Legacy of mesoamerica exam 2- Transnationalism and mesoamerica

Transnationalism and Mesoamerica

The Traditional Milpa

The Milpa is the traditional agricultural plot

•  Multi-cropping focused around the “three sisters,” corn, beans and squash

•  Slash-and-burn agricultural plots fix nitrogen into the soil through ash

•  Fruit trees are grown in separate orchards

•  Usually located on the edge of the town/village

•  Still considered the basis for indigenous community membership (esp. in ejidos)

•  Under assault since the Colonial period

Responses to stress on traditional lifeways

A SPECTRUM OF RESPONSES TO STRESS

1. Wage labor—locally or through seasonal migration to coastal plantations

2. Petty commodity production

•  Many milpa farmers have turned to cash crops for sale in urban markets, rather than traditional subsistence crops

•  Vegetables, rambutan, organic coffee, flowers

•  Raising European honeybees, which produce at a larger volume than stingless bees

• Textile/souvenir production

3. Investment in transport—small trucks for produce and other goods

4. Migration—mostly to Mexico, the US, or Europe

5. Involvement in drug trafficking and organized crime

Plantation labour in the 21st century

The US and Canada increasingly demand fresh produce year-round; much is grown in Mesoamerica, much of it on the Pacific Coast

•  Bananas, Papaya, Chocolate, Tomatos, Peppers (coast)

• Strawberries, Coffee (highlands)

Multinational corporations continue to control many agricultural exports

• Low-paying and dangerous work

Increasing competition from Africa and Asia

•  “Race to the bottom” for low wages and poor safety conditions

However, if the plantations close, workers often migrate

Year-round produce for North American markets

The US and Canada increasingly demand fresh produce year-round; much is grown in Mesoamerica, much of it on the Pacific Coast

 Bananas, Papaya, Chocolate, Tomatos, Peppers (coast)

 Strawberries, Coffee (highlands)

Commodity export

Multinational corporations continue to control many agricultural exports

 Low-paying and dangerous work

Increasing competition from Africa and Asia

 “Race to the bottom” for low wages and poor safety conditions

However, if the plantations close, workers often migrate

Canadian mining companies in Latin America

Canadian mining companies own a substantial number of mines in Latin America—gold, silver, and other rare metals

•  Immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian companies controlled 75% of foreign mining-related investment in Mexico

Many of the mining activities cause significant environmental damage, particularly water pollution and soil contamination from tailings

Poor labor conditions, bribery of local officials

In some cases, local communities have been illegally evicted from their lands

Local resistance movements have protested the mines, particularly in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guatemala

Incidents of activists being murdered

Chamula and Zinacantan

CHAMULA AND ZINACANTAN

Due to their proximity to San Cristobal de las Casas, members of these communities have access to one of the largest urban markets in Chiapas

 Numerous greenhouses for hothouse flowers and vegetables

 Textile and souvenir production for the tourist market—in SCLC and now in Chiapa de Corzo and the Yucatan

 Trucks for long-distance transport of vegetables

 Wage labor—construction industry in Tuxtla and SCLC, Soconusco plantations

 Many young people have worked in the US as migrant labor— landscaping, agriculture, etc

Access to urban markets and the effect on local production

CHAMULA AND ZINACANTAN

Due to their proximity to San Cristobal de las Casas, members of these communities have access to one of the largest urban markets in Chiapas

 Numerous greenhouses for hothouse flowers and vegetables

 Textile and souvenir production for the tourist market—in SCLC and now in Chiapa de Corzo and the Yucatan

 Trucks for long-distance transport of vegetables

 Wage labor—construction industry in Tuxtla and SCLC, Soconusco plantations

 Many young people have worked in the US as migrant labor— landscaping, agriculture, etc

Textile production for the tourist market

Textiles are made using many different techniques:

 Backstrap loom/traditional brocade

 Sewing machine embroidery (introduced from the Yucatan)

 Hand-sewn embroidery

 Knitting/Crochet

Cottage industries

In textile production particularly, employers may supply raw materials and patterns, and pay for finished pieces

In Teotitlan de Valle, Mexico, some workers supply their own yarn, while others receive yarn from the merchants

Families who adopt early, may hire workers and train them

 Former employees often eventually set up their own shops or businesses, becoming competitors

In the case of souvenir shops, many small shopowners purchase goods from wholesalers

Souvenir shops

In the case of souvenir shops, many small shopowners purchase goods from wholesalers

Craft specialization for the tourist industry

In Oaxaca, Chiapas and Yucatan, many villages have specialized around production of a single craft, which then works with wholesalers, merchants, and tourist shops to distribute the product

 In some cases, an international market develops for the items

Pottery: Ticul, Yucatan; Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas; San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca

Alubrijes: Arranzola, Oaxaca

Textile rugs: Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

Hammocks: Tizimin, Yucatan

Rural-urban migration

Some Indigenous people in cities rent stalls in food markets or tourist markets

Many work in the “Informal Economy”

 Ambulatory vendors—snack food, bootleg DVDs, tourist souvenirs, shoe-shiners

 Often targeted by politicians and brick-and-mortar store owners

Fraccionamentos

 Government-funded or privately-owned housing projects in Mexico

 Developers buy former agricultural lands on the outskirts of the city

 Houses and lots are small and identical—no space for gardening or other traditional activities

 Leases are often incredibly predatory, targeting poor buyers with no credit

The Informal Economy and ambulatory vendors 

Many work in the “Informal Economy”

 Ambulatory vendors—snack food, bootleg DVDs, tourist souvenirs, shoe-shiners

 Often targeted by politicians and brick-and-mortar store owners

Fraccionamientos

Fraccionamentos

 Government-funded or privately-owned housing projects in Mexico

 Developers buy former agricultural lands on the outskirts of the city

 Houses and lots are small and identical—no space for gardening or other traditional activities

 Leases are often incredibly predatory, targeting poor buyers with no credit

Maquiladoras

Export manufacturing plants, often owned by multinational corporations in the US or Europe

Over 85% of the employees are women

Employees are often members of the urban poor

Jobs are “unskilled labor” and pay very low wages

Labor conditions are often abusive and owners take harsh measures to prevent labor unions

Multinational clothing production

Traditional markets (tianguiz)

Traditional markets (tinanguiz) are often held outdoors—in plazas or along roadsides

Continue traditions of pre-Hispanic markets in most Mesoamerican cultures

No roofs, temporary awnings, rows of vendors, often held weekly 

Municipal attempts to control marketplaces

• Mexican municipal officials consider enclosed marketplaces to be more sanitary and organized

• Establish permanent market buildings in all major cities

• Usually operate every day, rather than weekly

• Collection of rent for stalls from vendors

• Discouraging of open air markets and ambulatory vending through municipal laws and police harassment of vendors

Tourist souvenir markets

Vendors often make and sell craft items specifically for the tourist market

Within the last couple of decades, vendors have clashed with federal governments and archaeologists over rights to sell souvenirs at historic/archaeological sites

In other cases, the Mexican government has sponsored artisan cooperatives

Some souvenirs are purchased from wholesalers

TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION—EARLY HISTORY

Prior to the 1850s, much of the land that constitutes the western US was also claimed and colonized by Spain, then became part of Mexico after the Mexican Revolution

After the 1850s, some Mexicans stayed in the US, but others migrated to northern Mexico

During WWII, the US created the Bracero program, a series of legal and diplomatic agreements to import farmworkers from Mexico

• Due to labor shortages caused by the war

• Guaranteed housing and a minimum wage

•  In Texas, the program was banned for several years due to lynchings and racial discrimination

•  Paused in 1951, ended permanently in 1964

Appropriation of Mesoamerican textile designs

Intellectual Property Rights laws

Maya Fashion on the International Stage

Traditional textile designs

Transnational migration

Prior to the 1850s, much of the land that constitutes the western US was also claimed and colonized by Spain, then became part of Mexico after the Mexican Revolution

After the 1850s, some Mexicans stayed in the US, but others migrated to northern Mexico

During WWII, the US created the Bracero program, a series of legal and diplomatic agreements to import farmworkers from Mexico

• Due to labor shortages caused by the war

• Guaranteed housing and a minimum wage

•  In Texas, the program was banned for several years due to lynchings and racial discrimination

•  Paused in 1951, ended permanently in 1964

The Bracero Program

During WWII, the US created the Bracero program, a series of legal and diplomatic agreements to import farmworkers from Mexico

• Due to labor shortages caused by the war

• Guaranteed housing and a minimum wage

•  In Texas, the program was banned for several years due to lynchings and racial discrimination

•  Paused in 1951, ended permanently in 196

Factors in recent immigration

Currently, about 25% of immigrants are professionals, students, etc.

 Often looking for higher salaries, opportunities, etc.

The other 75% are mostly farmworkers and laborers

Immigration of farmworkers from Mexico and Central Mexico to the US increased substantially in the 1980s due to civil wars, particularly in Guatemala and El Salvador.

More recently, the Honduran coup, gang violence, and kidnappings in rural communities have also spurred migration

Refugees from Central America are more likely to want permanent immigration

Many farmworkers from Mexico work in the US for a period of years and send money back to their families, then return to take their place in their communities

Remittances

Migrant caravans and detention

In 2017 and 2018, several migrant caravans were organized by NGOs, traveling from the Guatemala-Mexico border, to the Mexico-US border

 Mostly spurred by the 2009 military coup in Honduras

 US refused to deny aid to Honduras, tacitly endorsing it

Most migrants who made it to the US border were detained

The Trump Administration established a policy where children were separated from their parents and imprisoned in detention centers, where many remain today

Adults were also detained, and often deported. Some women were illegally subjected to forced sterilization

The Undocumented Migration Project

THE RISKS OF BORDER CROSSING

The Undocumented Migration Project

 Dr. Jason De Leon—Anthropologist and archaeologist who documents the material culture of illegal border crossings

Ethnographic interviews with migrants, combined with material culture surveys along the border

US policy is to funnel migrants through the most dangerous border landscapes of the Arizona desert—some may be deterred, while others die through dehydration and exposure. If they make it, they may be arrested by the Border Patrol

Documenting the human cost of illegal immigration

The Migrant Worker experience in the US

Dr. Seth Holmes, anthropologist and medical doctor (UC Berkeley)

Medical ethnography about the experience of migrant workers from Oaxaca in US farmwork

Experience of race hierarchies within farm work, and also when seeking medical treatment

Cumulative stress on the body from plantation labor and living conditions

Trekked with a family from Oaxaca to the Mexico-US border and was jailed with them temporarily

Cumulative stress on the body

Cumulative stress on the body from plantation labor and living conditions

Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies- Dr. Seth Holmes

Dr. Seth Holmes, anthropologist and medical doctor (UC Berkeley)

Medical ethnography about the experience of migrant workers from Oaxaca in US farmwork

Experience of race hierarchies within farm work, and also when seeking medical treatment

Cumulative stress on the body from plantation labor and living conditions

Trekked with a family from Oaxaca to the Mexico-US border and was jailed with them temporarily

Exporting gang violence

US deportation policies have unintentionally spurred further asylum-seeking due to gang violence

Following the end of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran Civil Wars in the early/mid-90s, many gang members from LA and other large cities were deported from the US

Violent attacks, retribution killings, robbery, kidnappings, machete dismemberment, drug smuggling, human trafficking, etc.

Many remain loosely affiliated transnationally

Arms trafficking from the US to Mexico

Many Mesoamerican countries have incredibly high murder rates

A majority of guns in Mexico can be traced to the U.S.—combination of lax export rules and profit- seeking from US manufacturers

Legally, the Mexican army is the only entity allowed to sell guns in the country, either to private security firms, private citizens or to local police—so most firearms are purchased illegally

US buyers with clean records act as straw purchasers and smuggle them in parts across the border

Straw purchasers

US buyers with clean records act as straw purchasers and smuggle them (arms/weapons) in parts across the border

Project Gunrunner

PROJECT GUNRUNNER AND THE ATF SCANDAL

Project Gunrunner is a project of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico

The stated goal was to deprive the Mexican drug cartels of weapons

In 2011, a scandal erupted when it was exposed that the ATF was deliberately letting guns into the hands of the drug cartels in order to track the guns to the cartel leaders and arrest them

Led to few arrests, and only 710 out of 2000 arms were recovered

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

Project Gunrunner is a project of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico

The stated goal was to deprive the Mexican drug cartels of weapons

The ATF scandal

In 2011, a scandal erupted when it was exposed that the ATF was deliberately letting guns into the hands of the drug cartels in order to track the guns to the cartel leaders and arrest them

Led to few arrests, and only 710 out of 2000 arms were recovered

THE NICARAGUAN CANAL

Proposed shipping route between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean

Proposed by a Chinese businessman, Wang Jing

• Meant to be a Chinese-controlled competitor to the US-controlled Panama Canal, built in 1914

In 2013, Nicaragua’s National Assembly granted a 50- year concession to Jing’s company, HKND.

Environmentalists opposed it, as it would destroy Lake Nicaragua as the region’s major freshwater source

Due to the 2016 Chinese stock market crash, the project has been delayed