Abstract
This dissertation is a case study and historical analysis of the rise of indigenous organizing in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico over the past three decades. The primary focus is on how indigenous organizations in Oaxaca reconstructed indigenous identity over the past three decades as part of their mobilization activities. The study traces the evolution of indigenous organizing from its roots in traditional peasant movements demanding land rights to its transformation in the 1980s and 1990s into an identity-based movement demanding indigenous rights and autonomy. This transformation is documented by examining changes in political strategies, organizational forms and discourses of the movement, particularly for the 1989-1997 period, when movement activity intensified and organizations making identity-based demands took center stage. The study also addresses the historical and structural factors that shaped the struggle, such as the initial indigenous resistance to the Spanish colonizers, the continuing resistance and adaptation throughout the colonial period and into the 20th century, the distinctive role of the post-revolutionary Mexican state, rural economic crisis, and the critical influence of the Zapatista movement in the neighboring of Chiapas. The study concludes with an analysis of a series of Zapatista-inspired debates about indigenous autonomy and their implications for the future of indigenous organizing in Oaxaca, including the definition of a long-term strategy of cultural revitalization at the community level as the starting point for extending indigenous autonomy to larger political, cultural, and geographic entities.
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