The Role of Local Political Hierarchies in Colonization of Mexico's Southern Frontier

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

0093739 Haenn Colonization of agricultural frontiers is a crucial factor driving global deforestation. Tropical forests house valuable biodiversity which contributes to the health of the global environment. This project by a cultural anthropologist from Arizona State University examines the micro-political processes shaping settlement of Mexico's tropical frontier to assess how these processes contribute to land use decisions by swidden farmers. The project focuses on the ejido, or communally managed farm community, to examine how village power dynamics affect migration and farming practices. The project studies Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico, home to 25,000 migrant farmers and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico's largest protected tropical ecosystem. Preliminary studies show that village conflict affects farming decisions. Calakmul residents distinguish between landed and non-landed farmers, the latter having no voice in ejidal assemblies that formulate local policies. The project will employ a team of researchers from a regional university and local communities to conduct village and household level surveys in 10 communities over a period of five months. The surveys, coupled with archival information, will document the range of variation in inequality in the area. Hypotheses will be tested relating the political status of newcomers and the quality and quantity of land available to them, as well as the focus on cash rather than subsistence crops, intercropping and input levels of labor and fertilizer. Given the recent growth of Calakmul as a site of in-migration, and changes in Mexico's ejido legislation, this research will provide valuable information on the nature and sources of change in local environmental practices. This new knowledge will be relevant to other situations of threats to biodiversity in tropical areas of expanding population.