestizo or black, and tends to use them at the same conceptual level.

Self perception: How do you perceive yourself? It is very important for you to be defined as black or it is not really relevant? Why? What distinguish blacks from other cultural groups? Could you describe some relevant characteristics of black people? (physical aspect, cultural traditions, personality…) What are the best characteristics of black people you can highlight? What are the worst? Tolerance: Do you think that, in general, black people are tolerant? Would you accept any indigenous, Mestizo, white person as friend? Would you live with him/her? 321 Would you get married with one of them? Women-family relations (only for men): Do you think that is good if a woman decides working or study, or takes any decision about family administration or other thinks? Is it important that a women gets married? Why? If your wife/girlfriend has a good opportunity of work in another state of Mexican Republic (or foreign country), would you let her go? Would you go with her? Who gets the control in your family? Out-group relationships: What means for you to be recognized as black-Mexican, compared with other national cultural minorities (as indigenous people) and the “mixed” (Mestiza) civil society? Black and indigenous people are or not considered in different ways against State and institutions? What are, according to your opinion, the most relevant differences between blacks and indigenous? Do you think that blacks are better, worse or at the same level than indigenous population? Pro and contra of being black: Do you perceive any advantage (or disadvantage) of being black? What are the most relevant problems of being black, in Mexico? Do you feel that people discriminate you because of physical or/and cultural differences? How?

Topic II: Material and human resources (causes and possible solutions)

Education: Is there’s a school in your community? Where your children go to the school? Do you think that your children will have a better education than yours? (26-60) Do you consider that you have a better education than your parents? How is the school service (good, not very good…)? Did the community do any effort to increase school (or education service) conditions? Did you have any problem with school services? Health: 322 Does your community count with a health center? How many persons work in it? If you have any health problem, what do you do? Where is the closest pharmacy or health clinic? How much do you have to pay for the attention? Did the community do something to increase the conditions of the service? Did local Government do something to get a better service for the community? Urban infrastructure: All people in the settlement count with basic services (water, drainage, electricity, etc…), in their houses? About those services, what are the main problems for the community? There was any intervention by part of municipality or local Government? Transport and communications: What’s the most relevant problem that the community has about transport? How much time do you spend to go to your work, or to arrive at bigger neighborhoods? Exist any transport service to reach other communities or cities? Your community has any communication center in which you can realize national or international phone calls? There’s an internet center? How, normally do you get any news or political information? Free-time structures: Does your community have any recreational areas? What people, normally prefer to do in their free-time? Did the Government or local institution make something to increase the conditions of those areas?

Topic III: Violence and security

Violence and insecurity: As concerns to security, in your community, do you consider that you can feel safe when you walk through the community? Did you ever have any problem, as robbery, assault, or other kind of abuse? Did the State or local institutions (or Government) do something to solve the problem? If you have any problem with other persons, do you denounce the fact? Where you go to do it? 323 Have you ever been in the Police Station the resolve any controversy? In some occasion, have you had to give some money to get the police help? Where is the closest Police Station? Women-family relations (only for women): Which kind of relationship do you have with your husband/boyfriend? Can you decide working, studying or taking any other decision about family administration without consulting your man? Is it important for you getting married? If you don’t want to get married, could you have any problem by part of your family or boyfriend? If you have a good opportunity of work in another state of Mexican Republic (or foreign country), do you think you could get it easily (without problems by part of your family or husband/boyfriend)? Who gets the control in your family?

Topic IV: Migration

Work: One of the effect of marginalization of Oaxaca’s black communities is the national and international outmigration by part of settlers. The dynamic of marginalization imposes two different types of limiting processes: the loss of cultural traditions of Afro-Mexicans, and the breakdown of family ties. Did you ever had the need to migrate to another state of Mexican Republic (or to a foreign state), because of the lack of job? Somebody in your family did it or, currently is in another state (Mexican or foreign) to work? Family: According to your experience, do you think that outmigration contributes to the breakdown of family links? How much important is, for you, that your family stays together? What are the advantages of being all together, in your family? What are the disadvantages to be divided? Cultural continuity: Do you consider that outmigration affects the continuity of cultural traditions? Outmigration modifies or not community’s identity?

324 Topic V: Assessment of social and political organizations

Institutions: Which are the most relevant local political organizations in the Oaxaca’s territory? Did they help you to solve any problem? Is it easy to get in contact with them? In any local organization, did you ever give any money to be attended? In your community, exist(s) some (any) organization(s)? What kind of organization are (is)? Do you participate into it (or them)? Young population of your settlement participates in any organization? Institutions efficiency: Based on your experience, do you consider that is important to vote? Local organizations (social and political) are useful for black communities? They, generally do something to improve life conditions and quality of services in African communities of Costa Chica? Did you ever get any improvement thanks to municipality, State Government or another ONGs-governmental organization? Currently exist any social program aimed at improving Afro-Mexican communities conditions? Which one? Communitarian “decision making”: How do you take any decision about what is important to do in and for your community? Do you have any leader that help you to get in contact with social-political institutions? How do you elect them? What kind of intervention make your leaders? Did they get any improvement for the community? What role have women in the “decision making” of the community? Who normally decide, men or women? Why?

Topic VI: Worldview and problems perception

What are the most important things for you, in life? How do you thing that is the better way to get them? Do you think that, at short, medium or long term, black people will obtain more opportunities to escape the conditions of marginalization in which currently they are? 325 What are, depending on your own perception of the situation, the most relevant problems that black communities currently need to resolve? Have you some specific proposal to obtaining the betterment you look for? If you could ask something for the community, directly to an institution or a Governmental office, what would you ask for?

326 History of life guide

(male and female elderly population – 60 or more years old people)

Name ______Community ______

The objective of the following instrument of research is analyzing the historical trajectory of black communities, by studying the social, cultural, economic or political changes that settlements suffered during a seventy-ninety years time period. That will allow us to understand both the dynamics of change that characterized black settlement during the period we mentioned, and the intervention of local institutions (or State Government) in the settlements. For what concerns our discussion, I would like you to tell me some relevant elements of black community culture, by characterizing both the past and the present way of living of people that belong to your settlement. Specifically, I would like you to highlight traditions, family and out-group relationship, migration dynamic, concrete eventual improvement that you consider important for your community, and any other element you want to add. The topics we explore are seven: the mestizaje process, in-group relationships, relationship with institution and authorities, culture, past and current problems of communities, whishes and expectations for the future.

Mestizaje: The process of race-mixing has contributed not only to aesthetic changes of people, but also to the production of a variable number of syncretic traditions. Do you feel that exist any difference in physical aesthetics of black people in relation with the past? Could you describe me some dynamics of mixing? People, today are different? What’s different? How was being black in the past, and what do you think it means today? Why? Do you feel any difference? In what sense? For you, was important to be recognized as black, in the past? Or being recognized as “Afro-Mexican” resulted in any improvement of life opportunities for black people? Do you think that is it important for people, today, to be recognized as black? How do you perceive yourself? Black, Afro- Mexican, Afro-descendent…? Did you change some attitudes or way of life from the past to the present? Could you bring some example of it? Why?

327 In-group relationships: Do you think that people, today are united? There’s any difference, about cooperation and interest for the community (by part of the people) between the past and present? Some years ago, people were more integrated in their own communities? How? According to your opinion, why? Do you feel that, today, family links are different? Are stronger or weaker that before? People want to stay with the family or prefer to move to other places? From what it is dependent? Do you think that outmigration had negative effects on original traditions, family unity, communitarian dynamics, etc…?

Relationship with institution and authorities: How was the relationship that blacks had with institution and Government, in the past? Today is different? Do you consider that your community is more or less safe that before? Why? How was in the past? How is today? Culture: What are, depending on your own opinion, the most relevant changes that suffered black culture? What are the core factors that you think they contributed to the loss of cultural continuity within black communities?

Problems: What were the most relevant problems of the past, for black settlements? And today? What did local Government to resolve those problems, in the past? The municipality or Government, currently do something to increase life conditions of black communities? What kind of relations have settlers with police, institutions, organizations or any other politic organism of the area? Do you remember some intervention that any organization, institutions or any other else governmental (or not governmental) office did? Which one?

Whishes: Do you have some specific whishes for your community that you consider actually helpful for settlements of African descent?

Expectations: Do you think that, today, people have more, less or the same opportunity to reach a good job, to study and to get better life condition, than the past? Do you think that, in the future, next generations will have more, less, or the same opportunity to find a good job, to study, to reach better life condition than the present? Why?

Would you tell me any other experience you had or that was relevant for you? 328 Household Questionnaire (households’ characterization) Name ______Household identification: Age ______Gender _____

Street (if present, specify): ______

Number (if present, specify): ______

Postal code: (if present, specify): ______

Neighborhood (if present, specify): ______

Type of household

1. Detached house 6. Undefined site 2. Apartment in building 7. “Mobile home” 3. Household or room on the roof 8. Shelter or camp 4. Household or room in a neighborhood 9. Vacant or abandoned lot 5. Household or room in a private property 10. Slum

Household characterization

A. WALLS: By which material, is composed the most part of your house walls?

1. Waste material 7. Adobe (organic material) 2. Paperboard 8. Stone 3. Metal 9. Bricks, concrete 4. Reed, bamboo or palm material 10. Plastic 5. Soil material 11. No walls 6. Wood 12. Other (specify) ______

B. CEILING: By which material, is composed the most part of your house ceiling(s)?

1. Waste material 7. Adobe (organic material)

2. Paperboard 8. Stone 3. Metal 9. Bricks, concrete, tiles 4. Reed, bamboo or palm material 10. Plastic 5. Soil material 11. No ceilings 6. Wood 12. Other (specify) ______

C. FLOOR: What material D. NUMBER OF ROOMS: E. KITCHEN: This house composes yours house floor? How many rooms do you has a kitchen? use to sleep? number 1. Yes 2. No (go to F) 1. Soil material 2. Concrete How many rooms has this house? (count only kitchen, 3. “Mosaic” The room where you cook 4. Wood nor bathrooms or is also used for sleeping? Other (sp.) ______corridors)

1. Yes 2. No number

329

F. WATER AVAILABILITY: In your house, G. WATER FREQUENCY: How many days do you have…?: per week, do you get the water?

1. Piped water at home 1. Everyday 5. Once per week 2. Piped water outside the house 2. Every other day 6. Occasionally 3. Public piped water (or hydrant) 3. Twice per week 7. Do not get 4. Piped water that comes from another (go to H) house Do you get the water…? 5. No piped water (comes from a well, river, lake) 1. During all the day 2. Partially Other (sp.) ______

H. HEALTH SERVICE: The I. USE OF THE TOILETTE: L. DRAINAGE: This house house counts with: This service, is used only by counts with a drainage the persons who lives in the system to…? house? 1. Public pipes 1. Toilette 2. A cesspool 2. Cesspool 1. Yes 3. A river, lake or similar 3. None (go to L) 2. No 4. Has no drainage system

M. ELECTRICITY: This N. “FUEL”: What do O. PROPERTY: Is this house property of house, has electric you use for cooking? someone who lives here? lighting? 1. Yes: The house… a. Is being paid (payment in 1. Yes installments) 2. No 1. Gas b. It has been already paid 2. Wood Other (sp.) ______The street counts with 3. Coal electric lighting service? 4. Oil 2. No: The house is… 5. Electricity a. Rented c. Cared Other (sp.) b. Provided by smbdy d. Invaded 1. Yes ______Other (sp.) ______2. No P. HOUSEHOLD GOODS: In the house, there’s a…?: criterion for next Yes (1) – No (2)

Radio Washing machine Television Telephone DVD (or other formats) player Water heater Mixer (for cooking) Auto (or other transport) of your property Refrigerator Other (sp.) ______

Q. PEOPLE: R. WORK: How many people, who live here, work?

How many people live here, including So, all people working share the same meal expense? yourself, children and elderly? 1. Yes 2. No: Who, normally, pays for the food? ______

330 Opinion Questionnaire (Afro-Mexicans’ profile)

Name ______Community: ______Gender: M F Age: ______

Work and employment

A. ACTIVITY CONDITION: B. ACT. COND. (VERIFICATION): C. POSITION: At this moment, do (are) Normally, do you…? What’s your you…? (in any case pass to position in the B) job? 1. Help in a family-shop 2. Sell some product 1. Employee 1. Work 3. Make some product to sell 2. Pawm 2. Looking for a job 4. Help in the field work (or with 3. Day-laborer 3. Study animals) 4. Self-empl. 4. Do any housework 5. Work in various activities (washing or 5. Unp. worker

5. Retired ironing other people’s clothes, car- 6. Have any physic or other caring,…) different problem because 6. Work in a office, school, local of it you can’t work enterprise, etc. 7. Not work Other (sp.) ______Other (sp.) ______

D. MEDICAL SERVICES: Do your job offers you any medical E. LABOR CONDITIONS: service in…? Depending on your job, do you receive…? 1. “Seguro Social” 2. ISSSTE Paid vacations

3. PEMEX Annual bonus 4. “Defensa Nacional o Marina” Retirement saving Other institution ______Illness-period payment 5. Have no access (go to E) Other (sp.) ______

Do you use that service? 1. Yes F. WORKED HOURS: Per week, how many hours do you 2. No (go to E) work?

During the last month, how many times did you use it?

NS (99) NC (98) NS (999) G. EARNED MONEY: Overall, how much do you earn? H. WORK LOCATION: Do you 1. Daily 2. Weekly 3. Every two weeks 4. Monthly work here (settlement) or in another village? 1. Here $ , 2. Other (sp.) ______NS (99,999) NC (99,998) Why? ______

331

I. OTHER INCOMES: Weekly (1), every two weeks (2), monthly (3), annually(4), variably (5)...do you receive some money as…?: yes (1)-no (2) How much? period Retirement , Help from some familiars who live in Mexico , Help from some familiars who live in foreign countries , Help from (a) public institution(s) , Which ones? ______Help from some local governmental organization? ,

Migration…ONGs , Scholarship , Other (sp.) ______,

A. RESIDENCE LOCATION: c. + no-yes: In some occasion, did you live a. Are you from here? in another place?

1. Yes 1. Yes: where? ______2. No: Where are you from? ______Why?

b. Do you live here? 1. I was looking for a job 2. I went to meet my family 1. Yes: You live here because of…?: (go to c) 3. I’ve changed my job 4. My workplace changed 1. Family (or friends) presence 5. I started to study 2. Job 6. I married 3. Origins 7. Health reasons Other (sp.) ______8. …violence or insecurity 9. Natural calamities 2. No: Where do you live? ______10. I got a property (go to B)

If yes-no: Why did you stop living here? or 2. No: Why?: (go to 2.a and then E, I) Why don’t you live here?: 1. I had no need to go 1. I was to look for a job 2. I like here 2. I went to meet my family 3. I’ve here my family 3. I’ve changed my job 4. Because of my friends 4. My workplace changed 5. Because of my husband 5. I started to study 6. Because of my family 6. I married 7. I work here 7. Health reasons 8. I work nearby here 8. …violence or insecurity Other (sp.) ______9. Natural calamities 10. I got a property 2.a: Would you like to go to another place Other (sp.) ______to live?

If no-no + no-yes: Why are you here? 1. Yes: Why? ______1. Visiting my family 3. Looking for job 2. No: Why? ______2. Visiting friends 4. I come to work Other (sp.) ______

332

B. MOBILITY: In how many C. MOBILITY DURING D. REASONS FOR MIGRATING: places did you live for more THE LAST YEAR: Why did you migrate the last than three months? During the last year to year? the date did you live in another municipality?

In the last 5 years, in how many places did you live? 1. I was looking for a job 1. Yes: 2. I went to meet my family

Where? 3. I’ve changed my job In the places in which you ______4. My workplace changed lived, have you got some 5. I started to study relatives or family 2. No (go to E) 6. I married members? 7. Health reasons 8. …violence or insecurity 9. Natural calamities 1. Yes 10. I got a property 2. No Other (sp.) ______

E. MIGRATION EFFECT PERCEPTION: If people go to another place to live, do you (or don’t you) think that…?: yes partially no it depends NS/NC The family falls apart (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) You can earn more money (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) You lose your costumes (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) You lose your culture (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Community can be richer (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) People start to change their traditions (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)

F. COMMUNITY CONTACT: Do you G. REASONS FOR CONTACT: Why do you keep in keep in touch with your original touch with your original community? community (or with the place where your parents were born)? 1. My family lives here 2. I have here a property (o a shop) 1. Yes 3. Friends 2. No (go to L) 4. My dead are buried here 5. Job H. When you can, do you help your 6. I have some obligations to resolve family living in the original 7. Festivals or traditional events community? 8. I like the place Other ______1. Yes 2. No (go to L)

I. How and how frequently do you help your family living in the original community? Once once once a week a month every six months a year variable With money (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) With food, clothes, medicines, some products to sell (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Working with them for a while (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Other (sp) ______(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

333

L. M. Where do you think you would Do you think you’ll keep living here, or you’ll move to another place? live?

Social1. Yes, networks I think I’ll keep living here 1. I’ll return to my own community 2. No, I think I’ll move to another place (go to M) 2. I think I’ll move to another city 3. I think I’ll live here only for a while (go to M) 3. I think I’ll go to a foreign country 4. NS Other 5. NC ______4. NS 5. NC

Social networks

A. RELATIONSHIPS: Do B. Could you tell me how is your relationship with…? you have some contact with people of other not so

settlement? good good bad NS NC

Your family (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 1. Yes: What settlements? People of your community (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ______People of other settlements (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Indigenous people (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 2. No (go to B) People of near cities (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

C. RELATIONSHIPS AND NEEDS: Who do you turn to,…? Family Family NS/NC Friends Nobody Nobody problems problems

(choosing max 4 opt.) settlement Other (sp.) Other Neightbors community community Nationalor Local politic Government Government Municipality international international organizations organizations organizations humanitarian Political Parties Political Parties Federal or Local I don't have these I don't have these Autorities of your Autoritiesyour of Autoritiesyour of The priest of The priest your

…if you need... to find a job (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99) some money (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99) …if you have some conflict…: with your family (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99) with somebody (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99) have an accident (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99) you feel sick (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)

…you want… to improve your place (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)

…in case of… a natural calamity (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)

Find a job Some money Conflict with family Conflict with somebody Have an accident Feel sick Improve your place Natural calamity

334 Life conditions

A. Nearby (or in) your community there’s (are)…?: Do you use them?

yes no other (sp.) NS yes sometimes no other (sp.) Schools: primary schools (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) secondary schools (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) bachelor (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Nursery (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Adult Literacy centers (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Public Clinics (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Private Clinics (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Cultural center/similar (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Sport club (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Sport-organized areas (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Police station (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Public Ministry subs. (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Law office (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Church (s) or similar (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8) Other rituals (sp.) (1) (2) (3) (8) (1) (2) (3) (8)

B. HEALTH CARE: In your family (or household), the C. Do you think that each member of children under 5 year are vaccinated? your community is treated the same

way, by health services? 1. Yes 2. No 1. Yes 3. There are no children (go to C) 2. No 4. Only some 3. Sometimes 8. NS/NC Did you have problems because of If children have diarrhea, do you give them some the lack of attention by part of medicinal serum? health services in the area?

1. Yes 1. Yes 2. No: What you use to cure them? 2. No ______3. Sometimes

Pregnant women are normally attended by a doctor? Do you know somebody that had problems because of the lack of Family1. Yes attention by part of health services 2. No in the area? 3. Sometimes 4. At the date, there were no pregnant women 1. Yes 2. No

Family A. COOPERATION: Is important family to increase life conditions? Yes (1) No (2)

Normally, family members cooperate each other? Yes (1) No (2) How? ______335 B. If you could choose a person to marry, how much would you prefer…?:

very much somewhat completely not NS/NC A member of your community (1) (2) (3) (8) …of a black community (1) (2) (3) (8) A person who’s not indigenous (1) (2) (3) (8) A foreign person (1) (2) (3) (8) The person that I fell in love (1) (2) (3) (8) Other (sp.) ______

Only women: Do you have the permission of your husband for…? Only men: Has your wife to have your permission for…?

Yes sometimes no NC Choosing a job (1) (2) (3) (9) Visiting her family (1) (2) (3) (9) Buying something for the house (1) (2) (3) (9) Going to work (1) (2) (3) (9) Using any contraceptive (1) (2) (3) (9) Buying some property (1) (2) (3) (9) Choosing where living (1) (2) (3) (9) Opening a bank account (1) (2) (3) (9) Deciding the school for children (1) (2) (3) (9) Participating in any organization (1) (2) (3) (9) Choosing the name for children (1) (2) (3) (9) Voting any politic party (1) (2) (3) (9) If yes: why?______

Education A. Do you think you have more or less knowledge B. Did you study more or less than than you parents? your parents?

1. More 3. more/less on some things 8. NS 1. More 3. the same

2. Less 4. the same 2. Less 8. NS

C. Do you think that, in your community, the most D. In some occasion, did you have any part of people can go to the school? problem with the school because of your…? 1. Yes, they all can 2. Only some people can 1. Religion 3. No, nobody (or almost nobody) can 2. Color Other ______3. Money (you couldn’t pay it) 8. NS 4. Work (I had to work) 5. I’ve never been at school 6. Other reasons ______E. How much true is the affirmation that “…is not good spending too much money for the education of girls because then they get married; it better to spend for the education of boys”.

Completely true (1) partially true (2) partially false (3) false (4) NS/NC (8) Other ______

336 Economy

A. PERCEPTION: The economic situation of your family, C. Do you feel that, for a job, do is better or worse than a year ago? you receive more, less or the same money than a not-black-

1. Better skinned person? Why?: ______1. Blacks are less payed 2. Blacks are more payed 2. Worse 3. Blacks are payed the same Why?: than other person ______4. It depends on: ______3. The same (good) ______4. The same (bad) 8. NS Other (sp.) ______9. NC

B. Do you consider that, black people, in Mexico, have D. Did you have to offer some the same opportunity to get a job to a(n)…? money to…? yes no NC Yes partially not NS NC Obtain a job (1) (2) (9) the same the same the same Finish your j. (1) (2) (9) Mestizo (1) (2) (3) (8) (9) Maintain j. (1) (2) (9) Indigenous (1) (2) (3) (8) (9) Other ______White (creole) (1) (2) (3) (8) (9)

E. What did you do (or your family) to increase your economic situation? partially yes no (tried to) sometimes NC Sold out your property(-ies) (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Worked in other st. of M.R. (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Worked in USA (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Your children got a job (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Worked in a local organization (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Sold some handcrafts (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Other (sp.) ______

F. Taking into account…(option),…do you think that you live better, worse or in the same way than people who live in bigger settlements? it in both places: better worse depends good bad NS NC Economy (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Security (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Education (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Health (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Justice (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Households (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Environment (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9)

Could you tell me why do you think so? ______

337 Trust

A. “IN-TRUST” LEVEL: How much do you trust…? very much little nothing it depends NC Indigenous people (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) People of your community (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Black people from other comm. (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Leaders of your settlement (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Federal Government (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Priests or religious authorities (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Political parties (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Teacher (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Mass-media (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Municipal Government (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Police or “order-authorities” (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Development local organizations (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Your village authorities (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)

Free time two to A. During your free time, how often do you once a three every sometimes never NS NC use to? week time a day week Go to the cinema (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Play sport (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Go to buy something (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Go to the “cantina” (bar) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) …hairdressing (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) …poolroom (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) …“lucha libre” (wrestling) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Play cards (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Dance (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Carve some hand-craft works (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Go to festivals, public demonstrations (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Family reunions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Study any course (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Go to the church or some religious activities (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Go to politic reunions (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Do housework (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Study (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) Help your child (children) making their (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (8) (9) homework

Identity and cultural change

A. IDENTITY PERCEPTION: How do you define yourself? B. How proud do you feel of being …(chosen option)? 1. Mulato 5. Afro-Mexican 2. Black 6. Black-Mexican 1. Very much 3. Mestizo 7. Afro-descendent 2. Much 4. Afro-mestizo 8. Mexican 3. Little 4. No way Other ______5. It depends: ______

338 C. What are the advantages to be D. What are the disadvantages to be …(option)? …(option)? or: Please, tell me three good thinks to be… or: Please, tell me three bad thinks to be…

1. ______1. ______

2. ______2. ______

3. ______3. ______

(96) There’re no advantages (96) There’re no disadvantages (98) NS (98) NS (99) NC (99) NC

E. How do you feel the people treat G. Do you feel that you receive a different you? treatment than other persons, when you go to (with)…? 1. Good 2. In a normal way often sometimes never NC 3. So so look for a job (1) (2) (3) (9) 4. Not very good get some money (1) (2) (3) (9) 5. In a bad way make legal proc. (1) (2) (3) (9) Other (sp.)______any political party (1) (2) (3) (9) 9. NC

F. Do you feel a different treatment than H. What problems do you consider are the other persons when you go to a different most important, for black communities? community (or city)? (min.2)

1. Yes 1. ______2. No 3. Sometimes 2. ______4. It depends: ______3. ______9. NC

4. ______Which way? ______5. Have no problems 8. NS 9. NC I. Between the following persons, L. What person, within those, do you consider black? which one do you think is the most (two options) If… similar to you? yes no NS/NC Both parents are black (1) (2) (9) A B C D E F G H I His/her mother is black (1) (2) (9) His/her father is black (1) (2) (9) M. Do you consider that black His/her G.f. is black (1) (2) (9) people, in Mexico are…than other His/her G.m. is black (1) (2) (9) groups?: Born in black comm. (1) (2) (9) 1. Better Lives in. (1) (2) (9) 2. Good as others Follows black traditions (1) (2) (9) 3. Bad as others Is black-skinned (1) (2) (9) 4. Worse Has at least one African trait: Other (sp.) ______(hair, nose, etc…) (1) (2) (9) 8. NS 9. NC Other ______339 Participation Processes Participation processes A. ASSOCIATIONS: In what of those associations do you participate (or have participated)? I started yes sometimes but I gave up never NC Traders Association (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Politic Party (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Labor Union (syndicate) (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Religious association (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Any local black organization (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Cultural association: (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) to maintain traditions and customs Other (sp.)______

B. How do you participate in the following activities of your community?

I help… in the with with with any I don’t organization money work material in all help NC Religious events (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) Traditional recurrences (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) Community festivals (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) “Jaripeo” (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) Dances (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) Activities to increase conditions of buildings (school, or other) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9) Activities to increase the social environment (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (9)

C. In your settlement, how frequently E. How much, do your community has contact

people generate local organizations to with…? work together? only much sometimes never NS/NC 1. Often local authorities (1) (2) (3) (9) municipality (1) (2) (3) (9) 2. Only when it’s necessary 4. Never 3. Very little 9. NC “help-org. (1) (2) (3) (9) Other (sp.) ______political parties (1) (2) (3) (9) Govern. auth. (1) (2) (3) (9) D. In your experience, when it’s ONGs (1) (2) (3) (9) National organiz. (1) (2) (3) (9) necessary working together for the benefit of the community…? Other institutions ______

1. people cooperate G. PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY: Do

2. people don’t cooperate you consider that people, in the community…?

3. …cooperate only because it’s required

4. …cooperate only if there’s some payoff 1. Are united and work for the comm. 9. NC 2. Only some work for the comm.. Other (sp.) ______3. There’s no union 4. Nobody works for the comm.

F. Authorities develop some activities for 5. Work only if paid black communities? Other ______1. Yes 3. Sometimes 8. NS 2. No 4. Never did it 9. NC

340

H. Can you tell me, please, what are the I. Do you think that the marginalization of most serious problems in your community? black communities depends on…

(3 opt. acc.) yes no NS/NC

1. Health - People don’t work (1) (2) (9) 2. Household - Government is not good (1) (2) (9) - People don’t change (1) (2) (9) 3. Lack of job 4. Nutrition - Nobody helps them (1) (2) (9) 5. Education - There’s no org. (1) (2) (9) 6. Services - By part of the State (water, electricity,…) there’s no interest in it (1) (2) (9) - People take advantage 7. Insecurity and violence Other ______of blacks (1) (2) (9) Other ______Other ______Other ______8. NS 9. NC L. If authorities don’t resolve the problem of M. To take a decision, in your community, in general do you…? community, how much participate…? yes no NS/NC only NS a lot a little s.times never NC - organize marches (or blocks) (1) (2) (9) - Go to the mass media (1) (2) (9) Young (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Adults (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) - Go to the authorities (1) (2) (9) - Go with a political party (1) (2) (9) Leaders (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) - Try to organize yourselves (1) (2) (9) Elderly (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) - Go with other organizations (1) (2) (9) Women (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) - Prefer let it go (1) (2) (9) Shamans (1) (2) (3) (4) (9) Other ______Other person ______

Political culture Justice perceptions

A. How do you elect your leader? A. Do you have any of those documents?

1. We consult the elderly yes no NS/NC 2. We consult only the most Birth certificate (1) (2) (9) important persons of the comm.: Marriage certificate (1) (2) (9) (if he/she is married) Who are they? ______3. We take a vote among all Voter document (1) (2) (9) 4. Some authority decides (if older than 18) 5. We have no leader Military service card (1) (2) (9) 9. NC Immunization record Other ______card (1) (2) (9) B. What political party do you prefer? B. Black people have to abide to their own costumes and tradition, or to the Mexican 1. The party that prefers the most part Constitution? of my community 2. It’s a different one 1. Only traditional habitus 5. None 3. I have no interest in political parties 2. Constitution 8. NS Other 3. It depends 9. NC ______4. Both 9. NS/NC Other ______341 C. How much violence or E. You (or your family) suffered any crime, this delinquency are present in your year? community? 1. Yes: What crime? (go to E-1) if yes 1. A lot 1. Robbery with physical violence 2. A little 2. Robbery with a weapon 3. There’s no delinquency 3. Assault and battery Other ______4. Abuse of authority 8. NS 9. NC 5. Threats D. Can you count with the police 6. Fraud intervention to regulate it? 7. Homicide 8. Abuse of trust

1. Yes 9. Damages to the private property 2. Sometimes 10. Sexual violation 11. Kidnapping 3. Only if you give them some money Other 4. Normally not ______5. Never 6. There’ no police here 2. No Other ______8. NS 9. NC

F. Is it worth reporting a crime? E-1. Did you make a complaint to the police?

1. Yes 1. Yes: Police resolved your problem?: 1. Yes 2. No 2. No 9. NC 2. No: Why? ______

Perceptions about life

G. If police doesn’t punish guilties, do A. Do you think that it’s worse…? (2 options) you think that people can (or cannot) take justice into their own hand? 1 Being poor 1 Yes 2. Having no education 2. Sometimes 3. Suffering authority abuse 3. Partially 4. Getting no justice 4. It depends 5. Being rejected by your own family 5. No Other ______Other ______8. NS 8. NS 9. NC 9. NC

B. Do you think that, in the future, you children will have C. Could you tell me the more or less opportunity for…? three most important More less he same NS things, for you, in life? 1. Getting a job (1) (2) (3) (8) 2. Being better educ. (1) (2) (3) (8) 1. ______3. Save money (1) (2) (3) (8) ______4. Living in less 2. ______marginality conditions (1) (2) (3) (8) ______5. Being more integrated 3. ______into civil society (1) (2) (3) (8) ______Other ______342

D. Who’s the first responsible for the E. In relation to other cultural groups of the area development of black communities? (indigenous), do you think that blacks live in…?

1. The Government 1. The same life conditions 2. The settlers 2. In better life conditions 3. Both 3. In worse life conditions 4. None of the previous 8. NS Other ______9. NC Other______

Mass-Media

A. How often do you…? B. Thanks to which mass-media, Every day sometimes never NC normally, do you get information Watch TV (1) (2) (3) (9) about Mexico? Read newspapers (1) (2) (3) (9) Listen to the radio (1) (2) (3) (9) Use computer (1) (2) (3) (9) 1. Television 2. Newspapers C. What’s the name of the “Presidente Municipal” 3. Radio (“mayor”) of your municipality? (…) 4. Computer answ.: ______5. “Rumors” 1. Correct 6. I’m not interested in it 2. Wrong

Institutional intervention

A. In your acknowledgment, local government (or B. Did some government institutions municipality) has undertaken any specific program offer you any “special right” directed to the promotion of black culture at local- directed to better attending the national level, or aimed at increasing life needs of black communities? conditions of communities? 1. Yes: which one? ______1. Yes: What type of program is (was) it? 2. No ______Had it any positive result? b.1. Do you consider that having

1. Yes: In what fields…? any special right would be helpful 1. Education for the recognition of Mexican black 2. Health culture? 3. Organization 4. Economy 1. Yes

5. Political presence 2. No Other ______C. If you could ask for any measure

of improvement to governmental 2. No institutions, what would you ask

for? 2. Sometimes loc. Gov. does something but all efforts have no (or not positive) results 1. ______3. No, it never did. 2. ______3. ______4. ______Thank you very much for your cooperation! 343 Lexicon Questionnaire (social representations for Afro-Mexicans)

Community ______Name ______Age ______Gender ______

1. What words do you associate with the idea of race? (say three words in ascending way, from the most important one, for you, to the less) a. ______b. ______c. ______

2. Could you tell me, with what expression do you associate the word Afro-descendent? Is a person who… …has African parents …has at least one of his/her parents that comes from Africa …is black-skinned …has any African origin, without importing color of his/her skin …has African origin, and also shows physical and cultural African characteristics: (hair, nose, skin color, traditions, etc.) …NS …NC

3. Could you tell me, with what expression do you associate the word Afro-Mexican? I associate it with… …a black-Mexican …an African with Mexican origins …an African who was born in Mexico …an African-origin person but who has a Mexican culture …an African-origin Mexican that has mixed tradition …NS …NC

344 4. Please, would you tell me three words that you think they characterize the idea of negro (black)? (put the words in the person’s preference order – how his/she says them) a. ______b. ______c. ______NS NC

5. Between the following words, would you please choose the three ones which you consider they better describe a black person? (in order of preference) a. Work f. Music NS b. Pride g. Happiness NC c. Intelligence h. Beauty d. Poverty i. Discrimination e. Customs – traditions

6. For you, how much pleasant (or unpleasant) are: blacks Mestizos indigenous Very nice Pretty nice Nice Nor pleasant, or unpleasant Unpleasant Pretty unpleasant Very unpleasant NS NC

7. Tell me please three thinks with which you identify a Mestizo. ______; ______; ______

8. Tell me please three thinks with which you identify an indigenous. ______; ______; ______

345 9. What means marginalization? (chose three options in order of importance) a. Poverty b. Not be recognized by others c. Be recognized but not appreciated d. Be excluded e. Do not have the same opportunities then others f. Suffer any kind of prejudice g. Have not the same importance than others NS NC

10. Could you tell me three words associated with the idea of poverty? a. ______b. ______c. ______

11. What are the words that, according to your opinion, better describe you? (order the words from the most to the less significant)

Afro-Mexican Afro-descendent Mexican Mestizo Black Afro-mestizo

12. What means “being mexican” (choose three options) a. having the same rights than other people that live in Mexico b. respecting the Constitution c. being respected by part of all (including State and Institutions) d. being recognized as citizens e. having access to all services that the State offer f. being born in Mexico

346 Colorimeter (men)

347 Colorimeter (women)

348