Contesting Social Memories and Identities in the Zapotec Sierra of Oaxaca, Mexico
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Contesting Social Memories and Identities in the Zapotec Sierra of Oaxaca, Mexico Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Aquino-Centeno, Salvador Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 13:47:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195814 1 CONTESTING SOCIAL MEMORIES AND IDENTITIES IN THE ZAPOTEC SIERRA OF OAXACA, MEXICO by Salvador Aquino-Centeno _____________________ Copyright © Salvador Aquino-Centeno 2009 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2009 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Salvador Aquino-Centeno entitled Contesting social memories and identies in the Zapotec Sierra of Oaxaca, Mexico and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy __________________________________________________ Date: April 24th, 2009 Dr. Linda Green __________________________________________________ Date: April 24th, 2009 Dr. James Greenberg __________________________________________________ Date: April 24th, 2009 Dr. Ana Maria Alonso __________________________________________________Date: April 24th, 2009 Dr. Norma Mendoza Denton __________________________________________________ Date: April 24th, 2009 Dr. Susan Philips Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. __________________________________________________ Date: April 24th, 2009 Dissertation Director: Ana Maria Alonso 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Salvador Aquino-Centeno 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank all members of my dissertation committee. First, I want to thank Dr. Ana Maria Alonso, my dissertation advisor, who provided invaluable comments and suggestions. She also guided me in exploring important topics and theoretical problems during my graduate studies. I also want to thank to Drs. Susan Philips, Linda Green, James Greenberg and Norma Mendoza- Denton for their help during my time in the Department of Anthropology and for their help in the completion of this thesis. Financial support for my graduate studies came from various institutions, both in Mexico and the United States, including CONACYT, the National Council for Science and Technology of Mexico, CIESAS, the Research Center for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology, the United States Institute of International Education, the Wenner Gren Foundation, and the Department of Anthropology. Also, I want to thank the support of many colleagues at CIESAS, especially Dr. Teresa Rojas Rabiela, as well as Dr. Rafael Loyola Diaz, former directors of CIESAS. I also appreciate the support of colleagues such as Dr. Margarita Dalton, Dr. Paola Sesia, Dr, Salomon Nahmad as well as the support of current the director of CIESAS Dr. Virginia Garcia Acosta. I appreciate the support of my colleagues and members of the staff, especially of Bernarda Leyva at CIESAS Pacifico Sur. While I lived in Tucson I had the opportunity to meet many valuable people. I am grateful to my friend Roberto Mendoza-Farias who provided friendly support while I and my family lived in Tucson. I appreciate the friendship of Gillian Newell who patiently read my drafts and provided feedback. I am grateful to many people from the Sierra Juarez, with many of whom I have discussed this thesis, such as Jaime Luna, Carlos Martinez, and friends from Guelatao and Capulalpam. I am grateful to the Committee of Communal Lands of Capulalpam, Antonio Cosmes Hernandez , Francisco Garcia Lopez, Heber Perez Cosmes and Felipe luna Lopez and comuneros and comuneras of the community of Capulalpam. I am deeply thankful to my wife Mayra Adriana Luna Mendez, my daughters Monica Priscila and Mayra, and my son Adrian for their understanding and support. 5 DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to the memory of my father and mother, who were a family of miners in the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, Mexico. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......................................................................................... 5 TABLE OF FIGURES .............................................................................. 9 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 13 Statement of problem........................................................................ 15 Objectives of this study ..................................................................... 16 Methodology and Data Collection ...................................................... 16 The site of ethnography .................................................................... 22 Organization of the work ................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 32 The Zapotecos within the realm of “Little community” studies .......... 38 Zapotecos and the politics of assimilation, mestizaje, and indigenismo ........................................................................................................ 46 Globalization, indigenous community and labor exploitation ............. 48 Language ideologies, nationalism, Zapotecness ................................. 49 Agency among Zapotecos .................................................................. 51 Identity in historical memory ............................................................ 53 CHAPTER 3: PATTERNS OF ZAPOTECNESS FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION ............................................................................. 60 General history ................................................................................. 60 Sixteenth Century colonial construction of Zapotecness .................... 61 Nineteenth century liberal state formation in the Zapotec Sierra ....... 64 7 20th century post revolutionary state formation ................................. 67 Zapotecs into larger process of culture and power ............................. 68 The impact of the conquest: 16th Century colonial formation of Zapotec identity ............................................................................................. 70 The colonial cabildo among the Zapotecs .......................................... 73 Zapotecs within colonial webs of exploitation .................................... 80 The Zapotecs during the Porfiriato, Revolution and post revolutionary Mexico .............................................................................................. 84 The Zapotecs and liberal laws ........................................................... 98 CHAPTER 4: THE ZAPOTEC PUEBLOS OF THE RIO GRANDE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ...................................................................... 103 Institutionalization of the Zapotec pueblos of the Rio Grande .......... 103 Zapotecs´ social memory of the Revolution ...................................... 106 Schooling and community in the Zapotec Sierra.............................. 108 Shaping social memories in the Sierra ............................................ 111 The agrarian community: legalization of communal identity ............ 118 CHAPTER 5: “QUEREMOS NUESTRA AGUA, EL ORO QUE SE QUEDE ALLI”. “WE WANT OUR WATER. GOLD MUST REMAIN DOWN THERE.” ZAPOTEC SENSES OF CULTURE AND POWER IN GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS ................................................................................... 128 Labor and community in the Northern Zapotec Sierra of Oaxaca ..... 131 Patterns of community work and reproduction of labor in Capulalpam ...................................................................................................... 134 Water and identity in Capulalpam................................................... 149 Mining and senses of rupture with the past .................................... 152 8 Contested collectivity in the sierra Zapoteca .................................... 156 The roles of the elders in the local struggle for resources ................. 160 Contesting labor exploitation .......................................................... 163 Reconstructing historical knowledge ............................................... 170 Contested maps and geographies ...................................................