In the Wake of Insurgency: Testimony and the Politics of Memory and Silence in Oaxaca by Bruno E. Renero-Hannan A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology and History) in the University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee Professor Ruth Behar, Co-Chair Associate Professor Sueann Caulfield, Co-Chair Professor Paul C. Johnson Professor Stuart Kirsch Professor Richard Turits, College of William and Mary Bruno E. Renero-Hannan [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1529-7946 © Bruno E. Renero-Hannan 2018 Para Elena, Louisa, y Amelia Y para Elvira ii Acknowledgements It takes a village, and I have gained many debts in the elaboration of this dissertation. At every step of the way I have benefited from guidance and support of family, friends, colleagues, teachers, and compas. To begin with, I would like to thank my advisors and the co-chairs of my dissertation committee. Ruth Behar helped me find the voices I was looking for, and a path. I am grateful for her generosity as a reader, story-listener, and mentor, as well as her example as a radical practitioner of ethnography and a gifted writer. I came to know Sueann Caulfield as an inspiring teacher of Latin American history, whose example of commitment to teaching and research I carry with me; as co-chair, she guided me through multiple drafts of this work, offering patient encouragement and shrewd feedback, and motivating me to complete it. Stuart Kirsch was a supportive advisor throughout my early years at Michigan and fieldwork, introducing me to social movement studies and helping to shape the focus of my research. Paul Johnson welcomed me into the Anthro-History Program and provided vital support at key moments, from the core seminar through the defense. I have consistently been amazed by his creative intellect and ability to cast light on entire color palettes in the works of others, whether canonical texts or workshop drafts, that were hidden even to its author. Richard Turits challenged my thinking about the history of revolutions and the left in Latin America, and introduced me to the vast world of Caribbean history and politics, encouraging me to write with precision and to think critically about language. I also thank Bruce Mannheim for graciously accepting an impromptu role in my defense, and for blowing my mind, time and again, with his erudition, unorthodox thinking and charm. I am thankful to each of them for making my dissertation defense a memorable and illuminating discussion of past and future paths for my work. iii At the University of Michigan, I am grateful to Rebecca Scott for serving on my prelim exam committee and instilling in me her passion for colonial history, as well as for her inspiring example of equal parts grace and rigor in research and in teaching. Thanks also to David Frye for sharing some of his sharp insight and vast knowledge about Mexico and Latin America. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan, I benefited from the guidance and support of faculty and staff members including Julie Skurski, Fernando Coronil, Alaina Lemon, Victoria Langland, Jean Hébrard, Kenneth Mills, Catherine Brown, Jesse Hoffnung-Garskoff, LaKisha Simmons, Farina Mir, Jennifer Robertson, Diana Denney, Laurie Marx, Kathleen King, Sue Douglas, Susan Kaiser, and Emma Flores, among others. I also remain indebted to my undergraduate mentors and teachers at the University of Texas at Austin, who inspired and encouraged me to pursue this path, particularly, Charles Hale, Shannon Speed, and Brian Stross. Thanks also to Nadya and Dan Clayton, André Ayala, Erin Hazel, Mary Agnew, Chris Lueck, and Craig Cravens. In Ann Arbor the companionship, warmth, and wisdom of many friends and compas have been indispensable: Chris Estrada, Shana Melnysyn, Ángela Pérez-Villa, Regev Nathansohn, Zehra Hashmi, Jennifer Bowles, and Federico Pous were always there for me when it mattered. I am deeply grateful to each of them, in addition to many years of friendship, for reading and commenting on drafts of my work and supporting me through the challenging final weeks of writing. The list of friends and compas who have accompanied and helped me throughout the years of this endeavor is too long, for which I am fortunate. Above all, I thank Alex Husted (Momo), Beth Gardner, Ben Shepard, Luciana Aenasoaie, Edgar-Jack Taylor, Davide Orsini, Cyrus O’Brien, Nicholas Q. Emlen, Vanessa Díaz, Bertrand Metton, Esteban Rozo, John Mathias, Cindy Milstein, Salman Hussain, Lily Ellis, Hedieh Alavi, Anna Wood, Alana Rodriguez, Laura Herbert, Richard Stahler-Sholk, Amelia Frank-Vitale, Martín Vega, Dan Nemser, Eduardo García, Ed Trager, Alejo Stark, Erica Pelta-Feldman, Richard Reinhardt, Georgia Ennis, Ximena Gomez, Joseph Viscomi, Katherine Fultz, Gabi Koch, Jane Lynch, Lamin Manneh, Razvan Iordache, and, of course, Anca iv Dobrinoiu. I am grateful to various collective spaces and their members for providing me with a sense of community and purpose during my time in Michigan, particularly, the Ethnography-as-Activism collective, the Michigan Solidarity Network with Mexico, Solidarity and Defense Huron Valley, and the Bad Cats. This work would not be possible without the hospitality and generosity of the oaxaqueñas and oaxaqueños (and oaxaqueñoas) in Oaxaca and San Agustín Loxicha who welcomed me into their lives, and who taught me so much about their lives, their struggles, their sense of dignity, and the significance of community. Above all, I wish to thank Álvaro Sebastián, Abraham García, Zacarías García, Agustín Luna, Fortino Enriquez who graciously shared their stories with me in Ixcotel and Etla prisons, and to other former prisoners from Loxicha who shared their stories with me elsewhere. In Loxicha I am especially grateful to two inspiring women who welcomed me to the pueblo and taught me most of what I know about Xiche culture and ‘reality,’ my comadre Teresa Ramírez and Minerva García. I am thankful to the Sebastián and García families, whose kitchen tables became schools and sanctuaries to me. I am also grateful to the municipal authorities (2011-2013) and parish authorities for opening their doors and archives to me and for facilitating several interviews and community visits. Special thanks to Delfino García for the stories and treasures, and to Lico, Tere, Chuy, Ángel, and Chilo for many joys and for our walk down to the rancho. Thanks also to Fidel Zurita, Salomé Sebastián, Macario Sánchez, Chucho, Miguel Almaraz, la Maestra Minerva Mendoza, my neighbors from Ciudad Neza, Alma and Juan, Radio La Tejonera, Porfirio Luna (“El Burro”), and everyone working at the comedor with doña Bety. I regret that I am incapable of naming all the other people in Loxicha who helped me in so many ways and shaped this project. In and around Oaxaca City I have been fortunate to have extraordinary friends, compas, and colleagues. I am especially grateful to Rita Jiménez (La Chata), Leonardo Vargas (mi compadre Tlahui), Isabela Matus, Adriana Luna, mis tías Tina Prado y Mary del Valle, Donaciana Antonio, Erika Sebastián, v Eric Bazán, Andrés Bianchetto, Noelia García, Gabriela Jiménez, La Chivis, Gustavo Esteva, Arturo Guerrero, Jaime Luna, Parastoo Mesri, Marcos Leyva, Juan Sosa, Sara Méndez, Alba Cruz, Isaac Torres, Juan Carlos Martínez, Ronald Waterbury, Miguel Angel Elorza, Felipe Martínez Soriano, and Marisol Ricardez and Araceli Ramírez. In Oaxaca I am also indebted to various collectives and organizations for welcoming and supporting me including Universidad de la Tierra Oaxaca, Unitierra Huitzo, La Voz de los Zapotecos Xiches en Prisión, Espacio por la Verdad y Justicia en Oaxaca, Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, Círculo Veredas Autónomas, Colectivo Barro Negro, and the many incarnations of Bésame Muxe. Israel Ochoa and Y’aha Sandoval, the longtime legal defenders of the Loxicha prisoners kindly granted me access to their personal archive and shared their insight. I regret not being able to include this material in the present thesis, but I look forward to incorporating it into later work. And special thanks to “Aureliano” and his family. In other corners of Mexico and the United States, I am grateful to Adela Cedillo, Laura Castellanos, Tita Radilla, María Luisa Rosal, John Gibler, Dawn Paley, Kristin Norget, Paul Eiss, Benjamin Smith, Michael Flaherty, Wendy Carter-Veale, and Lourdes Gutierrez. In Mexico City y entre la diáspora chilanga, a lifetime of thanks to Nilo, Buga, Buca, Ángel, Camus, Elenita, Diana, and Paola, my oldest friends. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Elena and Gabriel, for the sacrifices they have made so that I could find myself here. This thesis marks the culmination of a journey that begins with my own migration from Mexico to the United States, which are but the latest episodes in a sequence of trans-border lives and migrations undertaken by parents and grandparents (para no irnos lejos): from Oaxaca and Michoacán to the Valley of Mexico, from West Virginia and Colorado to a mining town in Chihuahua, from Mexico City to Texas, and many times back. I am also grateful to my sister, Louisa, for looking out for me, desde siempre, and for getting it. Thanks also to Juquilita, Beethoven, and other unpaid agitators. vi The research and writing of this thesis was generously funded by various institutions including the Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History, the Rackham Graduate School, the International Institute, the Center for the Education of Women, and the Sweetland Center for Writing at the University of Michigan. -*- vii Preface A Tale of Two Prison Visits The first time I stepped inside of Ixcotel prison—as the Central Penitentiary of the State of Oaxaca, on the outskirts of Oaxaca City, is commonly known—was in the context of a public, yet intentionally small, solidarity act with an indigenous activist and long-time political prisoner named Álvaro Sebastián Ramírez.