High Risk Exploratory Research: The Role of Crises in Migration Outcomes: Rural Oaxacans and Politics in Oaxaca City, Mexico

Ohio State University Research Foundation -Do Not Use, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

One purpose of the High Risk Research in Anthropology is to provide small amounts of funding for research where timeliness, such as a political crisis, makes it essential for anthropological researchers to get into the field quickly. Over the past year, Oaxaca City, the capital of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, has been was the site of a teacher's strike, political strife, and street violence. This persistant unrest has earned a U.S. State Department travel advisory, tourists have stayed away, and hotels, restaurants and associated businesses have closed down. While events in the city have had little effect on the nation and national economic output, the closure of businesses in the city decimated the local economy. The loss of jobs was particularly hard on rural Oaxacans who commuted to their jobs from peasant and Indian villages surrounding the city. The local market for crafts also disappeared as tourists avoided the region. This crisis situation sets the stage for this research project. Dr. Jeffrey Cohen will undertake systematic social science research on the effects of the unrest and violence on migration. He will conduct ethnographic research in three central valley communities (Guadalupe Etla, San Juan Guelavia and San Martin Tilcajete) that represent a cross section of rural Oaxaca and have documented histories of migration as well as members working in Oaxaca City. Almost half of the households in these three communities sent migrants to the US through the year 2000 and as many as a fifth of the households sent members to jobs in Oaxaca City. Using questionnaires and interviews, Cohen and his team of researchers from the United States and Mexico will investigate the response of people living in these communities to the ongoing crisis in the city, with a particular focus on migration to the US. This project will contribute to our understanding of the causes of migration from the United States to Mexico. While much of the migration debate focuses on border security, this project examines causes of migration within the country and brings an essential consideration of regional economic, political and social factors to the discussion.