Social Exclusion and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican

Social Exclusion
and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican Identity
in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Inaugural-Dissertation
zur
Erlangung der Doktorwürde
der Philosophischen Fakultät
der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Freiburg i. Br.
vorgelegt von
Tristano Volpato
aus Verona, Italien
WS 2013/2014
Erstgutachter: Prof. Hermann Schwengel
Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Julia Flores Dávila
Vorsitzender des Promotionsausschusses
der Gemeinsamen Kommission der
Philologischen, Philosophischen und Wirtschaftsund Verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Fakultät: Prof. Dr. Bernd Kortmann
Datum der Fachprüfung im Promotionsfach: 07 Juli 2014
Social Exclusion
and the Negotiation of Afro-Mexican Identity
in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Tristano Volpato
Nr.3007198
[email protected]
II
I acknowledge Prof. Schwengel, for the opportunity to make concrete an
important proyect for my professional life and individual psychological growing,
since he was in constant cooperation with me and the work; Prof. Julia Flores
Dávila, who accompanied me during the last six years, with her human and
professional presence; my parents, who always trusted me; Gisela Schenk, who
was nearby me in every occasion, professonal and daily.
Finally I want to specially thank all those people of the Costa Chica who, during
the process, allowed me to understand better their identity and offered a great
example of Mexicanity and humanity.
III
IV
Contents
Prefacio ............................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3
Part I: Theoretical
Frame
Chapter I: Between Individual and Collective Identity ............................................... 23
1. Community ................................................................................................................. 25
2. Identity........................................................................................................................ 31
Chapter II: Identity as a Way for Recognition ............................................................. 51
1. Social Implications of the Identity Concept ............................................................ 53
1.1. Identity as Equality .................................................................................................. 55
1.2. Identity as Difference .............................................................................................. 59
2. Race ............................................................................................................................. 71
Part II: Mexican
Frame
Chapter I: Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social Effects ......... 87
1. Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population.................................. 89
2. Some Effects of the Historical Cultural Mixing...................................................... 99
Chapter II: Some Cultural Traits of Oaxaca’s Black Communities......................... 109
1. Some Traditional Ways of Cultural Expression ................................................... 111
2. A Spanish “Dialect” Modality ................................................................................ 113
3. Dances ....................................................................................................................... 117
3.1. The Danza de los D iablos (“Devils’ Dance”) ....................................................... 120
3.2. The Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”) ..................................... 123
3.3. The Danza del Toro de Petate (“Petate-Bull Dance”) .........................................125
3.4. The Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of Turtle”) ..................................................... 127
4. Some Kind of African Wedding? ........................................................................... 128
5. The Human Being .................................................................................................... 135
5.1. The “Tono” ............................................................................................................ 136
5.2. The “Sombra” ........................................................................................................ 138
5.3. Traditional Medicine ............................................................................................. 140
V
5.4. Sickness Depending on the Loss of the Shadow .................................................. 141
5.5. The Thin Relation between Sickness and the Loss of “Tonal” ........................... 146
Chapter III: Afro-Mexican Consciousness: a Matter of Self-Recognition ............... 149
1. Traditions ................................................................................................................. 151
2. Ethnic Identification ................................................................................................ 161
3. Inclusion-Exclusion .................................................................................................163
4. Self and Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features ................ 167
Chapter IV: The Importance of Oaxaca’s Black Women
in the Construction of Local African Identity .......................................................... 179
1. A problem of Gender ............................................................................................... 181
2. Between Matriarchy and Matrilineage..................................................................183
3. Social Position, Exclusion and Female Cultural Power ....................................... 186
3.1. Residence and Aesthetic Perception ..................................................................... 187
3.2. Exogamy................................................................................................................. 191
3.3. Resources Organization ........................................................................................ 193
4. Between Gender Equity and the Ethic of Justice ................................................. 195
5. A Female Afro-Mexican Identity? .........................................................................202
Part III: Multicultural
Discussion
1. Presenting Mexican Multiculturalism ................................................................... 209
2. A Matter of Context ................................................................................................ 210
3. Identity, Sense of Membership and Informal Integration ................................... 216
4. The Multicultural Way of Oaxaca: Race and Ethnicity ......................................228
Results .......................................................................................................................241
References
Books ............................................................................................................................. 253
Reviews .......................................................................................................................... 273
Working Papers, Conferences, Documents ................................................................. 283
Electronic Documents .................................................................................................. 285
Laws .............................................................................................................................. 287
VI
Annex
Maps
The Costa Chica (Mexico) ........................................................................................... 295
The Costa Chica (Oaxaca) .......................................................................................... 296
Santo Domingo Armenta Municipality
Santo Domingo Armenta ............................................................................................ 297
Pinotepa Nacional Municipality
Collantes ....................................................................................................................... 298
El Ciruelo ..................................................................................................................... 299
Santiago Tapextla Municipality
Santiago Tapextla ........................................................................................................300
Llano Grande Tapextla ............................................................................................... 301
Santa María Cortijos Municipality
Santa María Cortijos ...................................................................................................302
San Juan Bautista lo de Soto ...................................................................................... 303
Images
Image 1: Declaration of Independence 1810 ............................................................. 307
Image 2: Prayer of the Virgin of Montserratt .......................................................... 308
Instruments
Limits in Data Collection ............................................................................................ 311
a. General Problems ..................................................................................................... 311
b. Technical Limitations ............................................................................................... 313
Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide ................................................. 315
Semi-Structured Interview Guide (presidentes municipales) .......................................... 318
Discussion Group (population between 15-25, 26-60 years) ................................................. 321
History of Life Guide (male and female elderly population – 60 or more years old people)....... 327
Household Questionnaire (households’ characterization) ................................................. 329
Opinion Questionnaire (Afro-Mexicans’ profile).............................................................. 331
Lexicon Questionnaire (social representations for Afro-Mexicans) ......................................344
Colorimeter (men) ......................................................................................................... 347
Colorimeter (women) .....................................................................................................348
VII
VIII
Prefacio
The work we present is the result of a research produced between the years 20102013, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca (Jamiltepec District, Mexico), and it is
composed by two kinds of approach: theoretical and empirical.
The first one allows us to present a general perspective of the problem, by taking into
account four main topics: the problem of identity, especially referring to social
implications its study can obtain for the recognition of local Afro-Mexican culture; the
idea of race, understood (in the case of Latin America) as a way for defining phenotypic
traits, as color; a brief presentation of African arrival to the Costa Chica, by highliting
three different historical causes, especially related with “direct”, “indirect” and SouthAmerican inmigrations; and the problem of mestizaje, during and after the Spanish
colony. In this case, we account for the physical differences among Oaxaca’s sociocultural groups and the relevance race actually has for the definition of Mexican
identity.
In second instance, we used an empirical approach to the topic, by taking contact
with the settlers (in seven Afro-Mexican communities of the Costa Chica, within
Oaxaca’s South West Coast), some specialists and institutions. Regarding to that, we
chose to use a triangulated technique, by mixing the semi-structured interviews,
produced among people, with the discussion group or the history of life, and applying
two kinds of questionnaries (household and opinion).
Especially regarding to the text of the interviews and the instruments, we produced
them in Spanish. In order to make them suitable to the needs of the text, we report thus
only some selected parts of the interviews’ English version and the translated format of
the latters. Meaning that modifying their literal text, but not their meaning.
The work was made with the idea of creating a sort of academical background for the
interpretation of Mexican model as a fragmented modality of what politic-phylosophers
define “multiculturalism”. In order to discuss the problems of diversity, pluralism and
integration, the last part of the research is thus aimed at arguing about the sense the
study of Afro-Mexican identity could have for the production of any kind of cultural
politics, and a new way of looking at Mexico. Meaning that not only perceiving it as a
nación mestiza (Mestizo Nation), but as a socio-cultural space trying to endorse legal
pluralism as a local version of the principles of universality, interdependence, and
progress.
1
2
Introduction
In the context of global societies, reducing discrimination and under-representation
of minorities embodies the most relevant elements for those States usually defined
polyethnic or multinational (Spencer, 1994; Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007a; Rawls,
1971; Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992). Especially, when we refer to the
dynamics of identity negotiation and the analysis of some minority-rights production,
quality and exercise, eliminating institutional discrimination is the main goal of liberal
multicultural policies (Kymlicka, 2007a, 2007b). So, if on one hand it limits the
political-institutional performance of multicultural societies characterized by a liberal
democratic regime, on the other, discrimination can be also considered the only
potential way to solve the problems of a lacking recognition, representativeness and
shared justice (Rawls, 1971). In this case, discrimination comes to be a very powerful
“social trigger” for the creation of some ad hoc public policies aimed at integrating
minorities.
In this context, the importance of studying individual and collective identity of social
actors or groups is justified on one side by its methodological utility, on the other by the
practical effect this type of sociological analysis can obtain above customs, traditions
and culture that characterize the modus vivendi of groups and their members (Bell &
Newby, 1971; Ammond, 1988).
Thus, despite the widespread use of the concept to explain the individual’s
relationship with the social environment in defining itself against the society − mainly
focused on the analysis of self and dichotomy me-mine (Cerulo, 1997) − the study of
identity offers a wide variety of analysis that also look for understanding how societies
could produce some ways of integration for minorities’ members. So, while the
sociological approach allows us studying race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion or
sexuality of social actors who belong to specific national sub-groups, it also emphasizes
on both theoretical and practical approaches to the process of socio-cultural recognition
for communities, trying to highlight their needs, properties, rights, claims and forms of
representation. In this way, the recognition of presence of local minorities and their
cultures require not only understanding the particular situations groups live and
attending to their specific needs. It also supposes to accept a formal commitment
between minorities and political institutions for the accommodation of individual and
collective cultural spaces as a condition of mutual respect and integration (Kymlicka &
Wayne, 2000).
3
Consequently to that, and based on cultural, social, economic or racial features of
actors that compose minorities, it is possible to define communities on the base of their
own properties (taking into account their ideologies, daily needs, and common goals
perpetrated by the presence of symbols, beliefs, lifestyles, customs, standards, or
exclusive values), or categorizing such groups exclusively from those cultural,
normative, religious, aesthetic elements they want to demonstrate, amplify, emphasize
or valorize against national society. Among groups and their members is thus
established a relationship of mutual interdependence whose effects are either derived
from a specific combination of cultural, linguistic, religious factors, or determined by a
feeling of membership that leads to the generation of a collective identity based on a
communitarian socio-cultural heritage claim whose core objective is emboding the
presence of common ideals, specific historical and cultural backgrounds, aesthetic
similarities. In this case, actors can recognize themselves from a cultural history based
on a kind of community consciousness as the result of a shared historical trajectory that
assumes phenotypical profiles as the most relevant set of elements for mutual
identification and collective memory. As a result, skin color and physical traits of an
actor who belongs to a specific community not only represents a way to impose
hierarchies between human races (as was in the past). It also may embody a way by
which groups reinforce their sense of cohesion and homogeneity as well as representing
a specific form of self-perception of identity. Such perception symbolizes a common
cultural past, fragmented by conditioning historical events, and represents a cultural
element of pride and mutual recognition that «…[takes]…priority over religion, ethnic
origin, education and training, socio-economic class, occupation, language, values,
beliefs, morals, lifestyles, geographical location, and all others attributes that hitherto
provided all groups and individuals with a sense of who they ...[are]» (Smedley, 1998:
695): race.
Regarding our research problem, the African population was brought to Mexico
during the European colonization of America underwent a process of “deculturation”
that, while destroying original habits of the Africans and imposing the generation of
new traditions, forced them into a dynamic of miscegenation that produced new
aesthetic parameters of human classification and new ways of recognition. While color
came to represent the symbol for acceptance into a specific social group or community,
consequent modifications of relations between Afro-Mexicans and the Spanish imposed
an idea of race that embodied a way to undervalue actors with particular aesthetic traits,
4
but also became important for the construction of a unique and exclusive identity for
individuals of African descent.
From this perspective, the use of the idea of race represents not only the
conceptualization of theoretical categories that may be “uncomfortable” for the
generality of academics and perhaps obsolete in social sciences. It also demonstrates the
importance of solving two different problems, which suppose the definition of specific
forms of interaction that accompany dynamics of daily life for African national minority
living within Mexico, and impulse us generating a theoretical and practical approach to
the study of identity for those sub-groups according to their specific criteria for
recognition.
By contrast, and due what is argued by its Constitutional Document, Mexico
represents the clearest example of both the lack of any pro persona special minority
rights (which would have important effects on national communities), and the
relationship between institutions and minorities (Constitución Política de los Estados
Unidos Mexicanos: art.1).
Indeed, Mexican Constitution – whose principles are ‘originally based on national
indigenous population’ (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos: art.2)
− ignores specific rights of non-ab origine cultural minorities (that means avoiding the
existence of non-ethnic cultural groups which, as aboriginal ones, characterize Mexican
socio-cultural environment) and perpetrates the forgetfulness of most part of the other
basic legal requirements aimed at protecting vulnerable Mexican minorities1. That
means the study of Afro-Mexican identity represents a topic of discussion in between a
“mixed-race” (Mestizo) Latin American vision (that wants to homogenize regional
culture), and a globalized multicultural political position that seeks for valorizing
diversity over ethnic uniqueness (Falconí, Hercowitz & Muradian, 2004; Volpato,
2012).
Causes for such theoretical marginality are twofold. The first one embodies the
institutional aspect of the problem, created in the past by a formal decision of Mexican
State and perpetrated as far. The second, which represents an empirical effect of the
1
There is no list of “basic needs” for the recognition of minority-rights. Instead, as argued by
contemporary political philosophers, for each socio-cultural context and demands of groups, the State
should be responsible for producing an undefined number of cultural policies, aimed at attending to basic
needs and claims of specific minority groups. By contrast, Mexican Constitution does not recognize all
those minorities that are not aesthetically able to be considered pre-Columbian, and does not contemplate
the existence of public policies for the provision of a number of “cultural condition” special rights. For
further information about recognition modalities and cultural politics, see Savidan (2010), Taylor (1993),
and Réaume (2000).
5
first, embodies a specific way of “cultural dilution” constructed on what has been
defined an indigenismo ’s historical effect (Díaz Polanco, 1995, 2010; Hernández
Cuevas, 2004; Gros, 2002), historically and currently used for homogenizing the idea of
national culture. While trying to equally distributing social and cultural rights within
Mexico, such dynamic of cultural inclusion-exclusion produced an empirically
segmented image of a regional “straight” way of being represented, where the selfdeclaration of being Mestizo was meant as a circumstantial and advantageous social
image, not a real identity (Wade, 2005: 239; Bobes, 2004; Mörner, 1967: 124-144).
In relation to the first point, we refer to an institutional lack of recognition by part of
Mexican State, especially relating with the “formal forgetfulness” shown by Mexican
Constitution at 22th July 2013, and the absence of any specific political measure that
could take into account recognition of Afro-Mexicans, as a unique national cultural
group (Vincent, 1994: 272).
In the second case, those dynamics make echoes to the historical experience suffered
by the African population of Mexico and, broadly speaking, can be summarized into
two key moments. On one hand, during the colonial period, the country began to be
characterized by a large number of local cultural groups that started to conjugate preColumbian traditions with a set of new rules and values. This dynamic forced preexistent indigenous and African (or European) “imported” minorities to modify their
cultural reproduction, giving rise to a sort of homogeneous symbolic universe that,
across the centuries, resulted into the production of a specific national Mestizo culture.
On the other, political demands imposed by the new situation of cultural and racial
pluralism promoted an idea of an assimilationist Nation (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005)
that currently contributes to obviate a formal recognition for those minorities which are
not enjoying any constitutional definition of “ab origine people”. It also does not take
any responsibility for institutionally accommodating those cultural groups into a
specific political context, by allowing them to obtain a certain number of special rights
(Kymlicka, 2007a)2.
Empirical effect of such dynamics tends to ignore not only the importance of the
problem of Afro-Mexican identity, but also relegates African minority to a specific and
tangible dynamic of socio-cultural exclusion.
2
About the topic, especially for the Latin American case, see also Huntington (1997), Moreira (2001),
Assies (2005), Barberá (2003), Giménez (1997a, 1997b), Gros (2002), Gonzáles Manrique (2006),
Larraín (2000), and López Beltrán (2008).
6
In an attempt to valorize national African culture and provide an academic base for
the institutional recognition of local black communities, we analyzed the Afro-Mexican
issue starting by a multicultural perspective of the problem. In this way we took into
account a specific characterization of some local African settlements and we discussed
all those “in-group” social and cultural dynamics that allow us to define African identity
as both a cultural national worth, and a way of recognition of local pluralism based on
what Martínez Montiel (2000) defined the third root of Mexico. What it means proving
Afro-Mexicans build their identity as the result of a historical process based on both
cultural and racial mixing, and aimed at defining them as a unique cultural group taking
part of a specific local multicultural praxis.
For its production – as a sort of case study – it was chosen the Costa Chica of
Oaxaca, a South-West coastal Mexican area (Jamiltepec District) that hosts the most
marginalized African settlements3, and enjoyed an escase academic attention,
distributed into three specific historical moments4. The forties, specifically fed by the
ethno-anthropological production of Aguirre Beltrán, who reconstructed the historical
dynamics of African arrival to Mexico and classified human races produced by
mestizaje between 1519 and 1810. The two-year period between 2004 and 2006, based
on the historical-anthropological study of Ben Vinson III and Bobby Vaughn. The 2011
that, promoted by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Year
for People of African Descent 5, has regionally impulsed a sort of social consciousness
aimed at recognizing (at least formally) the existence of Afro-descent population within
the Costa Chica region6.
3
Within Pinotepa Nacional, Santiago Tapextla and Santo Domingo Armenta municipalities, the
illiteracy rate has an average of 30% with a mortality before the 5 years old that regards the fifth part of
registered population. For further information, see the document of CONAPRED (2006: 68-69), produced
in collaboration with the “Empirical and Opinion Research Area of the Research Institute of Law of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico”, Working Paper n.E-19-2006.
4
Oaxaca’s African presence enjoys no significant ethno-historical studies. The reference to the black
culture of Mexico is predominantly directed to Veracruz and Guerrero States, on which, in the past and in
more recent times, there have been some interesting researches. For a classical reference to the topic, see
Aguirre Beltrán (1972, 1989, 2001). For further and more recent references to the issue, see López Valdéz
(2000), and Vinson & Vaughn (2004).
5
United Nations’ International Year for People of African Descent Program, resolution 64/169 ,
December 18th 2009.
6
Most recent examples are the first forum Los pueblos afromexicanos, la lucha por su reconocimiento
(“Afro-Mexican people, the struggle for their recognition”), promoted by the Metropolitan Autonomous
University (UAM) of Mexico City, during the 6 th, 7th and 8th May 2013, and the meeting Afromexicanos
(“Afro-Mexicans”), in Guerrero State, between 13th and 14th May 2013. An important result is the
modification of the art.2 of the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca
(“Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca”), now guaranting the formal
“existence” and protection for indigenous and Afro-descent communities.
7
The objective of the research is threefold. Analyzing communities by creating a
bigger awareness about the issue and public acknowledgement aimed at formally and
informally recognizing African presence within the area (and by extension within
Mexico). Creating an identity-classification criterion that could be representative for
African population of Oaxaca. Generating an empirical precedent for the production of
political, social, cultural and economic conditions aimed at improving basic services
within the communities. That means understanding the way through which the mixing
process has been developed and how (both in the past and the present) the idea of
“caste” has taken (and currently assumes) a determining importance in socio-cultural
dynamics of the region.
On the other hand, analyzing the ways by which current Afro-Mexicans build their
own idea of identity, studying the cultural elements that characterize the communities of
the area, and accounting for the importance to understand Afro-Mexican culture as an
element of regional multiculturalism represent the empirical goals of the study.
As regards theoretical and practical dimensions we addressed over the research, we
take into consideration the study of the elements that distinguish Africans of the Costa
Chica as a unique socio-cultural national group that “deserves” to be classified as
different, and obtaining a specific number of minority special rights. Secondly, they
refer both to the study of the needs that (in consequence of this situation) seem to
negatively affect our target population, and the generation of a concrete proposal
(theoretical but empirically sustained) for a potential institutional resolution of the
situation we describe.
The methodology we used for its development is a qualitative-mixed one. The
communities considered for the study are seven, and have been selected starting by
three specific reasons: their size; the presence of basic services that can be detected
between them (particularly electricity, water or, in some cases, the presence or absence
of it and presence-absence of roads); their cultural characteristics.
In the first case, a significant number of people, in the communities, does not
guarantee the presence of specific services (such as schools, medical clinics, etc..),
within the settlements, and instead, their presence depends almost exclusively on the
level of “institutional neglect”.
In the second, the presence or absence of services (that can be detected in the
different settlements) varies, and it can be oftently and “unexpectedly” alternated
8
between one and another settlement, being present within a community and lacking
within others.
Finally, despite the cultural similarity between African-descent settlements, it is
possible to establish some semi-exclusive criteria that, on the one hand, characterize the
whole black-Mexican population, and on the other, they help to individually describe
the area7.
The settlements are the following. Santo Domingo Armenta (2739); Collantes (2325)
and El Ciruelo (2185), both part of the Pinotepa National Municipality; Santiago
Tapextla (1566) and Llano Grande Tapextla (Municipality of Santiago Tapextla : 1065);
Santa María Cortijo (983) and San Juan Bautista lo de Soto (1890), in the Santa María
Cortijo Municipality8. Those settlements host the nationwide largest number of African
descent population, and were classified according to the National Council to Prevent
Discrimination of Mexico (CONAPRED) with “high” and “very high” marginalization
levels (CONAPRED, 2006: annex 2; Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto, 2012).
The units of analysis we took into account for the research are two: communities and
local institutions.
More specifically, our units of observation correspond respectively to the settler
population, divided (for each community) into three groups (in turn, also divided by age
and sex); the leaders of the settlements; and some selected authorities.
In the first case we created three age groups, and each one was aimed at analyzing
the profiles of the population between 15 and 25 years old (young), between 26 and 60
(adults), and the elderly (who are older than 60 years), divided by sex9. In the second,
we met both communities’ leaders (usually men) and the mayors. In this way, we built a
general information network based on individual and shared perceptions of communities
7
Related with settlements’ infrastructure, it is possible to highlight different levels of development
that depend on a non-organized distribution of services within communities. Within El Ciruelo, for
example, we can observe the presence of the second most important library in Mexico about black
identity in the country, but the village has no roads to allow access nimbly to it; Santiago Armenta, on the
contrary, enjoys a good road service, but it has no health-care services, no police station, and no
institutional offices. On the other hand, as regards cultural criteria, exist several ways through which
syncretic traditions are represented, and they result mainly into dances, music, festivities, or other
activities. The information will be developed later.
8
Quantification of the population is approximated and refers to the “Institute of Law of the National
Autonomous University of Mexico” statistics. For further information see IIJ, UNAM (2008) and
Mexican National Institute for Geography and Statistics ’s (INEGI) web site (bibliography). For territorial
location of communites, see the Maps’ Annex.
9
Because of poverty levels of settlements (that alternate between “high” and “very high”), nor income
level, education, or occupation (among others) represent valid variables to obtain some objective and
generalized information. See CONAPRED (2006: 67).
9
and local institutions about both the characteristics and needs of the above-mentioned
settlements10.
Finally, we interviewed the authorities of four specific local institutions: Father Glyn
Jeemott, founder of the local NGOs México Negro (Black Mexico), who also guided us
through the communities and introduced us to the settlements within which we applied
our analytical instruments; Lic. Lucía Vásquez, Head of the Office for International
Relations of the Government of Oaxaca’State (Encargada del Desapacho de la
Coordinación de Asuntos Internacionales del Gobierno del Estado d e Oaxaca ); Dr.
Heriberto Antonio García, Director of the Commission for the Defense of Human
Rights (Director de la Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos ) of Oaxaca.
In this case, and thanks to Dr. García we had the opportunity to get in contact with the
Autonomous University “Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (Universidad Autónoma Benito
Juárez de Oaxaca -UABJO), where we interviewed the Prof. Gloria Zafra, from the
Sociology Department of UABJO Oaxaca.
The process we described brought the investigation to consider two ways of analysis:
exploring individual and collective perceptions of communities about the phenomenon,
and obtaining a detailed picture about the ways through with Afro-Mexican population
of the area constructs its own socio-cultural identity.
For the choice of the appropriate theoretical categories and the practical study of the
negotiation process of identity for the black population of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca we
used a mixed-qualitative methodology (triangulation) which is divided into two parts:
theoretical and empirical.
The first one allowed us to both analyze the concepts we considered crucial to
understand the problem of study, as clarifing the historical and social dynamics that
have led to the breakdown, loss and modification of the Afro-Mexican communities’
original habitus. In this case, we refer to the colonization and racial-mixing process of
Mexico (mestizaje).
The second gave us the opportunity to analyze the target population in loco and
produce some information about parameters of recognition, self-definition and potential
representation.
10
During our stay in Mexico we contacted with father Glyn Jeemott, the most known and respected
African-descent within the area, thanks to whom we met the leaders of the rest of communities. As
regards the mayors, the site of the State of Oaxaca provided all the relevant information we needed
(http://www.oaxaca.gob.mx/).
10
I
Theoretical phase was divided into two further moments.
First, we produced a theoretical-conceptual phase, through which we developed the
ideas of community and its importance within the local cultural environment (Barth,
1969: 9-39), especially avoiding to use the concept of ethnicity, whose reference would
be much more relevant for the analysis of the local indigenous population11; identity
(studied in its individual and collective meaning, and analyzed in a dichotomous way,
between the ideas of equality and difference); race (operationalized in “phenotypical
difference” and “color”).
Thus, by using such concepts we defined our target population and we took into
account both the theoretical framework that explains the current “mixed-natured sociocultural composition” of Afro-descendent communities of the area (aimed at clarifying
historical dynamics for black-Mexican culture emergence – over the centuries of
Spanish colony), and the dynamics of rights political recognition for such minority
group. The three key aspects of the issue are the mestizaje process, the social
representation of Costa Chica’s black communities, their own specific parameters for
self-perception. In this case, the study of the idea of race provided the theoretical base
for understanding the way according to which interpreting both the historical
relationship existing between castes during the colonial period (explaining some local
effects on Mexican social hierarchization, before and after the War of Independence of
1810), and the reasons of the social controversy about the ideas of mestizaje and
indigenismo. A clear political dispute, which produced a social ethnocentric view that
negatively affected the perception of Afro-Mexicans by part of institutions, civil society
or academics, but also favored the suppression of the “mixing-principle” idea on which,
by contrast, Mexico’s black culture is built (Vaughn, 2004a, 2004b: 79; Vinson III &
11
Mexican Constitution establishes the recognition of ethnicity as an element for identity negotiation.
What it means is that all those minorities that are not part of a specific ethnic group, theoretically, are not
able to be recognized by Mexican State. In order to solve such potential conflict, we distinguished the
concept of ethnic group from the idea of community. The first one refers to an inter-group connection
based on the existence of a common language, which is spoken only (or at least originally) by the
members of the minority and provides them with a kind of collective ab origine standard identity. The
second supposes a relationship that not only depends on the collective cultural background of the group,
but also ideologies, objectives, traditions, values or race, shared by actors that decide, voluntarily, to take
part into a definite community, localized in a specific territory. As regards Afro-Mexican communities of
the Costa Chica, they are not representing an ethnic group established as a social organization whose
boundaries define specific criteria for determining membership and ways of signaling exclusion.
Conversely, they are constituted as a cultural community based on group consciousness and mutual
recognition of its members inside and outside the group of descent. From that, we use only the
community concept (more suitable to our population), excluding the idea of ethnic group which, for the
Mexican case, would be a synonymous for indigenous people. The last section will explain it.
11
Vaughn, 2004b; von Humboldt, 2004; Mörner, 196712). In second instance, we analyzed
the historical trajectory of socio-cultural colonial dynamics of deculturation,
transculturation and acculturation for the Costa Chica’s Afro-descendent population, by
justifying our analytical choice.
For what concerns the first point, we studied the colonial process that gave birth to
the four determinants phases of the slave trade: the “draw-off”; the arrival; the
distribution within the territory; and the changing of the habitus.
In the second, we considered three specific moments of Mexican history: the colonial
period and the Independence (1521-1821); the pre-revolutionary period (1822-1910);
and the post-revolutionary one (from 1921 to date) (Vinson III & Vaughn, 2004b;
Centro de Estudios Históricos de El Colegio de México, 2009). Thus, it was considered
to encompass the most important moments of social, political and economic history of
the country and, at the same time, culturally locate black communities of the Costa
Chica within these dynamics. Among them, we highlight the role of Africans in the
struggle for independence from Spain and their participation at the construction of the
idea of Nation. Such approach not only contributed to the construction of a specific
theoretical base that, in the empirical phase of work, helped us to understand the
situation of marginalization and exclusion of Costa Chica’s black Mexicans (as
prejudice or stigmatization dynamics) in the history (Taguieff, 1994). On the other
hand, it led us to achieve the most relevant theoretical elements to understand the
reasons for such dynamics, in the present.
II
As regards the empirical phase of research, it has been developed at two specific
times and based on different objectives. During the period chosen for the “pilot
research” (April-May 2010) we developed three specific lines of work, thanks to which
we geographically located and better classified the settlements (by registering services,
as electricity, water, health, roads connecting villages with bigger neighborhoods);
contacted community leaders and mayors; tested some of the instruments of research
destined to the final analysis (Semi-structured interviews and a History of life guide)13.
12
Mörner decidates a specific part of his work to race mixing, especially in the section El cruzamiento
de la razas (pp.15-21).
13
Total number of “Semi-structured interviews” correpond to 7, one for each mayor of the
settlements. The “Histories of life” were 15, chosen through a “snow ball” sampling and directed to over
60 years old people.
12
As regards to the former, the level of development among the black communities of
the Costa Chica of Oaxaca is not homogeneous. By contrast, each settlement shows
some specific daily conditions that result in both a non-uniform organization of services
and different degrees of marginalization within the settlements. Thus, analyzing the
levels of exclusion within the communities allowed us to compare different social
realities standards and obtain a more complete socio-cultural picture of the
phenomenon.
In the second case, approaching community leaders, mayors or “special members” of
settlements (such as people known by anyone in the community) helped us to both
facilitate the dialogue (which in different conditions would be significantly limited)
between the communities and the researcher, and improve society’s response to the
project. In this way, the direct contact with the target population gave us the opportunity
to meet members of communities, and thus gain the trust of people who, subsequently,
contributed (in the “official” field research activities) to the generation of relevant
information. At the same time, thanks to our stay in the field before the final inquiry, we
obtained a variable amount of printed material, which, for technical reasons of
disclosure or lack of material resources, can be obtained only in loco.
The preliminary phase of the empirical work contributed to both the improvement of
the theoretical framework of the project, and a better organization of the study before
the fieldwork in the communities.
During the second stage of the empirical phase of analysis, we applied the research
instruments in the communities and interpreted the results of the study.
Specifically, there were five objectives: characterize the settlements; defining the
profile of the black population of the communities of the Costa Chica; analyzing social
representations within such groups; studying the communitarian interaction-cohesion
level; constructing an historical-cultural trajectory of communities. And four core
points: describing what type of self-aesthetic perception they chose for representing
themselves against civil society; analyzing cultural elements of Afro-descent origin;
studying how inter-gender relations work; how it can be possible to account for a
specific multicultural frame of study of the phenomenon within the area and its relation
with a more general pluricultural view of Mexico.
13
As concerns the characterization of settlements, we built an observation guide aimed
at registering six different aspects of the settlements14: the exact place where
communities are; the number of people that live in (taking into account both the family
organization and its levels of kinship); basic public services (presence or absence of
water, streets and avenues – or connecting roads, drainage, public telephones, transport,
etc.); the type of organizations that exist within the communities (as political,
communitarian, cultural, social, scholar); human resources (teachers, social workers,
professionals, doctors, among others); physical conditions of the settlements. In that
way, we obtained a threefold overview that accounts for the exact location of such
communities, their current state of services, and their social organization. For each
settlement we registered both the presence (and absence) of a particular service, and the
eventual level of functioning of it. Therefore, we consider we obtained not only a
general overview about the “official” position of the communities in the territory, but
also achieving relevant information about their specific needs.
On the other hand, for the construction of the black population profile, we analyzed
dimensions of the problem aimed at defining cultural characteristics of Afro-Mexicans
(by referring to local dances – like the Danza de los Diablos, “Dance of the Devils”,
Danza del Toro de petate, “Petate-Bull Dance”, Danza de los Negritos, “Little Africans
Dance”, among others – language, social organization, daily activities); self-perception
based on color and the degree of self-attribution to African culture; and family structure.
Techniques we used to reconstruct both the profile and the cultural characteristics of
our target population are respectively some semi-structured interviews and the
ethnography (Bodgan & Taylor, 1975; Geertz, 1992; Ronzon, 2008).
Thanks to the first one, it was possible to both capture personal information about
people (anagraphic data, age, daily activities, assistance to a job, degree of occupation,
etc.), and register individual perceptions of actors about the lack of employment, the
scarce access to health services, the low school participation, and all those services that
are lacking within the villages.
By the second, and thanks to a detailed description of daily activities, religious
recurrences or festivities, and a dynamic of both non-participant observation and
history of life (two each settlement, with the exception of El Ciruelo, where we made
three), it was possible conducting the “in-site research”, obtaining direct interaction
14
They were 7, one for each community.
14
with the informants, and producing an analytic-descriptive reflection about
communities15. Moreover, to obtain information about the social representations within
the communities, the study was organized into two stages. On the one hand, we
analyzed the ideological and aesthetic perceptions that communities’ members have
about the ideas of blackness and black identity (self-perception processes). On the other,
we seeked the opinion of such actors about the ways according to which they consider
to be perceived, seen and discriminated by people that not belong to any black
settlement of the area (ad extra -construction of the stereotype). Therefore, it was
possible detecting not only some different racial perceptions (as phenotypes and color)
that are manifest among African communities. It also positively contributed to increase
the information available for both the theoretical definition of the ideas of blackness and
racial identity, and the interpretation of the practical effects of such concepts, in the
everyday life, as the gender matrilineal system and the sexual defined socio-cultural role
of women for the definition of a concrete Afro-Mexican identity. By this, we accounted
for both the patterns or gender cohexistence, and the social role of women, by
highlighting them as those actors who actually empirically contribute to perpetrate
African traditions and help to the resolution of some specific needs within the
settlements. The histories of life have been used thus as a way to build a sort of
individual bibliographic continuum (basically a “in-process” analysis) that includes
daily dynamics; social, cultural and economic problems of the communities; the
relationship with the social environment that surrounds them.
For the production of what we mentioned, we compared the perceptions of diverse
groups of people (organized by community) and analyzed, in a separate way, the
opinions of young men and women, community leaders, and academics, about the issue.
The results are aimed at registering both a general overview about cohesion degrees
within the communities, and the relationship that exist between the members of the
settlements and the population that, by contrary, does not take part of them. The
technique employed in this occasion is the discussion group16. More in details, the
dynamics of interaction generated during the discussion groups, allowed us to obtain a
general overview about exclusion-inclusion dynamics, self-perception (how mutually
15
For a classical reference about the history of life technique, see Bertaux (1976, 1981a, 1981b 1982).
Discussion groups where organized thanks to the intervention of settlers who arranged three
discussion groups. Nearby El Ciruelo , within the villages of Mancuernas (at the halfway from Santo
Domingo Armenta , El Ciruelo and Collantes), Santiago Tapextla (directed to produce the discussion for
people of Llano Grande Tapextla and Santiago Tapextla itself), and Cortijos (for the settlers of Santa
María Cortijos and San Juan Bautista lo de Soto ).
16
15
members see each other) and the relationship communities consider having with
institutions. In this way it was possible to compare the information produced and
capture both the individual and communitarian perceptions about the issue and the
degree of cohesion that exist currently within the communities. In that way, we obtained
both specific profiles related only with certain communities, and a series of profiles
combined between two or more selected settlements. So we studied both collective
identity associated with a single group (each community for itself) and the AfroMexican cultural community as a whole, directed to define members’ individual
standard identity of blackness of Costa Chica as a complex.
Finally, for general information about family structure, economy, education and
work, social mobility, we applied 220 opinion questionnaires, 100 destined to obtain
information by part of men, 120 from women17.
The work is organized into four parts: a theoretical frame; a Mexican one; and a
multicultural discussion. As the fourth section of the research, the work ends with some
considerations about Afro-mexican identity construction (which are the elements that
contribute to define blackness as a socio-cultural Mexican cathegory) and negotiation,
by justifying why it should be important recognizing Mexican Africanness as an
ingredient of a more general principle of national identity.
Two different chapters, respectively analyzing the concepts of community and
identity, and the social implication of negotiating and representation and race, compose
the first part.
The second is exclusively dedicated to the Mexican analysis and it is organized into
four chapters specifically aimed at studing four topics: the motives of the arrival of
black population to the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, by including the indigenismo racial and
political discourses; cultural characteristics of African-settlers (especially referring to
African Spanish “dialect” modality, dances, African-wedding within the settlements,
and the human being conception, including death, deseases and traditional medicine);
self-perception parameters (referred to traditions as a way of being recognized as
African-descent, ethnic identification, inclusion-exclusion dynamics, self and mutual
perception of aesthetic features); the gender perspective (especially the role of women
for the organization of family and cultural connections throught the communities). In
17
Women were much more opened than men in participating at the development of the research, so
we could obtain a sort of gender perspective about family structure, culture and socio-cultural roles of
actors within the communities.
16
these last two cases, for studying self-perception we used a lexicon questionary, based
on the concepts of “race”, “blackness” and “Afro-ancestry”18.
The result of the questannaire is a “lexical density index”, whose product yields a
numerical exponent, as a percentage, which allows the calculation of the binomial
proportions from 0 (no features) to 1 (complete relation between the concept and its
meaning).
The formula for the calculation of the “lexical density index” is the following:
c ((ni11)) f
i
D  e
I
i 1

n
Where D means “availability”, i is the position assigned to a specific concept or
word, n is the hightest position obtained by part of a concept or word, c is a fixed
dispersion coefficient (2.3), f is the absolute frequency of the answer, I corresponds to
the number of people responding to a specific question19.
The third part is aimed at discussing the concepts of shared and distributive justice,
multiple identity and multicultural modalities of recognition for Mexican pluralism.
The work finalizes with some considerations about the terms through which we
consider convenient to understand Afro-Mexican identity of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca
and its importance for national cultural wealth.
For the first point, and specifically related with the historical dynamics of arrival,
deculturation, transculturation and “integration” of black population, community
seemed to be the concept that could explain at best the social structure of settlements,
their way of thinking and their social organization, as cooperation, mutual recognition
and membership.
In the second case, identity is the central problem of our research, being its own
“African-modality” the issue we are trying to negotiate for. In this case, the concept will
18
It is important to notice that, because of both an escase number of enquired people and a limited
diversity of the concepts we were interested to explore, the results of the lexicon questionnaire is a nonstatistically representative one. By contrast, it explains some clear tendencies. With base on that, we will
analyze how people consider being black or which kind of concept they associate with an African
identity. Such information will be used through Chapter III.
19
The information reported belongs to the “Empirical and Opinion Research Area of the Research
Institute of Law of the National Autonomous University of Mexico”. The citation is thus confidencial.
For any further detail, the author has the information. About the “lexical availability” see also López
Morales (1983), López Chávez (1993), López Chávez & Strassburger Frías (1991), Michéa (1953), and
Cisneros & Flores Davila (unpublished work).
17
be organized in a dichotomous way, between the idea of “identity as equality” and
“identity as difference”. By using the multicultural theory, we integrate this twofold
theoretical approach and we analyze the psyco-social way of self-recognition Costa
Chicas’s Afro-Mexicans chose for self-identification (Suárez Blanch, 1999).
Thirdly, race is supposed to explain a specific sort of identity as difference, and it
represents the more explicit way through which the analyzed black communities
perceive their social status and position within Mexican civil society.
In the second part of the work, we present thus overall information about the African
arrival in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca directed to explain the dynamics of deculturation
and acculturation of black communities in the area. By documenting the “formal”
existence of black settlements in the area, we analyze the motives for their birth, the
areas of the ethnic source that originally constituted the social environment of these
human groups, and the corresponding historical periods, individualized between 15211821 (in relation with Mexican Independence), and the pre-revolutionary one, between
1822 and 1910. As an effect of Spanish colony in the area, we explain the threefoldrace-mixing characteristic of Oaxaca State and perpetrate the discussion about
syncretism and identity, by describing the formal characteristics of processes of racial
and cultural mix in the area, and establishing some racial categories to define the
concept of “Afro-Mexican”.
On this point, we will insert the cultural discussion about African identity of the
Costa Chica, by accounting for respectively the local African modality of Spanish,
especially concerning its pronunciation and use during musical manifestations; four
kinds of dances (the most relevant ones within the area), like the Danza de los Diablos
(“Devils’ Dance”), the Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”), the Danza
del Toro de Petate (the “Petate-Bull Dance”) and the Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of
Turtle”); local ways of wedding, including the rapto (the “kidnapping”) and the
matrimonio ideal (the “perfect wedding”); the idea of human being, by studing the tono
(a cultural Afro-Indian mixed tradition about the nagual, the “guide-animal”) and the
sombra (the “shadow”); traditional methods of healing.
Succesively we analyze three different positions aimed at defining psychologically
and physically the African population of Costa Chica. In order to do that, we use the
concepts of self-identification, self-definition, and self-description, and we explain
respectively the processes of self-socially-locating by part of actors (within a specific
symbolic universe); the highlighting of local traditional elements based on physical and
18
personality aspects; the featuring of aesthetic issue, as a way to understand African
origin.
The fourth part of the “Mexican Frame” explains dynamics of matriarchy and
matrilinage, hightlights the role of women within the settlements, and justifies the
importance female gender actually has for the construction of Afro-Mexican local
identity.
The last part of the work will be in charge to conjugate the current multicultural
theory with the study we produced within the area by analyzing potential social and
cultural effects of pluralism and recognition of blackness throughout the area and the
region.
Next three core points resume the main results of the work.
The first achievement concerns to the presence of black communities within the
Costa Chica area. Especifically, the research wants to be a theoretical-empirical
approach to the problem of recognition for Afro-Mexican communities through
demonstrating that all cultural elements characterizing black settlements of the area and
their people are the main results of two central points of the question: Afro-Mexicans
are part of a generalized symbolic universe called “Mexicanity”, so they contribute to
feed it in its meaning and value; and, they actually represent a unique socio-cultural
sub-group, separated by a “straight way” to be national, and aimed at impulsing a
specific way to recognize and understand local diversity. In order to demonstrate their
social and cultural uniqueness, we described the most relevant (and explicit) sociocultural elements shown by settlers, and reasoned about the concepts we consider the
best for defining Oaxaca’s Africans: “black” and “Afro-Mexican”. What it means is
establishing a socio-cultural connection between Mexican civil society and African
descent communities, by including all those elements that are supposed to explain color,
race and membership (Pollini, 1987).
The second point we consider relevant for understanding the black issue within the
coast is black-Mexican identity as a demonstration of pluralism and difference. Through
this specific way of self-identification, African communities express thus a peculiar
form to be in contact with other local sub-groups, and show the need to claim their
special way to be Mexican. In this sense, local diversity doesn’t appear as a “must” of
being different, but a multicultural praxis which contributes to both define in-group
normativity and socio-cultural relations between black-Mexicans and “the others”.
19
The third element is referred to basic needs. Showing the presence of African
communities, their culture and the syncretic dynamic of potential social integration
within Mexican society, would not only lead institutions to take conscience of their
presence, but also to a specific political commitment to the implementation of a sort of
cultural programs aimed at economically developing the area. In doing so Afro-Mexican
communities would enjoy a better visibility throughout the country and being allowed
having similar rights to Indians’, so they would be able to define themselves
(institutionally speaking), and make concrete their claims against institutions and State.
It will be the task of local institutions evaluating the importance of recognizing
Mexican black population as a national minority, implementing the necessary actions
for producing the development of a sort of national consciousness about the topic, and
institutionalizing diversity and recognition over prejudice and discrimination
(Mansbridge, 2000).
20
Part I
Theoretical Frame
21
22
Chapter I
Between Individual and Collective Identity
23
24
1. Community
Defining community is a theoretical goal which has concerned many sociologists,
partly because of the methodological importance the concept represented (and still
represents) for the sociological analysis and partly (perhaps) because of the breadth of
issues allowed in the study of interrelationships between social actors, institutions and
groups (Bell & Newby, 1971: 28)20.
The importance of the concept lies primarily in its flexibility and supposes the
presence of social, cultural, economic, political and racial factors. Moreover, in its most
traditional sense, it describes a social space within which actors can develop their own
way of being in a social context that allows a kind of natural continuum between a
world of life oriented by explicit traditions, and a cultural environment that is built
between old and new values. A meaning that is based on the idea of a bucolic world
where «the community...[is]...viewed as man’s natural habitat» (Bell & Newby, 1971:
22; Kroeber, 1952) that involves individuals in a nostalgic reality away from the
“classical” forms of association based on the anonymity of modern industrial society. In
addition, the idea of community refers not only to an association between social actors
that all occupy a specific place within the group and develop certain social roles for the
good of the community organization. It also implies the existence of a social space
where individuals maintain among them a relationship of solidarity and mutual
understanding within a defined and limited territory. «…Community makes for
traditionalistic ways and at very core of the community concept is the sentimental
attachment to the conventions and more of a beloved place…when sociologists now talk
about community, they almost always mean a place in which people have some, if not
complete, solidarity relation» (Bell & Newby, 1971: 24).
Thus, the concept of community comes to represent an idea of a “village” where the
living space, cooperation and family characterize daily dynamics from which each
individual, that is part of a collectivity, shapes his or her modus vivendi, habitus and
way of acting within the group, by internalizing norms, customs and values towards the
generation of an inclusive and exclusive inter-relationship with the group in which
he/she takes part (Hillery, 1968). That is, considering community as a kind of social
organization in which both daily activities and allocation of roles of actors represent
20
Bell and Newby list 94 definitions of community and argue that, despite the wide number of
meanings that are connected with the concept, it is not possible to establish a single definition of it. In the
text, we intend to offer different interpretations of the idea of community and choose, for the case study,
the most appropriate one.
25
pre-established parameters of action aimed at uniting people who are part of this
common experience.
On the other hand, Margaret Stacey suggests an idea of the concept that moves from
a sublimated naturalistic understanding of the “life-world” to a reconstruction of the
concept that supposes, within groups, the existence of social relationships based on both
a search of individual spaces designed to feed self-perception of the community
members (starting from a dynamic of equality and mutual difference), and a
generalization of community social parameters, resulted in cultural homogenization of
the group (Stacey, 1969). From this perspective, the concept assumes the meaning of a
local social system within which it seems to be granted not only the perfect functioning
of the social mechanism into the group, but also the right to define the position of its
members, and legitimize a general formal recognition of it. So, community takes the
meaning of a nation within a Nation that defines itself as an exclusive and exclusionary
social space, perceived as part of a wider symbolic universe (denoted by dominant
culture), and from which, at the same time, it wants to be distinguished. Meaning that
seeking the way through which being defined as a proper social sub-system equipped
with its own structure and directed to self-recognition21. The concept represents, in this
way, a relative form of cultural homogenization that, if on one side supposes the
presence of reciprocally similar individuals sharing the same symbolic universe in a
relationship of mutual trust and cooperation, on the other, it embodies a collective
organization «in harmony with all members mechanically bound in all aspects of their
daily life, homogeneous, united in one voice and with common and shared objectives,
where internal conflict and internal power relationship are seen as a threat to unity and
therefore, hardly represented» (Pallí, 2003: 316). Community is then a “container” in
constant evolution which embodies a way of relationship organized on the basis of
common requirements that take place from specific objectives generated and shared by
a «collective which is part of and constructed in the complexity of social practices,
cultural specificities, political battles, trying to make its voice heard by other
communities» (Pallí, 2003: 320).
21
The idea of “nation within a Nation” explains the relationship that exists between local cultures,
ethnic groups or communities, and State, in particular as regards dynamics of representation and
recognition for sub-groups and national minorities. Specifically, each group embodies an independent
entity able to organize itself without State intervention and it is directed to recognize itself as a social
space that is part of the Nation but at the same time, also distinguished from it. The idea dates back to
Will Kymlicka and for further information we refer to Kymlicka (1995).
26
While negotiating their own identity starting by those elements they consider the
most significant for their own representation and, at the same time, allowing community
to produce its own set of demands and claims that reflect its particular circumstances,
members of a group can assert their minority-rights and demonstrate the importance of
their presence for the formation or enrichment of national culture. In this sense, the
concept of community is loaded with a cultural significance that, on one hand, supposes
the presence of a relationship between membership and distinctness. On the other, it
marks a point of contact between the concept of community – assumed as a nation
within the Nation – and the idea of citizenship (Joseph & Henderson, 2002; Pollini,
1987).
In the first case, we refer to a reciprocal relationship between community and system
that leads to the perception of a “generalized other” outside the symbolic universe
generally recognized within the community of belonging. Meaning that taking into
consideration a criterion of identity built on the base of a dichotomous relationship
between similarity-difference of socio-cultural reproduction parameters of the
community value system versus the cultural environment in which it is embedded.
In the second, the inclusion-exclusion criterion makes the difference between the
ideas of Nation and cultural community.
Regarding to the former, the relationship that exists between minority and national
society supposes the existence of social dynamics based on the production of cultural
connections between the communitarian symbolic world and the production of
externally oriented meaningful actions aimed at obtaining, in the world of life, a specific
target22. Therefore, minority groups and the Nation coexist in an uninterrupted exchange
of stimuli-responses based on mutuality of relationship between individual and
structure, while ensuring the maintenance of community cultural parameters, and a
certainly wider-ranging national modus vivendi. Actors co-exist with other individuals
with which they directly or indirectly share certain values, norms, customs, traditions at
the same time by which they impulse the production of an “equality-difference
mechanism” between local and national culture. Subsequently, social actors may choose
other members of the same environment starting from a perception of identity that not
only favors the relationship between actors of the same group. By contrast, it facilitates
a specific information exchange between communities and civil society, or even
22
The best reference for the concepts of “meaningful actions” and “pattern variables” is the work of
Parsons & Shils (1959: 11-12).
27
between different groups belonging to the same State or territory. Moreover, groups are
shaped according to their own cultural standards, creating a form of self-recognition
based on both localization of culture produced within the clusters and the construction
of new forms of identity chosen from specific practical needs, claimed by minorities.
Finally, while ensuring the equity within the group and a relationship of
interdependence with the generalized national socio-cultural environment (Habermas,
2005: 349), social actors perpetrate their individual and collective perception of identity.
Doing that, they start internalizing those community values based on the use of unique
cultural patterns, generated by specific behaviors, that guarantee an “in-between space”
among local socio-cultural system and national environment, without losing the
characteristics of spontaneity and relation conferred by the life-world (Habermas, 2009:
147).
In the second case, Sanders argues that the concept of community is closely linked to
an idea of solidarity which both supposes the presence within groups of a huge human,
social, cultural, ideological, historical heritage (embedded on trajectories of group
members), and embodies a way to ensure community life and the continuity of values,
traditions and internalized norms also outside the membership-group (Sanders, 2002;
Pollini, 1987). Actors of these communities build collective dynamics that suppose the
existence of a sort of brotherhood based on confidence and distribution of social roles;
so they reinforce the sense of belonging that unites them.
On the other hand, community takes the semblance of a social system defined by
shared norms and values, organized as a form of mutual recognition within members of
a certain cultural environment. In addition, it is perceived as a socialized space where
members define their own individual identity starting by new cultural parameters
coming from the direct influence of the group on them, or from conditioning historical
dynamics shaping, in the present, social, linguistic and aesthetic characteristics
(mestizaje or miscegenation) of actors who take part into the community life. At the
same time, communities are formed by mixed habits that tend to redefine social roles of
actors inside and outside the group of belonging and, nationwide they are perceived as
an independent symbolic system used to identify cultural difference and representation
of local culture in a continuing tension between minorities and Nation. A fact that is not
suggesting that hybridity and mestizaje are not the natural product of a sort of
relationship between a specific us and a totally abstract them. It only demonstrates that,
starting by a general them (an acquired cultural universe minorities can choose
28
eventually to be part of), it is possible to affirm the existence of a third dimension, inbetween the national and minorities’ culture, allowing sub-groups being part of the
Nation but also having their local and exclusive way of being recognized. So, while it is
supposed describing a local identity, rooted to a specific territory or depending on
exclusive aesthetic parameters, it usually represents a social element whose existence
depends directly on a national cultural environment, within which that same culture is
clearly framed and essential for the national identity definition (Dean & Leibsohn,
2003). As for the Mexican case, Mestizos «are not simple, empirical hybrids, a plain
result of biological or cultural mixture of two (formerly discreet) entities. Rather they
evoke a complex conceptual hybridity inscribed in the notion of “mestizo” itself» (Dean
& Leibsohn, 2003: 6). A notion that has been a product of long-term, unequal dialogues
in social fields of domination, exploitation, and subjectification (Alonso, 2004).
Community assumes thus a new image within national cultural environment and it is
defined as «a group of people with shared beliefs of the appropriate kind» (Miller, 1992:
87) directed toward two different social dynamics. By one side, it is supposed to be
aimed at generating a homogeneously-distributed cultural sub-system rooted to a
specific and limited territory. By the other, it is intended to represent a demarcated local
association (independently-socially organized), characterized by a strong sense of
belonging and solidarity of its members, consisting of exclusive cultural, social,
historical and aesthetic characteristics, and aimed at constructing the identity of their
own members by taking into account specific permanent features that differ from those
contained in any other group or association. By negotiating a new image of its members,
and creating an institutionalized way of recognition that defines a specific socio-cultural
in-group identity (designed to promote social change and directed to improve life
conditions of groups that demand recognition of their own presence) actors represent
themselves but also the community of belonging, the culture to which they take part,
and peculiar demands of such collectivity.
So, while each actor defines himself from the similarity with any other member of
the group because of shared values, norms, habits, modus vivendi, race or language, the
group becomes homogeneous and starts to seek recognition of presence for itself and for
its members, by institutionalizing cultural difference within the national context in
which it is embedded. What it means is that communities are theoretically able to affirm
their presence, without avoiding any restriction for recognition, representation and
integration (Kymlicka, 1995, 1996b, 2002, 2001, 2007a; Barry 2002; Waldron, 2000;
29
Walzer, 1992)23. That fact also supposes understanding multiculturalism as a political
way to an integration aimed at institutionally recognizing ethnic groups and national
minority (here, more in general defined, communities), and directed to create a certain
type of disclosure between a total assimilation and a new way for organizing diversity
(Savidan 2010; Taylor, 1992b, 1993; Réaume, 2000).
By contrast, if we refer to the ideas of “culture” and “plural society”, in the Latin
America case, multicultural perspective is avoided, in some way producing a sort of
incongruence between new regional “democratic policies” and the original
philosophical approach to global societies24.
Within the Latin American region, and especially within Mexican territory,
nationalism and Mestizo discourse are predominant and are aimed at both producing and
perpetrating the idea of homogeneous identity as a way of recognition and selfdefinition. A general perception which wants to create a national culture, that embodies
more a fictitious social product than a real integration process, based on a concrete
production and guaranty of minority rights for the extinction of some elitist social
classes’ political predominance (González Manrique, 2006; Falconí, Hercowitz &
Muradian, 2004; Hale, 1997).
More specifically, even if a peculiar colonial process created a specific social and
aesthetic diversification in Mexican cultural dynamic, the State did not develop any
constitutional structure for the recognition of non-ab origine communities. It only
produced some legal privilegies for indigenous population, forcing other national
minorities to chose of “being included” in a more comprehensive definition of
“Mexican identity”, or disappear (Huntington, 1997; Moreira, 2001; Barberá, 2003;
Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2011). The social effect of that is re-ordering
cultural characteristics into an assimilationist project, which wants to define
23
Concepts of “recognition”, “representation” and “integration” will be developed during the last part
of the work, where we discuss the relationship of Mexican-blackness with a potential multicultural vision
of local culture.
24
Classical multicultural theory refers to a very specific situation that takes into account linguistic and
cultural characteristics of ethnic (Inhuit) communities, almost integrated with Canadian society. Its
theoretical approach has been hardly criticized because of both its twenty years academical trajectory (it
has been firstly developed thanks to what Charles Taylor defined “politics of recognition”) and its scope,
potentially exceeded. In this sense, our reference to classical multiculturalism is not supposed to
guarantee a perfect theoretical exploitation of the Canadian model. By contrast, it seems to be useful as a
start-point for the analisis of diversity and it allows us defining the problem of pluralism for both modern
pluriethnic and multinational Latin American countries. The works of Waldron (2000), Taylor (1992a,
1992b), Parekh (1995), Olivé (1999), Miller (1992, 1997), Kymlicka (2001, 2002, 2007a, 2007b) Inglis
(1996), Hill (2000), Wieviorka & Gutiérrez Martínez (2006), Etxeberria (2004), Barry (2002), could offer
any further information. For a general look about multiculturalism in Latin America, see also Volpato
(2012).
30
communities not by their importance, but depending on the degree they are actually
considered similar or not to the national cultural framework25. Meaning that also
avoiding a global perspective of the problem that, on the other side it would be
responsible for socially locating sub-groups, by obtaining a variable number of special
rights for them (Kymlicka, 2000, 2002, 2007a, 2007b).
The negotiation of identity process is thus a sort of “forgotten must” which, in
Mexico, obliges us to see the cultural communities’ recognition problem by two
different ways. On one hand, local identities are established only starting by a clearly
conservative Latin American discourse that seeks ideological homogenization of
regional races and cultures26. By the other, minorities’ identity represents an
ethnological element that anthropologists or historians consider just a memory of some
past and outdated myths of a history better to be modified, showing the presence of a
very peculiar ethnocentric perspective (Volpato, 2012).
Two effects are derived from dynamics we have described.
In the first case, identity of communities is established as a principle of equality
based on a positive assimilation process generated by the group and directed to its
members in an attempt to cultural homogenization.
Secondly, and through a social dynamic of inclusion-exclusion and co-presence, the
negotiation of representation not only plays a decisive role in diversifying individuals
and group experience within the national socio-cultural context; it also represents a
relationship between micro and macro symbolic universes as a result of the interaction
between cultural communities and Nation (Giddens, 1984, 1990).
National communities may thus reach a formal recognition of their features and
achieve the privileges granted by the obtaining of what Kymlicka has defined “special
rights”.
2. Identity
When we talk about identity, we do not refer to a sort of soul or essence with which
we are born, nor about a set of inner dispositions that never change throughout the
25
Depending on institutional response to diversity, countries are classified by a specific dynamic of
cultural pluralism of assimilationism, cosmopolitanism, interactive pluralism (“multicultural proper”) or
fragmented pluralism (to which Mexico takes part). See Hartmann & Gerteis (2005), Barberá (2003),
Assies (2005). See also Scheme I, at p.223.
26
The reference is again to Will Kymlicka, who establishes the theoretical difference between
multinational and pluriethnic countries. The first ones suppose the presence of ab origine national
minorities, pre-existent to American colonization. The second explains the more recent migration
phenomenon, which contributes to create, ex novo , some resident and non-autochthonous ethnic groups.
31
lifetime. We talk about a kind of cultural construction that allows individuals interacting
with “the others” and through which defining themselves as actors who are part of a
symbol cultural universe aimed at emboding, maintaining or modifying a certain set of
psycho-social elements. Meaning that guaranteeing the presence and recognition of
individuals within a symbolic environment they legitimate and by which they are
represented (Mead, 1974: 1, 135).
Through the individual ability for internalizing attitudes and others’ expectations,
actors turn themselves into the object of their own reflection, and they start to represent
a social image produced by the conjunction of two factors of recognition. The first one
includes self-perception as part of a specific symbolic universe and the world of life.
The second is constructed by the vision “the others” have of the actors themselves, and
is included into a specific socio-cultural environment (Mead, 1974: 138). Therefore,
actors came into a “recognition-appraisal respect dynamic” which in the first case
consists in giving appropriate consideration or recognition to some elements of a
specific feature ‘…by doing what it certainly should be done; in the second, the concept
involves holding people in high regard, or admiring their character-related features…’
(Darwall, 1977: 41). «The two different ways in which a person may be respected
provide but one instance of a more general difference between two attitudes which are
both termed respect. Crudely put the difference is this. There is a kind of respect which
can have any of a number of different sorts of things as its object and which consists,
most generally, in a disposition to weigh appropriately in one’s deliberations some
feature of the thing in question and to act accordingly. The law, someone’s feelings, and
social institutions with their positions and roles are examples of things which can be the
object of this sort of respect. Since this kind of respect consists in giving appropriate
consideration or recognition to some feature of its object in deliberating about what to
do…» (Darwall, 1977: 38), we shall define it recognition respect.
Identity can so be understood not only as a natural feature which can (or not)
condition the production of a certain cultural heritage aimed at defining specific
attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, values. On the other hand, it embodies the possibility to
create a self-understanding based on the consciousness we are not only the observer of a
peculiar and unique analytic problem we are interested into or we want to solve as best
as possible. It also denotes another analytic object of observation considered in any
manner interesting by who does not take part in our daily life dynamic, or our sociocultural context. Its most explicit social effect is the creation of a double consciousness
32
aimed at defining a general identity (as being Mexican) that means assuming the use of
a set of cultural elements that can define minorities’ norms and values, without
forgetting all those idiosyncratic essentials (behaviors, modus vivendi, ways of
thinking), which are necessary for defining national identity as well. While identity
represents a symbolic project individuals keep on constructing by using social
interactions which are needed for creating and maintaining a certain standard of
empirical use of symbols – allowing actors being integrated into different social
contexts and limiting the disintegration of their traditions, ways of thinking, and
customs – it also offers the opportunity to be integrated and recognized, within a
territory (Bird, 2004: 212). People create a new way of self-recognition based on
standard identity, which includes norms, traditions and a set of elements, which
recognized as an official “locally-shaped” cultural heritage, and part of the general
symbolic universe that is supposed to define their position within the society. On the
other side, communities recognize themselves as equal to “the other”, but at the same
time they show the claim to be differentiated because of specific features, by choosing
«a peculiar sensation…[aimed at]…looking at one’s self through the eyes of...»27, and
feeling his own twoness, «…two unreconciled strivings»28.
Therefore, while being part of a national minority, people create a specific social
category able to identify the way through which they can be represented and respected
by the cultural environment they are part of. Such kind of local identification turns itself
into a “secondary identity system” thanks to which actors can highlight what they
consider they are, without forgetting to show the socio-cultural side the world of life
judges to be more convenient to them. Thus, members of cultural minorities are
supposed to identify themselves as part of a specific group whom characteristic
elements they recognize with (being part of the “main society” they territorially belong
to), and perpetrate a racial dilemma that defines both their way of being and the way the
national culture “suggests” them to be (Vásquez & Wetzel, 2009).
The most important implication for that can be resumed into three different core
points. The creation of a sort of mental incongruence that contribute to establish the
limit of what is supposed to decide the best way to define ourselves; the exploitation of
aesthetic difference to create a stereotype based on race superiority; the opportunity to
27
28
Cited by Owens Moore (2005: 752). For the original reference, see Du Bois (1903: 16-17).
Ibidem.
33
reach a cultural goal that combines universalism with particular relativism (Sciolla,
1983, 2007).
In the first case, groups easily cannot establish a “right way” of recognition for
themselves (identifying specific standards of being what someone is supposed to be)
avoiding also the capability to occupy a specific space within the society they are part
of. The most relevant result of that is “being forcedly included” into a social
environment that does not really recognize them as actors with a specific number of
legitimated rights and who have the force and presence to impose their position and
claims, and obtain what they are looking for29.
In the second, identity is not used to define diversity but only to separate groups by
culture, what is meant to be the first problem of misrecognition, misunderstanding and
exclusion. If a society does not impulse any way of integration which guarantees for
minorities a generally recognized socio-cultural status that implies to socially know
what a specific aesthetic feature and a set of cultural elements mean, those same
“culture bearers” automatically come to be excluded from the society they actually
contribute to characterize.
Finally, if actors choose to identify themselves as composed by two different and
mutual sides, which are part of their specific symbolic universe and contribute
characterizing the national cultural framework, they show the presence of a multiple
identity placing them into a social position that allows minorities’ members interrupting
homogeneity, and promoting a relativistic social development. A socio-cultural dynamic
that, depending on actors’ election, might also offer a standard way of identity
negotiation based on single or multiple elements of cultural, social or political
representation (Owens Moore, 2005). Such representation allows to assume cultural
relativism as a real moral way of being, and the community knowledge as a way to
affirm the existence of a knowable universe as much as cultures are or that, individuals
who belong to different cultures, live within a unique or a multiple symbolic space
(Satta, 2005).
29
Producing special rights for national minorities and imposing a principle of cultural membership
respect for members of local communities, are the political solutions proposed by multiculturalists. The
most relevant examples for specific “political rules” to integration and representation are the enforced
asimilation , which is supposed to be the main result of a “minority-rights equality” production promoted
by assimilationist countries, the facilitating assimilation (endorsed by multicultural liberal states), and
refusing a color-blind constitution . For further information, see Kymlicka & Norman (2000), Kymlicka
(1994), and Zwart (2005).
34
So, it seems reasonable thinking about minorities and identity as a sort of clash
between status and positions of citizens and no-citizens, that is, «…about who is to be
included in the privileges and derived benefits of being designated the kind of citizen
(active) who had these rights…» (Wallerstein, 2003: 661; Knight Abowitz, 2006) and
who only tries to be recognized as part of that piece of society having the right to take
part of the “official citizenship”. It is a question of identity and identification.
Therefore, while identity is produced by norms, behavior, culture and all those other
ancestral elements constituting the soul of a Nation, territory or group, it also represents
a way to be somebody specific, territorially located and recognized because of some
certain characteristics, potentially represented or formally forgotten by part of
institutions, State and civil society.
Such dynamic supposes minorities start to create a twofold way of self-recognition.
By one side, communities choose to identify themselves as part of the State and culture
where they are located, by interiorizing norms and uses of the generalized symbolic
universe. Secondly, they define their identity by exclusive parameters of normative
cultural reproduction that expresses only the micro-symbolic universe they came from.
That fact supposes the creation of a multiple identity dynamic and the insurance
actors come to be, in any way, represented by institutions (the formal way to do that), or
by collective groups, as the informal recognition of “others’ culture” in a multicultural
state (Goldman, 2002; Kymlicka, 2001). That is, allowing identity to be the main
character of individuals for understanding their own symbolic universe but also the
social, cultural or political environment, which they are part of.
Minorities could also identify themselves by taking into account a specific symbolic
universe based on a sort of memory (not necessary thanks to a recent identity
negotiation process), and by building up new personalities, idiosyncrasies and ways of
being. On one hand, they come to be structured through the remembrance of some
unique and exclusive ancestral elements; on the other, they obtain a multiple identity
standard, which Gabriel Izard Martínez chose to define a “philosophy of return” (Izard
Martínez, 2005).
In this case, identity assumes a twofold meaning. If people accept to assume certain
patterns of behavior, which are connected to a dominant national culture, they also
assume the skills for a non-obliged integration, by supposing a twofold understanding of
that. Defining a Nation as a cultural environment, which incorporates minorities’
identity as just another element of its own spiritual worth; and assuming those
35
minorities’ identities as integrated into the general cultural frame. By contrast, if
communities’ members want to be integrated into a society through proposing a
definition of “Nation” in multicultural terms, so they can choose a sort or relativistic
status where, some identities are recognized, some others don’t. Community’s identity
could be defined by a standard criterion through which actors evaluate if the
relationship that persists inside the group is effectively part of it or looks like a sort of
imposition by part of the State. In this case − as for the Mexican dynamic of
indigenismo (Díaz Polanco, 1995, 2010) − it would refer to an institutional problem of
recognition. A misunderstanding embodying a very special example of those societies
that, in another moment, have been defined as provided with dubious democratic
quality, and, for what concerns jurisdictional pluralism, empirically free (Volpato, 2012;
(Falconí, Hercowitz & Muradian, 2004). In such socio-cultural environment, the value
of diversity turns itself not into a potential expansion of the opportunity range for
people, as argued by liberal multiculturalists, but a clear decrement of them for both
recognition of presence and identity negotiation.
As a result, the concept implies an extremely broad range of meanings and while it
explains cultural, social, political, aesthetic, or linguistic elements that characterize the
actors, which belong to a specific group or community, it also contributes to the
description of socio-cultural dynamics that condition the process of negotiation for their
recognition. Like the reasons for acceptance-rejection in and from a certain group,
specific dynamics for exclusion or affiliation to a community, the personal degree of
self-perception, feelings of belonging or intergroup hostility, and the internalization
process of values and norms within a group.
Moreover, it allows us to study the process by which, for example, an actor decides
(or not) to take part in (or follow) a group; or (taking into account a community) it gives
us the opportunity to understand the mechanisms of inter and intra group conditioning,
in tension between self and hetero-recognition. A tension that contributes not only to
explain the reasons for existence of group dynamics and inclusion-exclusion criteria that
regulate the way by which individuals can (or not) take part into a community. It also
allows the analysis of individual components of social actors (starting from a me-mine
relationship taking into account, habits, beliefs, and values) according to their personal
assessment of community values, the level of emotional involvement with ideas or
principles on which group-culture is built, and the types of identity recognition
individuals look for within a certain group of actors (Cerulo, 1997: 385-386).
36
Depending on identity representation modality minorities want to negotiate, actors
look for measuring both the importance society attributes to a specific sort of intergroup self-recognition (that means to legitimate an informal way for ideologically locate
minorities’ members), and the concrete opportunity for cultural groups to be formally
registered by the State. The first dynamic allows the creation of a really effective
political dynamic aimed at institutionally recognizing the jurisdictional viability of the
recognition within communities (when they would respect the human and Nation-wide
general rights); the second contributes to approve the legal validity and applicability of
the customary law among the symbolic universes communities and Nation are
representing (Gros, 2002).
Thus, if we are aware identity and diversity represent not only the result of a
stereotyped society, which wants to recognize culture as the way to describe a unique
and isolated way of being, it is also logic understanding self-recognition being both a
sort of need that comes from minorities, and a way to break down the boundaries that
make local symbolic universes limited, by claiming the right to represent a peculiar
dimension of the national identity. That’s why actors construct, perceive and use a
certain typology of multiple identity characterized not by the Nation-wide culturally
recognized standards or some autochthonous ones located among minorities, but thanks
to a syncretic culture production, made up by the conjunction of civil society and
minorities, and based on both the locally shaped tradition and the officially recognized
one.
In the first case, being perceived not only embodies a basic element for local
representation of minorities and their members – historically and territorially located –
starting by a principle of empirical self-representation (Burke, 2006). Being recognized
as a part of a specific group (a minority or a “dominant” one), embodies the need to
formalize identity recognition, by taking into account the relation existing between subgroups and national culture, and concretely re-defining all those plural cultural elements
that contribute to characterize similarity and diversity at national level.
Secondly, and regionally speaking, the historical process of mestizaje produced and
imposed new symbolic imaginaries which nowadays serve as a sort of “cultural bridge”
between a specific type of standard identity – what Giménez (1997b) chose to define “to
be who one is” – and a new socio-cultural status for minorities’ members. Thus, Latin
American multiculturalism does not suppose the existence of some national minorities,
by recognizing the presence of their peculiarity and re-organizing regional society as
37
what Kymlicka defines the ideological-normative problem for modern multiculturality,
especially in its “polyethnic modality”. By contrast, the concept anticipates our
awareness about diversity consciousness in its universal mode, by supposing group
cultural parameters interiorization and including in that normative baggage those values
of who is not part of the same symbolic universe as well.
The dynamic we mentioned creates unique and autopoietic cultural groups whose
function is providing a mixed identity to individuals who take part of them and contrast
only partially with costumes, modus vivendi, or the set of meanings that primarily
characterize the social environment a specific minority belongs to (Ariño, 2000).
Mestizaje appears as an official political discourse for the creation of Nation, as a
sort of a new authenticity claim which denies colonial ways of racial and ethnic
oppression, though the creation of an intermediate cultural dynamic established by the
community for distinguishing itself from Creole civil society. Moreover, it represents a
national ideology aimed at homogenizing the local culture or, interpreting Peter Wade
(2005), it supposes the existence of an inclusion-exclusion socio-cultural dynamic
directed to the production of a segmented image of national identity. In this way,
cultural homogeneity is not only a matter of political convenience by part of the State,
but it looks much more like a denial than an affirmation of nationality and citizenship
(Wade, 2005: 239; Bobes, 2004). On the other hand, the idea of identity is related with a
homogeneous idea of culture representing a liberating force that breaks the colonial and
neocolonial categories of ethnicity and race, and establishes itself as a space of
resistance that rejects the need for membership (as defined by current multicultural
theorists) and which does not mix with what Taguieff ideologically defined a sort of
integral difference (Taguieff, 1994). Thus, the Latin American idea of identity sets itself
into an intermediate position between a liberal-democratic mode of the State
(charactering the multicultural Canadian model), and a peculiar way of fragmentary
pluralism whose cultural complexity denial, and the lack of cultural diversity
organization represent the key of regional phenomenon (Wade, 1997, 2005; Alexander,
2000). Multicultural conditions come to be modified and new social positions of actors
impose the recognition of mutual identity (starting by autopoietic symbolic universes
from which they came from), and constructed by a syncretic use of traditions that
belong to one or another minority or, depending on individuals’ cultural attribution,
shows the presence of some inter group self-relevant meanings.
38
To reach a specific set of self-relevant meanings, actors use three types of
psychological components: cognitive (that helps creating a group consciousness based
on the perception of a “non-generalized other” that shares the same living space, norms
and values of any other actor that belongs to the same cultural environment); evaluative
(which allows a qualitative classification of sense of belonging to a certain group rather
than another); emotional (that explains the degree of actors involvement with the
context to which they participate)30.
In the first case, the actor understands the dynamic of membership from an
individual choice or an a priori cultural imposition. Meaning that individuals decide
spontaneously to take part into a group, choosing on the basis of their affiliation,
interests and needs, or, because of their own ethnic background, they automatically
belong to a specific cultural environment. In both cases, actors are conscious of their
condition and the position they have to assume (or they will have to) depending on the
social roles that characterize (or will characterize) their experience within the group in
which they will take part.
In the second, a potential or proper member of a group considers membership
starting by a choice of necessity or convenience. In the case of a positive evaluation, it
will contribute to their sense of belonging as “full members”; if not, it will push selfperception toward the amplification of distinctiveness between members and peer
group, within cultural communities, or with civil society. In the first case we refer to a
voluntary decision (by an actor) to take part of a group. In the second, we highlight the
sense of membership that develops an actor in relation with a context within which he
has not decided to be born or he considers not being appropriate to its own human,
social, cultural, ethical, moral or otherwise characteristics31.
Finally, the emotional component explains both the degree of connection of social
actors with the community or group to which they belong and their level of involvement
with it. In this case, a large emotional connection to history, ethnicity or race supports
not only the assumption of membership but also represents the stimulus by which actors
may seek both an individual or collective representation and the recognition of their
social, cultural, political, or racial identity. Consequently to that, identity turns itself
30
Henri Tajfel explains that membership contributes to the generation of individual and collective
identity starting from specific socio-cultural factors that depend on both relationship actors have with
other individuals or with the group in which they take part, and their will to participate to the dynamics
imposed by community experience. For more information about the meaning of group in social
psychology and the elements of the sense of belonging, we refer to Tajfel (1978a: 27-29).
31
See Deschamps & Doise (1978).
39
fluid across time and cultural boundaries. Therefore, it does not only condition the way
through which members of groups define themselves toward a specific civil society or a
peculiar “generalized alter ”; it also tends to modify the social context that can or cannot
define that same community, by recognizing (or not) its presence as diverse from the
general “well-socially recognized” way of being (Sanders, 2002). Thus, if we consider
just the way used by actors to define themselves as part of their community, we can also
affirm their identity turns itself into a flexible method for recognition, which can be
adapted to the dominant cultural framework. That fact means creating a specific sort of
syncretism aimed at re-defining both the identity of the group and the Nation. By
contrast, if we take into account only the response society decides to apply on the
struggle for minorities’ recognition, minorities’ identity comes to be represented as a
sort of ethic “switching mechanism” that offers to the members a double way of selfrecognition (Alba, 1990; Nagel, 1994, 1995). As a part of a bigger cultural environment
defined by a Nation (so territorially and temporally defined); or as a piece of a locally
constructed socio-cultural universe that differs partially or completely from the standard
way of recognition and representation, specifically promoted by multicultural states.
Thus, if an actor is part of a group, he participates (at the same time) at two processes
of identity construction. On one hand, by conditioning its habitus, modus vivendi,
beliefs and cultural background, the actor modifies (temporarily or constantly) its own
individual identity. On the other, he helps to build new parameters of representation
that, once established, can be maintained, changed or even removed from the cultural
context within which they were produced or to whom they have been brought 32. These
new parameters come to be institutionalized within the community, and begin to
represent the way through which individuals composing groups show they have
internalized a certain set of human, social, cultural, or linguistic qualities. These
qualities allow actors creating a sort of “we-ness” relationship that contributes to the
generation of what we define collective identity. A phenomenon of unity and integration
that, in terms of daily life and social roles of actors, defines the extent to which the
experience of individual belonging to a local group, contributes to unify community
starting by the integration and consistency of some life situations in a certain cultural
environment.
32
This process is called “transculturation” and it can be applied to all those countries that suffered
some kind of socio-cultural change produced by historical dynamics imposed to local populations. For
further information, see the work of Fernando Ortiz, who has the paternity of the concept (see
bibliography for some references).
40
While people are discussing what determines a set of symbols for identification, they
should also list a group of neglected problems for representation that can or not manage
a complex of symbolic cultural elements through which minority members want to be
recognized. That means inter group members can take into account the role of a
generalized other, by using a specific way to impose an ego -involvement useful to the
best definition of the collective identity they are near to accept for the need of a precise
and equal description of culture, norms and way of being within a society. Through this
social dynamic, individuals integrate their separate goals and actions into a collective
unity and decide if it would be more convenient to maintain or disintegrate the identity
they look for (Sanchez-Burks & Huy, 2009; Cottrel, 1950).
Consequently, identity represents a specific way of interaction that leads to the
development of a communicative situation (within actors and groups) from which
certain cultural codes that characterize a community are considered as both the elements
for the definition of a specific symbolic universe (different from the national cultural
framework) and the set of symbols that represents a principle of unity and homogeneity
within a group (Giménez, 2010). Therefore, while individuals define similarities
between themselves and other members of the same community, by generating specific
social roles and cultural attributes generally shared and relatively stable over time, they
also produce a process of differentiation by which they can distinguish themselves from
the generalized national culture. In the first case, they contribute to homogenize the
culture of the group to which they belong; that means, creating a process of culture
continuity within minorities. In the second, by establishing new parameters of
recognition for them and for the group, actors can construct a specific type of identity
that, while diluted and mixed with national cultural context, they follow as a process of
differentiation aimed at creating some shared and heterogeneous perceptions of the self
(between groups and the general symbolic universe) that can be modified depending on
the core elements through which groups want to be recognized (as regarding religion,
language, or aesthetic features). Such dynamic would be able shifting identity by the
idea of representation to the concept of self-recognition.
Thus, the idea of “being perceived” pass to represent not only a necessary element
for self-affirmation, that means to be who one is. It would also demonstrates the need of
a kind of formalized recognition, which lies in an endogenous-exogenous relationship
between sub-groups and national culture. On one side, the perception of being perceived
will be directed to define individual identity of who belongs to a particular community,
41
by mutually recognizing the similarity of group’s members. On the other, it will
establish a new way of collective representation Giménez (2010) defines a search of
recognition of presence of diversity (exoidentidad). In this sense, the importance of
identity, individual or collective, lies primarily in two complementary dimensions. On
one hand, who is seeking recognition, at the same time, seeks to formalize his/her
presence in a particular historical moment and in a specific territory. This means
recognizing social actors as separated and distinct subjects of a “generalized other”, and
by their in-group/out-group membership (Gleizer Salzman, 1997). On the other, if an
ego comes to be recognized by a specific individual or collective “generalized alter ”,
this happens by a process of similarity or diversity. In the first case, we refer to a kind of
self-identification based on recognition of new cultural parameters as part of the
traditional heritage of the community. In the second, diversity is the key element for
defining the presence of a new symbolic universe characterized by its own culture,
traditions and often by its own language, that coexists, differs and melts into the
widespread and predominant national socio-cultural context (Giménez, 2010: 14).
So firstly, we refer to the sense of belonging that proves who is part of a group as a
member; secondly, the problem leads to a set of actors that all share the same codes,
symbols and meanings versus who (a specific group, a community, the civil society,
etc..) is not part of the same symbolic universe.
In this way, actors constitute a unique cultural and autopoietic group that has the
function to provide for the individuals an identity standard that may contrasts (directly
or indirectly) with customs, modus vivendi, or the set of meaning that characterize,
primarily, the society in which a group is embedded. Moreover, they derive their
identities from more than one social group. Fact which is supposed to identify different
positions within the society and communities, by structuring «…a set of interrelated
behaviors, obligations, and orientations toward others that are specific to that social role
and hence differentiated from other role identities that the same individual may hold»
(Brewer, 2001: 121; Abrams, 1999).
Now, depending on the social and cultural environment to which communities
belong, actors define not only their role within the group but also among the society
they are part of.
This process supposes to understand identity as a double-meaning dynamic.
On one hand, it provides actors with some psychological elements, which reflect
their convictions in behavior, beliefs, social norms and modus vivendi.
42
On the other, it obliges them to share a specific set of meanings that suppose the
existence of a local symbolic universe, parallel with the “socially-recognized” one and
completely dissociated from national standard identity (Abrams, 1999). Thus, the
“social in-group” turns itself into a sort of microstructure based on individuals who
interact by enacting different and complementary roles, also explaining (within the
group) how individuals can have different social identities depending on the role or
position they occupy (Brewer, 2001). By contrast, those same actors can also “feed” an
in-group process that allows them setting some shared common characteristics or social
experiences, which make them unique, as community, minority or cultural national
group. In this case, social identity represents a process of identification with which, or
in assimilation to, “others” can or not share the common group of membership. That
will be provided by «that part of the individual’s self-concept which derives from his
knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and
emotional significance attached to that membership» (Tajfel, 1981: 251).
Actors can decide on the base of a fourfold differentiation of identity structure: a
personal-based, relational, group-based, and collective one33.
In the first case, the concept is intended to be a sort of use of identity that is located
within the individual self-concept. In this usage, identity is just an aspect of the self that
has a peculiar influence on membership, specially within certain social groups or
categories, and represents a way to share socialization, experiences, and all those
elements which are supposed to be a necessary component for membership definition.
This kind of identity responds to the question “What kind of person am I?” or “Who am
I as an X?” (where “X” refers to a social category membership). Moreover, it is also
intended to be considered as one aspect of the acquisition of a self-concept through
processes of socialization and normative internalization (Thoits & Virshup, 1997) and,
as argued by Cross (1991), it might be a sort of theoretical trigger for the study of
ethnicity or race. By this perspective, community members allow actors to acquire some
«psychological traits, expectations, customs, beliefs, and ideologies that are associated
with belonging to a particular social group or category» (Brewer, 2001: 118), where
identification refers to the centrality of a particular minority membership perception to
the individual’s sense of self and the meaning produced by that same identity.
33
Brewer takes into account different types of social identities by which she explains
interrelationships between individuals and groups, within groups, and within actors. For further
information about the topic, see more classic works by Brewer (2001), Abrams (1999), Brewer &
Gardner (1996), Cross (1991), Deaux (1996), Ferdman (1995), and Freud (1960).
43
Secondly, the relationship constructed by the interaction between individuals
belonging to the same group or between different groups with different characteristics
and cultural claims recognize identity as a self-representation of a “me perspective”
(Thoits & Virshup, 1997). In this sense, identities allow individuals to be recognized by
other members of the group to which they belong, or to a second one, externally
represented. In both cases, the actor will be recognized as a certain kind of person,
characterized for being representing a “person-based identity”, with a specific position
and role within his or her own symbolic universe (Theodore & Vernon, 1968). A kind
of dynamic that produces thus a sort of “role identity”, derived by interpersonal
relationships within a larger group, and which corresponds closely to a process of selfinterdependence defined by cultural differences and self-construals (Cottrel, 1950;
Dasgupta, 2004; Goleman, 2006). This way of relational social identities is strictly
interdependent, in the sense that while traits and behaviors expressed by one are
dependent on and responsive to the behavior and expectancies of the other parties in the
relationship, the individual-based identity contributes to the way through which
individuals can produce culture and relate it with the symbolic universes of “the others”.
This dynamic also allows actors to perpetrate old symbols or the “socially-appreciated”
norms, without forgetting the influence of self-concept on social norms and
expectations, associated with occupying particular roles or social positions, and the
nature of the specific interpersonal relationships within which these roles are carried
out.
In the third one, group-based identity refers to the exact perception of the self,
considered as an integral or interchangeable part of a larger group, minority or cultural
community (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Taylor, 1992b). The meaning of a group-based
identity is thus closer to a definition of a collective one where “the other” starts to be
part of what the individual-based identity is supposed to define as a necessary way to
understand membership (Pollini, 1987). In this case, group-based identity is constructed
starting by the action each member of the group or community makes for the existence
of the minority itself, by exercising a specific role, in conjunction with the dichotomous
relation between parts and whole (Tajfel, 1978b; Foreman & Whetten, 2002; Messick &
Mackie, 1989). The relationship between actors and group come to be re-organized by a
sort of socio-cultural continuum among a community, and by maintaining a standard of
normative reproduction, which includes the self – contributing to build up actors as an
44
interchangeable exemplars of some social categories and away from the perception of
self as a unique person (Tuan, 2002) – and engages a special kind of group identity.
The effect of such dynamic appears threefold.
In the first situation, the construal of self-identity extends beyond the individual to a
more inclusive socio-cultural unit. That fact means boundaries between self and the
generalized other are eclipsed by the importance of cultural limits themselves, because
of the relationship between in-group and out-group, and especially referring to
multicultural states where rights and recognition are strictly connected with both an
individual and collective way of representation (Cerulo, 1997; Hartmann & Gerteis,
2005; Appiah, 1994, 2005; Barry, 2002; Barth, 1969; Zwart, 2005; Barberá, 2003). In
this context, fortunes and misfortunes of the group, as a whole, are incorporated into the
self and respond to personal outcomes (Hirt, Zillmann, Erickson & Kennedy, 1992)34.
Secondly, by modifying self-attributes and absorbing them into the local sociocultural environment, group-based identity provides people with a common set of
values, behaviors and norms that contribute to internalize the idea of collective
representation, enhance the features that make the community or minority exclusive,
and impulse the uniformity and cohesion between members and within the group.
Finally, although group-based identity conditions the content of self-representation
throughout the processes of identification and assimilation (structured in “others
perception” and mutual recognition), on the other hand, social dynamic of sharing
beliefs, values and norms, contributes to re-form collective meanings attached to the
specific group identity, which characterizes communities’ members (Deaux, 1996).
What it means is that collective identity is not only comprehensive of all those cultural
elements actors choose to characterize with, but also of those new values and ideologies
such identification entails. That fact supposes the existence of two core elements: the
social effect cultural and racial syncretism actually has on personality and selfdefinition (the best example for the Latin American case); and the presence of a certain
set of shared experiences that, exactly because of the historical, cultural and racial
misgenation, activates a process of shaping and forging a peculiar image for
communities. A collective perception of the group standing for the real way
communites’ members see themselves, but also representing how it wishes to be viewed
34
Mentioned by Brewer (2001: 119). Especially referring to social values and political equality,
related to identity negotiation process, see Iheduru (2006).
45
by others (Melucci, 1989; Klandermans, 1997; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher &
Wetherell, 1987).
Thus, collective identity represents the main result of a collective effort, produced by
groups’ members, and what they want to be recognized for, as actors with something in
common and different from the standard national frame. The main result of this process
is what we consider the only thing being able to re-construct (or negotiate) community
identity and allowing us thinking about an institutional (or, as in the Latin American
case, a constitutional one) response to minority claims. Thus, not only as an utopist way
of representing equality within multicultural societies, but also as a potential way to
understand standard identity as just an element of a very much more extended symbolic
universe we define plural society (Turner, Oakes, Haslam & McGarty, 1994). Finally,
this process requires actors change their self-identity, activating a new one, produced by
the conjunction of their standard identity with socio-cultural principles community
considers to be necessary to its own definition as a whole.
When the identity is activated, the individual perceives the meanings supposed by his
or her ongoing behavior in the situation (either observed directly or received through
reflected appraisals). In this way, the conjunction between identities and behavior lies in
the shared meanings of each. Actors engage in behavior to create meanings that
correspond to the meanings of their identity standard, and «the perceptions of these selfrelevant meanings are fed into the comparator, a mechanism that compares one’s
perceptions of self-relevant meanings with the self-defining meaning of the identity
standard…[by generating]…differences between these two…as an error or discrepancy
signal. The discrepancy represents a lack of correspondence between the meanings in
the identity standard and the meanings in the situation» (Burke, 2006: 82).
Therefore, the quality of identity can be variable and assumes an individual or
collective meaning. That fact would depend on the position occupied by who takes part
in a group, or the way he chooses to be represented. In this context, the cultural frame of
reference within which actors are involved is characterized by both an individual
recognition, based on the diversification of parameters of personal identification, either
by a local and collective perception of identity, produced by a process that stands for
direct conditioning members of a specific community. Such collective perception of
identity will thus allow members to define particular features within the group of
reference, and start to explain some kind of idiosyncratic uniqueness existing in it.
46
It may further produce two general sources of identity change resulting in both a
problem of “verification” for a particular identity and the generation of multiple
identities activated together (Burke, 2006, 85). «The difference between these sources
of change lies in the source of the conflict of meanings. In the first case, the source is a
disturbance to the meanings in the external situation, causing them to be perceived as
discrepant from the meanings of the identity standard. In the second case, it is an
internal conflict manifested when two identities, each controlling the same dimension of
meaning, but at different levels, are activated at the same time. In view of each of these
sources, the meanings in the identity standard(s) are likely to change in the service of
making identity verification possible. What it means to be who one is will change»
(Burke, 2006, 85)35. Because of the direct (or indirect) relationship between groups and
civil society (or dominant culture), membership feeling ensures the modification of
definite cultural parameters of social actors without letting them lose their own identity.
In addition, this guarantees a mutual recognition, which, initially outlines the generation
of a socio-cultural similarity between minorities and civil society. Subsequently, it
proclaims a clear diversity between dominant culture and national sub-groups. In the
first instance, it generates a continuity process that feeds intergroup feelings
confirmation and is aimed at strengthening local unit. In the second, that means, starting
by a formalized recognition by part of a community’s member (or in case of a collective
actor, from a “generalized alter ”) to another member of the same minority, collective
identity comes to be institutionalized and, finally, the community begins to exist
socially and publicly. In both cases, the effect of need for cultural recognition and the
use of culture as an element for the identification of specific parameters of behavior,
habitus, national minorities ancestral traditions, refer to both an objectified social
dimension in itself (which results in the presence of institutions and observable
practices) and a subjective dimension of individual and collective cultural standards. In
the first case, the reference to the objectification of cultural characteristics of groups
dates back to the need for individuals to self-identificating as a part of the specific
context to which they belong, which they contribute to characterize, and by which they
are conditioned in their forms of behavior. In second instance, the problem is more
complex and it can be addressed on the base of two dimensions.
35
For our case study, Mexican population of African descent is losing its “original identity” and is
replacing it with new standards of behavior by mixing the original African values, traditions and norms
with indigenous or “Mexican-Mestizo” customs. The problem will be explained later.
47
First, they can be directed to define social actors from an ad intra-ad extra
recognition that seeks to reconstruct the dynamic of differentiation between
communities and national framework. Consequently, this fact imposes a membershipdiversity dynamic between subjects and social environment without value judgments
based on a qualitative characterization of any other member of the group (Messick &
Mackie, 1989; Gleizer Salzman, 1997).
Second, they tend to emphasize the difference between community social context
and “national culture”, by recontextualizing the image of the group that is related with
the construction of a representation of a “generalized other”, distinct and separate from
the symbolic universe of minority. In this case, the concept of identity appears twofold.
On one hand, it underlines the idea of “process” that seeks to explain socio-cultural
identity as a flexible status constructed from specific historical dynamics that are at the
core of cultural group formation and represent a set of social, cultural and political
trajectories that serve as a common background of meanings for actors. On the other, it
tends to explain diversity from a praxis-structure dichotomy, taking into account the
need to define specific cultural and social parameters in spite of differences that exist
between minority and dominant culture (Bauman, 2002).
In the first dynamic, the effect of conditioning historical events affects both feeling
of belonging to a community (by contributing to explain reasons why members of one
group seek cohesion) and the institutional response to their presence36.
In the second, which we consider to be an effect of processuality of collective
identity, the conditions of subordination that normally accompany minorities impose an
amplification of difference (often resulting in a “generalized alter ” negative perception)
that, on one hand, asserts the existence of different socio-cultural parameters that take
part in the general symbolic universe. On the other, it leads to define minorities as local
36
The reference includes both effect of global historical events (the colonization of America), and
more recent cultural dynamics (as in this case of social movements as a way for negotiating collective
identity). In spite of what we said, if in both cases we can talk about “collective identity” and
“background of meanings”, on the other hand (as regarding with ethnic minorities or cultural
communities) the historical background and the collective memory linked to race or ethnic identification
obtain a weight considerably above of what the political or social affiliation show. In particular, as
regards cultural minorities which have undergone a process of social, cultural or linguistic transformation,
as well as an imposition of “racial whitening”, we must refer to a “standard identity” which is very hard
to modify only starting from some “last generation” political or cultural affiliations. This fact supposes
the presence of a feeling of emotional responsibility, linked to the dynamics of ancestral memory,
reinforcing more vehemently the reasons for internal groups’ cohesion, and obtaining a greater
community response in the socio-cultural differentiation process with civil society or other groups
existing within the territory. See Burke (2006).
48
sub-groups that are independent of the Nation and show a set of characteristics
generated by the imposition of a subjective criterion of diversity.
Such socio-cultural process establishes a dilemma between universalism and
particularism, which offers the individuals the option of judging a physical or social
object taking into account specific social general criteria for all objects of their category,
or deciding to focuse their attention and interest only on the cultural object that
characterizes them and, at the same time, they directly or indirectly condition’ (Sciolla,
2007: 67)37.
In the first case, actors choose a criterion of “universal representation”; in the second
they prefer an idea of “relative particularism” (Sciolla, 2007: 67).
37
«Il…dilemma è tra universalismo e particolarismo…se l’attore decide di giudicare un oggetto fisico
o sociale partendo da criteri generali relativi a tutti gli oggetti della stessa categoria, allora opta per
l’universalismo. Se al contrario, considera l’oggetto secondo criteri che si applicano solo a questo
oggetto...[la cultura]...e a condizioni particolari, allora opta per il particolarismo».
49
50
Chapter II
Identity as a Way for Recognition
51
52
1. Social Implications of the Identity Concept
The concept of identity, from its massive imposition on academic research,
especially on psychology and social sciences, has marked many of analytical dynamics
in the study of relations between actors and institutions, cultural minorities and civil
society, within States.
More clearly, it refers to all daily life aspects and it seems to be the main result of
both specific cultural dynamics representing forms of artifact or observable behaviors;
and habitus, cognitive schemata or internalized social representations processed by
actors during their intra and inter-group relations. In this context, and starting from the
internalization of norms, values or traditions that characterize a group, cultural
meanings generated within the collectivity contribute to organize symbolic forms of
common experience, and they extend to the members of the community’s “world of
life”. At the same time, they generate specific socio-cultural representations that are
shared by the members of the same symbolic universe, and distinct from the widespread
dominant cultural framework.
The problem of negotiation of identity, then, poses two specific and complementary
analytical lines. On one hand, they explain self-perception of who contributes feeding
the socio-cultural space of a collectivity as a “full member” of a certain symboliccultural frame, a symbolic universe established as a generalized way of recognition for
that minority. On the other, they suppose a process of inter-group distinction, based on
differentiation of cognitive schemas and local cultural frameworks aimed at developing
an “us-them” relationship in which both social roles and sense of belonging assume the
existence of a unique and distinguishable socio-cultural space featured by exclusive
characteristics. Such local socio-cultural elements establish a new limit of separation
between what falls within a certain scheme of thought, use, value or practice, and a
socio-cultural context that, on the contrary, ensures a specific systemic heritage related
to a shared set of symbols that differs from it.
In the first case, identity serves as a cohesive principle according to which members
of a group are characterized by a “mutual equality”. In this case, identity turns itself into
a hypothetical space through which pluralism and multiculturality are not more
considered as analytic principles constructed by an utopist set of local processes of
representation. Conversely, it seems to be rooted to what Assies, “echoing” the
theoretical perspective of Hale, considered a twofold socio-cultural continuum aimed at
defining self-definition and governance of minorities, and promoting both a sort of
53
“managed” and a “transformative multiculturalism” (Assies, 2005: 3). In this context,
minorities come to be avoided, inducing them to seek for the recognition of their
cultural identity as part of a homogeneous environment within which each actor
contributes for the establishment and maintenance of that specific socio-cultural unity.
The managed multiculturalism promotes indeed cultural pluralism, but it is not
possible to translate it into a concrete and durable effect for members of misrecognized
cultural groups. In contrast, transformative multiculturalism makes a real redistribution
of power and resources. The two models, in turn, correspond to a “from above” and a
“from below” multiculturalism. In the first case, essentialist expressions and “bounded
group’s identities” are reinforced, while the latter would be associated with the
progressive identity politic expressions such as “diversity” and “hybridity” (Assies,
2005: 3). Meaning that, not avoiding the fact that, as argued by Messick & Mackie, «ingroups are seen as more variable than outgroups…[, and]…variability judgments
depend on (a) the retrieval individual exemplars from memory, and (b) the use of an
availability heuristic to estimate the shape of the group distribution» (Messick &
Mackie, 1989: 55).
In this context, if we consider the concept of identity in explaining the reasons for
acceptance or rejection, it does not limit us to describe dynamics of exclusion, potential
hostility to the community, personal degree of self-perception, internalization process
rules. It also allows us to consider a degree of systematic construction of prejudice,
acceptance of in-group communicativeness and modification of normative parameters,
depending on social mobility among minorities (Tajfel, 1981: 133, 1982: 56-61). What
it means is considering the processes through which an actor decides to participate in a
group or, in the case of a community, assuming the conditioning mechanisms among
minorities as a continuous tension between self and hetero-recognition. Such relation
also allows the analysis of individual behaviors of social actors according to their own
judgment about community values, emotional involvement, or kind of identity
recognition (Cerulo, 1997).
If actors have a positive evaluation of a certain level of representation created by a
self-recognition criterion, we would talk about what social psychology defines a process
of self-relevant meanings construction (Tajfel, 1981). On the contrary, if minorities and
their members take part into a society whose practice involves the presence of a
transformative multiculturalism, the concept of identity will take the meaning of an
“autopoietic system” which allows the assimilation of minority’s value patterns with the
54
generalized cultural system, without avoiding the differentiation process between the
localized symbolic universe and dominant culture. In this case, the State will promote
both the internalization of normative patterns of the out-group and the creation of a
multiple identity level for all participants in the dynamic.
In second instance, the idea of multiculturalism takes the meaning of a “structured
system”, where universal value patterns are not the “glue elements” for the unity of
community members that belong to a specific socio-cultural environment. It is
established as a way for differentiation between diverse symbolic universes, by
supposing identity as just a method for separating minorities from the national cultural
frame. Therefore, while taking part in the national socio-cultural context, local
communities or cultural groups define themselves in accordance with their own
representation criteria and seek recognition of their identity starting by a twofold
dynamic. Thanks to a sense of belonging to a generalized cultural frame (often
identified with the national culture), and through the conviction they own unique
characteristics placing them in a position of distinction and otherness.
Finally, groups are recipients within which social actors can recognize themselves
and others as part of a collectivity characterized by shared values and norms.
Simultaneously, they ensure their internal cohesion and demarcate a thin cultural
boundary between local and national culture that supposes what Giménez defines a
“criterion of distinctness” (Giménez, 1994, 1997a, 1997b).
1.1. Identity as Equality
The idea at the base of the concept of identity, primarily dates back to Aristotle’s
conception of the essence based on the consideration that, the subject (above all) was
equal to himself and therefore his identity represented the set of his all internal qualities
that were innate or apprehended from a logical sequence of thought (principle of
identity)38. What it means is that, it was felt the concept was aimed at building a virtual
space guaranting a psychological background able to create for the individual an
intimate super partes personal identity. At the same time, it was considered capable to
feed the cultural environment of actor’s experience, starting by a principle that Larraín
38
Even if considering identity as a principle of equality (from which actors perceive themselves as
“entities equal only to themselves”) which dates back to Aristotelian conception of ᾖν εἶναι (“essence”),
we do not intend to enter into the merits of the problem. This would be extremely huge and not relevant
for our topic. On the contrary, we limit our reference to its mention. For further information on concepts
of “essence” and “identity principle”, we refer respectively to Book IV and Book X of Aristotle’s
Metaphysics.
55
defines «a subjectivist position that conceives of identity as emerging from personal
disposition and which neglects the role of social environment» (Larraín, 2000: 24).
In spite of it, if we understand the concept as a way for self-recognition, based on the
relationship me-mine, actors experience an extension of their self-perception that comes
to be aimed at both modifying their own self-identity – supposing, within the sociocultural environment to which they belong, their own recognition as social entities equal
only to themselves – and recognizing the presence of a generalized other to which they
can decide (or not) to direct a specific set of “meaningful actions”. By this, they suppose
the presence of a relationship that, on one hand, implies self-recognition as a way to
conserve individual identity; on the other (by recognizing a generalized alter as the
receiver of their stimulus), it supposes the existence of values, norms and beliefs
objectively completely different from those shown by the given social actor.
If we consider recognition as a way of self-awareness, this principle can establish a
sort of collective action aimed at generally define essence, by taking into account the
standard identity of each member of a community or group, and turning itself into the
sum of specific individual identities through which individuals feel and share the same
problems for recognition (Jenco, 2008). Individuals start to use their identity as a set of
meanings that can lead them to the creation of a specific collective action through which
groups are classified and recognized by both community’s members and civil society. In
other words, if we understand identity as a way thanks to which people recognize
themselves as equal to others, we also suppose recognition and representation able to be
changed into something that does not preclude the possibility of a certain kind of
equality within a category of reasons. Such reasons allow people to consider themselves
as a unit ethically established and considered as a sort of privileged moral station of
autonomous beings. An essence community’s members consider «something to be
reckoned with...» (Bird, 2004: 211) and thanks to which see their rights, beliefs, and
values formally (or informally) recognized.
By contrast, while difference represents “formally” the main motive for sociocultural separation between actors or groups, identity is supposed to be able to organize
a dynamic of “active respect” that acts even if that kind of diversity impulses a principle
of separation some multiculturalists call “profound diversity” (Habermas, 1995; Beitz,
1989; Kymlicka & Norman, 1996b). A principle, which can be seen by a twofold
perspective.
56
On one hand, it establishes the need to differ from a generalized alter ; on the other, it
imposes a political practice of recognition we call, referring to John Rawls, to a
conception of “shared justice” (Rawls, 1971, 1992, 2001; Taylor, 1992b).
In both cases the construction of identity comes to be directly conditioned from a
dynamic of inclusion-exclusion. Meaning that allowing actors not only to identify the
“non-generalized other” as a conditioning and positive heterogeneous externality, but
also like a symbol of a homogeneous collectivity with which the same actor may have
more or less affinity, depending on his own affiliation degree, needs, desires or
emotional disposition. This “within-group” similarity creates a dynamic of “betweengroups” difference but it also establishes an identity-connection, which produces what
Wright (1964) defined a “perfect community dynamic”. «A perfect community – he
writes – is objectively one which manifests cultural uniformity, spiritual union,
institutional unity, and material unification in the highest possible degree and
subjectively one with which the members resemble one another closely in evaluations,
purposes,
understandings,
appreciations,
prejudices,
appearances,
and
other
characteristics which any of them consider important. They are all in continuous contact
with group sentiment, contributing to group policy and group decisions» (Wright, 1964:
204).
Finally, identity as equality can be the trigger for respect in the sense of a special
way to be aware of others through a recognition-respect dynamic, or an appraisalrespect one. In the first case the concept «consists in giving appropriate consideration or
recognition to some feature of its object in deliberating about what to do» (Darwall,
1977: 38)39; secondly, it involves holding people in high regard, or admiring their
“character-related features” without any cultural, religious or racial identity
conditioning (Darwall, 1977: 41).
The actor interacts with the group in which he/she takes part and establishes a
sequence of stimuli-responses based on a way of mutual and bidirectional recognition.
The first one is directed to identifying the self as a single subject endowed with unique
features that show its knowledge background, ways of thinking, and habitus (Gleizer
Salzman, 1997). The second attempts to generate a socio-cultural connection between
“micro symbolic universe” and “symbolic universe of reference”. Identity thus takes the
semblance of a set of mixed behaviors and modus vivendi generated by both personal
39
See also Sanchez-Burks & Huy (2009), Bird (2004), Hill (2000), Barrett (2006).
57
contributions of each actor in an attempt to enrich community culture, and dynamics of
group directed to connect each other the actors which share the same cultural space.
Therefore, this dynamic establishes a kind of qualitative identity, as suggested by
Larraín, which refers to the set of qualities «with which a person or group sees
themselves intimately connected» (Larraín, 2000: 25). Such type of identity can be
analyzed in a threefold perspective, meaning that strating by how individuals define
themselves; from the relationship individuals have with tangible and intangible objects
that help to characterize the essence of community awareness; and by taking into
account the relationship between self-image and others-recognition.
In the first case, actors and cultural community reflexively and reciprocally
recognize themselves, by generating a social dynamic from which they can mutually
perceive each other and accept common cultural patterns.
In the second instance, from a process of appropriation of cultural objects,
individuals develop a certain sense of membership and recognize each other as “full
members” of the same group in which they take part. In this case, in the measure the
social contract between the group and the social environment increases, the number of
elements of in-group similarity and characteristics based on which actors differ will also
increase, impulsing both perceived variability and differentiation (Messick & Mackie,
1989).
Thirdly, through an ego-alter relationship, the identity of groups is institutionalized
and comes to define both the space of common experience shared by members within a
particular symbolic universe and the boundaries existing between community sociocultural identity and national culture. At this juncture, identity is defined not only as an
element of cohesion between actor and structure. It also embodies a form of mutual
recognition in which the equalization process is directed to the definition of themselves,
contributing to self-recognition of social actors as entities separated from a general
acculturation process. Subsequently, it refers to the perception of a “non-generalized
other” comparable for its own characteristics, values, attitudes or culture to any other
member of the same group. That fact supposes not only the presence of a standard
identity which wants to understand equality as the unique way to comprehend each
others or to interchange some values that are not part of the “generalized cultural
framework”. It also supposes the existence of both a “population” and “cultural
variation” which embody a sort of continuum, «…illustrating the state of
multiculturalism ranges from an ultimate level of intergroup diversity» (Nemetz &
58
Christensen, 1996: 438), and a way to accept diversity as part of a much more general
national identity, based on rights and mutual recognition.
Ultimately, the concept represents an evaluation process of equality of conditions
which characterizes the members of a group or community as part of a specific context
and as co-generators of the same social, cultural, political or economic conditions
against a generalized national framework (rights)40. This factor enhances groups ability
to become institutionalized and demonstrate their active presence in the society to which
they belong, not only by enjoying recognition of their culture, but also by gaining
respect of their habitus, practices, customs and race starting from a distribution of
special rights directed to recover, maintain or develop cultural parameters that
characterize communities.
Thus, minorities cannot only get a formal institutionalization of equality; they can
also gain a peculiar way of recognizing their difference41.
1.2. Identity as Difference
In the context of global societies, reducing under-representation, institutionalizing
difference and formalizing group representation are the central aims of identity process
negotiation within those states that contemporary political philosophers defined
polyethnic or multinational (Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007; Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002;
Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992).
Thus, while it has been said social, cultural, political or racial identity represents a
principle of equality between members of a given community, we can also argue
identity embodies a cultural connection between social actors and minorities, and
40
The reference to an equality of conditions and rights within a cultural group or a national minority,
and the need of an egalitarian recognition between individual and collective identity refer both to the
rawlsian theory of justice, summarized in the idea of primary goods. From this perspective, individuals
and groups’ identity becomes not only a formalization of mutual recognition. It also embodies a way of
mutual representation of freedom leading to a sort of interdependent relationship, necessary to social,
cultural, political or economical dynamics, within modern multicultural societies, and aimed at obtaining
specific «rights and liberties, opportunities and powers, income and wealth» (Rawls, 1971: 92).
41
Legislative perspective, based on obtaining special rights for national minorities, refers to two
items. Firstly, an individual that belongs to a specific community should enjoy automatically the same
rights any other member of the group actually does. Secondly, communities should have the opportunity
to confront each other with other minorities, existing in the territory, and find the presence of an equality
of rights (depending on characteristics of specific clusters) for them and other groups. For our case study,
Afro-Mexicans enjoy neither an institutional presence guaranteed by the Mexican Constitution (in which
only appears a special mention directed to the national ab-origine population – Constitución Política de
los Estados Unidos Mexicanos : art. n.2), nor a classification by “race” or “phenotype” in the statistics of
INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía ). See the link “Socio demografía y género” at
INEGI web page (http://inegi.org.mx/inegi/default.aspx).
59
symbolizes a socially recognized way for highlighting specific differences between
individuals and civil society, communities and States.
Especially for what concerns diversity, the role of distinctness, as mentioned by
Giménez (1994, 1997a, 1997b), takes three different meanings. Depending on the one
chosen, it refers to a kind of distinguishable unity whose function is crucial to
differentiate itself from others of its species; a special way of communication which
supposes the presence of two or more interlocutors (different between themselves) that
confront their own specific positions and their exclusive requests on the base of
linguistic, social or cultural different codes aimed at obtaining a benefit; a kind of sociocultural recognition based on a perception of diversity as a way for institutionalization
of representation (Habermas, 1992, 2005; Melucci, 1985)42.
In the first case, an actor is not only different from all others by definition. He also
differs qualitatively from his individual performance in a number of socially recognized
roles (role identity), because he belongs to certain groups in which he is also recognized
as an effective member (membership identity), or because he has a not exchangeable
history or biography that is also known, recognized and even appreciated by others. In
this way, senses of a human group come to be measured not only thanks to the degree of
membership feeling or acceptance level, by members of community, but also through
the range and sensitivity that actors are found to differ (Tuan, 2002). In this sense, a
group represents a cluster leading to its own «construction of identity...[as]...an
intersubjective process of mutual recognition» (Larraín, 2000: 27), developed in a
continuous tension between dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion. On the other
side, it embodies the socio-cultural environment in which actors can generate both their
own collective identity and a specific set of “default” and shared cultural codes that
allows them making cognitive comparisons between local and national culture
throughout an “other” and “self-categorization” (Foreman & Whetten, 2002).
In the second, both groups and individuals embody subjects able to communicate
each other by means of a cathetic structure of thinking through which they direct their
specific “speech acts” to a “generalized other” which represents the receiver of
information. Therefore, while actors try to generate a connection between them and
42
The references to Habermas and Melucci are both intended to develop a theoretical trajectory that
could explain diversity as a perspective aimed at constructing representation dynamics in modern
societies. The communication aspect or allusion to the idea of membership can be dated back to
individual or collective identity context, or explain the relationship existing between local symbolic
universe and national frame. For the Mexican case, it will be explained later.
60
other members of the community, the principle of difference pass through an
instrumentalization of the group culture and generates a sort of common appraisal of a
sense of belonging, mutual recognition and cohesion within the group of descent.
Accordingly to that, is generated a mechanism of comparison that, on one side tends to
increase the willingness to reproduce the same codes, beliefs, behaviors inside the group
(perpetrating community culture); on the other, it seeks difference from a socio-cultural
context that doesn’t take part of the communitarian environment. Such identity
comparison process can be operationalized in two ways: «as a member’s evaluation of
the organization’s identity based on…self-identity…[of actors]» (Foreman & Whetten,
2002: 619; Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Dutton, Dukerich & Harquail, 1994); and «as a
comparison between a members’ perceptions of what the organization’s current identity
is with what they would prefer the identity to be» (Foreman & Whetten, 2002: 619;
Reger, Gustafson, De Marie, & Mullane, 1994; Whetten, Lewis & Mischel, 1992).
On one side, depending on the mutual recognition degree of members, the principle
of difference helps to reinforce internal unity of groups and valorizes the sense of
belonging. On the other hand, because of the inter-relationship between communities
and national context, the process of identity construction supposes the generation of a
cultural divide of homogeneity of groups that leads to the creation of new forms of selfrecognition and representation that are directed to the production – within a community
and starting from an “us-them” relationship with the socio-cultural national environment
– of an undefined number of multiple identities.
This kind of process can be created, firstly, by ensuring continuity of ownership and
internalization (at least partial) of the cultural complex that serves as a collective
symbol for the protection of «...‘special’ interests...to the member of a specific group»
(Réaume, 2000: 245); secondly, by «justifying the ‘special’ character of minority
cultural rights» (Réaume, 2000: 245). At the same time, multiple identity creates an
acceptance-rejection dynamic, which ensures a dichotomic relation between a phase of
“cultural defense” and a process of acculturation based on the internalization of
customs, values, norms or language of those who do not belong to the community but
takes part in the national cultural environment.
Finally, groups constitute specific local unities that, in spite of taking part in national
cultural framework, they can decide of self-representing starting by a particular
construction of socially-valued cultural meanings. Such meanings are comparable to
generalized national values and produced from a sense of belonging that tends to
61
improve the social perception of historically under-represented groups and aims at
generating a kind of national consciousness to account for the presence of communities
by means of a process of legitimization de facto of minority rights as well (Mansbridge,
2000). This not only refers to a dissonance between perceptions regarding “who I am”
and “who we are”, but also supposes a new way of perception for identity comparison
gaps, which seeks the activation of a set of a congruence-enhancing responses by part of
the State.
The challenge for identity is thus not more being recognized as part of some cultural
environment similar to another; its aim is getting recognized and represented by
(respectively) somebody who does not take part into that specific socio-cultural space
and somebody who cares the presence of diversity as a worth for society. If that
condition is provided, communities turn themselves into an intermediate cultural space
where traditions and norms are valued by members, but also by part of civil society.
Indeed, if identity is considered a way to distinguish somebody from some other
actor, the State should assure the respect of a principle of inclusion that assumes the
existence of both. Community members are part of the generalized symbolic universe
but they are also part of their own micro cultural environment, and they assure the
continuity of a certain dynamic, which is considered by Nemetz and Christensen as a
functional perspective of identity aimed at resolving the potential conflict cultural
diversity represents (Nemetz & Christensen, 1996). If it is true, identity is supposed to
assume the role of a “socially desirable” element of conjunction between an assimilation
process that would be tended to absorb (not integrate) minorities into the society. On the
other hand, it would formalize the exercise of collective rights, which guarantees a kind
of identity and representation, in respect of the principle of cultural security (Waldron,
2000; Walzer, 1992; Young, 1990).
With the affirmation of diversity, group identity is avowed and individual rights
become not only the determining factor for the generation of some inter-cultural
homogeneity within communities. They also start to embody the social channel through
which those same national sub-groups acquire a real institutional importance in the
political organization of diversity.
In this context, while dynamics of recognition and the struggle for minority rights
help to define formal aspects of the criterion of distinctness, the effect of such processes
generates an opportunity of representation through «recognizing and accomodating the
distinctive identities and needs of...groups» (Kymlicka & Norman, 2000: 2). As regards
62
to the former, the presence of a specific identity which brings together the members of a
group with similar characteristics and guides them towards a common goal or ideal,
represents a principle of inter-homogenization that contributes to a clear demarcation
«...of who is a member and who is not» (Pallí, 2003: 317). In the second case, State
plays a decisive role for the recognition of diversity by both defining personal or group
identities and taking into account needs of national minorities and socio-cultural image
of the country. Therefore, while a specific negotiated accommodation process is
generated for national minorities, sub-groups may obtain the opportunity to participate
in social life «...in a way that does not improperly diminish the prospects for
peace...and...in a way that pays proper attention to the interests, wishes, and opinion of
all the inhabitants...» (Waldron, 2000: 155). Moreover, the relationship at the base of
minorities’ identity negotiation process supposes not only an institutional relationship
with State, which offers to the members of local cultural groups the option to obtain a
variable number of special minority rights according to their own characteristics and
needs. It also assumes an equitable management of freedoms and rights that leads to the
representation of presence and identity of the groups that are seeking a social, cultural,
economic, political or racial recognition for their members.
On the other hand, if national minorities are not institutionally recognized by the
State, the identity of groups cannot be negotiated and the obtaining of institutional
improvements aimed at recovery or maintenance of their culture is avoided.
As a consecuence, the socio-cultural context within which minorities and national
society are embedded turns itself into an exclusive symbolic universe that, because of its
autopoietic properties, allows actors negotiating a new way of collective recognition. A
sort or intercultural method of representation that supposes a process of acculturation
where the presence of exclusive communitarian characteristics impulse cultures melting
into each other, but also increasing the difference between sub-groups and national
society. In this sense, the “identity as difference” generates a situation of widespread
exclusion and marginalization against minorities and creates the socio-cultural
conditions through which variability of value judgments depend on «retrieval
individual…[and collective]…exemplars from memory and…the use of an availability
heuristic to estimate the shape of the group distribution» (Messick & Mackie, 1989: 55).
So, while the degree to which group members are seen as being dispersed
(variability) reflects the spread of a distribution, the likelihood of distinguishing among
group’s members on a particular attribute differentiation reflects the number of attribute
63
levels and their likelihood. «Because increased contact with a group increases the
number of exemplars as well as the number of ways in which they differ, such contact
should increase both perceived variability and differentiation. Because…[of]…people
have more contact with in-group than out-group members…the former are seen as more
differentiated and variable»(Messick & Mackie, 1989: 55).
This fact supposes a differentiation that not only establishes the presence of variable
human, cultural, social or whatever attributes of actors belonging to a certain limited
community. It is also generates a perception of specific qualities that, if present,
contribute to the acceptance process in a specific cultural environment and, if absent,
generate a dynamic of rejection and discrimination (Link & Phelan, 2001; Goffman,
1963; Levin & Van Laar, 2005; Major & O’Brien, 2005; Reskin, 2012; Pincus, 1994;
Pincus & Ehrlich, 1994).
The causes of this lack of recognition are not limited only to generate a situation of
group destabilization that, for example, depends on social dynamics that show a
deficiency in employment, on consequent needs for out migration to both national and
international destinations, on breakdown of family links and local cultural activities. In
addition, and based on the above mentioned, the phenomenon contributes to an
ideological construction of ethnic or racial stereotypes which are automatically
attributed to those who are in a position of subordination, which causes a negative
perception of minorities’ image and reduces opportunities for integration and
development for these groups.
In this way, instead of promoting the improvement of the social perception and
integration of minorities, difference contributes to amplify dynamics of prejudice and
results in building a permanent relationship «...between an attribute and a stereotype»
(Link & Phelan, 2001: 365). Its effects are the loss of status and the presence of
discrimination against who, by choice or cultural origin, is part of sub-groups. Within
the national cultural symbolic environment, minorities’ identity comes thus to be
undervalued and sub-groups do not get any recognition of their rights (that State should
ensure by decree), nor enough political power for self-representating as groups.
Now, while we assume that identity, specially the individual one, cannot be separated
from the perception that a certain “generalized other” has about us (creating an a priori
way for race classification) and the “real” aesthetic appearance of individuals, we also
have to accept people can choose a different way to define themselves, depending on
their own historical trajectory, social context, social classes, social structure. In this
64
case, race comes to be a specific way (a very powerful one) to understand how
phenotypes work for both self-recognition within minorities and civil society (Martínez
Montiel, 1993). Who does not take part into a specific group, culturally, ethnically,
racially or religiously defined (and often territorially located) can assume the acceptance
of a certain identity which differs for ones’; on the contrary, actors could decide to
refuse any opportunity of integration for communities’ members. In the same way,
«…the personal and political bases of racial identity cannot be neatly separated. For
many of mixed race, the personal choice of identity is implicated by the public and
political question of identification» (Leverette, 2009: 435).
Minority members can thus decide if they want to be identified as part of a specific
micro cultural symbolic universe, or as a limited proportion of the national frame. In
both cases, identity represents the unique way for defining some parameters for
acceptation or rejection by part of State or civil society. If an official recognition takes
place, communities obtain a status and a specific social position within a society and
start to formally exist.
This fact conditions the resolution of public policies in favor of minorities depending
on two core factors.
On one hand, if members prefer to be recognized as part of their own symbolic
universe they should be prepared to accept social conditions imposed by the generalized
cultural environment they belong to. What it means is that they have to respect the
decision of a majority that can also choose to reject their position and status as “official
citizens”. This practice impulse a specific process of identity negotiation based on the
principle of diversity.
On the other, if the acceptation is complete, it means society chooses to organize the
ideological space, which composes national identity, and inserts a new way to negotiate
parameters of recognition and representation of a sort of “legalized” diversity.
Minority members are thus not necessary tended to define their groups in either term.
They conceptualize the Nation as strictly bounded between insiders and outsiders, and
seek to define attributes of national identity or character that all members share. By
another
perspective,
«…claiming
such
an
essence
for
the
nation…sometimes…oppresses individuals within who do not conform to these national
norms, and sometimes oppresses outsiders against whom national members set
themselves in opposition» (Tebble, 2006: 467; Allport, 1954; Blumer, 1958). State can
thus decide to integrate minorities by some parameter of respect that permit to combine
65
national identity with the local one, and suppose the existence of a combination of both
a social intelligence, aimed at organizing cooperation and self-recognition as a specific
collective dynamic of identity definition, and an emotional one, based on a way of
organizational renewal directed to structure a methodical production of minority claims
(Goleman, 2006; Barrett, 2006; Côté & Miners, 2006; Salovey & Grewal, 2005).
By contrast, if that kind of collective stimulus is lacking or State does not take place
into the process of designing public policies destined to the recognition of identity, the
specific claims of groups cannot obtain any opportunity to be heard, nor to be solved,
producing a specific problem of misrecognition and exclusion.
Reasons for exclusion are several, and for the purpose of our research, we consider
two mayor ones: a lack of self-recognition with the own group of descent (which
represents the main result of social implications of dynamics of stigma ) and race. In
both cases, the concepts are complementary and they feed one another.
As regards to the former, the concept of stigma refers to dynamics of exclusion
produced by a prejudice generated by the formation of stereotypes that lead to a
negative classification of an individual or a group of actors. That is thanks to three core
factors: the group identification and collective goals; the dominant culture; the reasons
for seeking recognition for themselves as members of a community or a specific
minority. In the first case, actors decline their self-recognition with the cultural
parameters of the group to which they take part and start searching similarity to the
general cultural framework. In the second, they recognize national values and norms
(the dominant characteristics of national culture), by preferring them to the originals
values that, before, they shared with the group of belonging. Finally, they lose their
interest in the original symbolic universe preferring to perceive themselves as part of the
Nation away from theirs racial and cultural origins (Major & O’Brien, 2005; Link &
Phelan, 2001).
Subsequently, members of a national minority may be engaged in a process of selfmarginalization that either depends on a loss of self esteem (or self-recognition) that
tend to the neglect of the group, or on a weak self-identification with the characteristics
of actors belonging to the same cultural environment. That fact would explain a lack of
cultural self-consciousness43.
43
This point will be taken into account later.
66
More specifically, studying the idea of stigma lies not only in describing dynamics of
exclusion-inclusion that are at the core of social interactions to which both the concept
and its effects are inextricably connected, but also, it is based on the importance of
approaching its definition from two other additional reasons. The first one refers to the
perception of a “generalized alter ” examined in light of the socio-cultural differences
that stand out within the national symbolic universe; the other seeks to explain the
effects of stigma on the behavior (then on modus vivendi, traditions, and sense of
community membership) of people that belong to subordinated national minorities. So
contrary to our evaluation of the concept of race, stigma does not represent a human
quality (Klineberg, 1935, 1963; Loehlin, Gardner & Spuhler, 1975). It reflects a specific
type of individual or collective attitude that results in the negative perception of a
person, set of individuals or attribute of any of them. This set of attributes is deeply
discrediting and contributes to change «…the stigmatized person from a whole and
usual person to a tainted, discounted one» (Goffman, 1963: 3).
At the same time, stigma stands between a perception of a “generalized other” and a
social reality that takes place in a constant tension between acceptance and rejection of
diversity. This sort of relation supposes that, stigma represents, specifically, the effect of
a prejudice that «constitutes a special discrepancy between virtual and actual social
identity» (Goffman, 1963: 3) and corresponds to a specific dynamic of discrimination.
As Goffman argues, it has three different interpretations: first, stigma is based on a
repulsion of body, which the author refers to peculiar physical deformities and that
predominantly acquires significance in the medical analysis of the problem. In the
second instance, the concept refers to a process of marginalization that depends on
social behaviors resulting in any psychological dynamic that may harm who is
stigmatized (such as a marked alcoholic addiction, a specific sexual preference that
leads to homosexuality or lesbianism, a lack of work integration, a rigid political
position). Finally, stigma is attributed to an attitude of discrimination based on
mechanical dynamics of exclusion resulting in both the presence of a cultural prejudice
(aimed at generating a process of self-devaluation), related to the socio-cultural
environment in which individuals or minority live, and an a priori intolerance process
provided by nationality, religion or racial origin of a generalized other. In this case, the
effect of stigma does not only affects the ways by which dynamics of respect-disrespect
of a generalized alter take place within the society (Kukathas, 1997). While the
prejudicial effect of stigma reduces effective changes of minorities to interact with local
67
institutions and civil society, opportunities of social integration and development for
these groups decrease and finally disappear (Goffman, 1963).
As it was suggested by Major and O’Brian (2005), mechanisms by which stigma
affects individuals or collectivities are fourfold: a negative treatment and direct
discrimination; an expectancy confirmation processes; an automatic activation of
stereotype; an identity threat processes.
The negative perception of others generates a process of labeling which «can
produce stereotype-consistent behavior even among people who are not members of the
group, as long as they aware of the stereotype» (Major & O’Brien, 2005: 397). From
this follows that, the direct effect of discrimination is amplified and «affects the social
status, psychological well-being, and physical health of the stigmatized» (Major &
O’Brien, 2005: 396)44. Therefore, members of stigmatized groups come to be
discriminated «against in the housing market, workplace, educational settings, health
care, and the criminal justice system» (Major & O’Brien, 2005: 396).
The accumulation of such practices finally is “institutionalized” and collective label
generation takes place under the name of “cultural stereotyping”.
In this case is also possible to distinguish between the simple “action of
stereotyping”, what is meant to be a discriminatory action temporally located, and a sort
of “stereotype assignment”, what is clearly worse than the former. Indeed, assigning a
specific stereotype to somebody or (even worse) to an entire cultural group means the
identity of some specific actor (or actors) can be perceived exclusively through a
classification that will persist not only along that person’s life, but also along his/her
next generations and across much more societies. In this way, minorities start to be
identified as somebody (a collective actor) who has a discapacity (a social one) that
does not allow them being integrated into the local social structure. This same
sterotypization will legitimate the general socio-cultural frame to automatically exclude
all those actors identified with certain socially-recognizable features.
The main result of this kind of stereotypization is a general exclusion, something we
can define the product of a socio-cultural marginality that limits the recognition outside
the group, but also starts to legitimate a sort of self-generative sickness, assumed from
minority members as a problem produced by part of their own culture or social
behavior, within the communities.
44
See also Crandall & Eshleman (2003) and Sidanius & Pratto (1999).
68
Stigma is then an action, applied on people, but also it can be considered as an effect
produced by the conjunction between external and internal ascription to a specific
stereotype (Ehrlich, 1962). This effect, as argued by Koenig & King (1964), can start to
represent a specific way for stereotyping people and oppressing a generalized other, by
using an expression of cognitively simple perception.
The term “minority” takes thus the meaning of a despised group of people (not
necessary lower to a larger dominant cultural community by the number of its members)
that has serious problems in defining itself. By one side, if a minority decides to choose
some kind of identity that is not appreciated by part of society where the community is
inserted, its members start to be part of an automatic dynamic of exclusion. On the
other, if the group chooses to accomplish the general social need to not be defined as
black, Jews, female, mixed-race, or any other kind of undesirable definition,
communities assume their real identity shall not be taken into account (Rockquemore &
Laszloffy, 2003; Helms, 1990; Root, 1997). That means accepting culturally
disappearing. In this context, if the problem for identity negotiation is the main limit for
minorities in the struggle for self-recognition and representation, accepting to culturally
disappear would be the confirmation of being a socio-culturally limited group that, in
the future, could certainly suffer a consequent reduction of its opportunities to be
institutionally part of the society the community belongs to.
Despite of that, direct and indirect effects of stigma are not limited to reduce
opportunities for access to services, work or health system. It also contributes to
determine more or less constant changes in the behavior of social actors that are
members of a stigmatized group. What it means is that, depending on the degree of
discrimination and the continuity through which a stereotype is applied on the sociocultural reality to which a given community belongs, individuals begin to modify
momentarily or constantly their behavior whitin a socio-cultural environment that does
not require such a change. On the contrary, actors who participate in this experience
tend to develop a personality that both generates a process of confirmation of the
stereotype by which they are defined within the society or other minorities, as well as
leads
actors
to
«…denigrate
their…[own]…phenotypical
reality,
manipulate
perceptions, and engage in what amounts to social racism» (Nutini, 1997: 228).
Something that does not only negatively affects the self-identity perception of groups,
but also generates a dynamic of cultural invisibility within the general national
framework (Levin & Van Laar, 2005).
69
What it means is that cultural invisibility produces a twofold socio-cultural
dynamics, distributed between disparity and discrimination. If minorities suffer a certain
level of disparity, it means some interests come to be favored over others, where the
former are those, which belong to the dominant cultural groups and the latter those,
which are represented by lower classes or socially stigmatized ones. On the other side, if
communities suffer a dynamic of discrimination, this is meant to be understood as an
unwarranted differential treatment of persons based on group membership, supposing an
unequal treatment between equals (Reskin, 2012; Dasgupta, 2004). Which it is the result
of a different way of institutionalized discrimination, between wages, job type, tastebased prejudice (Lang & Lehmann, 2011).
Recognition of individual and group identity decreases, and the affected communities
suffer a reduction in both their chances of cultural representation and their social status.
Depending on that, national stigmatized sub-groups are unable to begin a negotiating
process to their specific identity and cannot improve their conditions. Cultural
reconstruction process is interrupted and the lack of community dynamics of symbolic
reproduction affects traditional culture in several areas: family links are weakened by
reducing strength of basic structures of community life; use of original languages or
ancient religious practices tend to disappear; sense of social consciousness and
belonging, within the groups, loses its own relevance (Ampola & Corchia, 2010).
Moreover, the effects of stigma reduce security of collective identity by imposing on
members of groups the elusion of traditional standards for cultural reproduction, and
creating a disadvantage that, instead of bringing civil society and communities together
in an attempt of cultural integration, it amplifies the opportunity gap between minorities
and Nation. Finally, legitimacy of groups is affected, and “national minorities” obtain
neither formal (or informal) recognition of its existence, nor the presence of what
Kymlicka (1996a) considers a socio-cultural environment which should guarantee same
rights, equal respect and opportunities to achieve success or failure based on personal
effort, dedication and personal attitudes despite differences in race, social class or
gender. A social environment within which people should have equality of opportunity,
and be able to obtain success of failure only depending on his or her own performance.
If somebody fails, it should not be because he or she happened to be born into the wrong
group. His or her fate «…should not privileged or disadvantaged by such morally
70
arbitrary factors as the racial or ethnic group we were born into…» (Kymlicka, 2002:
58)45.
Thus, referring specifically to race, it embodies a twofold representation of the
problem: on one hand, it provides a barrier between minorities’ and national culture; on
the other side, it stands out as an element of pride and self-representation for cultural
communities’ members that share a unique historical trajectory and a peculiar set of
physical traits.
Because of its importance for the discussion about identity negotiation, it will be
analyzed separately.
2. Race
The importance of analyzing the concept of race lies on two distinct and
complementary reasons.
On one hand, because of historical dynamics of mestizaje experienced by Latin
America, the concept of race is particularly suitable for analyzing human diversity
within the regional social context, and the relationship between cultural groups involved
in this process (Skidmore & Graham, 1990; Harris, 1964; Beals, 1955; Carroll, 1991;
Cope, 1994; Chance, 1978; Gilroy 2000; Brubaker, 2002; Picotti, 1990).
On the other, because despite of the negative meaning race assumed in the past and
the decision to replace it with the “more comfortable” concepts of human typology or
ethnicity46, it reflects specific theoretical and practical aspects of the problem of
recognition that, especially for the Latin American case, can lead us to generate an
innovative reinterpretation of its significance. In the first case, and specifically
regarding to our research, the concept of race adapts perfectly to Afro-Mexican reality
that represents our “target population”47. In the second, a further interpretation of its
meaning may offer an opportunity to discuss socio-cultural dynamics of inclusion-
45
About the topic of recognition, representation and shared justice for the Mexican case, we will
discuss in the last part of the work.
46
About the meaning of race, Van de Berghe affirm that ‘we must discard the concept of race, at least
as a category of analysis...[and is more]...consistently...to talk about ethnicity…’ [personal translation of
the Spanish consulted version] to «…exorcise the evil of racism». In the original work of Michel
Wieviorka, the author refers to Van de Berghe to explain the idea of race. See Wieviorka (1992: 91).
47
Dynamics of mestizaje affected the most part of Latin American countries and imposed the
generation of new aesthetic parameters that actually, regionally speaking, are called races, being Mexico
not exempted from that. Although this section is not considered going into the merits of the Mexican case,
it will be a conceptual approach (to the concept of race) suitable for the further empirical research
approach.
71
exclusion of the national minority we studied, by generating a new perspective of
analysis for our specific problem.
Historically, the idea of race represents an extremely controversial topic of debate
and it has been generated as a social construction that, both in the past and the present,
represented (still representing) an emblem of cultural, social and phenotypic
discrimination of stigmatized people (Vinson III, 1995; Palmer, 1976). Despite of it,
race represents a dimension of an integration-exclusion process that embodies not only a
discriminating way for perceiving difference, but it also offers the opportunity to
analyze other dimensions of its significance, that lead to a new evaluation of its
methodological importance.
So, while the “cultural-biological” meaning of the concept has represented the main
result of the hegemonic ideology of earliest racist theories developed during the
eighteenth century and was tended to define race «as a social classification that
reflected…[a]…greatly expanded sense of human separateness and differences»
(Smedley, 1998: 694), the concept resolved in the generation of a hierarchical
classification of “human trunks”. Then, it is possible to explain it from a perspective
that does not take into account the specific aspects of discrimination that, hitherto have
almost exclusively characterized the concept. On the contrary, it allows us to generate a
theoretical trajectory that assumes race as a social factor that explains a dynamic of
recognition and pride within national minorities.
We will examine this by trying to draw a theoretical approach to the concept,
highlighting two specific meanings that characterized earliest theory about race.
Subsequently, we will propose a third interpretation of it, taking into account both a
brief historical background of Afro-Mexican descendents (focused on deculturationtransculturation process of Latin America) and the ideas of color and collective
memory.
The first interpretation embodies a strictly biological significance and refers to the
late eighteenth century. Specifically, it refers to the production of racist theories for the
demonstration of a genetic human diversity. In the second instance (over the nineteenth
century), the term embodies not only the human diversity itself, but also determines a
kind of reallocation of different human types into unique cultural typologies. That is,
human types were identified by their distinctive cultural and physical parameters, and
assigned to exclusive social categories. Finally, we consider a twofold meaning of the
concept: firstly, as a discriminatory group factor that establishes clear parameters of
72
distinction between minorities and national civil society. Secondly, as a common
cultural heritage justified by phenotypic, political, social, ideological motivations and
based on both a collective memory and an aesthetic quality that provide actors with a
strong sense of membership, brotherhood and pride.
The section is divided into two stages. Firstly, we propose a brief historical trajectory
of the concept of race starting from its earliest pseudo-scientific interpretations and
proposing a theoretical debate directed to the further development of our research.
Subsequently, while suggesting a personal understanding of the idea of race, the text
seeks to establish a connection between the concept and the problem of negotiation of
identity for Afro-Mexican population.
I
For what concerns in the earliest interpretations of race, they refer to a biological
significance, which in the past represented the most relevant element to justify a
supposed inferiority of blackness (Lesane-Brown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005).
As a result, race was perceived as a kind of lineage, which supposed a biologicalcultural connection between individuals and communities starting by some specific
“genetic endowment” and cell behavior (Rosenblueth, 1982: 32)48. These human types
were classified according to their intellectual characteristics and considered lowerintellectual-endowed than white-raced people. Moreover, the concept has been referred
to a more specific subdivision “by category” where «…races...[were]...permanent,
separable types of human beings with innate qualities...passed on from one generation
to the next» (Wade, 1997: 9-10, 12). Forth with, through a process of social alter
inferiorization, race emerged as the reason for a process of stigmatization directed to the
marginalization, exclusion and institutionalization of prejudice in relation to a specific
human group (Hsin Yang, et alii, 2007; Corrigan, Markowitz, & Watson, 2004;
Kurzban & Leary, 2001). This means that, while physical appearance began to influence
the idea of race, by categorizing human beings starting by a valorization-devaluation
process aimed at defining Africans provided by a low biological heritage, physical
appearance embodied the element through which blackness was considered a
48
The importance of the concept of “lineage”, originally, refers to a tribal recognition based on a
“blood ritual” that supposes a virtual brotherhood connection between members of the same group or
community. For the Mexican case, the idea of lineage seems more appropriate to explain some kind of ingroup connection produced by a communitarian sense of membership. That fact, later, will be confirmed
by the existence of a color-self-recognition. Skin color turns itself into an indelible connection within
communities’ members and represents both the motive for mutual recognition and identity self-definition.
73
representation of race with poor intellectual skills and physically imperfect (LesaneBrown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005). This dynamic imposed a certain number of
social negative meanings on physical variations among human groups, and it served as
the base for the organization of social structure. Since that time «many people…have
continued to link human identity to external physical features – and it has been
associated with – an ideology about the meaning of these differences based on a notion
of heredity and permanence that was unknown in the ancient world» (Smedley, 1998:
693). As a result, individuals were classified and reallocated, starting by their “original
human trunks”, and they fell into a dynamic of identity construction that not only
conditioned the perception of their skin color or their physical traits, but also
contributed to reduce the value of their position in the society (Rosenblueth, 1982).
In particular, race started to embody a form of «social identification and stratification
that was seemingly grounded in the physical differences of populations interacting with
one another in the New World…whose real meaning rested in social and political
realities» (Smedley, 1998: 694).
Consequently to that, race passed to represent not only a way of recognition for
diversity between who was “pure” and who was not. It also embodied an idea of
hierarchy of human beings by establishing standards of race perfection synthesized by
what authors call Western civilization theory (Hrdlička, 1953: 205; Lowie, 1953)49. In
this context, we can thus infer that race supposed a criterion by which the natural
difference between human types was aimed at constructing specific social profiles,
attributable to certain social groups, and referred to an acceptance-rejection dynamic
between “non-hybridized phenotypes” and “undoubtedly genetically hybrid human
trunks”. A criterion clearly referred to an assessment of human characteristics based on
a purely aesthetic judgment imposed on conquered and enslaved people, and attributing
to them an identity as the lowest status groups in society (Morgan, 1975). The
importance attributed to skin color represented a dimension of racial problem that
marked the limit of quality and human acceptance, and symbolized the determining
parameter for inclusion or exclusion of actors to social, economic, cultural or political
dynamics.
49
Early theories produced about race have been based on the demonstration of genetic diversity
among human phenotypes. Moreover, they were aimed at showing a marked difference between
individuals’ aesthetics, and intended for the confirmation of a white superiority above “human trunks”
considered intellectually lower. The differentiation based on biology and race hierarchy, subsequently,
was called “scientific racism”.
74
Otherwise, color, associated with social status inferiority, embodied collective and
individual characteristics of a stigma that acted as a separator between who stigmatized
and who was stigmatized in a process of chronic exclusion, which responds to a twofold
social and cultural dynamic.
In the first instance, the concept represents a way of marginalization of individuals
who take part in specific cultural communities (in referring to an association between
color and culture) by establishing a threefold mechanical prejudice: devaluating social
identity of minorities’ members (Hrdlička, 1953; Lowie, 1953; Kleinmann, 1996),
imposing them a sort of virtual social identity that could eventually turning itself into an
element of a more generalized symbolic universe (meaning that being absorbed by a
dominant culture) (Goffman, 1963), conditioning people in assuming to be part of a
stigmatized environment, so they start to authomatically devaluate themselves (Jones, et
alii, 1984)50.
In the second, it represents a way of social cohesion which is directed to both selfidentification of members of a specific group, and maintaining a «sense of community
consciousness and commitment...by some mystical ‘racial’ essence» (Smedley, 1998:
699) based on both a «community into which…[actors]…were born and reared...[,
and]...a consciousness of the historical realities and shared experiences of their
ancestors» (Smedley, 1998: 699).
In this sense, while such experience took into account the relational stigmatized
aspects based on a colonial relationship between race and social status, the concept
embodied a kind of socio-cultural phenomenon that helped to produce a specific sort of
intra and inter-group dichotomous relationship between self-distinction and otherrecognition directed to the construction of a new perception of the self (Jones, 2005;
Duster, 2001; Taylor, 2000; Hill, 2000).
While the idea of race supposed a specific social dynamic of marginalization and
human devaluation, it finally started to ensure a way for mutual recognition that, over
time, passed to represent a particular type of identity «…bound up with particular
projects, personal attachments, and traditions» (Hill, 2000: 79), supposing multicultural
forms of mutual respect, difference, and otherness.
50
The idea of “old ethnology” was aimed at classifying human being depending on their skin color. In
the case of the “Negroid phenotype”, it was considered the “black human type” that didn’t have
intellectual complex capacities and so, able of being comparable to animals.
75
II
Regarding to the definition of the concept, «it is impossible to deny that we are living
through a profound transformation in the way the idea of race is understood and acted
upon…[A]…problem that arises from the changing mechanisms that govern how racial
differences…[must be]…seen[,]…how they appear» (Gilroy, 2000: 11), how they
should be used.
In this way the concept of race, may not only been constructed on a stigmatized
perception of generalized others from a priori prejudices about their abilities, or culture
conditions. We can also consider it as a way of self-recognition lying on some exclusive
communitarian characteristics reflected in both corporal aesthetics (clearly shown by
human phenotypes taking part in a specific group) and the presence of an ancestral
connection (among community members) generated by the collective memory of
individuals that compose the socio-cultural context of the group.
Thus, as stated by Wieviorka (1992), race does not provide an unambiguous
interpretation of its meaning and, conversely, may represent a key element in the study
of diversity and cultural pluralism within modern multicultural societies (Taylor, 1992:
58-59). What it means is not defining a blindness of difference far from recognizing
specific cultural parameters as part of a wider national framework, but legitimating the
presence of «…a system based on a form of recognition strong enough to attract a large
number of people, and large enough to lead them through the various experiences and
situations of everyday life, guaranteeing to them a specific place in society, a cultural
background derived from a common history and collective memory, some common
goals that influence positively their sense of consciousness and belonging» (Wieviorka,
1992: 76; Banton, 1987, 1988).
As regards the specific case, race represents a “connection concept” between
diversity and cultural homogeneity. Firstly, it explains the dynamics of cultural fusion
that are at the base of the idea of “national misgenation”. Secondly, it seeks to define a
process of transculturation which is based on two points: one explains the phenomenon
of deculturation exemplified (for our case study) by the European colony in the
Americas; the other shows new ways of resistance and cultural association of national
minorities involved in a negotiating process aimed at establishing their own exclusive
racial identity.
Therefore, on one hand, we accept a definition of race emboding a way to distinguish
somebody through an unquestionable phenotypic diversity, potentially connected with
76
culture. On the other, and referring to modern multicultural Latin American states, the
concept can be understood by a twofold meaning. As essential for defining the presence
of a specific cultural pluralism within those States we defined, jurisdictionally speaking,
absolutely spurious (Volpato, 2012; Huntington, 1997; Moreira, 2001), and needed for
negotiating self-recognition of minorities.
Specially referring to black minorities and depending on the regional area we refer
to, Latin American concept of race can be assumed as a way for self-recognition, a
method to classify minorities starting by specific cultural-aesthetic parameters, or as an
empathic relationship between members of the same community51.
Understood in this descriptive sense, racial subjects are driven by what Du Bois used
to call the blacks’s double-consciousness (Du Bois, 1903), and they start to assume the
natural essence of two kinds of race definition. By one side, we can say race is only a
term that contributes to separate human beings, by constructing a sort of boundary
between, for example, who is black and who is white. If that fact is granted, it means a
society has chosen to forget its roots over exalting the presence of a certain parameter of
recognition. By the other, race can also impulse the conjunction of those all elements
(cultural, aesthetic, religious, and linguistic) that, as for the Latin American region,
contribute to produce a social dynamic where diversity comes to be expressed by
physical difference and is able to negotiate a sort of collective identity for sub-groups
(Alonso, 2004; Dean & Leibsohn, 2003; De Castro, 2002). A kind of identity that,
especially for Latin American region, represents the main result of a threefold cultural
stocks’ mixing: African, Indian and European. This identity cannot be broke down by
separating social classes into races and so, into specific human beings with different
aesthetic features; by contrast, it only contributes to affirm the real, racially-mixed
essence by which Latin American culture and identity are both build up by. Therefore,
while as in the North-American case (the blacks’ double-consciousness) we said race is
an element of mutual recognition, tended to understand minorities as specific microsymbolic universes defining State as a whole, referring to Latin American’s, the idea of
race is almost a synonym for misgenation, attribuitable to every social classes and
depending on the degree of mixing. In this sense, race is the result of a threefold process
51
Latin America is a culturally diverse region that hosts not only specific groups or minorities that
show differences in aesthetics, language, traditions, religions or values. Minorities define themselves
starting by cultural elements but also thanks to a sort of membership sense that does not depend on an
strictly defined aesthetic future, but also established (as in the Mexican case) by members who take part
in a specific symbolic universe characterizing identity and behavior of actors belonging to it.
77
of deculturation, transculturation and acculturation that modified original cultural habits
of minorities and, currently, allows us understanding regional societies through two core
elements. A valorative imposition that changed behaviors, social positions and
idiosyncrasy of people, creating new autochthonous regional cultural elements (Creole),
and a dynamic of cultural re-construction, whose main result is what, echoeing to
Gabriel Izard Martínez, we define a dynamic of philosophy of return52.
In this context, race stops representing a self-enclosed interpretation that Fong,
echoing Du Bois, interpreted as necessary to «…render present something of the
strivings of black folk, as their noble aspirations, their cultural resonances, the drama
and tragedies that make their experiences poignant» (Fong, 2008: 661). By contrast, the
concept embodies a set of factors that suppose the existence of race as a way to
understand mestizaje and those socio-cultural dynamics that, because of historical
factors, created a twofold way of recognition. On one hand, such historical process
embodies a specific pluricultural habitus actually contributing to homogenize the image
shown by Latin American countries. On the other, the transformation and stratification
of social structure by part of Colonial dynamic provided an ambiguous conscience for
minorities of being integrated into two different worlds. A locally shaped symbolic
universe and a national, socially respected, cultural framework. Such interrelation
worked in favor of the integration between minorities’ original normative parameters,
and the new socio-cultural standards imposed by the New World’s society.
Because of that today we have a twofold vision of Latin America. By one side, we
understand the region through a global point of view that has the worth to understand
diversity as an integral element of a larger symbolic universe including communities
into a generalized national frame, where culture takes «...the property of an ethnic group
or race...» (Cowan, 2006: 16). By another, we can also choose a multicultural vision of
it produced by some new ways to organize pluralism and difference, by choosing to get
involved into a socio-cultural process of identity construction that exalts difference over
homogeneity and standardization of cultural reproduction socially appreciated
parameters (Kymlicka, 2007b).
52
The authors who mostly fed the accademic discussion about historical and cultural Latin American
dynamics, especially referring to mestizaje, transculturation and diversity, are (between others) Gonzalo
Aguirre Beltrán (related with the Mexican case), Miguel Acosta Saignes in Venezuela, Gilberto Freyre in
Brasil, Aimée Césaire in Martinica and Fernando Ortiz, for the Cuban case. For further information about
their scientific production (mostly based on anthropological, ethnographyc and historical approaches) we
refer directly to their books. For the concept of “philosophy of return”, see Izard Martínez (2005).
78
Race, identity and collective representation are thus not only considered as local
elements through which communities’ members choose to locate themselves into the
national socio-cultural environment, without avoiding the opportunity to highlight their
presence through the use of some standards of behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or
specific values. At the same time, being part of a certain community represents a space
of election defined by the presence of some shared elements that define a heritage
including common uses and habitus, aimed at characterizing groups’ identity and the
Nation they belong to53.
In conjunction with that, and granting a specific equality standard of social, cultural,
political or economic conditions (both for citizenship in general and cultural minorities),
race takes a central importance in multicultural states and seeks for the conservation of
traditions through a social element some political-philosophers decided to define a sort
of “cultural insurance” (Kymlicka, 1995; Rawls, 1971, Barry, 2002). An element that,
as argued by Waldron (2000), if present would promote the institutionalization of
diversity as a national worth.
Especially for what concerns the relationship between mestizaje and race, we can
understand the process through a twofold perspective.
On one hand, the factor that started the mixing process that today characterizes the
Latin American region is ascribed to what De la Fuente (2000) defines with the concept
of race whitening. A factor that primarly was aimed at preventing African slaves
brought to the region for the work in sugar fields and mines of revolting against their
owners (De la Fuente, 2000; Harrison, 1995; Bakewell, 1971). Such dynamic,
established as a must throughout Latin America, resulted in encoding some specific
ideals of blanqueamiento (“racial whitening”) which today «accept the implicit
hegemonic rhetoric of the [United States] with regard to ‘white supremacy’, and often
blames those classes as blacks and indigenous for the worsening state of the nation»
(Witten & Torres, 1992: 18). As a consequence, and even after the abolition of slavery
(late nineteenth century for the most part of Latin American and Caribbean countries),
53
In the Latin American case, cultural groups existing before American slave trade were characterized
by values and traditions that came to be transculturated. In the context of multiculturalism, members of a
minority can decide to self-identify or claim for the recognition depending on their ancient norms or
“mixed-raced” traditions as well. Both principles contribute to generate a certain kind of membership for
social actors in defining self phenotypic features as well as community identity. This dynamic impulses
the State producing some public policy to recognize minorities and establishing diversity, not as a
problem, but as a cultural worth for the society. About cultural representation and recognition in Latin
America, see constitutional documents reported in the notes n.210-211.
79
dynamics of mestizaje54 and blanqueamiento were accepted as two different but mutual
ways for self-recognition. In the first case, mestizaje had the power to turn the concept
of race into the idea of national ethnicity55. In the second, racial whitening allowed
Indian and African races being diluted, by ensuring the most powerful Latin American
classes having also some white (or even better, European) roots.
On the other, the problem leads to the issue of cultural integration of national
minorities starting from a dichotomous dynamic of inclusion-exclusion that seeks for
the maintenance of communities members’s traditions by «dividing, exchanging, and
sharing social goods, first of all among themselves» (Walzer, 1992: 65), and contributes
to make decisions, in the present, about their present and future.
In the first case, race becomes a special form of cultural hybridization that correlates
who takes part in a group and who does not, by offering to the actors the opportunity to
choose their own position in the society, without losing their own identity, status or
self-perception. Meaning that generating a new way of representation based on the
connection of different socio-cultural factors aimed at modifying original traditions,
language or skin color of individuals participating in the process, and taking into
account the relation existing between self-perception and national recognition, by
supposing a specific way of seeing and composing difference (Tuan, 2002; Nemetz &
Christensen, 1996).
In the second, as suggested by Taylor, race emerges as a miscegenation process that
leads to «the creation of…[a]…community…[as]…an act of collective intentionality,
bringing into being new modes of institutional practice and new social facts» (Taylor,
2000: 128). A socio-cultural mixing that while allows sub-groups being part of the
national environment, also excludes them from it. What it means is that race embodies
the “starting point” for two peculiar socio-cultural dynamics. In this way, while it
creates a break point between national and local culture, it also represents a sort of
cultural bridge thanks to which communities’ members realize being part of the same
symbolic universe, characterized by modus vivendi, rules, traditions or basic values
oftenly diverse from national’s. A dynamic of cohesion supposing the presence of a
54
The colonization of the Americas forced the process of miscegenation between indigenous, Spanish
and black slaves. This dynamic created a new form of social interaction that actually favored the white
man’s position in the colonial society, and generated new human aesthetics (in the Latin American region
are called races), whom classification also modified the way through which classes were organized and
enpowered. Classical phenotypes are Mestizos, criollos and Mulatos and they will be explained later,
togheter with the concept of mestizaje.
55
This is the case of Mexico, which we explain through the first and second sections of next chapter.
80
«vast family of human beings, generally of common blood and language, always of
common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and involuntarily
striving together for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideals
of life» (Back & Solomos, 2000: 80). Such ideals symbolize specific elements of
recognition and aesthetic representation of who belongs to a group and are derived from
a common original root established from a shared historical memory, virtual and
ideological inextricably anchored in the land where ancestors were born and where,
members of the community have the roots of their essences. In this way, race
corresponds to a physical way of distinctiveness and an aesthetic mutual recognition,
which represents not only a potential cause for exclusion or marginalization of groups
identified by color. It also ‘…marks a boundary within which communal sentiments
operate…’ (Banton, 1977: 1) and assumes the meaning of a human quality that,
devalued, helps to develop a sense of rejection which results in a «political action...that
intensifies the original unwillingness» (Banton, 1977: 106); if accepted, it represents the
reason of self-recognition and pride for the members of many cultural communities.
Such feeling of pride represents thus a visceral connection between minorities’
members, and potentially leads to a sense of belonging and brotherhood intended to
remain for generations in and out of the group of descent. On the other side, it
contributes to define race as the symbol of a collective memory built on a shared
cultural and historical dimension fed by a common ancestral memory, virtual or
tangible, aimed at building a sense of belonging and mutual respect from the objective
recognition of specific and exclusive aesthetic features.
In this sense, race is a symbol of a historically located socio-cultural trajectory which
comes to be constructed starting by an idea of representation of color and culture that, in
some cases, contributes positively to mutual recognition and acceptation (as for AfroLatin American communities), in some others, it seems not to be enough56. In the first
case, the most important principle is the obtention of a specific racial status through a
common and tacit agreement, which wants to accept people into a group (a race-defined
one) because of culture, attitudes and empathy, and depending on a specific way of
understanding Africanism (Cole, 1985). That means accepting somebody who is not
56
An example is the relation between Afro-Americans and Afro-Latin Americans or Africans. The
first do not recognize the brotherhood with other communities that are not part of the American territory.
That fact probably depends on the “one drop blood” factor, which is used by Afro-Americans for
establishing who is a “brother” or “sister” and who is not. In the second case, Afro-Latin Americans use
community for race association, since misgenation had a strong influence on physical traits modification.
The latter define themselves through ethnicity and tribe.
81
objectively black into an Afro-descent community, and establishing a within-group
relationship of equality between its members. In the second, black-American’s, the “one
drop blood” principle regulates recognition and acceptance.
The difference between those two points of view is based on the assumption that,
because of the difference of the logic used by the Spanish and English for the colonial
conquest, racial mixing was greatly dissimilar. The Spaniard accepted and, actually,
impulsed a very important process of misgenation that created a new social cathegory
(the Mestizo) for the definition of new conquered nations. The second wanted the
English separated from Indians or Africans, creating a fragmented society, composed by
neatly divided socio-cultural minorities (McCorkel & Rodriquez, 2009; Lewis, 2000;
Vinson III, 2006; Zelisky, 1949; Yelvington, 2001).
Related with the first point, «the majority [Negroes] had diluted their blood by union
with the aborigines and whites, thus giving rise to the mixture of bloods biological basis
of Mexican nationality» (Aguirre Beltrán, 1944: 431), so allowing the creation of a third
root through the conjunction of blacks and Indios (Martínez Montiel, 2001, 2006;
Lewis, 2000; Yelvington, 2001).
Secondly, the social and cultural exclusion was much clearer in separating classes
and people from any possibility to create a mixed-race, and obliging backs to change
their culture and language into that spoken by the slave-owners (Parrillo, 1994: 527532).
As a consequence, Latin America today offers a definition of race that comes from
mestizaje and only partially takes into account color as the main difference between
minorities. It comes better to define a special way of recognition that includes aesthetic
futures, languages, genealogical roots and, more in general, culture of actors who take
place into that dynamic. A dynamic that, extensively in Latin America, took the image
of a demographic and cultural process constitutive of dominant “mixed-race” patterns
that «…entail the demographic dispersal and cultural adaption of blacks in contexts
where whites and mestizos predominate» (Witten & Torres, 1992: 55), and where
aesthetic features and color are not forgotten. In this sense, race is not defined by an
essentialist fashion, as a term for identifying natural kinds, by connecting the elements
in its definition (physical traits, geographic and cultural elements) and making each
element severally necessary and all together jointly sufficient. Race is thus a cluster
concept that supposes the existence of some special common elements able to define
membership and empathic cultural association, by connecting actors through a symbolic
82
space where «each property is severally sufficient and the possession of at least one of
the properties is necessary» (Outlaw, 1996: 154-155) to avoid any need of linage or
blood.
Finally, while is tended to explain dynamics of integration, marginalization or
recognition, by taking into account specific dynamics of accommodation between who
is part of certain minorities and who is not, race embodies a particular way of
«heterogeneity, cultural interchange and diversity…[that]…now have become the selfconscious identity of modern society» (Young, 1995: 4).
83
84
Part II
Mexican Frame
85
86
Chapter I
Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social Effects
87
88
1. Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population
When we refer to the Afro-Mexican population, we need to take in account two
specific problems. The first one refers to an unconscious society (the Mexican) who, by
its most part, ignores its existence. Secondly, if we account for the academic production
about the topic, related to Africans located within Oaxaca’s coast, it comes to be
insufficient. By contrast, the national and international academic attention about the
issue is mostly dedicated (and so it was in the past) to account for African presence in
Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico (Moya Palencia, 2006), and Guerrero State, on the
Pacific coast (Zeleza, 2005; Hall, 2007; Hoffmann & Pascal, 2006; Lewis, 2000;
Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Cruz Carretero, 1992; Juárez Hernández, 2001).
As a consequence, currently, Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican population suffers a threefold
way of discrimination.
On one hand, the lack of knowledge of local black settlements by part of civil society
causes a dynamic of stigmatization that reaches to endanger personal security of Afrodescents. Indeed, it is not unusual that communities’ members, because of the absence
of their personal documents or because of the ignorance of authorities, come to be
arrested and sometimes deported to the border of Nicaragua or Honduras. That means
the local African population is usually mixed up with illegal immigrants or any other
kind of Central American transmigrants directed to United States57.
On the other side, this same dynamic of exclusion and prejudice negatively affects
blacks out of the area that is not strictly part of the coastline of the Jamiltepec District,
especially referring to social, economic, health services and labor integration.
Thirdly, usually the black population of the area seems not to be conscious of its
African origins and chooses to define itself as Mestizo58.
In this context, and specifically for the latter element, it seems to be relevant
specifying not only the fact that Oaxaca’s black population has a clear African descent,
what it would be an absolutely tautological achievement and frankly empirically
57
Some references about the topic are Caicedo (2010), Carretero Rangel & León Vega (2009), Castles
& Miller (2004), Faist (2000), Levine & Verea (2010), Massey, Durand & Malone (2002), Massey (2004,
2008), Passel & Cohn (2011), Pellegrino (2003).
58
Only recently (2012) the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca (UABJO), of Oaxaca
City, implemented a “cultural conscientization program” through which the population of many villages
near to Pinotepa Nacional were informed about origins of black local population. As a consequence, some
community leaders started a campaign to divulgate the information and impulse a larger participation of
local Afro-Mexicans to any kind of initiative or cultural meeting. More recent events (2013) are Los
pueblos afromexicanos, la lucha por su reconocimiento (“Afro-Mexican people, the struggle for their
recognition”) promoted by Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico City and the meeting
Afromexicanos (“Afro-Mexicans”), stated in Guerrero State (see note n.6).
89
useless. It is also important to understand the way through which Oaxaca’s current
cultural African background comes to be built up, and accounts for some socio-cultural
dynamics that actually are needed to justify the importance of an identity negotiation for
this peculiar minority.
That fact supposes both a dynamic of cultural re-construction − so echoing to Ortian
transculturation theory (Ortiz, 1906, 1916, 1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985) it
seems to be the result of an explicit syncretic process of socio-cultural modification −
and a sort of integration process produced across the centuries and actually depending
on the way through which Oaxaca’s African population arrived to the country.
For the understanding of the Afro-Mexican background and the reasons because of
which black population appeared in the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, it is necessary referring
to a dichotomous historical dynamic: the colonial slave trade and the “voluntary
migration”.
As regards to the former, and specifically related with the Mexican colonial period,
located between 1521 and 1640, the country received a legal amount of black slaves that
Vaughn and Vinson estimated to be between 110,000 and 200,000 units (Vinson III &
Vaughn, 2004b: 11; Bennett, 2009; Seed, 1982; Lewis, 2000) coming from WestCentral Africa (specifically from the coast of Guinea, Cape Green, Angola,
Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, and mainly belonging to the Bantu,
Congo and carabalí ethnic groups), or directly from the Great Antilles (Martínez
Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Moreno Fraginals, 1977, 1978,
1985; López Valdéz, 2000; Ngou-Mvé, 1994, 2005). In the first case, the slaves came
directly from Africa and, because of their lack of knowledge of the Spanish language
and for not having been baptized, were defined bozales. In the second, those slaves were
people who had settled in Spain during the centuries of Moorish domination of
Andalusia and, before arriving in New Spain had been part of the Puerto Rican and
Cuban colonial societies (Volpato, 2013b).
These dynamics supposed a specific modification of the cultural parameters of the
Africans who arrived in Mexico and successively sent to the city of Oaxaca.
Cimarronaje represented then the most common practice among slaves employed in the
city in an attempt to reach nearby areas but sometimes enough isolated to make slaves
owners being discouraged to their rescue (Carroll, 1991; Naveda Chávez-Hita, 1987)59.
59
An exahustive explication about cimarronaje and palenque can be found in Guevara Sanginés
(2005: 142-154). See also Castile, Kushner & Adams (1981).
90
In the first case, the slaves who came from Cuba or Puerto Rico had been previously
evangelized. That fact, at least formally, facilitated the relationship between blacks and
the Spaniard, and allowed them maintaining ‘diverse forms of cultural survival and
syncretism among the most varied ones’ (Martínez Montiel, 2001: 26), perpetrating a
certain dynamic of resistance to all attempts of total assimilation (Martínez Montiel,
2001: 26).
In the second, ‘first blacks who arrived to the Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, from the
early sixteenth century, did not came from Africa but from Spain, where they were born
in captivity or had a free social status. Those slaves were called “black Ladinos”, term
that was applied to any foreigner living in the Iberian Peninsula and could speak
Castilian’ (López Valdéz, 2000: 32; Mörner, 1967: 22-31).
This fact favored the mobility of Africans arrived in Mexico and allowed them being
employed by the Spanish for the fieldwork or as house servants in the area today
defined Costa Chica. Such dynamic was created mainly because of two different
reasons: economical and medical. Socio-economic factors were the abolition of slavery
for the indigenous population (facilitated by the 1542 Nuevas leyes de la India ), the
discovery of silver deposits in Zacatecas and Guanajuato (Bakewell, 1971: 4) and the
need for more workers in the sugar fields and European haciendas (Martínez Montiel,
2000: 489). Secondly, because of so many diseases that decimated a total of 25 million
Indians − which corresponded to 97% of the population during the Spanish colony60 –
the slave trade and its sale value, from 1580 and 1640, increased and began to “justify”
the reasons why a large number of slaves were sold from Zacatecas to Mexico City and
Puebla or were sent to more distant and isolated regions as Oaxaca (Cue Canovas, 1963:
120; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972; Bakewell, 1971: 122, 123; Seed, 1982). In that place,
blacks were employed with higher prevalence in the local haciendas, as peasant
(especially in cacao or cotton fields), cowhands, fishermen, miners or “sugar makers”61
(García Martínez, 2009: 262, Centro de estudios históricos de El Colegio de México,
2009; Motta Sánchez, 2005:191, Motta Sánchez & Correa Duró, 1996; Beals, 1975;
Clarke, 2000).
60
As argued by Phillips, at the beginning of XVI century, indigenous population was 27,650,000, and
it declined by 1595 to 1,375,000 (Phillips, 2009: 762).
61
As stated by Crespo (1990: 50-58), between XVI and XVII centuries, Oaxaca had 12 ingenios
(“sugarmills”) where blacks were employed, but the information is actually umprecise, being not
specified the territorial location where ingenios were located. An interesting example of slave owners
within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca is Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano who, after the 1548 Mixteca
pacification, established his 30-years domain, within the area (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 41-44).
91
On the other hand and specially related with blacks’ recognition, slave trade played a
central role for both the presence of a consistent Afro-Mexican population within
Mexico and the social effect that Spanish colony had on their status and social position,
a social effect that obtained a real presence, statistically speaking, on the formal
existence of Afro-Mexicans. More clearly, the presence of black population within the
Oaxaca’s region, for the year 1646, corresponded to 898 Africans and 4,712 AfroMestizos, resulting in 3,4% of the whole population of the state (Bennett, 2009, 59, table
2.1)62. Indeed, as argued by Bennett, black-Mexican population, at 1646, «…constituted
the largest concentration of Africans in urban New World. The African population in
New Spain also represented the second largest assemblage of Africans in the Americas»
(Bennett, 2009, 58). Meanwhile, Miller states that there ‘were 15 successful crossings
[to the Americas] from Central Africa in the 1590s, 30 in the 1600s, 47 in the 1610s, 27
in the 1620s, 21 in the 1630s and none in the 1640s’ (Miller, 2011).
Table I63
Region
Europeans
Africans
Indians
Mexico
8,000
19,441
600,000
94,544
43,373
43,190
Tlaxcala
2,700
5,534
250,000
17,404
17,381
16,841
Oaxaca
600
898
150,000
3,952
4,712
4,005
Michoacán
Nueva
Galícia
Yucatán
250
3,295
35,858
24,396
20,185
21,067
1,450
5,180
41,378
19,456
13,778
13,854
750
497
150,053
7,676
15,770
8,603
80
244
42,318
1,140
1,330
1,482
13,830
35,089
1,269,607
168,568
116,529
109,042
Chiapas
Totals
Euro-Mestizo Afro Mestizo Indo-Mestizo
That fact explains at least two core socio-cultural factors. First, the extent between
indigenous and African-descent population justifies the effort of blacks to maintain
certain traditional patterns across the centuries. Secondly, the need for integration
within the local society made blacks mixing with Indians or white population, giving
birth to a new social category (the Afro-Mestizo) that came to be superior in number
also to Euro-Mestizos (being classified by Bennett, 2009: 59, into 3,952 units at that
moment) or Indo-Mestizos (registered as 4,005 individuals). Such social categories
62
63
See Table I.
The reference is to Bennet (2009: 59).
92
started to represent the real, but also the ideological status, of African minority,
throughout Mexico64.
Neverthless, as argued by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 90-91) the Spanish kept
considering African blood people being infames de derecho (“biologically evil”), of
mala raza (“bad race”), or mala casta (“bad caste”), and having a negative influence on
indigenous population (Lafaye, 1990).
Such kind of perception was so clear that «…one viceroy advised his successor that
mulattoes and Negros criollos were naturally arrogant, audacious, and fond of
change»65. Such Spanish attitude and policy toward the Negro, clearly conditioned by
the fear of slave revolts, started to create a social stereotype of who was good and who
don’t, and (as a worse effect) it was confirmed by the favor of Cardinal Cisneros, who
asserted «…they…[Negros]…[were]…fit for war, men without honor and faith, capable
of treason and vexation, which, as they increase, infallibly lead to rebellion, for they
wish to impose on the Spaniards the same chains which they wear»66.
By contrast, and despite racial mixing, the Spanish regarded themselves as gente de
razón (“people of reason”) attempted to establish a social system designed to maintain
their purity of blood, in order to ensure a superior status for them, and relegate Negros
to the lowest rung social system. This fact imposed a «…very elaborate color bar…and
a caste (casta ) system…[that]... were the specific devices employed to accomplish these
purposes. One’s’ position in colonial Mexico was to a considerable degree determined
by his color» (Aguirre Beltrán, 1967: 90). Such restriction, by April 14th 1612, decreed
it was illegal «for more than four Negro women and men to be present at the burial of a
Negro man or woman, or of a free or slave mulatto, male or female»67.
A different perspective can also interpret race mixing as a sort of vehicle for cultural
expression dedicated to the explication of Mexico’s African “third root”. Especially
referred to Afro-Mexicans of the area, this sort of historical process imposed valorizing
64
Casta paintings are a clear example of what we mentioned. For further information we refer to
Phillips (2009: 765, 767, 770, 772, 776-778, 780).
65
Instrucciones que los virreyes de Nueva España dejaron a sus sucesores , México: Imprenta
Imperial, 1867, p.259, mentioned by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 90).
66
Quoted by Aguirre Beltrán, referring to Carlos Federico Guillot, Negros Rebeldes y Negros
Cimarrones, Buenos Aires: Fariña Editores, 1961, p.16.
67
Eusebio Bentura Beleiia, ed., Recopilación sumaria de todos los autos acordados de la Real
Audiencia y Sala del Crimen de esta Nueva España, y providencias de su superior gobierno: de varias
reales cédulas y órdenes que después de publicada la Recopilación de Indias han podido recogerse así de
las dirigidas a la misma audiencia o gobierno, como de algunas otras que por sus notables decisiones
covendrá no ignorar (4 vols. in 2; México: Imprenta por Don Felipe de Zuiiiga y Ontiveros, 1787), II, 73.
Cited by Aguirre Beltrán (1967: 91).
93
certain physical and cultural characteristics over others, by providing Mexicans of
African descent with some lax cultural traits aimed at forgetting, more than increasing,
recognition for black minority. By contrast, and echoing Phillips’s vision of African
traits, especilly in artistic and historical representations of blackness, race mixing started
to obtain some kind of exotic qualities, sometimes suggesting a powerful heritage
directed to characterize a Mexican race feature, and sometimes dedicated specifically to
discredit black race. Meaning that, avoiding its presence and influence in Mexican
history an idiosyncrasy, and impulsing a sort of “repression about the mixing” by
imposing also the forgiveness of the mestizaje itself demonstrated by the African
presence and participation in Mexican memory (Mills, 1998). «This persistent angst,
passed of the collective unconscious, may explain contemporary from one generation to
the next as a component Mexican culture’s failure to fully acknowledge in Mexico’s
history the completeness as an essential ingredient of Africa’s participation in the
formulation of Mexican cultural identity, Mexican mestizaje » (Phillips 2009: 784).
This fact not only did not stop African importation, but also contributed to develop a
more intense prejudice against blacks and increased slave trade between Europe and
New Spain.
Recent researches confirm that fact, and due it can be found that although Portugal’s
independence from Spanish domain (which resulted in the abolition of all contracts with
the Portuguese slavers, and, in 1640, caused a momentary collapse of the Spanish
Crown in the slave trade), blacks trade did not declined as major economic force in New
Spain until 1750 (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 14-15).
As a result, for the year 1793, in the city of Oaxaca, Afro-Mexicans are estimated to
be accounted for 14% of the state total population, against 28% Indian, 38% white, 18%
mestizos (Vincent, 1994: 269), which in proportion to the country whole population
accounted for more than 620,000 “light brown” (pardos), Mulattoes and “brown”
(Morenos), resulting in 10% of the national population (Aguirre Beltrán, 1972: 234;
Lewis, 2001).
In this case, and related with demographic change within the area, African-descent
population contributed actively to the production of a specific dynamic of ethnic
reproduction. By one side, the presence of black and indigenous population produced a
demographic development that subsumed a process of mestizaje that implied some
specific cultural and biological fusion. By the other «…the category of casta …[started
to subsume]…the variety of black identities…bozal, ladino, negro criollo, mulato,
94
pardo, and coyote…» (Bennett, 2009: 143; Cope, 1994; Mörner, 1967). A mestizaje that
contributed hardly to reduce Afro-Mexican local population. Such amount of Afrodescent people has been registered by the 1889-1890 local census into a total of 9,816
blacks, and being part of the Jamiltepec district (the area that currently corresponds to
our Costa Chica’s communities) only 7,796, at that moment corresponding to 34.4% of
the whole Oaxaca state African population (Motta Sánchez, 2005: 197; Motta Sánchez
& Ethel Correa, 1995).
From this perspective, it is possible to say Afro-Mexican experience appropriated a
sort of colonialist lens, through which blacks started to conceive casts as a way of social
organization they had to assume, a sort of ideological element they came through and
went to incorporate as a local cultural element. This factor explains also, what we will
be able to define a way through which stigma conditions individual self-perception by
imposing the development of a personality, generating a process of some kind of
confirmation about the presence of a pre-existent stereotype or legitimating a new one
within the social environment68.
As regards the second African arrival to Oaxaca, Mexico’s historical dynamics set
the stage for political independence and the subsequent abolition of slavery in the
country.
At the time of the War of Independence (19th October 1810) Hidalgo issued the first
institutional decree thanks to which any slave holder would be punished, plus imposing
him releasing the slave (or slaves), within the first ten days of validity of the decree
itself. A document that, after three years, was recognized and modified by José Maria
Morelos into an amendment of 150 words (Vincent, 1994: 259; Hernández y Dávalos,
1985: 243-244, 297-298)69, and thanks to which, a year later, was established the first
constitutional document of Mexico, the Apatzingán Constitution. Such dynamics,
especially referring to the War of 1810, involved two key factors: an inscription of
68
A specific development of the topic will be made later, through the sections about self-perception,
gender, matrilineage and family structure.
69
See also the 29th November and 06th December 1810 original decrees of Hidalgo. The reference in
the text is about the latter and the original document recits: «Se ordena a todos los dueños de esclavos y
esclavas que a partir de esta fecha, tienen un plazo de 10 días para poner en libertad absoluta a todos sus
esclavos y esclavas, y no haciéndolo así, los dueños de esclavos y esclavas sufrirán irremisiblemente la
pena capital y la confiscación de todos sus bienes…» (‘From this moment, all slaves owners are ordered
to free their slaves in a time of 10 days, by not doing that, they will inevitably suffer the death penalty and
the confiscation of all their goods’); see Image n.1. The original document is possible to be seen in the
Archivo General de la Nación , in Mexico City.
95
Afro-Mexicans in the army that was moving along the Pacific coast (Chance, 1978), and
a widespread mobilization of African slaves from the United States to Mexico.
Since the Spanish recruited “local militia” and since much of the fighting was in the
lowlands where blacks lived, there occurred battles pitting blacks versus blacks.
So first militia separated Mulattoes and Negroes, obliging them to struggle ones
against the others, and secondly it favored the fact that Afro-descents turned around and
chased their fleeing countrymen. Morelos slipped out of Cuautla, one detachment of his
black army, and stationed in Huajuapan (nearby Oaxaca City), fought against a force of
Spanish-led black costeños, and later in 1813 beat a force of Negroes on the Oaxaca’s
coast thanks to spies informing the black insurgents of the Spanish approach and a
reluctance of Spaniards to continue the battle. «After the battle…», as argued by
Vincent, «…the insurgents sent a report that the victory ended with Spanish military
presence throughout Mexico’s southern coast» (Vincent, 1994: 264).
That fact confirmed two-core point of “race status affirmation process”.
First, from the death of Hidalgo in 1811 until the spring of 1821 the military
leadership was an increasingly black “rainbow coalition” that explained the existence of
at least eight black-skinned Mexicans occupying, between 1810 and 1821, the role of
“leadership” or “commander-in-chief-position, being them who, in proportion with
other races occupied those kind of military roles most frequently. Between them Afrodescents were who, echoing Vincent’s information and as it is shown with the Table II,
occupied the “commander-in-chief-position” with much more frequency over Mestizos
and Indians (who never achieved a military role like that), and white-skinned. In that
moment all Afro-Mexicans, Mestizos and Indians started to identify themselves as
“Mexicans” or “Americans”.
Secondly, with the National Independence in 1821, and the declaration of the Plan de
Iguala , Mexico was established as a sovereign nation, by ensuring (at least formally) the
birth of a new society. A recognized State that, in the future, would be able to abolish
the picturesque jargon of Indian, Mulatto or Mestizo, and to guarantee American
nationalization as a predominant feature for the definition of those who were part of the
continent within which Mexico had officially begun to belong once obtained the
Independence.
In that moment, the 1821 Plan de Iguala not only marked the first official document
recognizing the equal rights for all Mexican citizens, without distinction for Europeans,
Africans or Indians, and forcing the formal respect and non-discrimination of castes
96
occupying the lowest positions within the social structure of that moment. It also
embodied the political base that indirectly obviated the recognition of ethnic, cultural
and aesthetic diversity as a constitutive value of the national culture of Mexico (Mörner,
1967: 60-78).
In its replacement it was generated a sort of Mestizo consciousness that across the
centuries included the indigenous population in the national political discourse Héctor
Díaz Polanco chose to define the historical effect of indigenismo (Díaz Polanco 1995,
2010)70.
Table II71
Afro
Juan Alvarez
1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
*
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
Juan del Carmen
Hermidigildo
Galeana
Vicente Guerrero
L
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
L
L
L
L
H
H
H
H
H
H
Gordiano Guzman
*
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
Jose Maria Morelos
Jose “Amo” Antonio
Torres
Valerio Trujano
L
H
H
H
H
H
L
L
L
*
L
L
L
*
L
*
*
*
*
L
*
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
*
*
L
L
L
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
*
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
*
*
*
*
L
L
L
L
*
*
L
L
L
*
*
*
*
Mestizo
Gertrudis Bocanegra
Albino Garcia
Jose Gonzalo
Hermosillo
Mariano Matamoros
Jose Francisco
Osorno
“Padre” Antonio
Torres
Guadalupe Victoria
L
Indian
Andres Delgado
Pedro Ascensio
Serafin Olarte
L
L
L
*
Migratory effect of such declaration promoted the arrival (between 1840 and 1850)
of at least 4,000 slaves coming from the United States, starting to move across the
country and create an unlimited number of new settlements that were integrated into the
70
71
See also Barberá (2003), Beals (1995), Bobes (2004), Harris (1964), Lomnitz (1982), Nutini (1997).
Information refers to Vincent (2009: 266) and it was organized by the author.
97
pre-existing ones and contributed to a double socio-cultural process (Vinson & Vaughn,
2004b: 11).
On one hand, the palenques, created by the increasing number of Africans along the
Pacific coast of Oaxaca, guaranteed an at least partial protection of the original African
cultures and values. In this sense, while we consider Afro-Mexican culture a sort of
syncretic position aimed at explaining the only presence of an in-between African status
based on slave or maroon culture, we cannot forget highlighting the relevance the
palenques had in maintaining peculiar elements of the original African cultural
background (Benigno, 2004; Martínez Montiel, 2000; Castile, Kushner & Adams,
1981). Historical dynamics thus not only affirm the existence of a clear African past,
provided with all those element slaves came with, but it can also explain a current
reality that caractherizes African-descent population both in its more explicit aesthetic
features and in some other lees precise traditional elements. On the other, by increasing
local population thanks to internal migrations, mestizaje and racial miscegenation began
to represent the daily practice within the area, especially for what concerns new cultural
traditions today currently used by part of black local population, as the chilena music
(García Arreola, 1990).
About that fact, it is also possible to infer the existence of two more ways, a lot less
studied, through which some black slaves arrived to the South-West Mexican Pacific
coast. That was during the XIX century, when, because of the Californian gold rush,
many Chilean vessels came to San Francisco looking for the metal. Dynamic that was
much more undertaken by part of South American countries (as in the main case of
Chile), then the Americans themselves. Actually, many American cities, such as New
York, were ironically very much more far away from the opportunity of buying some
Californian gold. «New York was sixteen thousand nautical miles from San Francisco,
compared to two thousand for Acapulco and Honolulu, four thousand for
Callao…[and]…six thousand for Valparaiso…» (Brands, 2002: 47). Chile was one of
the biggest gold buyer of the moment and, because of being Valparaiso the first port in
the South Pacific (Ramón, 2003: 67), its ships, as the well known Araucano, were the
most frequently moved along the Pacific coast (Brands, 2002: 47-53)72.
72
During the XVIII century, Chile was one of the biggest mineral owners in the Americas and it
started to represent the most important re-exporter of European products and black slaves. “Goods” that
Chile was buying in Argentina and transfering to its own coast or Peruvian Pacific one, or moving to
other Pacific regions, as Central and North America (Ramón, 2003: 59). More information also in Collier
& Sater (1996).
98
Because of that, it is inferred in 1849 came to California about 90,000 people (also
called the fourty-niners) whose half came by sea and the other probably by land (Starr
& Orsi: 2000: 57-61). Between 30,000 and 40,000 of them were foreigners (Starr &
Orsi: 2000: 57-61), being for the year 1855 the gold seekers, merchants and other
immigrants about 300,000 (Starr & Orsi: 2000: 25). The main group was American, but
were also many miles of people who came from China, Europe, Mexico, or coming
from other Latin American countries, followed by some small groups of Philippinos,
Spanish, and some (almost 4,000) African-descent miners (Brands, 2000; Rawls & Orsi,
1999). During the travel in direction to United States, Chilenean vessels were frecuently
stopping in Puerto Ángel and Acapulco, allowing many immigrants, including many
African descents, to remain along the coast (Velasquez & Vaughn, 2002:10).
In second instance, because of the need of Chile for building its own war fleet to
resist Spanish navy, United States built a specially armed 217-ton ship, the Columbus,
which for November 1817 was sent to Valparaiso – where it arrived in June 1818 (Vale,
2008) – fully manned and carrying a cargo of munitions, under the command of Carlos
Guillermo Wooster. The Columbus was sold to Chile for $33,000 (Neumann, 1947). On
August 10th it was renamed Araucano and on 14th August was under the command of
Wooster and took part, on October 1818, of the First Chilean Navy Squadron.
Successively, with the objective to help in Mexican Independence, in 1822 the
Chilean Navy Squadron – consisted of six ships (O’Higgins, Independence, Valdivia ,
Araucanian, Mercedes and Aranzazú), under the command of Lord Cochrane, who at
the moment was at the service of the Chilean government – arrived to Mexican coasts,
probably to the ports of Puerto Ángel, within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, or Acapulco,
in Guerrero State.
In that moment some Chilean sailors were supposed to remain in Mexican soil and
started to live within the South Pacific Coast, being this dynamic responsible to produce
a new race and cultural mixing, by introducing the traditional Chilean cueca dance, now
transculturated and re-named chilena (García Arreola, 1990; Velásquez & Vaughn,
2000).
2. Some Effects of the Historical Cultural Mixing
The mixing dynamic and the coexistence of blacks and other races created a
threefold process.
99
I
While the declaration of Independence and the abolition of caste system promoted
the opportunity for sub-represented races obtaining a certain degree of equality for their
social and political representation within Mexico, such declaration of freedom and
cultural respect created a twofold way of institutional recognition. Thanks to it, José
María Morelos produced then the document Sentimientos de la Nación (“Feelings of the
Nation)73, where the Mestizo condition (what is currently respected as the “straight” and
easiest way to be Mexican), and the ab origine one came to be formally legitimated.
So, despite of the first 22th October 1814 Constitutional document, thanks to which
blacks born in Mexican soil started officially to take part of Mexican Nation as
citizens74 and enjoyed equality, security, property and freedom75, Mexican Constitution
hadn’t considered any minority right or the opportunity for any kind of special
recognition for the new institutionally integrated black population. This fact meant
blacks were theoretically integrated into the Mexican society of the moment, but
practically freely stigmatized by civil society and unprotected by law.
Moreover, all those decrees that constituted first Mexican legislation between 1813
(with the Sentimientos de la Nación ) and 1917 (the first official Mexican Constitution)
established all those constitutional principles characterizing freedom, obligations,
popular sovereignty, federalism, especially in the case of 1824 Constitutive Act and
Constitution – an explicit «…copy of 1787 North American and Spanish
Constitution…» (Rabasa, 2000: 91) − but never appeared any kind of plural vision of
Mexico, aimed at producing a specific social perspective based on difference. By
contrast, 1824 Constitution could introduce a sort of liberal though directed to impulse a
real modification of the political way of deciding and organizing citizenship and State.
Meaning that, giving birth to an institutional division of powers into Legislative,
Executive and Judiciary, plus offering some sort of protection for human rights, and
producing a first approach to self-government “politics” (Rabasa, 2000: 91; Dary, 1988;
Joseph & Henderson, 2002), but avoiding to mention both indigenous or any more else
kind of minority. That fact was gradually intensifying when, with the establishment of
federalism, 1924 Constitution established the sub-division of Statal Powers and the
73
See Rabasa (2000: 88).
Decreto Constitucional para la libertad de la América mexicana, sancionado en Apatzingan á 22 de
Octubre de 1814 , art.13 (see bibliography for web reference).
75
Idem, art.24.
74
100
“free use” of local authority, same that was available only for who had shown the most
close European racial futures (Rabasa, 2000: 105).
So, when finally national freedom was granted, some aspects of insurgents’ radical
agenda were implemented. Between the twenties’ and the forty’s decade of XIX
century, both intellectuals and politicians took hard dispositions aimed at avoiding the
use of caste distinction, in that moment generally mentioned by official documents. In
this way 1824 Mexican Constitution was a early manifestation of those kind of politics
whose prosecution was the 13th July 1824 Acta de la Federación (by which the slave
trade ended) and the 15th September 1829 decree, through which slavery got an end.
Those documents implied a more extended guarantee of freedom for Mexican
citizens, by creating a sort of national conscience thanks to which the idea of
“population” started to be a synonym for national identity being able to be beyond class,
ethnicity and race difference.
Official abolition of caste system not only created a way to be recognized as part of
the Mexican Nation. It also represented an unofficial way for the demonstration of
existence of black population (though the abolition of castes and the forgetfulness of
racial and ethnic discourse within official documents and daily social context),
especially in some parroquial records of Oaxaca city, before thirty’s nomenclature
(Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 36; Ochoa Serrano, 1998).
On the other hand, slavery abolition promoted a stronger intervention by part of the
Government and its institutions in the struggle for the definition of racial discourse, and
even more clearly, Mexican blackness (Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b: 36; Aguirre Beltrán,
1967: 11-27; Love, 1967, 1970). So, when government saw the advantage or need to use
racial differences for organizing powers, blackness took a real importance as an
acceptable social category, within political vocabulary, as during the Mexican colonial
period, when using a specific caste system aimed at separating aesthetic features and
cultures, was clearly useful for increasing white power. By contrast, when the
government considered racial difference a counterproductive element for Mexican
society, political discourse started to avoid mentioning or using it (Vinson & Vaughn,
2004b: 36; Love, 1967, 1970). The effect of those kind of ideas imposed to Mexican
politicians choosing for a homogeneous self-definition based on race supremacy
theories of XIX century, being that racial though a strong stimulus for the development
of a national discourse increasingly constructing itself thanks to scientific racism
(Chance, 1976, 1978; Von Mentz, 2000).
101
II
Because of the negative association with black heritage, Mexican intellectuals argued
the diminution of national black population and promoted a sort of social restriction to
the acceptance of Afro-Mexican presence. A position taken also by José Maria Luis
Mora in his 1836 México y sus revoluciones (“Mexico and its Revolutions”). Through
his work the author affirmed the imminent disappearance of all those who were settled
within Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and their totally insignificance to inspire any kind of
threat to Republican tranquility nor able to obtain a better luck for their own fate, as
class (Luis Mora, 1986). At the same time, other intellectuals, as Sartorious, wrote that
black Mexican race would be disappeared, and it would have been yet disappeared if
many Cubans would not have been able to migrate from the Island and establish within
Mexican coasts (Sartorius, 1859; Zavodny, 2003). A migration that obtained an
increasing socio-cultural effect on what it was defined the relationship between a “direct
slave trade” and “an indirect one”, and produced the most interesting Mexican racial
and cultural variation (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Castellanos & Castellanos, 1988;
Martín Quijano, 2005; Bojorquez, 2000; Hoffmann & Pascal, 2006; Hernández Cuevas,
2004; Leverette, 2009; Lewis, 2000; Guerra Vilaboy, 2003; Notimex, 03 de Enero
2003).
Such dynamics induced, for the year 1870, Mexico having to face a new sociocultural problem that started to justify the increase of black population through a useful
migration aimed at economically developing the country. Especially for what concerns
Cuban immigration, the Mexican Congress established that black Cuban population,
who helped the Island in the betterment of its economical situation through the sugar
fieldwork, promoted the black immigration and started to divulgate some specific
information about blacks’ potential in work and technical development (Vaughn, 2004a;
Vinson & Vaughn, 2004b).
As a result, for the year 1895, and althought the most important local newspapers
announced the need to engage blacks in copper-mining work and sugar cane fields,
Mexican government finally decided to limit African immigration, arguing African
blood was horrible and it wouldn’t be able to better racial mixing between Mexican
dark-skinned people (Vaughn, 2004a). Reaction that for the 08th July 1927 justified the
interruption of blacks’ immigration, by considering that mestizaje between them and
“the other” would have being able to degenerate Mexican race (Vaughn, 2004a; Vinson
& Vaughn, 2004b).
102
Only with the first 1917 official Constitution, Mexican State guaranteed for all
persons the opportunity to enjoy all the rights recognized by the Mexican Constitution
and international treaties signed by the Mexican State. It also assured the right to not be
suspended except in the cases and under the conditions laid down in the Constitution
itself, forcing the Mexican authorities to respect and protect the human rights and also
prevent, punish and remedy human rights violations, by also prohibiting slavery in the
country and protecting slaves entering Mexico, avoiding all kind of discrimination76.
That fact supposed, and actually, supposes two different kinds of problems.
By one side, the existence of specific rights in an official document brings to
minorities a way to construct some kind of claims that impulses Mexico being defined
as a liberal-democratic and multicultural state. By the other, the only importance given
to ab origine minorities, supposes a sort of institutionalized disappearance of all those
cultural minorities that are not defined as originally Mexican.
More specifically the indigenous population itself started to self-define as the only
local population with any kind of right of being considered autocthonous, indirectly and
directly excluding blacks from the official definition of Oaxaca’s State population. So
even though sometimes race was gendered in ways that favored unions between Indian
women and Moreno men, blacks kept being marginalized77. That fact caused Indian
women coming from the village where “their people” settled, engaging socially and
geographically indigenous, and resulting in Indian encroachment on Moreno. So their
future (the women’s) started to be anchored to their husband’ parents territory, where
Indian women moved into the homes of son, and starting to inherit his parents’ house.
This kind of relationship developed, in the future, a mixing way of traditional marriage
and family African ancestral way of relations that today could be defined an element of
socio-cultural tension between a per sé female power imposition and a “by descentgender inheritance” of family responsibility attributed to women within black
communities of Costa Chica. Some in-group dynamics that anthropologists would
define respectively as matriarchy and matrilineage78.
By this dynamic Indian wives might strongly demarcated as female, in the future
came to inherit de facto the houses of their “Moreno in-laws”, to “take over” its center
76
Constitución política de los estados unidos mexicanos, que reforma la de 5 de febrero de 1857 , in
Diario Oficial, tomo V, 4ª, Época, n.30, Lunes 05 de febrero de 1917, pp.149-161, art. I and II.
77
More in Meza Bernal (2003) who presents an interesting reference about the concept of Moreno .
78
For a classic reference about the topic, see Malinowski (1924). In-group relationships and gender
dynamic are two of the most African-representative elements of Costa Chica’s black population, so we
will illustrate them in depth and separately, through the Chapter IV of the “Mexican Frame”.
103
from the inside out, as it were. At the same time Moreno women instituted specific
marriage margins, establishing some defined boundaries between her sons (natural or
acquired) and those who were deceptively defined macuanos. So “mixed-race” women
started to prefer the Mestizo definition, arguing they were not only ‘…Indios, nor
Spanish…Blacks are not from here…the real Creole population are we, with straight
hair…but blacks do not want us, so they call us macuanos…’ (16th November 2011, San
Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Tive)79.
Finally, these facts defined two clear socio-cultural points.
On one side, Indians were defined as the unique ab origine population and the only
one with special minority-rights supported by the Mexican Constitution.
On the other, black population of the area took part in a socio-cultural dynamic that
produced a circular marginality process, destined to exclude Afro-Mexicans from the
daily practices between their own villages, and from a potential official recognition.
III
If we take into account the mestizaje as a result of specific socio-historical dynamics,
on the other hand it is needed to be defined which kind of patterns kept representing the
black culture throughout the Costa Chica and still represents some core elements of
local black population.
Thus because of discrimination and racism, black settlements started to be isolated
from local civic society. Such dynamic imposed to settlers a twofold process of
construction of identity: on the one hand, race started to be understood as a value (not
more an element for shame), as a distinctive signal able to make blacks easily
recognized within Mexican population; on the other, “being black” was extremely
useful in the maintenance and externalization of traditions. This socio-cultural
trayectory contributed to impulse the process of collective identity construction, at least
by two ways: through an individual ability to internalize specific forms of cultural
behavior and expectations of a generalized other, and thanks to a new way of building
senses of belonging and membership (Pollini, 1987).
In the first case, members of black population within the Costa Chica started to build
up a specific self-perception dynamic that today characterizes the communitarian
79
The information is part of an interview we obtained in San Juan Bautista lo de Soto, where black
and indigenous population live together, and where relationships are clearly not always positive. The
problem of self-definition and race marginalization is actually present and it conditions daily in-groups
and outgroups’ relationships.
104
symbolic universe and some kind of new perceptions of a widespread socio-cultural
environment of which black national minority began to be formally part. In the second
African population developed some traditional elements that today actually allow
understanding in-group claims based on potential recognition, by the construction of a
new socio-cultural environment, completely different from what we can find out of the
area. In this way, Afro-Mexicans obtained the maintenance of a certain level of
aesthetic features, the use of specific cultural traditions, and an ancestral way of
organizing inter relationships within families and communities; some elements that
actually turned themselves really relevant for the recognition and representation of
black population within the Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, as a unique cultural minority80.
In this sense, it is possible to say Afro-Mexicans created a sort of “cultural
insurance” (Kymlicka, 1995) that, referring to African identity recognition, establishes a
peculiar way for representing blacks within the area. A socio-cultural dynamic that
imposes some kind of ideological need to re-organize local culture starting from an
aprioristic process of identity negotiation, and a way of collective representation that
potentially facilitates Africans’ territorial location and a certain degree of
inculturation81. What it means is taking into account the presence and use of certain
standards of beheaviour, beliefs, norms or values that are the main results of a sociohistorical dynamic that produced a complex of shared elements characterized by the
influence of both national and local culture. In its historical meaning Oaxaca’s black
identity represents thus an attempt to mutually incorporate local and national symbolic
universes without avoiding communities’s peculiarities nor generalized cultural
elements.
Accordingly as such historical trayectory, Costa Chica’s Afro-Mexicans seem to be a
threefold mixed population: in its aesthetic traits; its self-perception as cultural
minority; its socio-cultural structure.
Those principles impulse both the process of recongition of Costa Chica’s black
identity, and the use of the constitutional historical trayectory as a way to justify their
presence. From another point of view, they also offer an appropiate representation of
black political identity aimed at conceiding African settlers being included into a
definition, which does not limit the relationship between “them” and “the Mexicans”.
80
More information about the potential recognition of minorities and its “democratic modality”, in
Kymlicka (1996b, 2002, 2007b) and Inglis (1996).
81
The last chapter of the work will be in charge to define the concept and its implications for identity
negotiation.
105
By contrary, it represents the best way to recognize diversity and allows them to obtain
any kind of advantage for being defined citizens (Rawls, 1971; Barry, 2002; Habermas,
1989; Müller, 2007; Peces-Barba, 2003; Rosales, 1999; Sternberger, 2001; Velasco,
2002). Meaning that impulsing the local use of a democratic politic of conservation for
traditions and communitarian uses – what Kymlicka defined a sort of local cultural
insurance82 – and promoting the institutionalization of diversity as a national worth
(Waldron, 2000).
In this way, and referring to the current situation in which Afro-Mexicans are, both
national and local constitutional documents83 should be understood as a sort of
formalization of a principle of emotio, whom specific function would be to assume the
human condition as an emotional space. Doing that would mean not only politically
understanding the historical process to which Afro-Mexicans underwent. The aim of
such a local historical consciencie about national culture would be better ensuring the
realization of human processes, rather than institutional, towards the creation of a
multicultural social consciousness. A way of interaction that allows perpetrating a
certain level of lieto vivere without forgetting the fundamental principle of the
democratic constitutional State. Such principle would result in living also through
consensus of irrationality, no only taking into account a political discourse based on
consensus or dissensus related to what was historically, and socially, considered rational
(Häberle, 2003: 117).
The “institutional effect” of what we mentioned would be fed by a degree of
nationalism aimed at including diversity as a cultural worth for the multicultural
environment. Meaning that also avoiding an aprioristic way of cultural homogenization
built on the idea of “ethnic purity” (in the Mexican case, historically disproved) and
aimed at propagating a certain level of stigma and “shame” (Major & O’Brien, 2005;
Link & Phelan, 2001; Douglas, 1970). An effect of historical dynamics that Mexican
State seems to have chosen for the representation of its current national identity.
Indeed, instead of promoting the improvement of the social perception of local
cultural groups, the State indirectly impulses the dynamics of prejudice, giving life to a
continuing social relationship between an attribute and a historically-based stereotype,
82
Kymlicka refers specifically to those special rights that could be useful in producing some rights for
“self-definition” or “self-government” aimed at defining cultural boundaries of local minorites. Especially
about such dichotomy, we refer to Kymlicka (1994, 1996a, 2007a).
83
We refer to both the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos and the Constitución
Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca .
106
whom main effects are the loss of social status and the production of a certain degree of
self-discrimination for Afro-Mexicans. By contrary, if Mexcican State would choose for
valorizing pluralism and integration as national identity’s values, we would be referring
to a cultural effect that Habermas chose to define “constitutional patriotism” (Habermas,
1989: 94). In this case, the historical trayectory that made Africans discriminated within
Mexico would be based on a reflexive identification that avoids any particular content
of cultural tradition, and embraces a universal set of national elements, collected by the
normative order sanctioned by the Constitution: human rights and the fundamental
principles of the democratic state of law. In this sense, the idea of community would be
included into a more extended conception of Nation, where, as for the multinational
states, each sub-group represents a Nation itself, which exists thanks to its own culture,
but it couldn’t be territorially located without the institutional frame granted by the
official Government (Spencer, 1994; Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002 y 2007a; Rawls, 1971;
Barry, 2002; Waldron, 2000; Walzer, 1992).
As a consequence, the purpose of recognition in favor of local minorities,
theoretically exposed by the constitutional documents and promoted by the Mexican
State, wouldn’t represent a sort of recognition attributed spontaneously thanks to a
specific place of birth, but only a way to show some requirements of civility, necessary
for democratic constitutionalism. Depending on that, black communities’ members
produced a special sense of belonging that currently does not take part into a national
idiosincrasy, constructed by a Mexican consciousness about the need or the right to
understand black identity through the colonial past or some specific dynamic of
deculturation and transculturation. It is built up only starting by a feeling of being part
of an autopoietic group legitimately proud of taking part into Mexican Mestizo identity
(Crowley & Silva, 2002). Thanks to its universalistic component, this kind of
“patriotism” contrasts with a sort of ethnic-cultural nationalism, which in turn it would
be opposed to the comtemporary democratic position of classical multiculturalism (Bell
& Newby, 1971; Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Anderson, 1983)84.
Moreover, the sociocultural value of blacks minorities’ symbolic universe is
measured not only by the degree of belonging or acceptance expressed by members, in
relation to the cultural framework that characterizes that same cultural environment, and
can be understood as a man’s natural habitat which establishes a set of common cultural
84
For many other information about “classical multiculturalism”, see note n.24.
107
and standardized parameters among its members. It also is built on the range of
elements and sensitivity depending on the degree of difference actors are materially
impulse to feel, and where ‘differentnesses within actors are covered up by including all
those kind of elements that can be assigned under that group and potentially or
generationally different’ (Tuan, 2002: 309). So, on the one hand, local black minorities
embody a cultural group whose demands are made up through an intersubjective
process of mutual recognition that has no legal basement nor institutional protection,
which means being in a continuos tension between a potential inclusion and a social
exclusion (Okpewho, 1999; Bennett, 2003, 2009; Zeleza, 2005). On the other, black
population of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca represents a sort of micro socio-cultural
environment within which actors have the opportunity to maintain their own sense of
collectivity and create a specific way to define themselves through an Afro-Mexican
identity. A cultural complex based on a set of shared codes only by a limited portion of
population, allowing it to create a dynamic of comparison between local and national
culture thanks to an ad extra recognition. By contrast, Oaxaca’s black population
embodies a witness of state and social forgetfulness, enjoying not a status of legal
entity, or the opportunity to take part into what the Sentimientos de la Nación should
have ensured as the first element of respect and understanding of diversity: citizenship
(Joseph & Henderson, 2002)85. Finally, while history has taken away the social status of
Afro-Mexicans and the opportunity of being registered as a relevant cultural sub-group
of the Nation, the feeling of being African, its traditions and its ancestrality have never
abandoned communities’ remembrance nor memory.
Next sections will be aimed at expliciting Afro-Mexicans’s cultural exclusivity and
the elements through which we would be able to prove their traditions and modus
vivendi exist, and justify the need for formally recognizing the African as a national
cultural heritage.
85
See Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (2010: 15-21).
108
Chapter II
Some Cultural Traits of Oaxaca’s Black Communities
109
110
1. Some Traditional Ways of Cultural Expression
The effect of acculturation and deculturation processes for Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican
population was the most important among the historical influences suffered by such
national minority, within Mexico.
Thus, because of territorial position of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca – far from the
main cultural colonial centers – and the proximity to an indigenous population, proud
and inclined to the preservation of its own ethnic roots, Africans arrived within the area
during the colonial period faced two socio-cultural adaptation processes. While black
minority learnt cohabiting with Indians within the area, meaning that racially mixing
with them, it adaptated its own in-group culture to new traditions and social dynamics.
In this sense, Afro-Mexicans contributed to expand their racial elements and culture, by
creating a neat separation between blacks and Indians, but they also contributed to melt
differences (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992), creating a hard problem to define them
separately.
Because of what we said, and in order to analize cultural traditions and their local
peculiarity, we have to take into account each of them and describe which elements
seem to be tipically black and which ones could embody some local representation of
Indian and African mixed traditions (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992). This kind of
mixing process is thus not only a social, cultural and physical mixing, but it also
represents a change into a very territorially located modus vivendi that seems not to be
exclusively part of the one or the other group (the black and the indigenous), but also
corresponding to both cultural traditions.
Neverthless, if we seek for accounting the most relevant parts of African elements
throughout settlements we analyzed, we found it could be possible distinguishing four
different ways thanks to which Afro-descent population could be assume the role (and
the status) of an unique cultural national minority.
We organized the information depending on an in crescendo scale that examines
African culture within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca through a circoncentric model, where
the biggest set includes three more sets, whose African content is inversely proportional
to the size of the set itself. That also means the biggest set respresents the most lax
influence of African elements (including Afro-Indian traditions) and the smallest stands
for the space where traditions are constituted by a major number of sub-Saharan cultural
aspects.
111
Thus, insofar as the set of Afro-Mexican meanings contacts with Mestizo or
indigenous culture, its level of dispersion increases. By contrast, as the symbolic
universe of blacks moves away from the national identity, it comes progessively less
affected.
In the first set of caractheristics we found currently an African use of a “modified
modality” of Spanish language that refers predominantly to its pronuntiations
(depending on indigenous language sounds), and a few words that seem to have a
Mexican origin strictu sensu86.
Secondly, we account for dances. In this case we will analize four types of them, by
explaining some origins and meanings of each, and including the Danza de los Diablos
(“Devils’ Dance”), Danza de los Negritos (“Little Africans’s Dance”), Danza del Toro
de Petate (“The petate-Bull Dance”)87, and Danza de la Tortuga (“Turtle Dance”). In
this case, we will highlight both the importance of African original elements and some
specific territorial and social characteristics. Such as the use of masks during the
“Devils’ Dance”, or celebrating natural environment and resources, as concerning to the
“Turtle Dance”, where the turtle represents the symbol of a new historical location
within which slaves were obliged to stay.
Thirdly, we take into account two ways of creating and mantaining family and
community patterns about wedding and inter relationships: the matrimonio ideal (the
“perfect wedding”) and the queridato, a sort of a concubinate. The first one would be
the traditional way to produce some patterns of behavior based on an acencestral
memory perpetrated as far. The latter embodies a real African element that allows men
having different women and create a second family where the legitimated sons and
daughters come to be considered some kind of “adquired children” of the men’s wife,
not the querida ’s88. This dynamic will be central in our further discussion, especially
talking about matrilinage and matriarchy − we will study separately − thanks to which
86
One example is the word chimelo (“thoothless”), where the chim represents a corruption of the word
sin (“without”). Ramos i Duarte also explains the word chimuela , a hybridism resulting by the
conjunction between the Mayan cham, chamil (“thooth or theeth”) and the Spanish muela . See Ramos i
Duarte (1895: 168, 169), but also Santamaría (2005: 391), who refers to the word chimuelo .
87
The petate is a bedroll woven from the palm of “petate”, a local variety of the plant. The dance
specifically takes its name by a “puppet” shaped as a bull covered by the petate bedroll.
88
Querida means literally “beloved” and it refers to all those women men are legitimated to “use” in
order to create a new family and increase the number of members of the community. That fact will
strongly and positively affect social recognition within the area, especially regarding opportunities to find
a couple or to obtain some favor between families, as work, money, or any other kind of help.
112
women (though to the men’s power within the communities) will obtain a certain level
of equality and shared justice.
Finally, we account for the perception Afro-Mexicans have about the human being,
death and deseases. This is the most relevant African element we will take into account
in this section. Indeed, as among African original tribes, black Mexicans show some
ancestral origins, especially through a peculiar vision about the dycothomy life and
death, and some specific techniques for healing, by avoiding “bad spririts” and
maintaining certain patterns of “good life” (Aguirre Beltrán, 1972, 1989). Firstly, we
account for human conception, which means understanding the way individuals are
composed (by soul and spirit). In second instance, we explain some detailed deseases
and their potential solution by the use of natural elements. Finally, we try to figure out
the socio-cultural role of local “sorcerers”.
2. A Spanish “Dialect” Modality
Regarding to language use and variation in cultural meanings, related to the African
environment of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, we have to take into account two key
elements: the original language derivation and the mixing process. In the first case, we
can further separate the influences between a “direct contamination” of language and an
“indirect” one. In the second, we highlight the process of language adaptation to the
specific local context, modified over the centuries.
As regards the former, language modification refers necessarily to the way through
which Africans were originally “imported” to Mexico. Those who came directly from
Africa (Guinea, Cape Green, Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory
Coast) and were part of the original Bantu, Congo and carabalí ethnic groups (Martínez
Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre Beltrán, 1972), were defined bozales, same
ones that had no knowledge of the Spanish language. Therefore, they had to produce
some new a priori linguistic codes constructed on the base of three linguistic influences,
their African language, the Castilian language (they were learning once in Mexico) and
linguistic influences of indigenous origin. Thus, those who were defined bozales
developed also a certain set of self-relevant meanings (Tajfel, 1981) starting by three or
more dependent linguistic influences that imposed to the Africans of Costa Chica some
mixed cultural patterns currently taking part of local language and spirit.
As regards the latter, it refers to a type of linguistic contamination based on the
differentiation of parameters of language’s usage aimed at shaping a sort of historic
113
memory. In this case, slaves employed from time to time their original words, and
started to mix them up with new terms and concepts they were learning. This process
began to be characterized by a mixture of languages that depended by the coexistence of
native local idioms prevailing at the time of blacks arrival (and still existing) as Nahuas,
Tarasco, and Mixteca , and African languages of slaves (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 202).
Because of such dynamic, it is very difficult to separate a current way of talking of
the Costa Chica African population, by isolating a large number of African-origin
words. This fact depends on the way of slaves “extraction”, since large concentrations
of slaves were never integrated of the same ethnies (Moreno Fraginals, 1977).
In this sense, slaves had not to modify but substitute their own languages with the
new ones. Castilian turned itself into a sort of lingua franca , and was established as the
only way slaves had to communicate to eachother (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 202).
An explicit and important effect of this dynamic is the loss of many core African
concepts and words. By contrast, some cultural elements, probably the most rooted ones
(especially religion) have been maintained and, currently, contribute to shape a specific
sort of Afro-Mexican language. In this sense, the Afro-Mexican Spanish modality only
accounts for some African-religion terms. A lack of linguistic influence that depended
on the importance and presence of indigenous culture within the area and an imperative
racial mixing process, highter than what we can find in other Afro-Mexican areas, as
Mexico City (Campos, 1999). Here, though to a very weak black population presence
(compared with the non-black one) it is possible to find many African religious
elements, as for the Palo Mayombe and Santería (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Cabrera,
1986, 2006; Alpizar, 2006; Jiménez, 2004). By contrast, within the Costa Chica of
Oaxaca is not possible to find any specific religious influence and, consequently, many
terms, which we would have been able to account for, don’t exist.
Because of what we said, it is possible to understand the way through which
Oaxaca’s black settlers speak as a sort of Spanish dialect, conditioned in its own
pronutiation and use of the meanings, and often employed with sexual implications,
during folkloristic manifestations and the very common chilena music89. In this case,
the only explicit African element we can find is the importance of sexual topics, love
and familiar relationships between who take part in the local cultural event.
89
Because of the very few information about the chilena music of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, our
reference is explicitely to the empirical data we obtained during the field work.
114
On the other side, concerning to the African-Spanish modality, the most notable
difference between the standard Spanish spoken and the one used routinely within the
area is the “deaf aspiration”, represented by the j, s and z when they close a syllable or
word (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 203-205). Such aspiration, being oftenly too weak,
sometimes disappears, especially as final consonant of a word (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989),
as in cruce-cruz-cruj-crú , or pisce-pece-pez-pej and peje-pejcao (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989:
203). Other linguistic modifications are the transformation of ju into f; the substitution
of “you” with “You”90; the use of simple future instead of standard ways of Spanish
present progressive (as boi a cantar , instead of the right grammatical voy a cantar , for
cantaré – “I’m gonna sing” instead of “I will sing”); the use of conjunctions between
two words (ontá for donde está – “wher’sit” and not “where is it?”); the use of the
neutral article lo (as lo fortuno for la fortuna – “the luck”); the use of ll as y; the
equivalence between b and v (written and spoken); the elusion of some words’ structure
(as orita for ahorita – “now”, “in this moment”, but in the Afro-Mexican idiosyncrasy
also meaning “maybe later but not sure”, “yes, but I don’t know when”…ecc…); the
lack of a where it is needed (unque for aunque – “due” or “although”); the addiction of
the vocal i where it is not required (trajieron for trajeron – “they took it…”).
Because of such a combination, sometimes Afro-Mexican Spanish of the Costa
Chica comes to be hard to understand, depending on both the words people use to
express themselves and the cultural meaning they attribute to certain grammatical
constructions. In this sense people oftenly use some local words in order of not being
understood by part of a stranger or a non-local Mexican, especially concerning to the
aesthetics of the person (in particular when they want to define a North-American or an
European) or her ethnic origin, oftenly related with indigenous population.
An informant offered an example of that: ‘…qué hace usted tan nejo,…anda si
chando y chimeco que e’como el chambalé…’ (12th November 2012, Santo Domingo
Armenta interview, Lucio)91. Or in the case of the following verse, corresponding to a
90
In Spanish, “you” (tu) is an unformal use of the language in referring to somebody. By contrast,
“You” refers to the formal way to speak to eachother and is normally translated with usted. This kind of
linguistic modality is not only tipical within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. It also comes out in different
other places all around Latin America, as in Argentina, or some places of Central America, where the
informal way can be substituted with vos; in Colombia, where the formal use usted is the most common
way to refer to friends and familiars; Mexico, where it is mostly employed by African-descent people.
91
Literally translated: “why are you so dirty…you are so tousled and with an unwashed face you
looks like a bug…”. In the example the “words” nejo, chando , chimeco and chambalé have not Indian
origin, as it is easier to find. By constrast, we find a mixing and aspiration phenomenon associated to the
use of some specific Bantu -origin words (Aguierre Beltrán, 1989).
115
locally known corrido92: Todo el barrio del Carmen/recuerda de su nombre/puej no era
bergüenzoso/ser ombre entre loj ombrej93.
By contrast, as Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 204) argued, another linguistic phenomenon
exists and it is not possible to find in other places within Mexico, but only within the
Costa Chica: the evolution of the f that doesn’t follow the standard linguistic norms of
Spanish. It is substituted with an h but the sound has only a few differences fugimosfoimos-huimos-juimos, or, as we said ju turns itself into f, or the other way around (as
Farej for Juárez, Fan for Juan or fej for juez).
Different is the case of lo use, called loismo, and y, named yeísmo.
In the first instance it represents an indiscriminate use of lo, not only, as we argued,
in the case of a gender substitution (lo fortuno-la fortuna ), but also as a way to
interchange pronounces, as lo oyeron instead of le oyeron (“you heard him” where the
latter is the correct one).
The second is specifically a “pronunciation and writing” phenomenon where the
word composed by ll comes to be replaced with a y: llorar -yorar (“to cry”), llenar yenar (“to fill up”), and others (Menéndez Pidal, 1929: 9).
Finally, a very tipical linguistic element within our settlements is the formation and
use of diminutives by aphaeresis or apocope; aphaeresis and apocope; aphaeresis and
syncope. In the first case, first syllables come to be avoided, or last ones are not
pronounced, as for Anacleto, which turns itself into Cleto, Domingo into Mingo,
Etelvina into Vina . In the second, diminutive is constructed through the use of medial
syllables, as Leopoldo (Polo), Natividad (Tive) and Hipólita (Pola ).
Thirdly, the dimutive is constructed by the intervocalic syllabes, as for Alberto
(Beto), Ernesto (Neto), Silvia (Chivis).
Plus, all those names which end with io, ia , lio, sio or so, cio or cia , ro, no, lo, have
more peculiar transformations, same that we describe in order of appearance: AntonioToño, Gorgonio-Goño, Amalia-Maya , Romelia-Meya , Obdulio-Yuyo, Refugio-Fuyo,
Nemesio-Necho,
Narciso-Chicho,
Patricio-Ticho,
Rocío-Chío,
Alicia-Licha ,
Constancia-Tancha , Aurelio-Lelo, Teodoro-Lolo, Luciano-Chano, Gonzalo-Chalo.
92
The corrido is a traditional music that includes some North-American Texas notes and, oftenly
relates some events of violence. Music and violence within the Costa Chica is widely explained by
Gutiérrez Ávila (1988).
93
See Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 203). The verse says: ‘The whole “Carmen” neightborhood/remembers
his name/it was not shameful being a man among men…’.
116
This kind of speaking addresses to different motives that are directly connected with
the daily way of life of black settlers within the Costa Chica and the social importance
language has for the mantainence of interrelationships between the villages.
For what concerns the first case, Afro-Mexicans show a very active modus vivendi
completely constructed on the ambiguity of inter-gender relations. In this context is very
common to be included into many cultural events within the villages where the chilena
and the corrido are not only the way to animate the party, but also to establish a new
friendship or reinforce daily relationships. People comes thus to be involved into a
social dynamic which we can say it is literally constructed on a specific way of telling
the others something about life, personal emotions, desires (also sexual ones), and it
expresses some basic values of Afro-Mexican way of being: cultural membership and
family. In this way, language is the key element to understand certain patterns of
behavior and the way through which people feel themselfes legitimated to express their
own openness and familiarity with “the other”, especially relating with love.
For example, we had the opportunity to take part into a vela (or velada ), a local
meeting during which people eat, dance and cultivate social relations, and that is made
once a year, as an anniversary, for remembering the death of somebody94.
The playing band was presenting some chilenas and participants were invited to
invent some verses ‘to make a nice girl to “meet” somebody new’95. If the girl or man
asked “for it” refuses to answer back, it is considered offensive and it comes to be seen
as a way to brake down a potential continuity between social and cultural relationships
within the community. The “game” of asking and responding continues until members
reach a sort of agreement that not necessarily ends with a sexual compromise, but it
guarantees the continuity of good relations between the couple.
3. Dances
Dances of the Mexican South Pacific Coast have universal roots combined by the
cultural experiences of indigenous, Spanish and African population gathered togheter
thanks to the historical events of the region. Because of that, it is not possible referring
to the black dances of the Costa Chica of Oaxaca as an authoctonous element of African
94
More details about the vela will be explained later.
The information refers to a direct explication gave to the author, nearby El Ciruelo, during the vela
(12th November 2012). The meaning of the phrase is very much more explicit in Spanish, and it explains
clearly a doble-meaning expression with an intentional sexual purpose: pa’que ‘na linda chica no lo
dejprecie (“…with the objective a nice girl does not say no to it…”).
95
117
origin. We should better define them as the result of the conjunction of different ways of
cultural representation.
In general, when we refer to African dances within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, the
information we have is really escase and it is mainly aimed at describing those traditions
usually performed during the Festival Costeño de la Danza , in Puerto Escondido, or at
the Guelaguetza , in Oaxaca City96.
Despite such escase information, it is possible to find many evidences of Mexican
dances in documents and art objects dating back over three thousand years. Their
representations were found throughout Mexico since Tlatilco findings (1400 B.C.),
where were clay figurines representing dancers with masks, rattles and bells hands in
the legs and Bourbon codices Tlatelolco testimonials sixteenth century chroniclers:
Sahagún, Durán, Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada and Landa (Niederberger, 1996;
Diehl, 2004). The conquerors and colonizers also brought their dances to New Spain,
transforming those dances by turning the Eagle-Knights (Caballeros Aguila ) and TigerKnights (Caballeros Tigre) into the Moors’ and Christians’, and giving birth to some
dancing ways and customs which today represent an explicit mixed tradition Africans of
the Costa Chica have partially interiorized and they actually use.
Because of that, it is possible to find different kinds of “typically Indian” dances
performed only by indigenous population97, but it can be also addressed a set of musical
representations which are traditionally (and often exclusively performed) by AfroMexicans. In this case it is very interesting noting that those dances and music, which
are considered “African”, actually have not exclusive sub-Saharan elements and they
are influenced by Antill’s African heritage (the son is an example of that) and South
96
The Festival Costeño de la Danza (15th to 17th November) is the second cultural event in
importance after the Guelaguetza of the Oaxaca City. The first one gathers the most important musical
and dancing traditions within the Oaxaca State and shows indigenous, Mestizo and African cultural
expression of local settlements. The second (also called Los lunes del cerro – “Mondays on the Hill”) is
an annual strictly indigenous cultural event that celebrates traditional dancing in costume in groups, often
gender-separated, and includes parades with indigenous walking bands, native food, and statewide
artisanal crafts (such as prehispanic-style textiles). The programming is variable and in 2013 was
performed on Mondays 22th and 29th July. Both traditions, though of having become important tourist
attractions, maintain a real cultural importance to the Oaxaca State and they allow communities to
perpetrate some traditions, which, if not expressed through an intitutional and national event, they would
be lost.
97
The most important Indian dancing traditions, not mixed with African elements, are: the Danza de
los Tejorones (the “Dance of Shabbily Dressed Men”), performed during the Carnaval and allowing
people to let their sexual instincts free; the Danza de los Tejorones Viejos (the “Dance of Shabbily
Dressed Old Men”), whose significance refers to the Passion of Christ; the Danza de las Mascaritas (the
“Dance of Little Masks”), a satire of French dances, after French invasion of Mexico of the XIX century;
the “Chareos Dance” (Danza de los Chareos), local modality of the “Moors and Chistians” about
Christian faith and its enemies (the Moors), and others.
118
America’s (as in the case of chilena )98. More specifically, dances performed within the
area are not typically African but they relate peculiar events happened throught the
history of the coast. In this sense, they are a sort of communities’ “scrapbooks”, which
maintain the memory alive and contribute developing local culture in remembrance of
some kind of imported ancestry. So while it is not possible to talk about African
dancing traditions within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca (Zavala & Ochoa Serrano, 1992), it
is allowed to say that, throughout the area, people started to express their personality
and roots thanks to the music or dancing performances that actually turned themselves
into an authoctonous way to be recognized as Afro-Mexicans.
The dances are usually performed during a festival (as the Festival de la Danza or
the Guelaguetza ) but they are also presented in occasion of festivities, local events,
family reunions. The responsibility of the event rests in a group (normally women) or in
a specific individual. In this case, it is interesting to note that normally men perform the
dances but women are in charge of the whole organization. People form a special
committee (locally called mayordomía ) which organizes the dances, and all what is
necessary to the event, as the decoration of the streets or the plaza (within black
settlements of the Costa Chica people meets up in an open area they use as local
square), the food for the visitors, and the payment for musicians or dancers. Sometimes
the entire party responsibility lies with one individual (the mayordomo ), who is looking
for increasing his reputation within the community. Dancing events within the Costa
Chica of Oaxaca are thus much more then a simple matter of fun. They embody a sort of
major social event that has also a deep sense of magic and religion. ‘…The dancer (or
98
Studies about Mexican musical tradition emerge only after 1910, a period during which the country
is re-configured and the notion of Mexican identity comes to be central in the political discourse. Within
this phase of persistent search for the same in the indigenous and Spanish cultural roots, few intellectuals
stressed the relevance of the African contribution to the national musical culture. The most relevant
scholars who dedicated some interest to African cultural tradition within Mexico were Saldivar (1936),
Aguirre Beltrán (2001), Mendoza (1956), Casanova (1986), Stevenson (1952a, 1952b, 1968). The first
one’s contribution is doubly significant to emphasize not only the importance of the African influence to
Mexican culture but specifically around music and dance performances aspects in the colonial period. His
study provides solid data about the continuous interaction of blacks and Mulattos and indigenous descent
people at the first half of the seventeenth century completely unknown. The second contributed with a
very much more ethnographic vision of musical African tradition. The third, due his escase interest about
blackness in Mexico produced a single article about folkloristic dances. The forth registered some
influences within Veracruz, excluding the Costa Chica of Oaxaca and Guerrero, traditionally
marginalized areas until mid-twentieh century; and the latter studied the African written musical
influences (musical scores) during the Colonial period (early seventeenth century), including a lot of
dances and songs of presumptive indigenous roots (like the tocotín) and African (zarabandas, cumbias,
and others). Some more contemporary authors are Ramos Smith (1979), Geijerstam (1976), Reuter
(1980), Chamorro (1984), Pérez Fernández (1986, 1987, 2003), Gutiérrez Ávila (1988), Mc Dowell
(2000), Velásquez & Vaughan (2002), and others.
119
dancers) does not perform for fun or the public: the dance is a prayer that invokes the
support of higher forces, which are considered dominating the world, so who prays (or
dances) has to show some devotion and respect to the divinity…’ (16th November 2012,
Santo Domindo Armenta interview, Chano).
The most relevant dances we can account for are the following: the “Dance of
Devils” (Danza de los Diablos), the “Dance of Little Africans” (Danza de los Negritos),
the “Petate-Bull Dance” (Danza del Toro de Petate), the “Dance of Turtle” (Danza de
la Tortuga ).
The first one is the most African in musical tradition of the Costa Chica and it takes
into account two specific elements of sub-Saharan religions: the aesthetics (the devils
cover their faces with some wood masks and horsehair-beards) and its meaning. In this
case, the devil representation embodies the spirit of African ancestors and it celebrates
their coming to the earth. The second is set in the colonial period and represents a
healing ritual from a snakebite suffered by a slave while moving from a sugar cane
plantation to another. This dance shows thus some traditional methods of medicine, by
avoiding the occidental techniques of healing and exalting the power of local sorcerers.
The third one illustrates the colonial life in the Spanish haciendas and relates the tale of
the biggest and strongest bull of Francisco Acho – a Spanish hacendero who had 24
cow ranches within the Oaxaca’s coast, being one of the most important cow owners of
the area, at that moment. In order to take his best animal to the city, he asks his 24
caporales (cowherders) for help, but it won’t be so easy. Finally, the “Dance of Turtle”
explains two elements of black culture within the Costa Chica: the nature (the turtle
represents one of the most common animal throughout the area) and the relationship the
slaves had with the Spanish. The “Dance of Turtle” represents thus the occasion for
mocking the penisulars by using a whip on the assisting public.
3.1. The Danza de los D iablos (“Devils’ Dance”)
The most known version of the Danza de los Diablos is from Collantes.
Interpretations of it have been shown oftenly during the Festival Costeño de la Danza of
Puerto Escondido and recently it was performed at the Millennium Hall in Addis Abeba,
Etiopia, on 25th May 2013. Despite its importance for African identity construction
within the area, this dance is very little studied99.
99
The participation of Afro-Mexicans to the Addis Abeba Millenium Hall was arranged by the
organization committee of the Casa Hánkili África of México City.
120
This dance is characterized by elements of diverse origins, some of them dating back
to the Colonial era, when Spanish haciendas emerged within the Pacific coast and black
slaves were employed as cowhands, farmers and domestics (García Martínez, 2009;
Motta Sánchez, 2005; Beals, 1975; Jiménez, 2006). In that context, black men and
women replaced the indigenous population of the area and, even though the wars of
Independence against the Spanish Crown had some new and positive social
consequences in term of the abolition of slavery (Hernández y Dávalos, 1985: 243-244,
297-298), such achievement was not carried out effectively and immediately, especially
within the most remote areas of the country, such as Oaxaca and Guerrero. Therefore,
even after the end of the subjugation of Indians and blacks to encomienda and slavery
regimes, they continued living in similar circumstances to those when they were being
commissioned or enslaved. As a result, black slaves started a socio-cultural process of
manteinance of African original traditions that, despite of not being possible to be
compared with the cultural action developed by the Cuban cabildos nacionales (Ortiz,
1921)100, was able to create a sort of enclave where ancient traditions, in order to
survive, started to modify their own essence. On the other side, because of both being
orally handed down and the rejection of young generations to keep perpetrating them
throughout their families’ habitus, African traditions, as the Danza de los Diablos’ first
African meaning, began to die.
Neverthless it is possible to say the sense of the dance dates back to the most
important principle of African religions: the spirit (or the energy of ancestors). By this
meaning, the image of devils refers to a sort of materialization of the shadow that, in
occasion of the traditional Mexican recurrence of the Day of the Dead, are called back
from the grave and invited to stay with their families for a while (Zavala & Ochoa
Serrano, 1992).
At the same time, as some informants argued, it is impossible to account for the exact
origin of this tradition. ‘…the “Devils’ Dance” has its origins in some kind of religious
100
In the early colonial times, the cabildos nacionales were unknown places to the Spanish. They
were used as recreational spaces in which African slaves performed their religious rituals and cultural
events. In an attempt to remain hidden from the Spanish, the cabildos de nación also represented unique
cultural spaces where images of African deities, often mixed with Catholic iconography imposed by the
Spaniards, were stored. Therefore, while some African traditions perpetrated thanks to a very effective
action of cultural defence made by part of the cabildos, those spaces allowed a necessary transculturation
and syncretism of the original religious rituals, as the Santeria and Palo Monte or Abakuá . For further
information, see Cabrera (1977, 1979, 2006).
121
representations based on the veneration of Ruja 101…our ancestors offered this dance to
the supreme divinity…[Ruja himself]…and considered it capable to free black people
from the extremely strict conditions imposed by the Spanish, here, within the Costa’
(25th October 2011, Collantes interview, Lalo).
Currently the meaning of worship to Ruja was replaced by the veneration of the
death (very traditional in Mexican culture), by imposing to the Danza de los Diablos
being performed only during the 01th and 02th November, in occasion of the Chatolic
Day of the Dead. ‘…Now it is normal dancing in the street but people don’t know the
real meaning of this dance. Especially young generations are not conscious of their
African origin and they use not to go to the tree…’ (29th October, Collantes interview,
Chalo). ‘At the time of my grandmother the dancers went to the houses, where the altars
for the dead ancestors were prepared, and they danced and ate. Then, they went back to
the streets of the village and reached the most important spot and symbol of the
community. The meeting point of all members of the settlement, and normally located
in front of the City Hall…In this place there was traditionally a big tree that, for the
slaves, represented an ancient element for the respect of ancestors and embodied the
terrenal way to return spiritually and physically to Africa: the ceiba ’102 (25th October,
Collantes interview, Lalo).
The dance is interpreted by a group of between 16 and 20 people (men) who
represent all devils, with their chief and the Minga
wife of the major Devil, mother of
all devils, or sometimes considered the mother of the Earth itself.
101
It is very difficult to confirm the existence of an African divinity called Ruja and it seems to be
much more legitimated understanding this religious figure as a sort of transliteration or an “erroneous”
translation of the pronuntiation of Orula . It would be possible because of the similarity in the
pronuntiation of both names, the ethnic origin of the divinity (it is a Bantu image of the supreme god,
creator of the earth and human being, “controller” of the universe), and the religious aspect of its meaning
(Orula is the most important god in the Santería ). If we consider the Cuban migration to Mexico being
very important, especially during 1868-1898 and 1959-1962, it is possible to argue Afro-Cuban religion
influenced the cultural heritage of the marginated population of black-Mexicans within the Oaxaca’s
coast. More information about slave trade and Cuba-Mexico immigration in Castellanos & Castellanos
(1988), Curtin (1969), Bojorquez (2001), Bennett (2009), Fernández Robaina (2001), Guerra Vilaboy
(2003), Lachatanaré (2004), and Martínez Montiel (2000, 2006).
102
In African religions, the meaning of the ceiba referes to the place where the spirits of ancestors are
and it works as the point of reference for social, cultural and religious rituals connected with the mpungos
(spirits). In the Palo Mayombe religion, for example, the ceiba is called Nkunia casa Sambi, the “treehouse of god” (Cabrera, 2006:171-218). Surprisingly the Palo Mayombe is not part of local cultural
heritage and, in general, in Mexico, it seems not representing an African element but only a dynamics of
social utility, occasionally, overlapping local Mexican cultural boundaries and assuming, depending on
individual or communitarian needs, a decisive or relative role for actors (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.,
2014b).
122
As argued by an informant, the dance shows some mixed elements, like an explicit
Sonoran influence. ‘…It is said the Devils’ Dance was created by the conjuction of
traditions of Oaxaca black population with those black slaves that, escaping from the
North of the country, arrived within the Costa Chica and were called tenangos103…The
influence of Sonora is evident both in the clothes and in the execution of the dance. The
devils are dressed in worn and torn clothes, mostly brown with fringed edges. They
wear red bandanas in various parts of the body: on the hand, the waist, the neck or the
head. All carry a wooden mask with antlers and mane hair and a beard of horsehair. The
chief of devils uses some leather “legwarmers”, while the Minga wears a woven shirt
with a shawl over her shoulders, a skirt with fringe at the waist and white lace. She
always holds a doll representing her daughter…it represents the family, the most
important value for Mexican culture and very important also for the African…’ (01th
November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
The dance is developed into two rows of devils. The chief, along with the Minga ,
dances back and forth in the space left in the middle. The steps are fast and strong.
Often they crouch and suddenly stop, turn around and crouch again. At other times, they
make some turns and rotations stomping hard on the floor, getting faster according to
the rhythm of the music produced by a harmonica, a jawbone of a cow and a teconte (a
drum with rhythmic sounds produced by the friction of a long rod with the overlying
skin).
3.2. The Danza de los Negritos (“Dance of Little Africans”)
It would be unprecise saying the Danza de los Negritos is an authoctonous dance that
was born within the Costa Chica and having some exclusive African traditional traits. It
must better be said this dance has ambiguos origins (especially about the place it has
had its first origin) but a specifically Mexican paternity. Indeed, at the moment of being
asked about the “Dance of Little Africans”, many informants shown themselves being
103
The concept of tenango is very ambiguous and it can be referred to a specific sort of indigenous
textile crafts (coming from Tenango de Doria, a village within the Hidalgo state, at the Noth-East of
Mexico City), or the meaning of the word tenango , Teotenanco(-go) or Teutenanco(-go). In Nahuatl (the
original language of Aztec population) it means “sacred walled place”, from Teotl (“divinity” or “sacred”)
and Tenamitl (“wall”). The meaning today is different and within Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica it
signifies “people that move continuously”, probably because of internal mobility blacks had within
Mexico, and especially from the North of the country to the South (Vaughn, 2004a; Cibernous, 1999).
About that fact it is interesting to note that, more then the territorial location of a “potential black
population” within Sonora, an evidence of “black human genoma” was found among the population of
this State (Silva-Zolezzi, 2009).
123
surprised, being that dance not part of their culture. ‘…Here we have the Danza de los
Diablos which represents our origins…this dance…[the “Dance of Little Africans”]…is
much more present within Veracruz and Puebla’ (11th November 2011, Santo Domingo
Armenta interview, Tive). More specifically, people relate that ‘…exists an African
tradition among local blacks which tells the story of a woman (a black one) decided to
accompany her only son from a cane field to another, probably changing his place of
work (or slave owner). During the transfer, the boy was bitten by a snake. Thus, the
mother asked for help to other slaves that were also transferring to the new plantation.
In order to save the boy they used an African traditional method of healing by trapping
the snake, dancing and calling for the intervention of some divinity….In that moment
many totonacas104 were there and they came to be so frightened they have never forgot
the practice. So now they also perform this kind of dance...but far away from here, in
Veracruz...’ (13th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Mario). Currently,
the dance is not really performed among blacks of the Costa Chica but ‘...somebody still
dances it...’ (13th November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Mario).
This kind of dance seems thus having a Mexican origin, an African traditional way of
healing (as the main topic of its ritual sense), but an almost unique indigenous
divulgation. The dance is also religiously syncretic, being the indigenous culture
imbued with Catholic elements that are represented during the dance through some
screams or invocations to the saints.
‘…The clothing of the dancers consists of black wide trousers produced with thick
textiles and edged by some brightly colored buttons that formerly were of silver. The
shirt has white long sleeves and it is combined with a decorated tie with colored scarves
crossing the front and back of the body. On their heads, they wear a crown, which is
constructed on a frame of bamboo lined brightly with colored paper, and carry a canvas
in the lowest border of the crown covering their foreheads. The crown is decorated with
glass fiber, now replaced by plastic. A red stripe of textile and a scarf around the weap
complete the costume...’ (15th November 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Neto).
The 12 dancers performing dance 24 sons in order to acheive the cure for the sick
person, being a chief and his assistant, the Maringuilla (the black woman), a chief of
braceros (“day labourer”), and eight labourers the composers of this performance.
104
Totonaca identifies an Indian ethnic group residing in the states of Veracruz, Hidalgo and Puebla,
Mexico. The term comes from Totonacapan, in Náhuatl meaning “people coming from hot land”. See the
CONAPRED and Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas web sites
(http://www.conapred.org.mx/; http://www.cdi.gob.mx/).
124
The Maringuilla is represented by a man (dressed like a woman) that has the snake in
his/her hand and who will kill the animal by ending the dance. Concluding the dance,
the tata , somebody who organizes and directs the permormance, is bitten by the snake,
but the intervention of the Maringuilla will heal him105.
3.3. The Danza del Toro de Petate (“Petate-Bull Dance”)
When we talk about invented traditions, the “Petate-Bull Dance” represents the best
example we can account for. Indeed, it does not represent an African culture expression
and it better embodies a clear folkloristic creation, produced and interiorized by part of
blacks within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca. In this way, it represents an adquired symbolic
universe that currently contributes to the development of a sort of set of norms, which
contributes to the unity of communities, empathic sense of membership, and
cooperation.
The origin of the Danza del Toro de Petate (the “Petate-Bull Dance”) is very recent
but it is one of the most known dances within the coast.
Its first representation took place in 1911 when the President Francisco Madero
visited the community of San Juan Bautista lo de Soto106. Local people, concerned for
giving a warm welcome to him, decided to perform a dance that could be characteristic
for the region. So the people made an assembly and ‘…Doña Chucha Añorve proposed
a dance relating to the history of the land, the history of Don Pancho…I do not know the
exact moment but, many years ago, the Costa Chica of Oaxaca belonged to a single
owner, a Spanish who lived in the city of Oaxaca called Francisco Acho. It is said he
owned 24 cattle ranches and had a Spanish caporal in each of them…each caporal was
recognized by the name of the ranch, so they were called the caporal of “Rancho
Alegre”, the “Blessed Corporal”, the “Corporal Rancho Grande” and so on… At that
time, a revolt happened among Indians and Mestizos of the area, so Don Pancho started
losing many cattles. Therefore, he moved to the “Rancho del Santísimo”, where his
most trusted caporal was also living. When he arrived, he was surprised there were no
more cattles but only a single bull, a very strong stallion, which escaped from ten
105
It is interesting that, also among Indians, the person who comes to be bitten by the snake is called
tata that originally, especially in Afro-descent diasporic religions, means “dad”. The Palo and the
Santería represent, again, the most relevant example in African religious rituals. By the practicants of
those religions, the tata is also understood as a “godfather”, the priest and a level achived by magic (tata
nganga , the “priest of the altar” or “the ritual”). In Palo Mayombe , the nganga is both, the ritual itself and
the prenda , the “place where the ritual is made”.
106
The information refers to the declaration of an informant, but its truthfulness is not proved.
125
farmers who insisted on being the owners…it could be seen because the bull had the
evidences of their iron-brands. Furious, Don Pancho accused the farmers of the region
stealing his cattles, and in order to demand them he wanted to take the bull to the
court…but it was too rough for him, so he asked his 24 caporals for help’ (20th
September 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview, Chalo)107.
The story inspired the dance for President Madero who ‘…also was very pleased and
went to the podium to shake hands with all the dancers. He also said they should have to
continue performing the dance and promised them sending a royalty. With the hope of
receiving the royalty of the President, people kept dancing it…and they danced it for so
long it turned itself into a tradition…’ (20th September 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de
Soto interview, Chalo).
The costumes used for the dance consist of bermudas and a shiny colored shirt at the
Spanish style. The head of the caporals uses a binza (a leather handcraft used as a whip),
“legwarmers” and a hat that marks his hierarchy. They also carry a rope sometimes used
as a loop pretending to grab the bull.
The rest of the dancers carry a ribbon across the chest with a bow at the crossing.
The hats are adorned with bright textiles and they have four mirrors, imitating the
Spanish zarco (a light blue color). The caporals use a fictitious machete hanging from
their back.
The Don Pancho image is represented by a white skinned-mask, with an aquiline
nose and white beard. Pople also represent his wife, Maria Domínguez, known as the
Minga , whose mask is also white skinned, red haired and having blue eyes. Her dress
consists of a long skirt and brightly colored blouse, and she holds a doll wrapped in a
shawl, which represents his daughter. The bull is constructed of reeds covered by a palm
tree roll108.
Four wind instruments usually make the interpretation of the music: two trumpets
and two saxophones, accompanied by a drum setting the rhythm and, when the caporal
faces the bull, it rumbles alone, adding suspense and interest to the dance.
Although the number of dancers can vary, usually they are between 14 and 20,
including the head of the caporals, the Minga and the bull. During the dance the chief of
107
It is uncertain the facts went exactly this way but it is interesting to understand the cultural African
phenomenon within the area as a kind of oral tramandation. In this way the “Petate-Bull Dance”
represents a sort of invention of tradition that actually offers to people a set of stories creating a heritage
background capable to unify the values of communities and create a certain kind of “historic memory”
within the area.
108
See note n.87.
126
the caporals and Don Pancho dance with the Minga (usually interpreted by a man),
while all caporals are disposed into two rows or in circle, dancing alternately. The bull
dances into the center and while dancing each caporal recits some verses alluding to the
celebration or the personalities present at the party. Then they attack the bull, which
responds roughtly. The dance ends with the domination of the bull by part of the
caporals.
3.4. The Danza de la Tortuga (“Dance of Turtle”)
Within Mexico, the “Dance of Turtle” (according to our informants) seems to be
recurrent, being it part of traditions of South-West and East coasts of Mexico. Within
the Oaxaca State, it is possible to account for different versions of that. Neverthless, in
general it is posible to explain some kind of generalized version of it (probably the most
common one, as argued by our informants) that corresponds to the “Dance of Turtle”
performed within the Pinotepa Nacional townships, as El Ciruelo and Santo Domingo
Armenta.
The Danza de la Tortuga is performed with the objective of mocking the Spanish
and remembers the exploitation made during the Colony, showing the control and
“discipline” imposed by the conqueror on black people. In order to represent the
oppression ‘…we use the whip, taken by the Pancho, the caporal (or foreman) that
represses his own “race-mates” just after he gained the confidence of his owner. His
wife, the Minga is happy about that and, because of her “flirty” bahaviour she comes to
be reprimanded by part of the Pancho himself who bit her and all those who “want”
with her…’ (15th September 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Lucio). ‘…The
Minga also offers his daughter to the visitors and when somebody refuses her, the
Minga tell the Pancho and he bits the person who didn’t want, by imposing a
punishment which consist in dancing with the Minga or, if the person doesn’t want to
dance, he/she has to pay something to the Pancho (a personal object or money). All
contributions are used to buy some alcoholic drink for the dancers, finishing the
performance...’ (15th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
The turtle dances around the other characters pretending spawning. The dancer who
interprets the turtle lays some real turtle eggs on the floor and the Pancho offers some of
them to an important personality (if present) who assists to the celebration.
The costumes used are the following: the man covers his head with two bandanas
putting on them a mask and a hat, a shirt and pants, broken and patched, shoeing
127
huaraches109; the women, more then the bandanas and the mask, wears a veil on her
head, a long and flowery dress covered with a black lace shawl, also shoeing huaraches.
The Pancho wears leather “legwarmers” over his trousers, a cow horn, a binza in his
hand, and boots with spurs. The Minga is the only one (among women) who wears a
wig, a gown and a shawl crossed over her chest. In her arms, she carries a doll
representing her daughter, and wears socks and slippers. The dancer who performs the
turtle carries a wooden shell covered with some textile.
Fourteen men are dancing, seven of them disguised as women, but all the dancers,
including the Pancho, the Minga and the turtle are characters played by men.
The dance consists of seven sounds that do not vary much in music, but in steps. The
music is played by a brass band. Sometimes the choreography is improvised, as the
steps of the music.
4. Some Kind of African Wedding?
Because of the mestizaje, it is really difficult to say if African population of Costa
Chica has any kind of typically African wedding traditions, based on some specific
ethnic ancestral use. Conversely, it is licit to affirm marriage represents an element of
interrelationship that impulses cohesion, cooperation and sense of belonging for settlers
(Baumann, 1975; Vansina, 1984; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990). In this sense, the AfroMexican wedding can be considered an element of black traditions that allows black
population to offer some kind of continuity to their, maybe unconscious but present,
African roots.
Within the Afro-Mexican communities of the Costa Chica, it is possible to highlight
two kinds of marriage, each of which is characterized by its motives and embodiments.
The first one corresponds to what Aguirre Beltran defined queridato, ‘an alternative
way of marriage representing a polygynous reinterpretation of a pattern of a society that
formally approves only monogamy’ (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 102)110. The second refers
to the ideal marriage, produced through a civil and/or religious ceremony, resulting by
a rapto (a formal way to kidnap a girl and, after sex, reconcile relations between the
families), and depending on the escape or the death of a partner (Díaz Pérez, 2003).
109
The huaraches are handmade sandals, very common within the coast. They are completely made
with leather, oftenly covered with cow hair, and with a rubber sole.
110
«una forma alternativa de matrimonio...[que representa la]...reinterpretación de un patrón
poligínico en una sociedad que, formalmente, da sólo sanción aprobatoria a la monogamia».
128
I
The queridato represents the first African tradition establishing some kind of ingroup social connection, within the Costa Chica’s communities, and responds to a
cultural practice that involves producing a network of trust between a married man and
a widow, a single mother or divorced, who is not a virgin and man must maintain, by
offering money or other material goods. By contrast, the official wife must be tolerant
about the queridas and she can only pretend “the others” live in a different village or
area. Instead, the children of the wife and the querida can live in the house of their
father and work with him. In this way, social relationships perpetrate among the
communities and permit creating a major number of connections between the villages.
A social dynamic that, while seems to be a sort of “unfair” way of behavior that
prejudices women in their social status, it actually helps female gender acquiring a
better position within the settlements. The queridas develop an important social role, by
maintaining the relationships for work, impulsing the education for the children (when
they do not decide to live in the adquired-mother’s house), and facilitating the
opportunity to perpetrate cultural traditions. As a consequence, the querida is not
socially discriminated and, by contrast, she represents a sort of social bond between the
official marriage and a relationship formally recognized, locally institutionalized, and
internalized by members of communities as a socio-cultural habitus.
The main importance for the settlements of having such familiar tradition is twofold.
Having some women, for a man, permit to avoid or reduce the loss of community’s
members (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989). It eventually would suppose a lack of “work force”
within the settlements and a potential increasement of poverty throughout the area. By
contrast, the presence of queridas comes to be considered necessary for the mantaneince
of a certain demographyc pattern, which looks like a protection for both community
members and their behavior. In this way, ‘…women are not offended by the fact men
are allowed to have sexual relationships with other women are not their wifes…we [the
women]…also have others but, because it is not possible for us to see somebody else,
we go outside, to other villages…’(13th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Lucha).
Queridas are thus not only the women some men pretend to have within a specific
village. They represent a plural connection between the settlements and they take part
into a mutual dynamic of cooperation. In the case of a widow, the man allows her to
obtain some money, food or any other kind of thinks they can be usefull for her daily
life, like pots, dishes, vegetables, rice, and beans. If the girl is not married and she is at
129
least 14 years old, the potential relationship with a man who has already a family (and a
numbers of sons and doughters as bigger as possible) would guarantee her the
opportunity to have a legacy and to be accepted into the community as a “proper”
woman. In this case, the queridato seems to be a sort of necessary ritual of “social
passage” aimed at actually helping women to obtain a socially recognized and
appreciated status within the area.
In second instance, the querida actually has contact not only with a man, but with all
those men are part of other villages and she consider “good for her”. In this sense, we
can say women ‘…have a certain level of power to obtain the favor by part of the
masculine gender, without loosing their position within the society they are part
of…and they also have the capacity of guarantee the continuity of local African sociocultural traditions…’ (19th November, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). ‘We are the only
ones doing things for the manteneance of traditions. The wifes are gelous and say we do
nothing but it is not true…we only maintain the relationship between people and make
our village having contact with others…’ (19th November, El Ciruelo interview, María).
As a result, while the queridato offers to Afro-descent settlers of the area the
opportunity to increase the potential work in the field (children will be employed as
workers), assuring some incomes for daily life, such dynamic creates a sort of social
network that allows villages being in contact and establishes a specific way of local
interconnection. This fact will help to avoid loosing their socio-cultural potential and
contribute to better community cooperation and sense of belonging.
II
For what concerns to the matrimonio ideal, it is produced by the rapto de la mujer
(“the kidnap of the girl”) and the huida (“the escape”).
The rapto de la mujer is constituted as an “unofficial legal arrangement” theatrically
prepared and made up by two families. One represents the family of the man who
decides to kidnap the woman. The other consists of the family of the potential bride
(Gutiérrez Ávila, 1997).
A young man meets some friends who will help him organizing the “attack” and
kidnapping the girl, but previously he would contact with his padrino espiritual
(“Godfather”) who will eventually “fix” the conflict with the family of the bride, at the
130
moment of taking her to the mountain (Díaz Pérez, 2003)111. Some friends, carrying
some horses and being armed by pistols and machetes, will accompany the boy, and
wait the right moment to attack the girl, who will be walking to the river with her
friends. When the girl is alone, they “pretend” attacking her (that usually pretends to
protect herself and screams, asking for help), and the boy gets her on his horse and rides
to the milpa 112. Meanwhile the bride’s friends “try” to impede the rapto, but the
attendants of the groom stop them.
Now, if the rapto is organized, the boy and girl will return to the village and,
respectively they will say to their families me la robé (“I took her”), in the case of the
man, and me jullí (“I escaped”), concerning to the girl. The couple must then to pass the
night togheter and, only at dawn, the families involved into the dynamic fire some
rockets with the meaning of a new “not any more virgin status” for the bride. Only then,
the community considers the rapto wasn’t real and the relationship between the groom
and the bride becomes socially institutionalized and respected. Finally, if during their
“first night” the bride refuses to have sexual relationships, the groom will have the
opportunity to “return” her to the father’s house.
By contrast, if the rapto is real and the woman declares of having been forced to sex,
the offence will be “repaired” by a standard marriage, based on traditional rituals. If the
girl will refuse that, her family will try to impulse a positive answer, by promising the
opportunity for her to be, in the future, a querida . Moreover, her parents could demand
for defloration and the boy would offer to her all those “privilegies” the queridato
relationship guarantees. If after the “theatrical rapto” the girl was agree with, she
decides to not marry her pretender, the penalty she would pay will correspond to the
loss of her social status within the community, which means to be refused by others
potential grooms or as a querida . If, on the contrary, the organized rapto will finally not
be carried out, the chosen girl will conserve her social position and respect, and she will
have new opportunities to get married. Neverthless, the potential bride’s family could
111
African diasporic traditions attribute a central role to the significance of the mountain (el monte),
which is considered to be able to heal and protect people from bad spirits and the blanquitos (literally “the
little white men”). The monte represents togheter with the image of the ceiba the most important element
of diasporic African culture and religion and, if respected, it releases a special magical energy thanks to
which black people has the power to act and obtain what they are looking for. This phenonon will be the
base for all those kinds of African rituals that work throught the intercession of what the Palo Mayombe ,
Briyumba or Kymbisa define mpungos (spirits), or are essential for the realization of voodoo , obeah ,
Cuban santería or candoblé (Brazilian santería ) celebrations.
112
It is interesting the fact that, as an informat told us, ‘taking the women to the mountain…is just a
say… we go nearby, as in the corn field (the milpa ) or somewhere else not to far away from the village’
(02th April 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Neto).
131
demand the groom’s with the justificaction of a “fake attempt of kidnapping”. The
pretender or his family will thus pay a fine that will correspond to the degree of shame
the girl would say he imposed on her honor. ‘…I had to pay 300,00 pesos…but it was
because she did not want…she told me we were togheter, but then….in the milpa …she
says no!...so I didn’t want her anymore…it is right no?...and now I paied’ (02th April
2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Neto)113. Such amount of money, that is
already hight for the area, can be even more increased to a maximum of 5,000.00 pesos
(almost 17 months of a house rent in Santo Domingo Armenta).
By contrast, when the rapto is realized correctly, the couple has to ask for the
wedding permission at both the bride and the groom’s families. This action is carried
out by a third person, respected, known and very special for the family of the groom,
called portador (the “bearer”), whose importance depends exclusively on personal
motives, which can be a friendship or any other kind of particular emotional
attachment114. The portador goes to the bride’s family house and literally recites a
formula. ‘The young boy…Juan…[for example]…kidnapped your doughter and at the
presence of God and after God they…[the parents of the groom]...complain and plead
me to ask you your permission; indeed he has kidnapped your daughter and asks for
marry her and having good friendships…[within the village]’ (02th April 2012, Llano
Grande Tapextla interview, Yuyo). The tradition wants the father of the girl, always,
complaining about that, and, always, accepting the compromise with the boy.
Then come two more kinds of marriage: the civil and religious, where the first is
celebrated few days before the second, and the latter come to be really important for the
couple and the community. Some days after the religious wedding, the family of the
groom pays his unformal fine by offering a stewed turkey to the bride’s parents and asks
for the entregamiento ceremony115. The father of the girl or somebody important in the
family normally accepts, and the dialogue between the groom and the father starts:
113
300.00 Mexican pesos (M.N.) correspond to about 20.00 Euro but, within the Costa Chica of
Oaxaca, it represents the price for renting an apartment.
114
Shapera (1941: 60) explains the groom is never supposed to “look for” (nunca tiene que buscar )
the bride. Only his parents of a “third actor” can do that. The portador contacts with the father of the
bride and asks for a water pumpking. When the father accedes to give it to the portador , the pact is
established, so they boy and girl can be married.
115
The concept of entregamiento comes from the verb entregar (“to give something to somebody”)
and it refers to the last phase of the wedding between a couple resulting by a “theatral rapto ”. The
pretendant takes the stewed turkey and dialogates with the father of the girl who responds depending on
the claims of the groom.
132
The bearer:
The father (or “the receiver”):
Licencia vengo pidiendo,
Señor Julano de Tal:
licencia pide María,
cuánto bueno a usté acompaño
licencia vengo pidiendo,
no es imposible desechar
para el justo de este día.
las apariencias del cielo.
Licencia vengo pidiendo
Por que son personas buenas
al dueño de este aposento;
y tienen razón que dar.
después que me lo haigan dado
Pase usté, belloso hermoso,
pasaré a vuestras presencias.
yo le daré su lugar.
The bearer:
The father (or “the receiver”):
Amado y compadre mío,
Los novios que usté me entriega
ay compadre mía:
los recibí con infancia
mire que grande hermosura
y los doy por recebidos
has recebido los novios:
por que ma ha salido triunfante.
en nombre del Salvador
Recibo las almas puras,
hoy se los vengo a entriegar.
lavadas de todas manchas
Alumbró en sus resplandor
y con alabanzas doy
una estrella matutina,
al padrino muchas gracias.
cantó el gallo en la pasión,
Recibo su voluntad
que el niño nación de Belém;
de sus manos tantos hechos;
estas palabras divinas
siempre las personas buenas
dan asunto al parabién.
hacen sus cosas al derecho.
Novios quedan entriegados
Recibí su voluntad y toda
en el portal de Belém.
su gallardía;
que quede este entriegamento
asuntado al de María.
The bearer:
The father (or “the receiver”):
Aquí le entriego esta flor;
Tomo la flor en la mano
Quien se la da se la ofrece
el aposento en el altar;
Y el dolor que ella nace
otro día por la mañana
Que es conforme usté merece.
le mandaré a colocar.
Que sabor tan singual recibe
133
el alma dichosa,
En el centro de las flores
Siempre las almas gloriosas,
la flor está muy florida,
Aquí le entriego esta flor.
que el Señor la ha escogido
para usté que la merece;
quien se la da se la ofrece116.
Finally, the socio-cultural importance of the marriage (the first phase, as the rapto, or
the “official” ritual) is twofold.
Because of the complexity and importance the wedding has within the area (the rapto
is the most common way of the negradita ’s interfamiliar relationships117) this tradition
goes beyond an implicit rule of acceptance or rejection of lineage. If carried out, it will
produce a sort of brotherhood perpetrated in the future within the families involved in
the act. In this sense, it also represents a kind of conservation of ancestral traditions that
contribute to respect a specific cultural mechanism that positively impulses the social
balance Afro-Mexican communities of the area seem to need to perpetrate and maintain
their “ethnic” presence throughout the area.
Secondly, the “instrumental” use of women supposes the in-gender relation as an
imprescindible element for the definition of local African identity. A local use of
gender, based on what we chose to define to be the main result of a specific sociocultural dicothomy between matriarchy (a sort of power theoretically gained by the
women within their community but empirically granted by the men) and matrilinage. In
this sense, the wedding and the in-gender relationships represent some concrete
elements for the definition of Afro-Mexican cultural identity, and embody both the
relationship among black Mexicans of the Costa Chica and a very special way to define
themselves as a national minority118.
116
The core argument of the formula is presenting the offering (the turkey), by explaining the
importance of the present for the wedding. The “bearer” also talks about the qualities of the groom, as a
good person, and he bless the marriage through the intercession of the Virgin Mary and God. It is
interesting to notice that even though Afro-Mexicans need to start the wedding process through an
African tradition, as the rapto , they consider the ritual ready only after a Catholic consecration, which
finally allows the marriage being considered socially valid. The formulas can change depending on the
priest who celebrate the religious act (he, normally, gives some words to tell to the bride’s family) and his
specific inclination for the ritual. The text we mentioned is taken from Aguirre Beltrán (1989: 156-157).
117
Aguirre Beltrán (1989) defines negradita the black population of Costa Chica of Oaxaca,
contrasting with the definition of blanquitos, somebody who, because of a ‘…too much explicit white
ancestry and a lax connection with black people and culture,…do not have the opportunity to be
considered Afro-Mexican…’ (13th April Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Beto).
118
Chapter IV will be in charge to present and analyze the topic.
134
5. The Human Being
The relationship Afro-Mexicans of the Costa Chica have with the meaning of human
being takes place thanks to a dycotomous way of understanding life. On the one hand,
the problem of defining body corresponds to what, occidentally speaking, we consider a
sort of “soul container” that, once dead, frees the spirit of the person and disappears. In
this sense, the person never dies, and integrates the memory of ancestors into a sociocultural dynamic where, the idea of spirit is always present. On the other, the human
being assumes the meaning of an individual space, a reflection of some good or bad
behavior (which individuals choose to be identified with), and allows actors
conditioning the socio-cultural environment they are part of. The person represents thus
a micro-symbolic universe, characterized by norms and life parameters, and constituting
the set of all those elements some sociologists defined “word of life” (Parsons & Shils,
1959; Parsons, Shils, Naegele & Pitts, 1961; Parsons, 1968). What it means is that, in
order to be integrated with the socio-cultural environment the human being is physically
part of, it has to interiorize certain patterns of behavior that, if respected, would help the
person in his/her life; if not, they would produce the presence of some bad spirits that
potentially harm him or her.
Analizyng the idea of “human being” among Afro-Mexicans means thus considering
not only the importance of the concept as a specific local African tradition. We also
have to understand the composition of the human being itself (by analizing how it is
constituted and which are the functions each part of it develops during its life time), and
how traditional methods of protection from bad energies work, especially referring to
social relations, and the peculiar way people use their spirit.
In the first instance, to understand the individual and its function within the world of
Costa Chica’s black Mexicans, we have to take into account two more elements that are
not part of the, clearly Catholic, standard Mexican vision of the human being. On the
contrary, they represent a twofold exclusive caractheristic of local African-origin
population, sometimes mixed with a typically Indian worldview: the tono (or nagual)119,
the result of a relation of dependence between the individual and an animal in charge of
119
The meaning of tono corresponds literally to “tone”, but in the socio-cultural conception we are
referring to, it represents a sort of energy that caractherizes the person and qualifies its own spiritual
elements, by introducing its body into a specific social and cultural environment connected with the
nature surrounding it.
135
both protect and guide him toward a common destiny (Foster, 1944, 1945)120, and the
shadow, the core element for defining the essence of the person.
Secondly, it would be central analyzing some methods for healing from deseases and
providing a certain level of phycal and spiritual wellness.
5.1. The “Tono”
The tono, or tonal, as argued by Kaplan (1956), is connected with the use of
horoscopes (from ancient Aztec calenders), and it «… contributes to determine the fate
or fortune of each individual…from tonal-amatl» (Kaplan, 1956: 363). But, later,
«…sometime between 1650 and the mid-nineteenth century, the term tonal had become
fixed to cover the intimately linked animal companion» (Kaplan, 1956: 363), being
reported «originally referring to a transforming witch…[naualli means “transforming
witch” in Nahuatl]…according to Sahagun» (Kaplan, 1956: 363; Beals, 1945; De la
Fuente, 1949; Parsons, 1936).
The tono corresponds to an animal that, at the moment of the birth, is established by
the brujo (“sorcerer”) or the curandero (“witch-doctor”) depending on some
characteristics only the brujo or the curandero can recognize121, and corresponds to an
animal living within the area where the person also live. In this way, ‘…if the person
needs some herbs for the healing of a desease, it is necessary to look for them only
within the area that corresponds to the animal representing the nagual of the
person…On the contrary, the individual easily dies…’ (05th January 2012, San Juan
Bautista lo de Soto interview, Licha).
Therefore, if a person believes the tono exists, that person has a tono, or an animal
offering him or her some protection. This fact supposes all those positive and negative
effects produced by the death, for example, of the nagual, or the attack a nagual can
make against another animal. In the first case, if a nagual is killed, the person connected
120
The reference to an animal, which protects and guides us through the right path, is not new in
Mexico. Indeed, among ancient Aztecs, the nagual was referred to a mystical animal that, depending on
its natural characteristics, corresponded to our way of being. Specifically about ancient Indian traditions
and legends, see Foster (1945, 1950).
121
Such dynamic can generate many problems at the moment of birth because the mother usually
prefers to be attended by somebody within her community. Somebody who ‘…can recognize the
nagual…if you don’t know which animal corresponds to your son or daughter, if he or she gets sick, you
do not know which kind of herb you should use to heal him or her…and they might die…’ (05th January
2012, Santa María Cortijos interview, Meya). Not casually, the interview was taken within Cortijos,
where black and indigenous populations live togheter and where the cultural and racial mixing are the
most visible within the area. A curiosity about nagual is that, though to the coexistence of both races
within the area, Indians consider blacks being not good persons and, because of that, affirm they (blacks)
are represented (referring to the nagual) exclusively by horrible animals, as alligators.
136
with it can suffer any kind of desease, and she can be healed only by applying the skin
of the animal on the skin of the person. In the second, if a nagual kills another tono (or
nagual), the first one only demonstrates to protect its “associated individual”122. By
contrast ‘…if a person does not believe the tono exists, she doesn’t have one…’ (05th
January 2012, Santa María Cortijos interview, Meya)123.
In this way, the tono comes to be an element of relative importance that justifies the
Negro of the Costa Chica considering the animal (represented by the nagual) in a
mystical manner, only aimed at communicating with him and other naguales, and
transforming his own essence at will124. So, while the indigenous population avoid
domesticated animal for the election of nagual (they consider them not having the
qualities required for protection, as in the case of jaguar, tigrillo, snake and others),
‘…Negroes − because of having served traditionally as cowhands for Spanish, and later,
in Euro-Mestizo cattle ranches − also include cows and bulls into the possibility of
tonal, and use their animal form for evil intents…’ (05th January, 2012 Santa María
Cortijos interview, Xóchitl125).
As a resume of such dynamic, the traditional Afro-Mexican conception of tonal
demonstrates an important fact. Although Afro-Mexicans and Indians both inhabit the
region, the first know almost nothing of the concept of tonal as actually held by Indians,
especially by the Mixtecs. So, while refusing the original concepts of nagualism and
tonalism, they also avoid an historical memory which wants blacks of the Costa Chica
of Oaxaca culture created by Europeans, Indians and Africans, and consider the nagual
an unknown traditional root. What it means is considering the use of tono, tonal or
nagual being a sort of invention of tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983; Vásquez &
Wetzel, 2009) that does not define the current use of internalized behaviours, values,
norms or modus vivendi of black minority within the area. It embodies an implicit
symbolic universe reproducing a certain kind of social conduct never stopped feeding
for the past, continuing feeding for the present and easily coming to be modified to
adapt itself to some very practical daily needs (Hobsbawm, 1983).
122
The man associated with a specific nagual is called hombre-tono (“a tono man”); his associated
animal is an animal-tono (“a tono animal”). Both are different beings: the first one normally has a mark
on the body (as a peculiarly-shaped mole); the second is probably six-toed.
123
Some examples of nagual for Afro-Mexicans within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca are the jaguar, the
deer, any kind of bird, snakes, the alligator, the gato del monte (Nort American lynx), the tigrillo
(“spotted cat”).
124
This activity is oftenly defined as wichtcraft (brujería ).
125
Interview to Indian woman.
137
5.2. The “Sombra ”
The shadow represents the most untangible element Afro-Mexicans consider to be
necessary for defining man.
The concept of sombra (“shadow”) was introduced by African-descent slaves, during
the Spanish colony, and it seems to be not the exact transposition of its original African
meaning, but it represents the sense Christians missionaries, being uncapable to define it
differently, imposed to the concept of African-soul (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 178),
especially referring to catholic hagiography (Field, 1937: 92)126. In this sense, the
literature about the shadow among some African populations is very clear in
considering the sombra really relevant in the daily life of black settlers. It represents a
vision of the shadow that can be interpreted as a sort of human energy that allows
people live after death. This is possible thanks to that part of the human being like a
mortal body and an inmortal soul, which comes to be identified as the breath of a person
(Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 177-184). From here the conviction a body, left by his soul,
cannot project on the ground the shadow produced by the body itself.
By the vision Afro-Mexicans have about the topic, the unique option a man has to
loose temporarily its shadow without dying is while sleeping. In this case, because of
the risk the shadow has of not having enough time to came back to the body, the person
must not be aroused too quikly (Field, 1937; Junod, 1936; Schapera, 1941).
Despite the invisibility of the shadow, it is considered body-shaped and having a
very thin connection with the body itself. Meaning that, depending on what happens to
the shadow, the body can be positively or negatively affected, as when the sombra goes
around during the dreams looking for something interesting for the person, or when it is
lost.
Both are very common and loosing the shadow depends on specific reasons. Indeed,
being similar to the soul but essentially distant from it in form (soul has not) and
functions (it defines the human being but it does not provoque directly the death of the
person if left), the shadow is considered a sort of “breath” that easily could “fall”
depending on two motives. The kind of dreams we have, as being attacked by an enemy
(dead or alive) or his shadow, being then uncapable to return into the person (this will
provoque the death of the person); or loosing the way back to the body.
126
The reference is to the Ga Bible, where Ga is an ethny coming from West Africa, specifically from
Togo and Ghana. Probably it would also refer to the Ehtiopian Bible, whose religious reference is
explicitely Christian, with exception for the New Testament, replaced by an Ethiopian version of it. This
kind of Bible is also very used by Rastas, in Central America and the Caribbean. See Barnet (2005).
138
In second instance, if a person is sleeping and she wakes up too quickly, the sombra
that, while the person is asleep, “goes around”, has not enough time to come back to the
body, so it’s left, causing what people call the espanto de sueño (“being afraid of a
dream”). So the person gets sick. In this case, the witch-doctor starts to look for the
sombra and he takes it back. If it is not possible, the person easily dies. This activity is
normally hard to make because ‘…the shadow is very coward and it is not easy to
convince to come back…maybe it doesn’t want the person gets angry with her…so the
witch-doctor has to call her nicely, through a magical calling [the llamamiento mágico]
that infuses enought courage to enter the body previously left…’ (14th February 2012,
Santiago Tapextla interview, Beto). ‘…The witch-doctor calls the name of the person
saying the body is a warm and protective site where it can stay without risks of being
cought or killed. The shadow, if convinced, comes back…Something the witch-doctor
says can be “come here…María [for example], come here to my hearth,…don’t be
coward, the place is warm and you will be fine”…’ (14th February 2012, Santiago
Tapextla interview, Beto).
On the other hand, if a person falls down, for example nearby a river, the shadow can
also fall, so the person comes to be negatively affected from what Afro-Mexicans call
espanto de río (“being afraid of the river”). In this case, the witch-doctor procedes to
call the shadow back and the person comes to be cured.
By contrast, if the shadow is heavy (it is the sombra pesada desease) it is better to
take it back as quick as possible, because ‘…somebody having a heavy shadow is very
dangerous…if it goes around it can harm somebody…the wife or the housband of a
person with a heavy shadow can provoque your death…if this person walks around the
village nor dogs bark to her…If you don’t die but you can’t protect yourself from a bad
person, it means that bad person has stepped on your shadow (te ha pisado la
sombra )…’ (21th February 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Cleto). In this case,
the reference to the African root seems to be very explicit, being the idea of taking back
as quick as posible a heavy shadow dates back to African-origin religions, especially
referring to Little Antills’.
For example, in the case of Obeha , especially for what concerns the “duppy”, the
sourcerer uses a heavy soul or shadow for harming; in Palo Mayombe a black mpungo
(spirit) allows the palero (the Palo Mayombe priest) to harm people; in Voodoo, it
139
creates zombies; in the Santería it permits to obtain some “bad favor” from the
orichas127.
It is thus very important to distinguish between the concepts of “taking back” and
“lifting up” the shadow.
In the first case we refer to the action of catching the spirit of a person (alive) and
establishing a sort of balance between the individual and he’s energy.
In the second, the problem is more complex and it can be seen in two ways.
On one hand, “lifting up” the shadow means calling the spirit of a dead person and
using it for some religious practices. The name of this practice, in Spanish, would
correspond to the local, but also Cuban expression (especially used during the Palo
Mayombe rituals, as the llamdo del muerto – “the calling of the death”), dejar montarse
por los espíritus (“to let the spirits mounted on somebody”).
On the other, it is also possible to “lift up” the shadow of a dead person during he’s
funeral. In the case a person dies far away from her village, people collect some soil
material from a symbolic place where she died (the soil contains the shadow) and takes
it to the village in order to bury it along with the cross to be rising in a second funeral.
This action is called levantar la sombra del muerto128 (“lifting up the shadow”) .
Finally, it is possible to loose the shadow when, moving from a place to another, a
person does not call it. This surely causes many problems during the travel, including
death. This practice will calm the bad spirits and the travel will be safe129.
5.3. Traditional Medicine
If we talk about traditional medicine among Afro-Mexican population, we should
include a very special way to understand the etiology of local deseases and the most
appropriate remedies to them.
More specifically, the most part of physical problems within Costa Chica’s Africanorigin settlements are caused by the loss of the shadow (something that, as we saw,
seems not being under control of individuals and depends on daily events), or by a bad
behavior.
127
More details in García Franco (1994), Jackman (1998), Newall (1978) Cabrera (1954, 1977, 1979),
Ortiz (1906, 1916), Volpato (2014b), Lester (1972), Mosley (1989), Cannon (1942), Fernández Olmos &
Paravisini-Gilbert(1997).
128
Sometimes, people say, it is also possible to cure the person, by avoiding death. It is through the
intervention of a Chatolic priest who will read completely the four Gospels of the New Testament in
presence of the sick or dead person. Once the reading is finished, the individual will be cured or safe.
129
Nobody, among our informats, could offer an exhaustive explication about what it should be done
to call the shadow back before living any settlemet the person belongs to.
140
The most common and the best socially considered way curing deseases or any other
kind of physical, social or “spiritual” problems is the magic. In this case, it is very
interesting that asking for “traditional medicine” or hechicería among Africans, they not
consider themselves sorcerers and they better believe ‘…blacks are not brujos…brujos
are Indians…’ (22th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
Despite that, it is possible to account for a few “magical remedies”, each of them
achievable through a special sequence of herbs frecuently mixed up with any kind of
Chatolic prayers. Such combitation varies depending on the desease we want to cure: if
it concerns to the loss of the sombra or the tonal. In the first case we can account for six
sicknesses, each one has it own motive and possible cure; in the second, the process will
be much more “easier” and it will suppose looking for the nagual (the animal connected
with the person), cure (if injuried) or kill it.
5.4. Sickness Depending on the Loss of the Shadow
I. The “bad air” desease (mal de aire or aire tirado): it can be caused by a sorcerer
and it is manifested in severe physical pains. The witch-doctor can heal the person by
praying and rubbing chicken eggs on the affected area by adding fire and some blood of
a black chicken previously sacrificed. Sometimes the ritual is different, as in the case
the sourcerer decides not using a flying animal (as a chicken or a little hawk) but a goat,
a snake, or others130. The selection of the animal will depend on sourcerer’s opinion
about which one would be the best for the ritual. The animal used during for the
sacrifice can thus change everytime. The process of healing takes few days and the
witch-doctor prays or recites some “formulas”, while rubbing. During the last section,
the witch-doctor applies the fire and the blood on the hurting part of the body and recits
a local version of the prayer to the Virgin of Montserratt:
“Esta oración…tiene tantas virtudes que en la casa en donde se halle no se verá cosa
mala ni serán perseguidos por la justicia…es contra la cosa mala y la persona que la
traiga consigo no morirá sin confesión ni sin recibir lo Santos Sacramentos y se librará
de muerte súpita o de rayo. ¡Ah! Son muchas las virtudes de esta oración. Es probada
por la Santa Sede y rezando una salve diaria a María Santísima lo acompañará en su
130
Such practice is very common within magic African religions, as we privioulsy suggested referring
to Obeah, Palo and Voodoo . Especially in the case of Palo the blood must be of a winged-animal or a
goat’s; in Obeah should be from a black chicken; in Voodoo it can came from different kinds of animals,
including which we mentioned.
141
muerte, recibirá su alma en los brazos, tendrá aviso cuatro días antes de morir, por los
ángeles, santos y serafines para que se disponga”131.
Or a second version:
“…humildemente rendido te ofrezco en esta oración, a impulsos de mi
gratitud…Que para mí, sean vuestras luces fomento de virtudes y extirpación de
vicios…halle por ellas en las tribulaciones consuelo, en los peligros amparo, en las
tentaciones victoria y remedios en todos los males…”132.
The fact people use this prayer for healing from deseases, by mixing it with
traditional African methods of healing, means at least two thinks. Firstly, AfroMexicans of the area show the presence of an historical past which contributed to mix
original traditions. Secondly, they are very conservative and characterized by what Du
Bois (1903) called double consciousness. In this sense, this context seems to be needed
to understand both a concrete Afro-Mexican identity (established and perpetrated thanks
to the presence of some specific cultural roots) and a specific way to understand the
local uniqueness as just an extention of what history contributed to define national
identity. From this point of view, Afro-Mexican culture shows its own peculiarity but
also a very clear European influence that not only affects the language spoken during
the rituals (as we said, Afro-Mexicans don’t speak any kind of African dialect or
language). It also contributes to better define the Costa Chica of Oaxaca’s black culture
131
‘This prayer…has so many virtues and in the house it will be found it won’t be anything bad and
nobody will be prosecuted. It is against the bad thing and the person who brings it with him will not die
without confession nor without receiving the sacraments, and he will be free from a sudden death or a
lightning. Ah! Many are the virtues of this prayer. It is approved by the Holy See and, by using it once a
day for praying the Hail Mary, he will be accompanied in his death, receive his soul in the arms, and he
will be noticed four days before his own death by the angels, saints and seraphins’. Probabily, her
popularity among Afro-Mexicans of the area refers to her physical features, being the Virgin of
Montserrat black and usually referred coming from Africa. The most important sanctuary of the Virgin of
Montserrat nearby the Costa Chica is the Exconvento San Bernardino de Siena , in Taxco de Alarcón, in
Guerrero State.
132
‘…humbly surrendered I offer you this prayer, as a demostration of my gratitude…be your lights
the impulse for the promotion of my virtues and removing my vices…through them, allow me to obtain
solace in suffering, protection in dangers, victory in temptations and relief from the evil…’. This prayer
was bough in the Mercado de Sonora (‘Sonora Market’) in Mexico City and it is used for protection
against sorcerers’s black rituals. It is interesting noting the skin of the Virgin is not black, but trigueña , an
Indian-skin tonality, clearer than the Mestizo’s. See Image n.2.
142
as a product of specific historical socio-cultural dynamics based on the loss of ancestral
norms and values, and an explicit process Fernando Ortiz defined “transculturation”133.
II. The “love sickness” (mal de amor ): it is caused by a disappointment because of
jealousy or a frustrated passion, which can be cured by spraying some salt water on the
face of the person. To increase its magical effect it can be also added an unlit candle
while rubbing his or her body with the saliva of a pregnant woman. Though to the “real
effectiveness” witch-doctor says this kind of remedy has on the love sickness, it seems
oftently it doesn’t obtain the expected result on the person. Therefore, he/she can decide
to look for a different cure, by looking for a new beloved or querida , and interpteting a
rapto. If the rapto will be successfully done, the person will be completely cured, being
that a changing problem depending on the gender and individual disposition. What it
means is that the healing techniques are flexible and normally they can be modified
depending on the will of the sorcerer or witch-doctor and the way through which the
person reacts to the cure.
A woman tipically would aswers that ‘…everyone has the right to not remain
sad…why can’t I look for another person? Somebody who wants me?...here women are
stronger then men and if a man makes something wrong to his woman, she does
something for herself, as taking a better one…I did it several times and I am proud of
it!” (16th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, María).
By contrast, the position taken by a man normally differs from the first one and it
pretends to show the status of masculine gender: ‘The problem here is women are too
free…a man must be a man and when your woman does not behaves as your woman,
you can do what you want. If they do not want to be with you, they better look for
anywhere else…’ (16th August 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Yuyo). ‘There are many
people looking for somebody who can help…[we are talking about a witchdoctor]…but if you do not believe he is good, it [the magic]…can’t heal you…you have
to be a man and take another…[other woman]…¿¿El mal de amor?? ...[laughs]…only
somedoby weak has it…’ (13th August 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview, Cleto).
III. The mal de coraje (the “desperation” sickness). It appears because of some kind
of moral or psychological pain and it can be cured through a gastric clean. The cause of
133
The whole work of Fernando Ortiz explains the phenomenon of transculturation. For further
information, see Ortiz (1906, 1916, 1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985).
143
this sickness is very “strange”, and it can be used for both any kind of “amorousness” or
to allow children stopping crying. In the first case, at the age of 14, boys and girls can
look for a lover but ‘…when they find the right person and start to feel something
different from sexual attraction and some emotion of intense passion gets into their
body…the mal de coraje is started…so if they are not capable to understand or manage
it, we have a good cure they can follow…’ (03th September 2012, Collantes interview,
Doña Lucha). Sometimes it is used some candó 134 and tobacco mixed with infant urine,
or using some namorado herb (hierba del enamorado, the “in-love herb”) and a little
brown mule droppings. The person is rubbed with the mix, so she is cured. In the
second case, the child, ‘…because of the dropping or warm urine he feels himself
comforted and he stops crying’ (03th September 2012, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto
interview, Cleto)135.
IV. The mal de ojo desease (the “evil eye” sickness). This is tipical of children, and it
is provoqued by the action of a vengeful or envious person, who asks for some services
of a sorcerer. It causes pains and some bad events (as death or hard sickness, like
infection, vomit, chest pains, and diarrhea). The only remedy is making a “counter
magic”, often conducted by the same witch-doctor. In this case, the mal de ojo seems to
be more a superstition and the effect of a comercial action by part of the sorcerer (or
witch-doctor), than a real physical problem, being the vomit, the chest pains, and the
diarrhea caused by the lack of preventive health measures and a dirty environment.
An example of a magical healing is the case of a mal de risipela (or erisipela ),
manifested by the presence of some kind of skin abrasion, caused by an important
exposition to the sun or by a constant contact of the skin with sweat. An informant said
us ‘…this kind of sickness is very dangerous, but thanks to the intervention of the
witch-doctor it easily goes away…he [the sourcerer]…ties up the legs of the patient
with a piece of a red cloth, he prepares a herbs drink, which the sick has to take, and he
rubs her body with the belly of a live toad…or some…better more than less…The
sickness will be absorbed and, when the color of belly of the toad would be changed the
child will be cured’ (03th September 2012, Collantes interview, María).
134
Candó is an herb that grows near by the South Pacific coast of Oaxaca. It comes to be cruched and
mixed with some liquid. Then it can be drunked or used for rubbing a hurting part.
135
The candó is an herb also Indians use for traditional medicine. It is interesting noting that, as in the
case of tonal (or nagual), the interview was obtained within a village where the presence of black and
indigenous population is mixed. In general, those kinds of remedies are very common in both traditions
but they are considered typical by each of those belonging to Indian or African local culture.
144
Considering the erisipela sickness is just an important erithema, maybe it would be
enough buying the related medicine and avoiding the sun exposition for a while.
V. The tetlatía (mal de tatlatía ) desease: it is caused by the tetlatía tree which,
because of its trunk (it has some allergic elements in it) produces abrasions or allergic
reactions to the skin and it also can provoque the death of the infected person. It is
possible to get infected by the desease, only by touching the trunk and the effect would
be the more dangerous the longer the contact will be. In this case it is not necessary any
“magic intervention” and it better could be cured by rubbing the infected part (or parts)
of the body with some nixtamal136. However, if somebody considers the intervention of
a sorcerer imprescindible, he would just spit at the tree.
VI. Finally, the “shame desease” (mal de vergüenza ). It is not manifested by a
stardard way and it better depends on family and individual values. Therefore, what it
can be shameful for somebody it cannot be for others. The mal de vergüenza appears
when somebody is caught in the moment he or she is doing “something bad”. ‘For
example…[says an informant]…if you are with a person who is not your wife or
husband you have to be ashamed, but if nobody see you…why should you be this way?’
(17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
When the person comes to be ashamed ‘some part of the body swells…when your
are swollen that means you felt the shame and your body received the effect of the bad
thing they saw you were doing…so the shame is gotten into he body…[se te ha metido
la vergüenza ]…’ (17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). If the persons
believe the shame was wrong, during that “bad act”, she will fall in a traumatic sense of
guilt, which immediately inhibits her mind and body. In that moment the intervention of
a sorcerer or witch-doctor can be very important, being the people incapable to look
other members of the community at the face and get back the respect she had by part of
the community before that “bad thing” was done. If it is decided the witch-doctor has to
intervine, the family of the sick person have also to choose which kind of sorcerer
136
The nixtamal is a type of dough prepared with corn and lime primarily for the making of tortillas (a
type of thin flatbread made by corn, like a bread of maize). The word comes from the Náhuatl nextli –
“lime or ashes” − and tamalli − a cooked corn dough. The nixtamal is prepared by a Mesoamerican
technique: corn is cooked in water having a fixed ratio of lime (calcium hydroxide), commonly three parts
of water and one part of lime, while the calcium content may increase if the grains are very hard. Once
cooked, the grain is allowed to rest overnight; the grain than bursts and it separates from the corn husk. It
will facilitate to grind it. Then, to remove the excess of lime, it is rinsed and it is ground on the metate (a
sort of horizontal mortar). This process will form the dough.
145
would be the best to solve the problem. When the family have dediced, it is needed
going to the house of the witch-doctor asking about some remedies, explaining why he
is required. Once accepted the healing, the witch-doctor intervens with herbs, salt or sea
sand, by spraying the water to the face of the sick person, covering the swollen part of
the body with some sand, and preparing some salted-herb drink for the purification of
the soul, and ‘even it is a little bit expensive…the treatment could be really effective…’
(17th November 2012, El Ciruelo interview, Chano)137.
5.5. The Thin Relation between Sickness and the Loss of “Tonal”
When the witch-doctor tries to cure someone’s sickness and it does not go away, the
doctor can suppose the problem is not caused by the loss of the shadow, but because of
an accident or desease happened to the tonal. If the doctor considers the nagual is in
trouble (it would explain the sickness is not going away thanks to standard medicines or
magic) it is considered finding out the correspondent nagual of the sick person and cure
it. About the topic Malcolm argued «…when the leopard or crocodile, or whatever
animal may be a man’s upkong, gets sick or dies, the life thing happens to him…»
(Malcolm, 1922: XXXV, 222).
There are two methods to catch the nagual. To find out the animal connected to the
person, the witch-doctor will play a bule138, by introducing and moving a stick into it.
The noies produced will attrack the tonal, which will access to be cured, and the related
person will also be healed. In second instance, when it is not possible to obtain a bule or
the animal does not respond to the calling, it is also possible to look for the tonal of a
person who, at the moment of the birth, has been identified with the same nagual the
sick person also was. So, in order to find the cave wherein the tono would be
refugeeing, the family of the sick person goes with somebody known (normally
somebody belonging to the same community) and asks for reaching the cave of the gato
del monte, the tigrillo and the snake; the nest of the bird; or the swamp where the
alligator lives. Once the tonal has been found the person has to remove the skin from
137
The price for a “soul purification” because of the mal de vergüenza is 50.00 Mexican Pesos,
corresponding to 3.5 Euros.
138
The bule is the fruit from the porongo tree (technically called “lagenaria siceraria” or popularly
known as “long melon”) which can be harvested and used as a vegetable, or dried, and used as a bottle,
utensil, or pipe. In some different regions of Latin America, as in the Brazilian, Argentinian, Chilean and
Uruguayan areas it is also used as matera (the container of the mate, a grass with a high content of
caffeine and taken by a straw of metal or bamboo, also called bombilla ). The bule is also an instrument
used by Afro-Mexicans during the Danza de los Diablos (the “Devils’ Dance”) called bote, calabaza o
guaje. See Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto (2012: 21).
146
the animal and take it to the house of the sick person. The skin will not be salted (it
would attrack the family of the animal, which would try to avenge the dead nagual).
Now, despite its clear effectiveness (as said by our informants), ‘…this method is not
the most secure because many people do not know where finding the tono…it can also
be that if their tonal refers to a potentially dangerous animal, they don’t want to risk
finding and getting killed by it…the most important thing is always to remember you do
not have to salt the skin because the animal will venge itself, and if it wouldn’t be the
animal, it would be its family…’ (23th August 2012, Santa María Cortijos interview,
Meyo). ‘It is always better to know somedoby who has the same nagual as you…if you
don’t find somebody having it, it can be very dangerous for you…the sickness can take
you away…’ (13th August Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Miguel).
147
148
Chapter III
Afro-Mexican Consciousness: a Matter of Self-Recognition
149
150
In order to register self-perceptions of Afro-Mexican settlers within the Costa Chica
of Oaxaca we chose to ask our informants about four topics aimed at capturing
individual opinions that are at the base of traditions; ethnic identification; inclusionexclusion; self and mutual perception of aesthetic and psychological features.
1. Traditions
About the problem of traditions, the informants were asked about if being black had
any kind of relation with having a specific African cultural heritage expressed by
dances, music, family structure.
The most part of our informants shown their lack of consciousness about three
points: what was an African tradition; which kind of tradition was normally used by his
or her family; and what having African-traditions supposes for self-definition.
In the first case people expressed they were clearly used to celebrate, dance, play
some music but they did not know if those kinds of dances or music were the product of
an explicit Afro-descent heritage. In this sense, settlers ‘…have a very rich culture, but
nobody understands what all this is about. In the past they…[black-Mexicans of the
area]…had never be informed about their origins and only now, with some new social
and cultural movements throughout the area, new generations are starting to understand
black identity as something they have to be proud of…’ (17th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
In this context, men and women show the presence of two different visions of a
“through-traditions” identity contruction.
Men are very much less conscious of their black identity and they define themselves
having specific uses, values and modus vivendi, and they consider the local “African
way of being” resulting only by Oaxaca’s socio-cultural dynamics. As it is said by an
informant, ‘…those kinds of uses are a product of our culture…the black-Mexican one’
(17th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Meyo). “Black-Mexican culture” can be
thus understood in different ways. ‘…As a part of a more general national identity
thanks to which African traditions are taking part into a regional and undefined
framework’; ‘a local variation of Mexican way of being’; ‘the result of a cultural mixing
process that actually incorporates some European, Indian and African elements, but
finally has its own energy, based on so much variations that currently could be
interpreted as an authoctonous expression of being black within Mexico’; ‘a generalized
151
African culture that developed itself within every place where blacks were
established’139.
So, as argued by an informat, ‘African culture is ours culture. The culture of people
came here. We arrived here or we were left on the beach…so people started to mix or
not with Indians and produced their own way of being. The Moreno is not only
Mexican, he is Moreno…they came here [the informant is referring to the researchers of
UABJO]…and they told us we are Africans. I didn’t know that, but it is obvious we are
different…we are black and other people are not…’ (21th December 2012, Llano
Grande Tapextla interview, Cisco).
In the case of women, it seems they are much more conscious of their origin and it
can be explained by two points. On one hand, the women we told with said African
habitus ever was a topic of discussion among Costa Chica’s women. ‘We always had to
be good women because our mother and the mother of our mother kept telling us we
have an ancestral responsibility: maintaining traditions and the unity of community’
(12th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Miranda). On the other, it is
clear women are the most important element of the family and they are in charge of
perpetrating inter familiar relationships, their (or acquired) sons and daughters’s
education, the economy of the household140. Because of that, they are much more
focused on what the African tradition supposes and what it doesn’t.
In the case of dances, especially referring to the organization and production of the
costumes, womens are who take a main role into the process of drawing and sewing the
dresses using for the Day of the Death; and ‘…altought men say women have to be
good, they know they cannot do anything without us. The women here prepare all…it is
true men dance but only because they do not want we dance. We also can perform. For
example we prepare the food and we are good doing that…(13th November 2012, Santo
Domingo Armenta interview, Doña María). ‘…There is always many people coming
here, because they know my family prepares always something to eat. They come, eat,
drink and then they go in the streets…Before the dances women always prepare the
costumes, and so men can dance…do you understand who works…? (13th November
2012, Santo Domingo Armenta, interview, Doña Lucha).
139
The information corresponds to the Opinion Questionnaire and gathers the anwers of “Identity and
cultural change” section.
140
About this point, we will discuss in the next chapter.
152
So, if we consider tradition as one of the most relevant topics in defining identity for
Afro-Mexican population within the Costa Chica, on the other side it has to be said the
most relevant aspect of the problem is not really having a specific consciousness about
that, but only some kind of predisposition of doing what it seems to be at the very core
of the African origin for the Costa Chica’s settlers.
For example, when people were enquired about some specific traditions, they
couldn’t account for the exact origin of them or the original ways through which they
were performed by part of their ancestors.
In the case of the Danza de los Diablos, the main African-origin musical tradition
within the Costa Chica, some informants told us ‘…the Danza de los Diablos…it is said
coming from Africa…but I really don’t know from where or why it came here…If you
ask the people they perfectly can tell you the Danza de los Diablos is The African
tradition of the Costa Chica but, you know…it is very different dancing a dance from
knowing something about it…The most information we have about that is the
information some persons from Oaxaca (they came here from the university or
something like that) told us…’ (15th November 2012, Santo Domingo Armenta
interview, Chano). In this way, it seems people only recently are assuming some kind of
consciousness about the importance the African tradition has for the definition of a
specific black-Mexican identity.
‘…African traditions…well, I can tell you we have a lot…for example the Danza de
los Diablos…it is about some kind of presence of our ancestors…so we wait for them
and on the Day of the Death we celebrate their coming. I feel very confortable with that
because my mother used to prepare the constumes, the beards, and it remembers me a
family’s tradition…if you ask me if I think it is something African to me I tell you yes,
it is, but for me is something much more connected with the tradition of my family,
here…in the Costa Chica…it is something we only have…’ (15th November 2012,
Santiago Tapextlata interview, Toño).
The perception of tradition as an element of identity is thus quite explicite, but it
seems not representing a specific way of being African within the Costa Chica. More
clearly, tradition looks like something static that comes from somewhere, previously
from the family, but it is not able to define some kind of root, an explicit African one, as
about musical instruments or rhythms. In this case, people don’t perform any kind of
djembe rhythm as in the occasion of hospitality, festivity or some other kinds of
celebration. Eventually they use a sort of drum that it is much more like a bomba ,
153
something that remembers an African population, which, as for the Ecuadorian case,
started its existence through the conjunction with indigenous population of the area141.
‘…People here feel themselves Afro-descent, but it is really something new…it is not as
in Trinidad or in other places where blackness or africanity is a must…and where,
maybe because we are very much more in number than Afro-Mexicans or maybe
because we didn’t have any kind of mixing with some population, as the indigenous
one, that contributed to change the habits…Traditions and identity are not really
connected because people don’t know their traditions have an African origin…So why
should they consider their dances or beheviour African?...’ (05th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth)142.
The meaning of the concept of “African tradition” within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca
takes thus a sense of empathy developed thanks to the weight or the worth the person
attributes to it. If the person is close to her family and accepts its teachings, the
traditional values will perpetrate. By the contrary, when the person decides to
understand family values as a set of elements that are not part of her symbolic universe,
those norms are avoided.
The meaning of African tradition can thus be understood in a twofold way.
By one hand, it explains some kind of undefined cultural and racial root anchored to
a memory which seems taking part of what the ethimological sense of the concept of
African diaspora supposes, which is “sowing seed across” (Izard Martínez, 2005;
Braziel & Mannur, 2003). In that sense, the use of ancestral traditions (in spite of
ignorance of people about their meaning or origin) contributes to explain the fact AfroMexicans of the Costa Chica could be recognized through some specific cultural
elements which come from those ancestral norms constituting today a new way of being
black. By the other, if we consider the importance in-group current traditions have for
the definition of identity and self-localization (what we would define a “who am I-from
where am I” formula143) local traditions are also the result of an undeniable historical
141
The bomba is a musical gender (typical of Chota Valley, in Ecuador’s Andes) that takes its name
from the drum used during the performances. It is a drum with a unique tone that establishes a continuous
rhythm to which are added other instruments. It is interesting that, as for Mexican case, Ecudorian black
population of the Chota Valley had to live with the Indians of the area, so they changed some ways of
cultural expression, by accepting the mixing of habitus.
142
The father Glynn Jemoth comes from Trinidad and Tobago and he was assigned to the El Ciruelo
municipality twenty years ago. During the interview, he putted on an example, clearly referring to other
countries, as Trinidad and Tobago, where African traits (physically and culturally speaking) are clear.
143
See Giménez (1997a), Burke (2006), Owens Moore (2005), Brewer (2001), Izar Martínez (2005),
and Jones (2011).
154
heritage which explains a sort of a social organization of difference (Braziel & Mannur,
2003).
In second instance, concerning the knowledge about families’ traditions there is no
significant difference between men and women or across generations. People interiorize
norms and traditions and all the members of settlements are aware about which
costumes are good to follow and which are considered a bad habitus.
For example, when a boy wants a girl, he organizes the rapto. ‘…If you don’t
organize the rapto it means you don’t really want the girl and you don’t want also to use
traditions for perpetrating family…Here we have an important value that is very
African…the family structure…We have to respect the family and its importance, what
it means understanding family continuity is the only thing permits you to survive…I
don’t know if family is important there…[in Africa]…but here it is. You have to have
respect for your mother and respect local traditions, as the vela , the dances, the marriage
or whatever you have been teached…’ (25th October 2012, Llano Grande Tapextla
interview, Beto).
So, what is the meaning of feeling Afro-Mexican?
‘…Well…if I have to tell you what composes, through traditions, the identity of
people, here, I would say: the sense of community life…; the sense of good human
relations; the sense of hospitality; respect for authority and the elders; sense of
language…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo, interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
In the first case, the Afro-Mexican idea of “security” and the power related with it
depends on personal identification with and within the community. In this sense, people
lost the traditional sense of an originally “god-made” society and, by contrast, they
express a sort of “man-made” community culturally understood as independent of those
specific values, which directed the modus vivendi and habitus of its settlers. That means
accepting an ancestral heritage that existed and gave some core cultural elements, which
have been tranculturated and modified to the needs of new generations (Kanu
Ikechukwu, 2012; Onwubiko, 1991).
Therefore, the authentic “African way of being”, which is known and identified in,
by and through its community is not only the custodian of individuals, hence it must go
where the community goes. Related with traditions and the kind of traditions family
shows within the Costa Chica, Afro-Mexicans must to stay in an ideal “communitarian
space”, which guarantees the mutual perception between members or/and between
community and members, in an attempt to constitute a sort of “man-made-space”. This
155
space starts to be very much more similar to current members than the African
ancestors. In such a context, the perpetrating of traditions comes to be ever slower, until
the moment when ‘…people decides to use only those elements their parents or
grandparents gave to them…New generations do not want to follow ancient
traditions…So it is very much better to remember only those traditions are generally
considered African, and ignore elements that could be African but are not getting
continuity…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo, interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
In this sense, the consciousness and the self-recognition embody a way of behavior
that affects only to the old generations, being avoided from the new ones. A fact that,
considering the very high birth rate within the area144, turns itself very relevant for the
loss of cultural continuity.
So, at the moment of being asked about ‘when a person can be considered of an
African-descent’, the most part of the enquired people did not mentioned ancient
traditions, nor some specific cultural practices the family teached to them, and they
answered about color, arguing an Afro-descent person is possibly someone with a dark
skin.
Those kinds of perceptions explain at least two core points of the problem: settlers
have no consciousness of an African traditional ancestry; and they ignore the main part
of those other elements, which contribute to define African identity, beyond physical
traits.
In second instance, about good human relations, it is possible to say Afro-Mexicans
of the Cost Chica are very “easy-going” people. A behavior that, as argued by
Onwubiko (1991), comes to be based on the philosophy of live-and-let-live. So, ‘intercommunity relationship realised in the interaction between individuals of different
communities is different from the intra-community relationship based on interpersonal
relationship realised in a definite community, among its members, to express the
practical traditional African concept of human living’ (Onwubiko, 1991).
In this way, what we consider an Afro-descent person, because of her aesthetics,
within the Costa Chica is accepted as “black” only when the person is really part of the
community. What it means is being defined by ‘...a way of life emphatically centred
upon human interests and values…Not upon material values, like some black gringos
144
It is very difficult to quantify the birth or mortality rates, but a good aproximation is presented in
CONAPRED (2006) and in the INEGI web site, specifically by area. In general, for the Costa Chica’s
area, the most part of the data is missing.
156
that came here and shown some “simphaty for us”…but why? Only because we are both
black? They are not part of us…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta
interview, Doña Leti)145.
‘…People help one another and they don’t ask money…they do that because you are
part of the village and maybe then you can help him or her. That is what we call here
cooperation…We gather togheter and a third person mediates between the persons who
has to respect the decision the mediator takes; is that a tradition?...’ (04th November
2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Nacho). What it means is that when you have
a ‘friendship with the ferryman, in the dry season, when the rains come, you will be the
first to cross…We are not greedy, because greed is the way to hassles…’ (04th
November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Nacho)146. The art of dialogue and
conversation is thus a really important value within African communities of Oaxaca,
expecially to keep good human relations. People can freely discuss their problems and
sometimes it provoques some embarrassing situation during which, people, looking for
a solution to their problem, ask some suggestions, explaining in detail the wife betrated
somebody because the husband’s lack of passion, or because somebody was “naturally
better gifted”147. A kind of behavior that seems really similar to what, about African
communities, Steve Biko defined a «…man-centred society. Westerners have in many
occasions been surprised at the capacity we have for talking to each other not for the
sake of arriving at a particular conclusion but merely to enjoy the communication for its
own sake. Intimacy is a term not exclusive for particular friends but applying to a whole
group of people who find themselves together whether through work or residential
requirements» (Biko, 1978: 42; Mechthild, 2008).
Within the Costa Chica, such situation can also representing a sort of an a priori
contradiction. In this way, while you can talk with everybody about their “problems”
145
Gringo is the usual word (and in someway pejorative) to define North-Americans. In this case, the
informant refers to a professor at Stanford University who conduted a research within the Costa Chica
studying historically the habitus and modus vivendi of the people. He was accepted by the communities
but ‘…his mentality and way of being are not African, they are tipically gringas…’ (04th November 2011,
Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Leti).
146
Surprisingly, the answer of the informant seems not to be new. Indeed, Hausa language offers
many references of “popular wisdom”, as in the case of our informant: Kwadayi mabudin wahala (“greed
is the way to hassles”). About the influence of Hausa ethny and language in New Spain, the most reliable
hipotesis is its coming through those Nigerian slaves that worked first in Cuba and, subsequently crossed
to Mexico (Volpato, 2014a). For further Hausa culture and language data, see Baldi (2008: 53-72).
147
During our stay within the Costa Chica, the author had to offer some opinions about sexual topics,
especially concerning the “quality” of the man we were talking to. When the answer satisfies the person,
she asks to another and so on. If the number of positive responses would be enough, the man or woman
will decide if changing or not his or her behavior, or opinion.
157
and everybody can talk to you, you ‘…should be aware to not embarasse the person
who is speaking to you or with somedoby else…You must never counting the fingers of
a man who has only nine’ (24th November 2011, Collantes interview, Chivis).
Moreover, enquired people demonstrated a special appreciation to convivial
meetings during which men and women recite some sexual-based verses. That seems to
be really relevant within the communities expecially because, as said by our main
informant, the Chano, ‘…it is the most relevant value when you have to live here…If
you have to live in these conditions, party and easy-living must be at the core of your
life…especially with those kinds of women…[laughts]…you would also start to sing or
recite something like that...’ (22th November 2011, El Ciruelo conversation, Chano)148.
Thirdly, about the sense of hospitality, it seems traditions can also be used as an
element of self-perception even though they are not conceived as a specific cultural
heritage.
For example, it is very traditional to accept a stranger or a visitor in the house, and
the whole people of the village would be aware of the guess. Many of them will be very
carefull to the guess and they would continuously ask some questions about the
tratement, how he or she feels, if he or she wants something special.
Such social actitude is a way of being that represents the ‘…values the family
normally gives you…You have to accept the stranger and offer him something good,
because you never know if you will be needed of that…So when people come here we
give them all the good we can…for example, if you come with me to a vela , I’m
responsible for your security, fun, social relations…If you want some company, I must
also get you that…[laughts]…People will see me with you and judge my behavior
depending on your feelings. If you feel ok, that means I was good with you…if not, I
could have some serious problems with my mother, my father or my brothers. These are
148
It is interesting blacks within the Costa Chica recognize the “verses making” ( el hacer versos) as a
concrete tradition that anyone who wants to achieve some kind of success within the community must be
able to do. Some examples are the following. About a woman that didn’t have any sexual relation and she
is supposed will have soon: Allá en la cima del Popo, está una piedra bendita, a la mujer que allí se
sienta se olvidó ser señorita (“Back at the top of the Popo – main volcan in Mexico, between Mexico City
and Puebla – there is a blessed stone. If a woman sits there she will forget of being a ‘missy’”). About the
obstinacy of a man when see a woman he likes: Hormigas del hormigal, abejas del abejal, aunque me
picaron todas, pero me comí el panal (“Ants from the anthill, bees from the honeycomb, although I was
very bitten, I ate the whole honeycomb”). About the kind of sexual relations men consider black women
are able to offer: que cuando la enamoro me dice que lue go luego…cuando ella se pone bizca yo me estoy
quedando ciego (“when she falls in love with me, she wants it immediately…but while she gets crosseyed, I’m getting blind”). Alternatively, hacer versos works also for offering some physical relationship:
en el mar hay muchos peces, hay calamares y algas, primero me das un beso y después me das las nalgas
(“in the sea there are many fish, squids and seeweed. First, you will give me a kiss, but then you will give
me…”).
158
the values our families give to us…’ (20th November 2012, Llano Grande Tapextlata
interview, Alberto)149.
Fourtly, about the respect for authority and the elders, we have to split the concepts.
In the first case, when we talk about “authority”, it does not refer to any institutional
figure, as the police or the militaries, but to the image somebody respected has within
the village. In this way, while oftenly people refuse to respect the formal authority, they
feel some kind of obligation to follow what it is said by part of local priest, sourcerer,
witch-doctor, and so on. ‘…Respecting the word of somebody more powerful than you
is a good thing…The people here has much more respect for ours authority, when by
contrast, elude formal authorities…why?...because we don’t recognize ourselves with
them. We recognize with somebody who is part of the community and has the interest to
be with us…We choose a person that is in charge of the relationships of the community
[the municipality agent]…and we respect him; but also we have somebody who takes
care of us and has wisdom, the elderly…’ (24th November 2011, Collantes interview,
Chivis). In this case, people seem to be very much more conscious of their African
origin, being the respect for the elderly a core element of daily life among AfroMexicans. ‘…Maybe they don’t know exactly how to explain it, but people here is very
respectful of elderly population. They consider they are wise and, when they are not,
they deserve respect because of the age. This is a very African sense of community and
a strong example of identity. We also have those kinds of values, and as you can see
there is not difference between mine and theirs aesthetics…’ (05th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth)150.
Finally, about the sense of language, people seem to be very proud of the way
through which they express emotions, and they consider local language being really
something that is part of their own idiosincrasy.
About the topic, an informant was very clear about the fact blacks are very proud of
their “way of being” and they have to be separated from “the others”, especially from all
those who are not African or that come from Mexico City. ‘…Nobody has the costume
to talk as we do…we communicate very much more with our local language. Maybe it
149
It is uncertain this kind of behaviour has a specific African origin, but it is known that among
Bantus of West Africa, both the hospitality and the care of a guest is central in cultural relationships. If
somebody accepts a stranger within the village and he or she shows not a feeling of complete openness
and respect to the person it cames to be really offensive, and, because of that, the person who has to take
care of the guest can also be punished. See Lord Lugard (1965), Sibthorpe (1970), Blyden (1906), Blake
(1981), Owusu-Frempong (2005), Castile, Kushner & Adams (1981), Junod (1936).
150
The father Glynn Jemmoth is black.
159
can be a little bit hard151, but through it, we express our feelings. For example, if we
want a girl we are very kind with her, even though it is said we are machos…the Indios
are machos, defeños or chilangos152 are, but the Negro has passion…’ (12th November
2012, Collantes interview, Toño).
Therefore, while blacks identify themselves thanks to a specific and local way, they
also express a sort of collective recognition that is behind the idea of blackness. It better
explains the language in speech embodies an important vehicle of local African thought
and culture, and it represents some kind of what Swartz (1980) and Alland (1981)
define as a different but effective way to make explicit habitus, modus vivendi and all
those elements that express some kind of culture relativity. On the other side, AfroMexican sense of cultural sharing seems to be in contrast with Swartz (1982), by which
sharing of elements of culture concerned with family life among nuclear family
members indicate that members of family statuses share no more with one another than
they do with members of their society in general. The highest levels of sharing are
found not within statuses but within families. In the case of the language, AfroMexicans use it everytime and we have no perception of any kind of difference in the
use of this kind of language between any subject living in the same house or
representing a friend or a stranger. ‘…What is changing is the meaning of the words not
the words themselves…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn
Jemmoth).
In this sense, the principle of “relativity” comes to be understood at least in two
ways. People use language as a way of communicating that has nothing to do with
slaves’ original way of speaking. People also have no perception the way they employ
the new set of cultural and linguistic elements they normally use, they have internalized,
and they actually contribute to perpetrate. It is thus something much more emphatic;
something that comes to be true only when communities start to assume it, as their real
current cultural heritage, even though knowing ‘…who returns from a journey may tell
151
It refers to the way through which daily conversation is made. Blacks of the Costa Chica normally
use a lot of “informal” words, oftenly ungentle, potentially aggressive or sex-based. So it is not
uncommon being talked by using local linguistic expressions whose meaning, if unknown, can be
offensive.
152
Defeño is the popular way to define the people born in Mexico City. It refers to the D.F. meaning,
related with Distrito Federal (“Federal District”) and corresponds to the metropolitan area of the city.
Chilango is a pejorative word that defines Mexicans who are not from the D.F. but they live there. The
bad perception about defeños and chilangos is sometimes so strong that among Mexicans (all those are
not defeños or chilangos) is very common to use the famous saying ¡haz patria! ¡Mata un chilango! (“Be
patriotic! Kill a Chilango!”).
160
all he has seen, but he not necessary has to able to explain it…’ (05th November 2011,
El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
2. Ethnic Identification
About the problem of self-recognition through ethnic identification, there is not very
much to say, and the motives for that are three: the way through which slaves were
chosen and separated; the mixing process; and the unconsciousness of the pople about
their ethnic origin.
In the first case and, as we said in the Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African
Population (pp.89-99) and A Spanish “Dialect” Modality sections (pp.113-117), slaves
came to Mexico through four different rutes: directly from Africa; from the United
States; from the Big Antills; and potentially through Chilean cargoes during the 19th
century, because of the Californian Gold Rush.
As concers to the direct arrival of slaves, they came out from Guinea, Cape Green,
Angola, Mozambique, Congo, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, taking part of Bantu,
Congo and carabalí ethnic groups (Martínez Montiel, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2006; Aguirre
Beltrán, 1972), and being defined bozales, somebody who didn’t talk Spanish or the
“then called Castilian” (López Valdéz, 2000). In this case the large concentrations of
slaves coming from Africa were never integrated of the same ethnies, ensuring slaves
couldn’t understand each other, get organized and rebel against their owners (Moreno
Fraginals, 1977).
Secondly, the blacks coming from the United States between 1840 and 1850 were
also mixed and doubly transculturated, in culture and language that, in this case, it was
English. Many of them also decided to stay in the north of Mexico and it is thought they
gave life to what authors define tenangos153, in the Sonora region, or mascogos, in the
State of Coahuila, nearby the Texas border154.
Thirdly, in the case of the Big Antills’s migration, Cubans came to Mexico in two
different periods, between 1868-1898 and 1959-1962, being already mixed-race and
traditionally transculturated (Volpato, 2013a, in ed. Pr.; Bojorquez, 2001; Curtin, 1969;
Guerra Vilaboy, 2003; Martín Quijano, 2005).
153
See note n.103.
The mascogos, also known as black Seminoles, were (and actually are) descendants of escaped
African slaves who joined the Seminole Indians in Florida to form a new identity. Their ethnonimous is
clearly not African and it seems deriving from Muskogee, in the American state of Oklahoma, the city the
mascogos (or black Seminoles), while being in the USA, used to live in. See Porter (1971), Opala (1980,
1981), Littlefield (1981).
154
161
Finally, the potential arrival from the coasts of South America, if true, it was really
escase and it couldn’t be precisely quantificable.
As a consequence, no slaves’ cargoes arrived to Mexico (and still less to Oaxaca’s
Coast) were organized by ethny. Thus, it would be very unlikely to obtain any
information about self-recognition of Afro-Mexicans of Oaxaca through ethnicity
(Cardoso de Oliveira, 1992; Campos, 1999; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990).
In second instance, related with the mixing process, it is possible to account for two
ways of “racial classification” throughout the area: “standard” and “complex”.
The first one refers to the Mestizo phenotype (produced during the Spanish colony by
the union of Indigenous and white European).
The second highlights two further way of mestizaje: a “twofold-mixing”, existing
between black Africans (both persons having black origins), blacks and Mulattoes,
zambos and Mulattoes (where zambo is historically the result between Indian and
black), zambos and black; and a “multiple one”, Mixtec indigenous, black and white;
Mestizo-black-white; Mestizo-Mulatto-white, light Mulatto-zambo-white, etc (Aguirre
Beltrán, 1946; Pizarro, 1994)155.
Thus, while the physical difference we can perceive between physical-aesthetic
“blends” is quite noticeable, it is extremely complex to account for the exact origins of
phenotypic traits of people, and it is impossible to eventually guess the original ethnic
group. It is only possible to highlight the African-phenotype predominance. In this way,
members of African communities of the area, not only do not consider the color of the
skin as the decisive factor to identify themselves as Afro-descendents; by contrary
people define “black” all those who belong to their community and show, aesthetically,
some more or less objectively visible African traits, obviating any kind of ethnic origin.
Therefore, while people absolutely ignore the idea of black ethnicity, they conceive that
principle being specific and unique for Indians. ‘…well, do you ask me if we have here
some ethnies…yes of course, there are many…like Amuzgo, Chatino, Mij’e,
Trique…and others…’ (30th November 2011, San Juan Bautista lo de Soto interview,
Toño)156. ‘…You see? There are no African ethnies here…!’ (05th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
155
Especially about physical traits and mixing, the probleme will be explained further.
The pronunciation is mistaken and the ethnic groups the informant talks about finish always with
an “s”. In the case of the “j” for “x” in Mixe, we try to imitate the way blacks pronunciate those terms. It
is interesting all the names the informant said exist but they correspond to indigenous. The last part of the
work will be in charge to mention them.
156
162
3. Inclusion-Exclusion
In order to understand the situation within which blacks of the area live, without
avoiding understanding how their perception was, especially referring to the meaning of
being Afro-descent, we asked our informants some questions about three topics:
participation processes; perception of justice; institutional intervention.
In the case of the participation processes, we tried to figure out the typology of
activities people mostly are up developing within the communities. What it means is
explaining how their settlements get togheter and construct a certain type of cooperation
process that supposes the enforcement of all those social and cultural ties, which could
be really relevant in the manteneance of local African identity.
Our informants answered the main activities that are used to be performed within the
area depend on traditional events, dances and the jaripeo157. Thanks to traditional
events, ‘…people have the motive to move to other villages and can also meet new
friends, lovers or somebody interested to work with them or somebody to work
with…Here it is very common and we consider this kind of meetings very important to
us….If you go a little bit more in Cortijos direction, it is not very important to seek the
unity of the community. That is so because there are very much more Indians and they
do their own activities….black pople come from there and they stay for days…’ (13th
October 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Yuyo).
For the organization of those kinds of events, people gather togheter and obtain a
certain kind of participation process that supposes taking part into the different activities
settlers organize. The informants show the complete adbsence of any kind of trader
association, being very much more important the social relationships. ‘…You
know…here people have as many contacts as they can. There is no help by part of the
municipality or the state. If you don’t have friends you are not going anywhere…I
organize what I want to sell. Now I have some fish and I sell it to you, being a friend of
mine. Then I have a little bit more and I sell it to another friend or to a friend of a
friend…’ (13th October 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Yuyo). At the same
way, it is not possible to find any kind of syndicate or any organization for the
157
The jaripeo refers to a Mexican version of bull riding which can be executed through two different
methods: the charro and the Colima . The first is a general way of riding and it refers to a common
method, consisting in riding only small bulls or calfes. The second (coming from the state of Colima, at
the East side of Mexico City, nearby the Pacific Coast) is more dangerous and it consists in riding also
bigger animals. The jaripeo is very common throughout the South-Pacific coast and it represents one of
the most important activities during the fairs and a social event to which everybody has to presence. In the
past, the jaripeo «…became a test of courage and riding skill, for rather than ride the bull to death, the
object was to stay on it until it was tame...» (LeCompte, 1985: 24).
163
protection of laboral rights. Therefore, people decided to organize themselves to get a
little bit more security in obtaining any profit through their work.
‘Something very important for people here, is unity…they have no associations that
could support their cause. They have no parties, no syndicate, no trade
associations…the people are religious but they use their own religious wisdom…so
oftently they refugee into their religious symbolic universe and they associate, between
those are going to the church or that are part of a traditional group of “praying”, to
discuss their problems and to try to solve them…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo
interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this way, it is not possible to refer to any religious
association but it seems to be precise to affirm Afro-Mexicans of the area consider very
necessary staying togheter and creating a sort of socio-cultural dynamic that,
sociologically speaking, could be defined a sort of collective identity production.
For example, in the case of cultural associations within the territory, we account for
two: África A.C. and México Negro, headed by the Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea and Prof.
Sergio Peñaloza Pérez. The most important activities the associations develop are
basically centered on the divulgation of Afro-Mexican culture and the conscientization
of people about roots and rights. In this sense, ‘…the organization…[we refer to África
A.C.]…has produced a social network, which permits to gather people togheter and
offer the visibility of local traditions through festivity, festivals, as the Festival Costeño
de la Danza , and it serves to impulse African identity toward the affirmation and respect
by part of civil society…But it is very difficult because not everyone wants his identity
recognized’ (18th November 2011, Casa Hánkili África national forum, México City,
Prof. Reyes Larrea). By contrast, some other informants argued that ‘…only somebody
living and having his famiy here handles an African identity. It can’t be handled by who
comes from a place where the most part of people is not black, even having the same
traditions we have...’ (30th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano)158.
158
At the moment of asking people about association and the recognition of African identity through
communitarian membership, our main informant, the Chano, argued Prof. Reyes Larrea wasn’t black, but
Afro-Mestizo. By contrast, Prof. Sergio Peñaloza is actually perpetrating his action throughout the coast,
impulsing the recognition of African identity even where the black population is not the most represented
one, as within Cortijos or San Juan Bautista lo de Soto. Motives for that are twofold: ‘…Prof. Sergio is
black, so people recognize themselves with him…he has curly hair, his African nose, his language…he is
like an African…[; on the other hand]…he took the place of father Glynn, who is not more with us, here,
in the Costa Chica. He started the México Negro association, fourty years ago…and now he returned to
Trinidad…he is also black, but really black…the father Glynn here is well know for everyone…he is a
todo dar ! (Mexican expression which explains great appreciation by part of people…“somebody who
gives it all and he is very appreciated for that”) (30th November 2011, El Ciruelo, Chano).
164
In this sense, it seems not enought for people having some kind of registered
association that could help them to be more visible to the civil society or institutions. It
is very much more important those socio-cultural groups are representing, also
physically, the African population of the area. So being represented by somebody that is
not considered African within the settlements not only won’t help to the
institutionalization of diversity as a precept for multiculturality or pluralism; it won’t
also create a socio-cultural dynamic through which people would recognize themselves
as a whole, characterized thanks to specific cultural elements and a typical modus
vivendi.
On the other side, having an organization that can be physically representative for
black population of the area could be really helpful. ‘…The “Mexicans” don’t know us
and they consider we are not really national…but if we are born here, from where are
we?...They
constantly
think
we
are
from
South-America,
Honduras
or
Nicaragua…when we have somebody black who can represent us, maybe the
institutions understand we are here and we are Mexicans…We have our traditions in
which everyone participate…are we not a group?...’ (15th December 2011, Santiago
Tapextla interview, Toño).
In the second case, referred to perception of justice, people shown a concrete distrust
of the local institutions. Especially for what concern the police, they consider the
military intervention being constant and ‘…they are always suspecting about us. They
come here and control everything and, do you think it is because the place is very
dangerous?...no! It is only because they thing we are bad persons and we are different’
(16th December 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Neto). ‘…People think black
Mexicans are aggressive, they steal things and they are lazy…but I tell you…if they are
going to stay here, they will go away in three days. People here work a lot, too much,
and don’t ask for nothing…So they come here and take away your son but it does not
happen when it is a gringo…’ (16th December 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview,
Beto).
Indeed, people argued that, even though members of settlers participate to the
construction of their own houses and contribute each other in looking for the materials,
the transportation and all those activities that, by countrast, should be done thanks to the
municipality in order to better the settlements, police is constantly controlling where the
materials come from, why they don’t ask for any help to the Pinotepa Nacional
Municipality and why they construct their houses without a permission. In these cases,
165
people said the municipality wants money. ‘…when somebody of ours goes to Pinotepa,
they ask for very much money, but it is known we have no money…So why are we
asked for that? We have the right to have children and to have houses…so we help each
other and we build up our houses without any help of institutions…is that wrong? For
this reason Afro-Mexicans try to escape from having any contact with local authorities
and obtain the attention of political parties …only when candidates need some
votes…so they come, they buy us some food or fix the streets…they think we are
stupid. Therefore, we take all they give us and we don’t vote… (14th December 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, Licha).
Thirdly, regarding to the presence of governmental institutions the informants told us
there were none.
‘…Government doesn’t have any idea we are here, so we have not any public office,
nor any center for health care…That it also why our women prefer give birth in the
traditional way, holding themselves to the mecate159 and half-standing…they feel very
much more safe…And if they wouldn’t give birth this way they should move to
Pinotepa Nacional and pay…which is not possible…In this way, we help togheter and if
somebody needs help, the other women take part of that process’ (14th December 2011,
El Ciruelo interview, Licha). In this context, it seems Afro-Mexicans are characterized
by the cooperation of the members of the settlements and they consider the absence of
any kind of governmental institution also a motive to perpetrate the interrelationships
between communities’ members.
‘…Because of the fact the Costa Chica is marginated, people is very united…they
always choose to help each other and if there is any problem, especially because of the
lack of health care services, they assure the in-group cooperation…Local culture and
traditions have thus the opportunity to be maintained…’ (05th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
By contrast, in the case of shools, there are some building that theoretically guarantee
the formal presence of the institution within the settlements, but the main problem we
can account for is oftenly the absence of teachers. In this way, even if the physical
structures do exist, they cannot be useful for the education of communities’ members.
159
The mecate is a rope, hanging from the crossbar supporting the roof. As for the Indians, women
hold themselves to the rope and give birth bending the knees. Among African tribes, women also do that
or they hold to a beam at the center of the hut. In this sense, the way through which women do this kind
of activity can be an elements of African identity, maybe unknown but very usual.
166
‘…Black people here are ignorant and we can also say that it is turning itself into a
concrete element for the recognition of Afro-descent population throughout Mexico.
When you see a black person in Mexico, you think she has no studies, so you will not
give her a job, nor trust her…is it fair they have to be classified as happy, nice,
fachosos160 persons and ignorant ones??...could be not better for them obtaining any
opportunity for see themselves as good as another, by avoiding any inferiority
complex?...If you ask me which is the effect of the lack of governmental institutions
within the Costa Chica, I can tell you that it negatively affects the self-perception of
identity blacks have and can produce in the future…It is a real problem we have to solve
as soon as possible…Being stigmatized and isolated create a sort of inferiority
perception of the self and people start to relate black identity to poverty, sickness,
ignorance and exclusion…While imposing those kind of negative elements on the
African identity within the Costa Chica, it also contributes to break down all those
characteristics we should impulse in richness and value for the definition of a plural
Mexican national identity…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria
Zafra, UABJO).
4. Self and Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features
The self-perception of Afro-Mexicans of the area comes to be even more interesting
and complex to study if we account for the phenotypic experience people acceded to
explain, especially about the concept they considered the most precise for the
identification of the black communities of the Costa Chica.
What it means is explaining how we should define settlers, by taking into account
their cultural and territorial roots (defining people as Mexicans with some kind of
African ancestry); assuming the fact they are clearly part of the national citinzenship
(enfatizing on “territorial location at birth”, and defining Costa Chica’s settlements as
Afro-Mexican); and accounting for some specific physical traits by arguing AfroMexicans are basically black.
In order to understand what people think about that, we analyzed three different core
points: self-identification; self-definition; and self-description. Where self-identification
explains the way through which people culturally locate themselves within a specific
symbolic universe equal or distinct to the general space of reference; self-definition
160
Fachoso is somebody who shows what he has, or pretend having. See note n.166, for further
information.
167
supposes explaining some specific characteristics based on physical and personality
aspects; and self-description refers specifically on aesthetic features that permit define
somebody having (or not) African origins.
I
In the case of self-identification people argued they were part of a black community
because all the members they belong to the same settlement were black. Therefore,
being part of the same community where everyone is black was a clear indicator they
were also.
By contrast, at the moment of asking which cultural element should have a person for
being considered African, Afro-descent, Afro-Mexican or black, they assured people
should have had a set of traditions that could be a clear signal of their origin. As argued
by an informant, ‘…my family has many traditions and many ways to express their
origin, as the food or the music. My grandmother also told us many histories about her
ancestry and, in her tales, she was always referring to Africa. She told us we are
different from other Mexicans but we are also Mexicans…it seems we are something
special…and we are different…so we are also separated from “the other”, being at the
same time part of a bigger culture…’ (21th December 2012, Collantes interview, Goño).
In this sense, it seems enquired people accept to be “different” from the general
cultural universe but they also look for a certain kind of identification that is established
thanks to some traditional parameters that highlight the presence of a symbolic space
requiring local cultural elements and claims. In this case, many people, especially
women argued the condition of blackness impose to them some kind of a priori
discrimination dynamic that allows others to obtain easier ways of living and better
daily conditions.
More then defining themselves as Morenos and “curly haired”, people also affirmed
black women are very “hard workers” and they are persons of “good feelings”. In this
context women associated the concept of “being black” also with discrimination. A
process that, in the case of gender definition, lies not only on being perceived as
“different” because of their physical features but also, and ‘…especially from white
women or Indian…because of the poverty of the face…You see, look at me…if you
look at me you can se somebody poor…not as an Indian…You can only see I’m really
poor…So are black women in Mexico…African people here are humiliated and it
comes to pass because of poverty…so they will be discriminated for ever…’ (21th
168
December 2012, Collantes interview, Lucha). In this sense, being African within the
Costa Chica seems to be a sort of synonym of poverty and discrimination, but also of
lazyness. ‘I don’t know why but people think blacks are lazy, they think we do nothing
and we are waiting for food. They don’t know nothing…we are always working…’
(21th December 2012, Collantes interview, Lucha).
In this context when people were asked to identify a black person, they associated the
concept mostly to “poverty” (0.7653), “discrimination” (0.7534) and “marginalization”
(0.6758). On the other hand, an Afro-Mexican is also “very happy” (0.8764),
“somebody always dancing” (0.7968) and “doing party” (0.7696), somebody “nice”
(0.6419) and physically “handsome” or “goodlooking” (0.5976)161.
This point seems to be very relevant.
Indeed, while people think Africans of the area are very happy people, on the other
side poverty, discrimination and marginality obtained a really hight lexicon index that
explains a concrete problem. So, if being happy can be understood as an element of a
“blackness-based personality” (Lesane-Brown, Brown, Caldwell & Sellers, 2005), being
poor should be assumed as a constant parameter of daily living that could affect very
much more then being a happy person or goodlooking.
This kind of relation intensifies when we relate the perception blacks has in relation
with Indians, where, enquired people admitted they are “good as other groups” but
possibly better (in certain aspect) to indigenous one. ‘…They thing we are in their
territory but we also arrived here many years ago…Is it fair they consider us dangerous
and should we live the land?...’ (20th December 2012, Santiago Tapextla interview,
Tive)162.
In the case of women, the problem is even harder, especially related with two points:
“being black” and “being female”. So, while it seems to be of African descent
161
Reference to these concepts has been captured through the Lexicon Questionnaire and thanks to the
“Identity and cultural change” and “Participation processes sections” of the Opinion Questionnaire . For
further information, see the “Introduction” of this work. Indicators show the preference of people, where
while as near as possible to 1.0, the indicator supposes the perfect correspondence between the preference
and the characteristic expressed by the person. In this case, we divided the positive and the negative
perceptions of people about “being African”. That’s why for example “poverty” has an indicator of
0.7653 and “happiness” of 0.8764. That fact doesn’t means people consider Afro-Mexican more happy
than poor by only that, in relation with positive of negative characteristics associated with blackness,
people considered the main negative element is the poverty and the best positive one is being happy.
162
Relations between blacks and Indians are not very good and, as posible, they do not mantain any
relation between them. The only contacts they possible have is during the trades when Indians and blacks
offer their products. Also in this occasion, the problems are many, especially in relation with prices. So
when Indians have better prices than blacks, blacks consider they (the Indian) want to take away their
business, and if blacks have better sales than Indians, those consider black being “tricky”.
169
necessarily means being poor and living under discrimination from an early age,
specifically because of not having enough resources to buy basic products or obtain a
good job to survive, it is observed discrimination suffered by the female gender not only
is based on having an African-ancestry or being poor, but precisely because of being
women. In their homes they face domestic violence and while recognizing that men are
more valuable to them, they argue that ‘…a good black woman has the obligation to
obey and serve her husband…It is not necessary violence, because we are very helpful
for them and even if you don’t believe me, they respect us…’ (14th December 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, Licha); in this sense domestic violence, while not being a perceived
problem by part of women it can also be understood as a sort of cultural element that
should allow us to indentify some kind of Afro-Mexican self-identification parameter.
II
Many of the enquired people consider the word black not being offensive, but they
also argued it was depending ‘…on the way you say it…Of course between us saying
for example pinche negro can be offensive or a signal of friendship. But if it comes
from you, you could have serious problems here…’ (21th September 2011, El Ciruelo
interview, Chano)163.
Others believe that black is not a good denomination and they prefer the word
Moreno (“brown”), even if, in general, it is possible to use both Afro-Mestizo and Afro-
Mexican.
In the first case, people accept the concept because ‘…they know they come from
Africa but they are also Mestizos. So the easiest way to understand them is the AfroMestizo concept…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
On the other hand, not everyone understands this notion of identity and they prefer
the word black, something they consider being ‘…very much more direct and clear to
identificate…physical traits…That fact would be very much more direct for the
understanding of African origin of local population, but for me it very explicative the
use of the word Mestizo …That supposes the three roots of Mexico, the European, the
163
The word pinche is very offensive but also very common in Mexican Spanish, and it can be used as
a demostration of confidence but also to verbally attack somebody. For example, in the street it is not
suggested to use it when the person to which we are referring is not known by us. On the contrary,
between friends practically it is an “each-five-words concept”. About the negative meaning of the word
we refer to Santamaría (2005: 853) and Ramos i Duarte (1895: 405). About the twofold senses (positive
and negative), consult the Académica Mexicana de la Lengua’s (2010: 465) Diccionario de
Mexicanismos.
170
Indian and the African…Nowhere people is racially pure, and less in Mexico…’ (20th
October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO).
So, because of the fact people is mixed-race, the individuals seem to accept being
denominated as Afro-Mestizos and they avoid the definition of Afro-descent. The
motive for that corresponds to the fact the most part of people has no education or a
very basic level of studies, so, while they perfectly understand the idea of negro
(“black”), African or Mestizo, they completely demonstrated not having incorporated
any idea of “ancestry” which could explain their African-descent origin. After the pilot
research, in the Opinion Questionnaire, all the questions related with the word Afrodescent were thus eliminated.
In this context, the easiest way to define Africans of the area is black and Morenos,
also if between them they use the word prieto which is much more explicative about
physical traits and color. ‘…It is not the same if you call somebody Moreno or
prieto…Moreno is more general and everybody here can be this way…but prieto is
used when somebody is really black. On the other hand, there are some people very
dark-skinned but their traits are Indian. So we call them prietos, not Morenos, because
Moreno has a much more important element of Africanness in itself….the Moreno is
normally “African-featured”, not only black…so when you say “that Moreno is very
prieto” that means the person you are talking about is practically African, in traits and
color...’ (21th September 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
In this sense, it is possible to be argued Moreno explains the physical way of being
(especially about color and traits) but it also suggests something about the African
origins (almost genetically speaking) the person shows.
By contrast, at the moment of introducing the concept of “Afro-Mexican”, people
demonstrated this was the idea they were looking for self-definition.
In fact, ‘…if we understand the black population here came from Africa we can use
the word Africans, and that could be enough fair in the moment they arrived, in 16th
century. But now? Do you think we can call us Africans? Do we speak any African
language or dialect? In Trinidad, for example we define us Afro-Trinidadian, exactly
because we came from Africa but we are Trinidadian…’ (05th November 2011, El
Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). So, as father Glynn suggested, they idea of
defining blacks of the Costa Chica has to have some really concrete meaning that could
not only identify people through their aesthetics, but also because of their way to be
citizens. Indeed, obtaining the recognition of some specific origins would be important
171
as long as it would also guarantee for this minority some kind of social, economic, or
political effect that could better its daily conditions. In this sense, it should be very
relevant defining blacks of the Costa Chica (and for extension of the whole Mexican
Republic) as Afro-Mexican.
The representation of the status could be thus embodied through two different
elements: nationality, explained by the Mexican definition; and “quality” of the
minority, expressed by its origin. ‘…It would be the same in the case of MexicanIndian…we all know when we talk about indigenous population we refer to indigenous
living in Mexico and we also know the Constitution of Mexico accounts for them as the
“basic” population of the country…so talking about Afro-Mexicans could be very
explicative of a specific sense of nationality which it also could be appropriated by part
of the Costa Chica’s settlers in order to create a membership way of recognition based
on their own communitarian way of recognition and the way of being Mexican offers to
them’ (Suárez Blanch, 1999).
So, while they were choosing predominantly between the words “blacks” or “blackMexican” (0.8549), or “Afro-Mestizo” (0.8761), the most important positive response
was achieved when asking for the correlation between self-definition and the word
Afro-Mexican, being almost the totality of the people choosing it as the best concept
defining them as Mexican citizens and African (0.9870).
Specifically for the case of women, they call themselves “brown” (Moreno) but also
“black” and they do not mind of being called that way. One woman explained: “…as we
are black, we cannot get angry when they call us his way!...What I want to make clear is
that there are many people who use the word black to humiliate and harm us…when
you know…we are also enough humiliated…Maybe, if they understand us as AfroMexicans we would have more chances to be integrated…’ (18th December, Collantes,
Tivis).
The motive because of which women define themselves Morenas is based on two
approaches: a physical and a psychological one.
In the first case the physical element explains not only the color but also the traits, as
the nose, the lips (what people call bemba ‒ literally “the mouth”) or the hair, they call
chino, not because of some kind of Chinese origin but only because in Mexican Spanish
chino “means curly” or “hardly wavy”.
In the second, if we talk about the psychological aspect of blackness within the Costa
Chica we refer specifically to the way through which Afro-Mexicans behave and
172
maintain hospitality. ‘…You know…black people is very good hearted people…We
want to get along with everyone, so when you come here you are always welcome…it is
really too bad we have nothing to give…Neverthless, nothing is left if you decide to
stay here…we will take care of you…[laughs]…You see, when you say Afro-Mexican
you understand a very nice part of Mexican culture, the most heartly one…’ (18th
December 2012, Collantes interview, Tivis).
III
About self-description we recollected the most interesting information about
perception among Afro-Mexicans.
In order to obtain a general picture about the topic we used a colorimeter , a research
instrument composed by two different cards with nine Mexican face-typologies on it,
ranging from the most distant to the closest to the African phenotype164.
The question the enquired persons were asked to answer corresponds to the section
“Identity and Cultural Change” of the Opinion Questionnaire, n.I, and it was organized
by gender.
The information was also associated with the results of the Lexicon Questionnaire,
where color was the first descriptor appearing to identify African roots, as in the case of
“dark” (0.8762), Moreno (0.8239), “dark-skinned” (0.7953), “black coastal” (0.7576),
normally associated with some proper physical traits as the “curly hair cuculustre” or
“puchungo”165. About physical traits, it is also noticed that people identified the AfroMexican as somedbody handsome, as in the case or the women, where informants said
‘…they couldn’t not being Morenas…’ (18th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview,
Chano). For example, many persons said most relevant elements of the female black
body are their “curves”, the “good body”, the “smooth skin”, and the “soft lips”. ‘…You
can also recognize a real good Morena from the way of her clothes…very sexy…But in
general everybody here is nice; people is very opened, but we can also be very
aggressive if you don’t respect us…they love dancing, singing, and they are very
fachosos166…That is also a problem…they use a lot of money to show themselves good
to the community. If you show your poverty it is a bad signal and people do not have
164
For the colorimeter see the section “Instruments”, at the end of the work, and the note n.176.
Cuculustre and puchungo are local words to say “curly”.
166
Fachoso refer to the word facha (the way how dressing), and it explains the elaboration in clothes,
especially when people try to show more than they really have, by using some expensive or showy
garment.
165
173
very much respect of you…And they are very worried about the perception people can
have because of their color…’ (18th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
About that fact, it is possible to distinguish between the perception men and women
have about that.
For what concerns to the men we asked them indicating which phenotype, among
those shown by the cards, was the one they would consider the most similar to theirs.
The options for choosing were between nine typologies of Mexican traits that included
the whitest phenotype to the closest to the African’s.
The most part of the men chose those figures which shown a darker complection than
the one the respondents effectively had, as in the case of the nose (the enquired people
indicated those noses which were the most African as possible), and the black “Afrohair”, even if theirs were not curly. In this case, the importance to account for selfdescription through aesthetics is rooted to the phycological meaning of recognition.
Members of local black communities can choose to define themselves justifying their
election thanks to what some social-phycologists define forced-choice design. This kind
of phenotypic selection and self-attribution is normally related with culture through two
motives: a theoretical and an empirical one.
Forced-chose impulses emotions to take the place of a natural chategory that evolves
depending on individuals and their life problems and evoluting or maintaining some
kind of socially appreciated way of respecting aesthetics or general choices (Ekman,
1992; Izard, 1994, Russell, 1980). Which it means is that people, while choosing to
define themselves as black, white, Mulattoes, Indian, Mestizo or whatever else racial
chategory, they also take into account what “the others” may think about them and the
choice they made (Izard, 1994; Vásquez & Wetzel, 2009). On the other hand, as an
empirical effect of such decision responds to the emotional answer people have
regarding self-defining through a socially respected way of definition or a not usual one.
In this case, some individuals choose to define themselves as they consider they are;
others choose to identify their aesthetics depending on the social status those kinds of
phenotypic features attribute to them.
In the case of Afro-Mexicans it is possible to split the perceptions and the
attributions of the phenotypes depending on gender. Moreover, it seems depending also
on the expectations and social roles traditionally attributed to men and women within
black communities of the area. So, if in the first case being black can be considered an
174
element of pride and a socially valued status, in the second, it can harms social actors
and also impulse the denigration of their original social position.
More in detail, for men, the confirmation of their African identity was a sort of
socially empowerment they must highlight in order to obtain a sort of in-group
recognition. In this way, they considered to achieve a sort of membership exclusively
anchored to the place they were belonging and referred to some kind of remembrance,
which, against national frame, could work as a specific way to guarantee their locally
grounded cultural security.
By contrast, in the case of women, they were tended to choose a “less-African”
phenotype, especially in the case of the hair, by indicating those women reported on the
cards that were clearly more similar to an indigenous or Mestizo phenotype.
The motives for that (we will explain it in detail in the next chapter) are twofold.
Women have to assume their condition of being part of the female gender (Woodward,
2004), fact that guarantees them suffering the discrimination and the prejudice within
their community, and the reality of being black, so meaning facing the discrimination
and marginality within the civil society.
‘…You can see me…I’m black, and I’m a woman…if I stay in my village I have to
be a good wife, accepting the queridas 167 and serving my husband…if I go outside I
also have to accept people looking at me as I was a stranger…They really don’t make
me feel Mexican…’ (17th December 2011, Collantes interview, Maya).
Now, color is not the only element people consider relevant to describe themselves,
but also the way through which they feel, assuming they have to admit their ancestry
and their doubtless African origin.
That’s why many people feel themselves “black”, more than Afro-Mexican; ‘…not
because of the color but in reason of the cultural aspects of the “black race”, which is
acquired through rescuing all those African values, as the sense of community, the fact
of sharing the festivities and the food, the musical traditions, the aesthetiscs…’ (18th
December 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Necho).
This vision of Africanness seems to be very effective for self-identification of the
settlers and it also offers to them a twofold way of consider blackness within the area. In
the first case, we refer to a sort of advantageous position that allows people having
167
The concept of querida refers to the lovers of the husband. The wife has to accept their presence
and it is a legitimated element for the manteneance of the African traditions of matrilineality and
matriarchy. It will be deeply explained in the next chapter. See also the section Some Kind of African
Wedding? (Part I, 129-130).
175
enough confidence in both their traditional and cultural component, and modus vivendi,
for “not regretting” of being black. ‘…Neverthless the biggest problem of our aesthetic
is that because of it we have no opportunity for studying, we have no economic
resourses and no institutional help…Of course, I do not consider that being black is a
bad thing, because our identity is not negatively affected by that, but the others have
many prejudices…in the case of indigenous population, for example, they are well
known everywhere and the Constitution of Mexico has a special mention for them…but
what about us?...When you talk with somebody out of the Costa Chica and you tell him
something about blacks in Mexico he looks at you and it seems really he does not
known even we exist…it is sad…white people has much more visibility…They can
participate in term of politics, but it is this way because blacks have no collective
consciousness and they are not organized…(05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview,
father Glynn Jemmoth).
On the other hand, being Afro-Mexican has also many advantages that, as argued by
the informants, supposes having “a rich and important history” (0.8642), “living in good
climate conditions” (0.6341), “being strong” (0.5465), having “good blood” (0.5389). In
this sense, they consider themselves lucky of having some environmental and physical
conditions that other supposedly do not enjoy. But then, how Afro-Mexicans see the
others?
In order to understand the perception black have about all those are not part of their
communities but live within the territory within which they also belong, we asked our
informant about discrimination, racism and the “quality” perceived by part of Africans
of the other ethnies of the area (Leverette, 2009; Lewis, 2000; Nutini, 1997).
It seems that blacks are also discriminatory but it depends on the fact “the others” are
against them, so they turn themselves into somebody racist. As we said, an informant
argued that ‘…when they discriminate me, they make me racist…so I answer that it is
better being black than Indio…For example, when I go to Pinotepa Nacional people
don’t want me to give a job, because they think we are lazy, so I tell them I’m not
Indian and when I ate I don’t go away168…’ (15th November 2011, Collantes interview,
Doña Lucha).
168
In many countries of Latin America, as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador (or, in general, in those
countries which show the most extended number of indigenous population) there is a saying reciting Indio
comido, Indio ido (“the Indian who has eaten, is already gone”). The meaning of the saying is that Indians
take advantage of the situations and they naturally seek to obtain the biggest profit without any effort.
176
In the case of discrimination, the informants argued that it is not needed to go outside
the villages. ‘…Your same people discriminates you because of your color…especially
when somebody black goes to work for a Mestizo…they don’t pay us in time because
they say we know how to survive without money…that is a need or a quality, not a
must!...the Moreno is also discriminated if he goes to a public school because he can’t
buy an uniform or some good shoes…or he has nothing to eat at the lunch breake…’
(16th November 2011, Collantes interview, Doña Tive). ‘…The worst of all is that if we
meet a good girl or a stranger your family is not always happy for you. I remember a
nice girl I was talking with…my family told me we saw bad togheter; not because they
didn’t want me to stay with her. It was because if somebody of your own community
meets you or sees you with someone güero they think you want to go away and you are
using her or him for having a document…only because they think she comes from the
gabacho169;…they also say we…[blacks]…look bad near to a white person…’ (16th
November 2011, Collantes interview, Maya). This also explains that the foreigner is
very much more opened; ‘…they come here and they shake hands with us…they
understand we are different and they respect us…so we prefer the gabacho…’ (16th
November 2011, Collantes interview, Maya).
Therefore, the general perception of Afro-Mexicans is that the Governent does not
pay attention to them because they are black. ‘…The Government comes here and, after
asking to the community what is needed and they give them “white elephants”…they
make a boulevard when people here do not have even drenaige or water…’ (05th
November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). A problem of blackness
that is seems also being clear in the case of education. In fact, a professor working in a
local school said ‘…Morenos are not discriminated, they are just a little bit slower than
the others…when indigenous children are faster than blacks but slower than Mestizos…
(16th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Carmen).
Finally ‘…people have a very bad conception of themselves…They think they are
stupid, as in the case of a woman who came to me complaining about the opportunity
she had to obtain a job…She was saying she wouldn’t have any opportunity because of
169
Gabacho is a pejorative word for a person who comes from the United States or who has explicit
occidental traits. Its origin is from the Catalan gavatx (“foreigner”), and it was probably interiorized by
the Mexicans because of the Spanish conquest. Therefore, it is practically impossible to find this concept
outside Mexico or the United Stated where it is used for definine Chicanos, those Mexicans who are born
in the United States and they speak predominantly English, oftently avoiding the Spanish language. By
the other side, güero means white-haired, and it refers especially to the phenotype. The güero can be also
Mexican and it has not a negative connotation. See Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (2001)
and Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (2010: 241).
177
being black, but finally she got the work…Black people here are so oppressed by the
stereotype the others have against them they stopped to struggle…They feel themselves
less good than others, so often they do not even try to move on…’ (05th November
2011, El Ciruelo, father Glynn Jemmoth).
178
Chapter IV
The Importance of Oaxaca’s Black Women in the Construction of Local African
Identity
179
180
1. A Problem of Gender
The problem of recognition of African identity within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca
comes to be even more complex and difficult to be analized when we take into
consideration the gender perspective related with the socio-cultural role the women
have for the manteneance of traditions, family unity and communities’ membership.
In this context, the woman represents actually the most important member of the
family in terms of monetary resources, education, traditional events, and communitarian
interrelationships (especially directed to the collaboration between members of different
villages). By contrast, men consider women ‘…not so important as it is said…they work
a lot, so do we...I don’t understand why people say we [the men] do nothing...we have
the right also to stay with friends…if women also go there to talk with their friends or I
don’t known with who or doing what…who takes care of the house?...’ (21th September
2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano). In this sense, Afro-women of the Costa Chica
suffer a chronic sort of marginalization that goes much more beyond a masculine power
socially recognized as a legitimated cultural element. It also turns itself into a concrete
modus vivendi that conditions both the real and the potential importance women have or
could have in terms of family care, resourses, or the manteneance of ancestral African
traditions. In this way, women seem not to be relevant for the definition of a certain
kind of black identity, throught the area, and they better come to be considered actors
that ‘…sometimes it is very difficult to being related with (21th September 2011 El
Ciruelo interview, Chano). ‘…Black women are very difficult…they are critic and they
want to have everything under control…we have to say something about where we go,
with whom we are going, what are we going to do…but finally it never works this
way…’ (21th September 2011 El Ciruelo interview, Chano). Moreover, this kind of
marginalization embodies the clearest example the 2nd article of the Mexican
Constitution represents a color-blind document, which seeks for legitimating
homogeneity over pluralism (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos ,
art.2)170.
By contrast the “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of
Oaxaca” (Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca ) takes
into account the presence of black population but it doesn’t specify any kind of special
right for black women of the area (and Afro-descents in general). Such political position
170
About the concept of color-blind Constitution we refer to Kymlicka & Norman (2000), Kymlicka
(1994, 1996a), Zwart (2005), and Wallerstein (2003).
181
contributes increasing women exclusion within both the communities and the national
civil society171. In the first case, men attribute to women a socio-cultural subordinated
status that creates a gender stigmatization within the settlements. In the second, being
black and woman impulse an explicit a priori discrimination, also among who is not
taking part into the local African communities, using some kind of sub-Saharan
traditional way of being, nor showing any black-origin physical trait.
In order to analize the dynamic of recognition among Afro-Mexican settlements of
the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, accounting for the importance women have currently for the
production and mantainence of the African identity within the area, we took into
account a twofold perspective. A theoretical approach based on the concepts of shared
justice, race and African-gender identity (Woodward, 2004), and an empirical one
which allows us to explain why we consider women being central for African identity
construction within the area (Suárez Blanch, 1999).
First, we used the information obtained thanks to 120 Opinion Questionnaries aimed
at registering some specific elements of self-perception, sense of membership, selfracial identification. Secondly, we applied 15 In-depht Interviews chosen through a
“snowball sampling” among female population. In this case, we analized daily
171
The decree referring to the modification of the Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades
Indígenas de Oaxaca – “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” − was
established on 13th-14th May 2013, and today guarantees the formal “existence” and protection for
indigenous and Afro-descent communities. ‘…The state of Oaxaca has an ethnic-plural composition
supported by the preponderance of its indigenous peoples and communities whose cultural and historical
roots intertwine with Mesoamerican civilization ones; they speak their own language; they have occupied
their territories continuously and permanently, within which they have built their specific cultures, which
is what internally identifies and differentiates them from the rest of the state’s population. These peoples
and communities have their existence before the formation of the State of Oaxaca itself and they were the
base for its political and territorial conformation, so they have their social rights recognized by this Law.
This Law recognizes the following ab origine ethnies: Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos, Chinantecos,
Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixes, Mixtecos, Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos
and Zoques, and their related communities. This Law also protects Afro-Mexican communities and
indigenous people belonging to any minority coming from other states of the country and, for any reason,
reside within the territory of the State of Oaxaca…’. Literally the 2nd article of the Ley de Derechos de los
Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca recites «…El Estado de Oaxaca tiene una composición
étnica-plural sustentada en la presencia mayoritaria de sus pueblos y comunidades indígenas cuyas raíces
culturales e históricas se entrelazan con las que constituyen la civilización mesoamericana, hablan una
lengua propia; han ocupado sus territorios en forma continua y permanente; en ellos han construido sus
culturas específicas, que es lo que los identifica internamente y los diferencía del resto de la población del
Estado. Dichos pueblos y comunidades tienen existencia previa a la formación del Estado de Oaxaca y
fueron la base para la conformación política y territorial del mismo, por lo tanto tienen los derechos
sociales que la presente Ley les reconoce. Esta Ley reconoce a los siguientes pueblos indígenas:
Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos, Chinantecos, Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos,
Mixes, Mixtecos, Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos y Zoques, así como a las comunidades indígenas que
conforman aquellos. Esta Ley protegerá también, a las comunidades afromexicanas y a los indígenas
pertenecientes a cualquier otro pueblo procedentes de otros estados de la República y que por cualquier
circunstancia, residan dentro del territorio del Estado de Oaxaca».
182
activities, gender relationships, and social position of women within the settlements.
The main result we obtained combines individual perceptions about the problem of
female cultural role within the area, caractherizing the Afro-Mexican woman and her
importance for the definition of a unique African identity of settlers (Lewis, 1995).
While accounting for social and cultural local dynamics, by taking into account the
problems of exogamy, residence and organization of resources, it will be central the
interpretation of gender relations, studied through the principles of shared justice and
equity (Kopytoff, 1977; Rawls, 1971). Which it means emphasizing how women
represent some kind of potential development of the matrilineal principle, analyzing
how the family organization is built up, and accounting for the capability of AfroMexican women of the area in producing a certain level of informal power that could
obtain enought traditional relevance to reduce (or at least contain) males’ control within
the settlements.
The objective of the analisis is twofold. By one hand, we show the role of women
related with social organization, recognition and socio-cultural power; by the other, we
will try to “rescue” a gender image that not only suffered the social pressure caused by a
clear “hierarchical institutionalization” of the masculine gender but also an important
increasement of stigma, forgetfulness and racial prejudice.
2. Between Matriarchy and Matrilineage
As it was mentioned, the settlements occupying the area of Jamiltepec District,
within the Oaxaca State, represent the territories with the most national high levels of
discrimination, exclusion and poverty (CONAPRED, 2006)172. Therefore, if
marginalization limits the presence of Afro-Mexican minority of the Costa Chica in the
labor market and among social civic society, this level of discrimination seems to be
even much more present in the case of the local sub-group of women. Indeed they
‘…suffer a doble way of discrimination that explains why African people of the coast
are not really able to emerge in national economy…We are continuously stigmatized
because we are women…and when we go to ask for a job they do not recognize us,
because we are black…’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview,
Doña Leti). But ‘…it is unfair because we normally do all the family need…we give
some education to our children, and to those who are not ours’173…We are the economy
172
173
See note n.3.
The reference is to the children of the querida .
183
and the work of the family, and we carry on family traditions…so why should it be this
way?...’ (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo Armenta interview, Doña Ceci).
In this sense, African women of the area seem to represent the most relevant actors in
the dynamic of a local identity costruction, and they perpetrate the relevance the study
of gender social position and presence within Costa Chica settlements has for our study.
Because of that, Afro-Mexican settlements of the area are also important because of
the central role they respresent for the organization and local representativeness of Afrodescent culture throughout the Costa Chica. They also contribute to analyze both inter
and intra familiar dynamics that, in the case of women, allow us to analize the local
gender-identity together with the potential recognition of blackness for female
population within the region.
In order to measure the importance of women for Afro-Mexican identity we are not
limited by presenting the situation as an element of a socio-cultural ethnographic
description of traditions and uses. Beyond that, this vision of Afro-Mexicans allows us
to advantageously use the information came from the study of inter-gender relations,
social role women develop within the communities, and dynamics of integrationexclusion. Which it means analyzing cultural power of women and the potential it has
for being part of a direct family heritage.
In general, the discussion of matriarchy and matrilineality has its roots with classic
anthropological studies of Bronislaw Malinowki, an intellectual production which
establishes a pricise theoretical difference between the concepts and a dichotomous
relationship between a per sé “feminine power” (embodied by dynamics of matriarchy)
and a sort of “by-descent gender inheritance” (also known as matrilineality)
(Malinowski, 1924)174.
In the first case, creating channels of values production by part of women produces a
sort of gender power decision established by a porous social structure that, while giving
to women a total and indiscriminated power related with cultural and physical presence
in the family, it does not ignores the role men held in a certain community. In the
second, the concept refers to the legitimacy of female inheritance as a symbol of an
imaginary, but constant, heritage line throughout family generations (Aberle, 1961;
Bloch & Sperber, 2002; Fortes, 1970). This kind of heritage provides women with an
undisputed cultural power, built on an informal local family presence ‒ by imposing the
174
About the topic, see also, Bachofen (1973), Bloch & Sperber (2002), and Knight (2007).
184
family name of the mother to the sons and doughters, despite the importance the word
of the husband or brothers has within the socio-cultural context (Beckerman &
Valentine, 2002) ‒ or ensured by the institutional existence and inheritance of natural
children or acquired that are part of the household in which a certain woman is
recognized as the legitimated producer and receiver of the lineage.
The socio-cultural effect of this process is represented by the following three
elements.
First, by assuming the role of a privileged actor in terms of development and
maintenance of a matrilineal pattern, the woman also has to assume the existence of a
certain kind of structural patrilocal presence. She would so retain her own kinship,
matrilineally recognized.
Secondly, the matrilineality ensures the power associated to the lineage of the
woman within a certain territory. Depending on that, descendants of the matriarchal
family, underlying the socio-cultural household headed by that same woman, may suffer
a territorial displacement of the members of the local cultural group who take part into
what anthropologists define matri-sib, meaning, in a matrilineal system, the cultural
group of reference. These dynamics lead to a dispersion of social actors belonging to a
certain group and the loss of the matriarchal power, within the original territory (Fox,
1967; Keesing, 1975; Kopytoff, 1977).
Finally, the woman who has adquired a certain level of local matriarchal power must
underlie to exogamy dynamics. In this case, according to Murdock (1949: 211), because
it is not based on a strict territorial relationship, it may lead to the loss of matrilineality
itself. By contrast, if the endogamy is maintained, or if the exogamy is lost, matrilineal
descent will endure, despite of potentially contradictory local cultural rules (Murdock,
1949).
Therefore, on one hand, this dynamic represents a potential problem to the internal
organization of the groups headed by the woman − suggesting the presence of an
internal sort of disharmony which could create some kind of determinants cultural
inconsistencies (Murdock, 1959b: 135) or impose a new way of unstable and mutable
socio-cultural identity negotiation (Murdock, 1959a: 31-32). On the other side, it
suggests that, as in the Bantu tribes (Richards, 1950; Shapera, 1941; Herskovits, 1938:
I.260), the woman stays at home, exercising its power over children (natural or
acquired), and the man keep practicing his exogamy within cultural groups far or
structurally distinct from the matrilineal original household. In this way ‘…we do not
185
never know where our husband is or with who, or doing what…moreover it is not
proper asking him about that…he would probably get ungry. Anyway…why asking for
that if we all know what they are doing… (04th November 2011, Santo Domingo
Armenta interview, Doña Ceci).
So, while this process creates a socio-cultural tension that potentially limits the
legitimacy of female power, it also allows a twofold dynamic.
On one side, women impose their authority, by representing who is in charge of both
the children’s education and protection, and the household organization.
On the other, and echoeing Héritier (1996: 210), local matriarchy is built not only as
a undisputed female power, but it also suggests most respected rights are not those who
should head the relation of matriarchy itself, but who are their spouses.
So, even due women has the most relevant role regarding their family socio-cultural
position, men ‘…just feel themselves superior’ (Vendrell Ferré, 2002: 33). It also means
that matrilineality should solve the problem of equality, a subjectivist position that
conceives identity as the result of some special personal disposition rejecting the role of
the social environment (Larraín, 2000), and the principle of shared justice. A sociocultural practice whose main importance, attributed to the subject of representation of
rights, turns itself into a “gender-problem” that actually doesn’t matters to women, but it
is much more representative of a specific masculine power affirmation.
In this sense ‘…masculine population comes always to be very much more valued
than female is, as in the case of social programs where men obtain generally the most
attention by part of ONGs or civil associations…It should be really usefull understand
women are empirically important for the communities. So it would also be possible to
change the masculine vision of the world, actually predominating throughout the area’
(05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth).
The problem of role of women within the Afro-Mexican settlements of the area is
thus far to be solved.
3. Social Position, Exclusion and Female Cultural Power
In order to define the role of women in terms of matrilineality and matriarchy within
the African communities of the Costa Chica, we took into account three different and
complementary variables: the residence (associated with aesthetic perception); the
exogamy; and the organization of family’s resources.
186
3.1. Residence and Aesthetic Perception
The dynamic of residence refers to the place where a woman lives and cares of the
family, no matter what her origins (within the coast) or aesthetic features are. In this
sense we can affirm ‘…women are allowed to move across the Costa Chica taking part
of different villages even if their physical traits are not referring to a specific Africandescent…’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn Jemmoth). In this
way, and especially referring to women, residence is not limited to a geographically
restricted area, but it also guarantes a sort of territorial mobility that allows potential
members of community not necessarily being caractherized by an explicit way of
recognizing aesthetics. So the structure of kinship is not only determined by a sort of
tribal lineage, which determines social roles, the use of socially accepted norms, beliefs
and traditions or aesthetic perception within the settlements. It also come to be
constituted through a mixing process being responsible for giving to the problem of
African female gender of the area, a multiple origin175.
On one hand, being a woman supposes a certain kind of an a priori discrimination
degree that casts some doubts on the local matrilineality. On the other side (the positive
one), it suggests women carry the aesthetic-cultural genes allowing local African
population perpetrating within the area and under certain socio-cultural conditions.
So, while women are discriminated because of their female identity, they are also
who ‒ for natural reasons ‒ allow the physical existence of members and who ‒ taking
care of the children (natural or adquired) ‒ aim to conserve ancestral cultural traits
distributed between an explicit local Africanness and an undeneible syncretism (Miller,
1992).
Finally, based on the determination of African aesthetic features, or depending on the
skin tone of women, they perpetrate the ancestral African traditions with more or less
intensity.
Thus, in the households where the “dominant” woman has a darker complexion,
musical tradition, food and basic behavioral traits will be a clear result of a de facto
African ancestry. By contrast, in the families whose dominant woman will be
175
The “multiple origin” of African female identity refers both to many variables taking place into this
social dynamic (like stereotype, skin color and the gender itself) and the mixing process Afro-Mexicans
underwent throughout the centuries. The topic was discussed previously, through the first section of the
work. We refer to CONAPRED (2006), Martínez Montiel (2000) and Velásquez & Iturralde Nieto
(2012), for further information.
187
characterized by lax or indefinite African physical traits, traditions, norms, and the use
of sub-Saharan customs would be less176.
So, ‘…to identify Afro-Mexicans within the Costa Chica area, characterization of
physical features becomes relative. By contrast, it can only be established a criterion of
categorical allocation including some more or less explicit African features, or the
presence of a more or less intense skin color’177. In this sense, and especially associated
to phenotypic representation, customs and folk traditions are composed of hybrid
elements that, while dating back to African roots of sub-Saharan Mexican population,
they also account for the many cultural influences accross the centuries impulsed the
modification of their beliefs, socio-cultural normative reproduction patterns and habitus.
Today, they contribute to justify not only the principle of cultural and racial diversity
that actually characterizes the local black communities. They also feed (and
occasionally accelerate) a process of loss of identity and creates specific conditions of
exclusion and social marginalization, by reinforcing the presence of a very strong
phenotypic stigma that ‘…evidences the existence of unequal interethnic relations and
racial discrimination…’ (González Manrique, 2006: n.p.)178, aimed at favoring the
presence of ‘…an outrageous privilege based on color…’ (González Manrique, 2006:
n.p.)179, and referring to some status of “good presence” (Link & Phelan, 2001; Major &
O’Brien, 2005).
176
In order to understand women aesthetic self-image we included into the local survey a question
about the perception they have, especially referring to skin color, hair complexion, nose and lips. The
information was captured by a colorimeter , a card with nine Mexican typical faces on it ‒ including
European, Indian, African and all mixed cathegories like Mestizo , Mulato, Mulato claro (“light Mulatto”),
Mulato oscuro (“dark Mulatto”). Surveyed people had to choose one of the faces shown in order to point
out which was the skin color and aestethic traits they considered the most similar to theirs. Very little
women expressed their opinion in order to affirm their African descent, while the most part of them (111
“surveyed” on 120) considered to express a very light self-perception of their black ancestry, by choosing
the images which were as farther from the African phenotype as possible, even when their aesthetics
clearly suggested some kind of sub-Saharan origin. By contrast, men chose stronger skin tones, even if
their skin wasn’t. The motive for such behavior explains women look for a “betterment of their status”,
being their condition doubly discriminatory and marginalizing. Being female, puts them in a situation of a
lower social status within their community. Being black limits them especially regarding job
opportunities and territorial mobility outside the locally recognized African areas. The colorimeter is
reported in the “Instruments” annex.
177
“...para la identificación estética de los afro mexicanos de la zona, la caracterización de los rasgos
físicos llega a ser relativo y sólo es posible establecer un criterio de asignación categórica que incluye la
presencia de características africanas más o menos marcadas, o la presencia de un color de la piel más o
menos intenso…”. Words of the Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea, member of the Casa Hánkili África
organization, holder of the África A.C. civil association, leader of the José María Morelos settlement,
near Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca. The declaration was heard on 18th November 2011, at the Casa Hánkili
África national forum, México City.
178
«demuestra...la existencia de relaciones interétnicas desiguales y de discriminación racial».
179
«escandaloso…privilegio fundado en el color».
188
Because of that, ‘…despite the prejudice and stigmatization, and being “objectively
black” considered an innecessary element for mutual recognition within the settlements,
skin color is associated with a specific form of self-building of phenotypic traits,
through which we identify race. So defining Mexican Africanness only through
aesthetics becomes an extremely unprecise way to understand our real origin. Now
people are much more conscious of their descent and they want to be recognized as
blacks but also as Mexicans…’180.
In this context, black-Mexican women of the area do not consider the differentiation
of skin tones and physical features as a right-property based on a cultural continuity
aimed at preserving a kind of idiosyncratic uniqueness of the settlements. By contrast,
the idea of blackness came to represent a principle of recognition self-perceived and
shared by the members of the groups, and color is understood as an empathic cultural
heritage181. A heritage built on a certain kind of potential historical memory (Izard
Martínez, 2005) that could be also understood as a process whose concreteness comes to
be proved by an undeniable mixed phenotypic aestethic (a physical evidence of Africanorigin settlers), and the degree of the sense of membership individuals show within the
communities. Thus, being considered “black”, Morena or prieta , does not depends
primarily on physical traits of individuals, but on a visual perception corresponding just
to an “added” cultural complement of a more general principle of “Mexicanity”, and
actually helping to define the limits of the African identity within the area182. In this
way ‘…it comes to be very much more important having a right female actitude based
on the conscience a black woman has to attend to the needs of the community she
belongs to or to the man she is “tied” with…’ (28th October 2011, El Ciruelo interview,
Chano).
180
“…a pesar del prejuicio y la estigmatización, y ser “objetivamente negro” un elemento no
imprescindible para el reconocimiento mutuo dentro de los asentamientos, los miembros de las
comunidades asocian el color de la piel con una forma específica de auto construcción fenotípica – a
través de la cual identifican la idea de raza. Entonces, definir la africanía mexicana representa un método
extremadamente impreciso para entender nuestro origen. Ahora las personas son mucho más concientes
de su descendencia y quieren ser reconocidos como negros pero también como mexicanos”. The citation
is part of the declaration of Prof. Israel Reyes Larrea at the 18th November 2011 Casa Hánkili África
national forum in México City (see note n.177).
181
Words of Antonio, México Negro local ONG member, heard on 18th November 2011, at the
national fórum Casa Hánkili África , Mexico City.
182
Because of its many uses and areas within which it is applied, the concept of Moreno is ambiguos.
Among Afro-Mexicans it can be understood as an indefinitely “dark” person, but it can also be referred to
somebody aestetically similar to a South-European, like a South-Italian, Spanish from Andalusia, or an
Arab. In turn, prieto expresses a very similar “sub-Saharan modality” of skin color. So while “black” is
generally used for identifying somebody similar to an African, Moreno and prieto are chosen depending
on the subjective perception of the person who is going to define somebody else. See section Self and
Mutual Perception of Aesthetic and Psychological Features (Part II, pp.170-173).
189
Now, if we consider the residence of the spous, the problem is characterized by a
certain type of masculine behavior directed to women and children who share the same
household183.
In this context, man can choose between endogamy and exogamy, respectively
understood as monogamy and polygamy184.
In the first case, the husband or partner will stay closer to home, without seeking
another potential family, and contributing to the dynamics of matriarchy (not
matrilineality), headed by the woman he would been cohabiting with.
In the second, the man will be responsible for creating a potential household, beyond
the one his wife would have been heading. In this case, while the matrilineal conduct
(characterized by the empirical predominance exercise of some specific patriarchal
rights) will be developed, men will decide where living and with whom (at their will),
with his wife, with the querida , or in a third house, close or far from the first one
(information taken from the 28th October 2011 discussion, in El Ciruelo, with Chano).
Now, if we consider the third aspect, the residence of children, we will take into
account a twofold perspective: natural children living under the household headed by
the “dominant” woman, and the children born thanks to the exogamic relation between
the husband and the querida , and accepted (or not) by part of the wife.
In this case, if the woman decides to consider the children of the relationship of the
husband as her own sons, they will live in the mother’s house. Therefore, while acepting
the existence of an exogamous relationship by part of her husband, she will indirectly
invalidate the queridas’s matrilinage.
By contrast, if the “dominant” woman won’t accept the coexistence of the querida ’s
children, the querida will obtain the opportunity to marry the husband of the dominant
“woman” (being that allowed by part of the community) and she will start her own
matrilinage line. When the man will do not want to marry her or she wouldn’t permit it,
the children will decide living with their natural mother, with the adcquired one or in a
third place, independently.
183
Especially referring to in-group behavior see Tajfel (1978b).
Despite of being aware the concepts differ in quality and specificity, we refer to monogamy and
polygamy as the potential effects of both endogamy and exogamy, within diasporic African communities.
Indeed, in the context where man has to respect the exogamy of the group he belongs to, the possibility of
creating a household outside the original family his wife (or querida ) and natural children are part of
increase. By the contrary, in an endogamic community, being the interfamiliar union accepted, the man
won’t “need” creating a new family. For a classic definition of totemism and exogamy, we refer to Lang
(1907).
184
190
3.2. Exogamy
If we refer to the problem of exogamy within Afro-Mexican settlements of the Costa
Chica, we assume these communities are not only characterized by an identity that
allows local culture to be ascribed to a symbolic recognition dynamic, based on a
Taylorian collective imaginary, built on a static idea of community culture, tacitly
admiting its ancestral African origin185. The dynamics of syncretism and “gendered”
social relationships underlying the problem, also allow us to admit a sort of Geertzian
theoretical reliability, and guarantee a strictly semiotic local African culture186. Thus,
the exogamic kinship structure characterizes family groups and their way to “weave” ingroup relationships, without forgetting the effect of what Frazer defined a guarantee for
peaceful coexistence and matrilineality within socio-cultural tribal environments
(Frazer, 1910). That fact imposes a clear diversification of social roles, allows local
families being separated into sub-categories, and imposes to avoid intermarriage,
meaning associating and dissociating the family members depending on some
bloodlines-distance relations.
Thus, community members feed the exclusivity between familiar potential sexual
relationships, and seek, when polygamy is given (quite common within the area and
generally into disporic African culture) the non-conjunction of direct children and
uncles, among acquired children, or between children and any relative. By dividing the
households on the base of the matrilineal descent characterizing them, men have to
choose their female partners (for marriage or sexual relations) from other communities,
even perpetrating the original family relationships. While allowing polygamy separated
by endogamy, this practice ensures exogamy within the community.
In this context, the role of women is twofold: on one hand, as natural and normative
space of production for social norms, she holds the family unity; on the other,
185
Tylor's interpretation of the concept of culture refers to an explicitly anthropological-evolutionist
theoretical position. In its ethnographic sense, the concept was synonymous of a sort of “traditional
universality” and it was defined as the whole set of customs, which includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law, and any other skills acquired by the man as a member of a society. For further information,
see Tylor (1865, 1871, 1881, 1975).
186
About Clifford Geertz’s perspective it refers to the thick description , based on Gilbert Ryle’s
philosophical though, and constructed on the base of a psychological and gestural cultural approach.
Social actors are creators and receivers of signs and symbols used within a certain social environment
and, depending on how such environment has been established, the meaning of culture and its derivatives
are fed by those same meanings and symbols social dynamic imposes by obligation or election on a new
set of evaluative and normative local patterns. If this signification is public and it explores the
significance of culture, the logical conclusion of the syllogism is the interpretation of culture is public,
precisely because significance is. See Geertz (1992).
191
matrilineality represented by the female gender, serves as a separator between the
households and between social relationships she enables or limits.
Each group constituting the local socio-cultural environment is so ideally divided
into two parts, with all children of the same mother assigned to the same part, and men
of every one of them required to have a wife who does not belong to the group of which
these are involved (Frazer, 1910). In this way ‘…men can be a little bit more
controlled…if we do not do that, they try with everybody…they have no control…in
this way we have very much more option to impose our position and demonstrate we
are also here…(29th October 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Doña Lucha). The
communities’ brothers and sisters should not then underlie to the direct family
relationship (which in some sporadic cases allows endogamy) but they only and
exclusively come to be ruled by the exogamy of the group.
Thus, the exogamic structure of the community will be maintained and, in the future,
promote the permanence of a habitus of territorial respect. ‘…Image if everybody have
sex with evebody else!…our children are also the children a women living into another
village or city…or I do not know…If we also have some control about territory and
mobility, so do the men. We have the right to be respected…for example, if a man goes
to another settlement his wife knows why, and this is accepted, they [other women] are
the queridas, and that is controlled…if we do not know who the queridas are or how
much queridas they have…the situation is different and it is not right…’ (29th October
2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Doña Lucha).
So, on one hand, the territorial respect will be directed to organize families and
children of “dominant” women. On the other, it would also guarantee the legitimacy of
the position of predominance of women, and it will be understood as a communitarian
figure allowing separation of family lineage, without avoiding cultural ties between
parts the community comes to be divided into (Díaz Pérez, 2003; Gutiérrez Ávila, 1997;
Foster, 1944).
The effect of this dynamic is double. Firstly, local socio-cultural context comes to be
modified by allowing a partial persistence of ancestral African traditions over time and
transversely between families producing the social context of reference. Meaning that
both creating some standard normative parameters or traditional cultural rules and
perpetrating the cultural syncretism expressed by some specific traditions and
192
festivities, as in the case of dance, or music (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989)187. Secondly,
because of being the bearers of internalized norms among members of communities,
women will be socio-culturally respected, and the perpetrating of matrilineal family
relationship in the future will be granteed.
3.3. Resources Organization
Regarding the organization of resources, it is necessary to analyze three different
types of them: production resources (depending on activities developed inside and
outside the households); “human resources”, specifically related with education of
children (natural and acquired); monetary resources (managed by women in order to
reduce family’s costs caused by men’s alcohol consumption).
In the first case, women are the productive conjunction between families and create
better living conditions, not only feeding all members who belong to their household,
but also cooperating with other women at the increasement of other families’ economy.
In this way ‘…women are really important for the village because they help each other,
for example allowing women who belong to a different family taking part of the field
work, offering some food or beverages for the children, doing some errands for
somebody else…(02th December 2011, Santiago Tapextla interview, Tive). The woman
also participates in the activities of the house, for the development of the housework.
‘…We do many other activities, such as “collecting” vegetables, working in some
public offices, doing the houseworks at somebody’s house, or chapear 188…She cares of
her own income, her husband’s and the children’s…men feel usually free from care and,
by contrast, they are very dedicated to spend economic resourses (individually adquired
or offered by part of their wifes) buying alcoholics or staying with friends…’ (02th
December 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla Lucha).’ In this context, while women organize
their own activities, they also assign tasks to other members of the communities
187
Some examples of ancestral traditions within the area are the wedding ‒ the queridato , ‘an
alternative way of marriage representing a polygynous reinterpretation of a pattern of a society that
formally approves only monogamy’ (Aguirre Beltrán, 1989: 102) ‒ the human conception (especially
relating with death and deseases. About local syncretism, we refer to the Danza de los Diablos, Danza de
los Negritos, Danza del Toro de petate , Danza de la Tortuga , and the use of Spanish language, we have
already mentioned in Chapter II of the “Mexican Frame”, Some Cultural Traits of Oaxa ca’s Black
Communities (pp.108-146).
188
Chapear means “cleaning the soil from wild herbs”. This activity is normally done by using a
machete for the cutting of the grass and the extraction of the roots. The concept is also expressed with the
words chaponear (as within the Tierra Caliente − a cultural and geographical region in southern Mexico
that stretches some areas of the states of Guerrero, Michoacán and Estado de Mexico ), limpiar (cleaning),
or machetear (using the machete).
193
(excluding men over 18), like to their natural children, being their work and money fully
aimed at meeting the needs of the group. On the other side, because of their constancy
in working and obtaining money for the other members of the community, they also
gain some kind of social respect.
In second instance, when economic resourses are sufficient they are used for caring
children, whose education, feeding, work or other eventual activity, are totally atributed
to female responsability. So, ‘…when we would obtain enough resourses to cover all
the spendings our family needs, our children will study, eat, work, or what ever else. If
we couldn’t, they will have to take part into local laboral activities’ (02th December
2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Licha).
Finally, regarding men’s spending, they sometimes contribute to family necessary
expenses, but normally ‘…they prefer use the money for other activities…something
they usually do not tell us…you can imagine how many problems this practice
supposes…’ (02th December 2011, Santo Domingo Artmenta interview, Lucha).
Therefore, matrilineage is not formally recognized as a family structure that allows
controlling the households from a sort of “genetic-female” dominance, and the
matriarchy represents the main factor for the construction of a certain standard of
“justice for gender”, self-regulated and guaranted by two separate and complementary
elements. The provision of male power by part of women within the communities, and
the recognition of a “utilitarian” female predominance, by part of men, toward their
wives or queridas.
In this context, while women allow the formal social control by part of men, they
obtain the opportunity to organize both households and financial or feeding resourses,
by also limiting the cost and overuse of them by part of masculine gender. On the other
side, men allow matriarchal predominance, because of the need such kind of social
dynamic supposes in term of cultural security.
Empirical effect of such dynamic, especially relating to social status, power and role
of women, comes to be summarized by what John Rawls decided to define a principle
of “shared justice” (Rawls, 1971: 92, 1975, 1988)189.
189
Reference to gender equality, as a condition for minority-rights (a cultural sub-category), and the
need of recognition between individual and collective identity, refer to Rawlsian theory of justice, based
on the primary goods theoretical approach. In this sense, individual and collective identity not only
supposes formalizing mutual recognition. It also impulses a specific way of representation for individual
and collective freedoms, by allowing to explain the interdependence relationship existing bewteen
cultural sub-groups.
194
4. Between Gender Equity and the Ethic of Justice
The Mexican Constitution recognizes formally only those national minorities defined
by the constitutional document itself, ab origine. It is thus unrealistic thinking about of
a Mexican applicability of the Rawlsian principle of shared justice that would,
eventually, guarantee the same number, quality, relevance and normative equality,
related to a specific recognition of vulnerable national minorities (Rawls, 1971).
Neverthless, starting by the idea of justice proposed by contemporary political
philosophy, it is also possible to reason about the empirical effects matrilineal structure
and local matriarchy have regarding cultural response the African communities of the
Costa Chica female gender potentially provides to, especially related with informal
rights and power.
In the first case, informal rights refer to two specific elements: the social status
women have within the socio-cultural context, and the exercise of minority rights within
the communities. This allows a micro-cultural analysis of a specific ad intra shared
dynamic of justice, built starting by the local cultural group of reference toward the
local socio-cultural perspective of the female gender within the same community.
In the second, the informal power of women, as an African-descent local sub-group,
within the Costa Chica area, allows maintaining a certain socio-cultural status that
guarantees them a social position of respect, despite both female gender condition and
what we previously defined a de facto aplication of patriarchal rights.
As regards informal rights, and depending on the fact Afro-Mexican population does
not enjoy any kind of recognition that would define Mexico as a liberal-democratic
country with a political regime based on a multicultural vision of local pluralism, the
recognition of black women is avoided. It would eventually represent a sort of
institutional gender representation aimed at building a national political recognition of
African women (Joppke, 2004).
By contrast, in this context, the principle of in-group recognition underlying such
sub-group makes possible solving the problem of local female visibility through the
construction of a specific sense of belonging, characterized not only by the physical
existence of women within the communities, but also because of the role they actually
develop for the group they belong to. Such social role guarantees them a sort of
advantage of informal rights (because non institutionally guaranteed) that, within the
symbolic universe of reference, allows them maintaining family relationships and
establishing specific rules of behavior socially valued (and respected) by all components
195
of the household headed by a “dominant” woman. In that sense, this dynamic supposes
the formal exercise of specific minority-rights and guarantees a certain kind of identity
and collective representation that informally reflects a Kymlickian principle of “cultural
security” (Kymlicka, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2007a).
Thus, women are not only considered official members of the reference group,
differing from other national minorities by the presence and use of certain standards of
behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or specific values. While being part of the physical
cultural group, women are recognized as specific actors of the local socio-cultural
dynamic, which allows to define the heritage and customs of common use (intended to
characterize the identity of the group) and capable of carrying standard behaviors,
internalized norms and the possible modification of the local habitus. Indeed, as argued
by our informants ‘women are important to us…they probably tell you we have no
interest in them but they develop many things here…they help for incomes, with work,
and they are very understanding…you know, as men we go to other places and look for
our queridas, but they [women] are always there…’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo
interview, Ignacio). So ‘…their social position is respected here because they make a
great job…and, even if they tell you they have not, they really have some kind of
authority. Sometimes they do not want to go to the city, so, as her husband, I have to
go…so you can see that. She tells me what to do and I do that…the house, for example
is her space and nobody can tell her something while being there or about housework…’
(14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Mingo).
In this sense, it seems women require the exercise of matriarchy when they are at
home and they also obtain the application and respect of the matrilineal principle. This
dynamic allows them not only generating a number of individual rights, aimed at
obtaining the recognition by part of men and creating a sort of “gender competition”
between the social community’s men and women who, more than others, impose the
exercise of their matrilineage. On the other hand, while generating such rights, women
are given a socially respected power, over natural children and acquired, without
forgetting the possibility of gaining respect and legitimacy, in terms of matriarchal
power, also within near communities. Thus, Afro-Mexican women extend their
territorial space of mobility, and they can select the area for establishing the family
itself and offer to others a sort of fictional meeting space where people can eat, sit and
stay for a while. ‘Black people are really opened here. You can come over and stay with
us. If we have something to eat and we eat, you can also doing that…there is no person
196
coming over and drinking not in my house’ (14th December 2011, El Ciruelo interview,
Licha). So it is not strange that, because of women’s hospitality, they impulse the
opportunity for members of other households or nearby settlements taking part of their
own family. Because of this socio-cultural dynamic, a certain settlement will increase its
cultural credibility, while perpetrating an ancestral cultural dynamic. A good example of
that is the recurrence of a vela , during which women are who serve the guests but also
organize the night and the party. In that occasion, the girls look for new loves (or lovers)
and a potential husband190.
By contrast, related with the exercise of gender rights and the obtaining of some kind
of shared justice, women use their socio-cultural status as a way to express a degree of
individual autonomy, which gives them the opportunity to choose their daily activities
without consulting their husband. Such dynamic impulses a better social position for
them, by also allowing women to obtain a degree of gender equality (Spencer, 1994;
Kymlicka, 2007a, 2007b)191.
Thus, the dynamics underlying the matrilineal community organization embody a
kind of process for distributive justice built on the determination of social positions and
rights regarding minorities of African local sub-groups represented by women (French
& Weis, 2000). What it means is impulsing a certain level of a per sé ethic of justice
that not only takes part into the institutional system regulating the socio-cultural
dimension of gender minority-rights within communities of the Costa Chica. ‘…It also
contributes to feed a process of self-definition of collective identity built up on daily
reality represented by communities’ blackness. In this sense, it means taking into
account both folkloristic and ancestral traditions, and the syncretism that impulses their
existence from the bottom of black culture of the area…In this way social actors (as
women) allow their permanence, strength and disclousure both for women themselves
190
The vela is a party during which people celebrate or remember (each year) the death of a family
member. During the party the family who wants to celebrate invites the people of other villages and offer
some barbacoa (roasted or boiled lamb meat), alcoholic drinks and pays musicians who will play some
traditional chilenas. It is very common in this occasion the girls ‘…try to meet somebody new…normally
they send you a friend asking if you want some company. If you do want that, so you can talk with the
girl but, if she does not want to…you have to wait she asks for it…and it is also very common…’ (28th
October 2011, El Ciruelo interview, Chano).
191
The only activity representing an exception to that is the recurrence of the vela or velada during
which women serve men and guests rigorously, respecting the patriachal standards required by the
occasion. In this case, as we saw, women allow men joking, inviting them to dance, and flirting. The vela
represents also an occasion for women to meet a potential husband and lover, and, especially after the
party, they “choose” a mate with whom passing the night. ‘Something very important here is being
opened to new relationships, and we [the women] are really up to choose who we want. When men are
drunkt it is easy to take one with you…you see, we have power on them…[laughs]’ (14th December 2011,
El Ciruelo interview, Licha).
197
and their matrilineal power’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview, father Glynn
Jemmoth). This social dynamic also gives them the right to create a value judgment
about in-family and out-family decisions, respectively to both household members and
the community’s actors.
Thus, despite not allowing to abviate of the duties that women, as women, have to
accomplish with, the family or group may allow them retaining the legitimacy of power
adquired by women thanks to their social action. Men will maintain the formal respect
to the legitimated authority of women and perpetrate the legitimacy (also within other
settlements) of the female social status, according to the fact they are the “receivers”
and in certain socio-cultural sense, the producers of the local “power of gender”192. That
fact supposes committing a certain type of localized citizenship that, beyond granting a
certain kind of good status to a minority group usually discriminated (both
institutionally and legislatively) it makes women given of a dichotomic way to build up
their own identity.
While they allow their habitus, modus vivendi, beliefs, behavior and cultural
background being conditioned, women may decide temporarily or constantly changing
their own individual identity. That would be done underlying locally the patriarchal
power and modifying what Sanders, mentioning Barth’s perspective, defines a specific
way through which the sense of the ethnic boundary encloses (Barth, 1969: 15) only
those terms of cultural traits and a potential transformation of “the traditional” (Sanders,
2002: 328, Kibria 1993; Holtzman, 2000). By contrast, if women decide to keep their
own rules and normative parameters of local socio-cultural environment, they assume
their position as essential actors of the dynamics of collective identity construction of
the community. If women impose such a socio-cultural position, they re-define some
specific new representation parameters that, once established, can be maintained,
changed or removed from the cultural context within which they have been produced or
to which they have been transferred193.
These new parameters can then be institutionalized (recognized by the community as
socially acceptable) and start to represent an alternative way of behavior. This is not
192
There are not specific rules depending on which women should behave, but they “only” have to be
subjected to the masculine of patriarchal formal will, within the community. By respecting the will of
men, women can be legitimated in their socio-cultural position and are respected because of both direct
inter-familiar decisions (those affecting the relationship between the spous), and the indirect power the
female figure enjoys among the group’s members, especially referring to communitarian decisions.
193
This process is called “transculturation” and it originally pertains to the work of Fernando Ortiz, to
which we refer for further information. See note n.133.
198
only feeds the individual identity of women as individuals per sé, separated from a
naturalistic idea of community. It also creates a kind of collective consciousness
directed to impulse the idea that every woman is a needed element that can be really
usefull for the construction of a concrete local collective African cultural identity,
extensible beyond of some kinds of aprioristic ideas of gender difference or shared
justice (Bell & Newby, 1971: 22; Rawls 1971). This dynamic imposes to the
community the obligation to recognize itself starting by a threefold perspective.
Valorizing its own local characteristics, self-perceiving as a collective actor built on a
sort of community’s fragmentation (by considering the female gender as a qualitatively
distinct and autopoietic African sub-group throughout the area), and recognizing itself
on the base of a principle of cultural homogeneity which excludes the segmentarity
group structure (Larraín, 2000: 27; Giménez, 2010). What it means is that “being
perceived” starts to represent an imprescindible element for recognition and self
affirmation produced by an ego-alter relation that grants both the existence of diversity
and a principle of self-representation even within the communities. If such a principle is
present, we can thus talk about what Giménez considers the most relevant element for
the negotiation of certain kind of exoidentity (Giménez, 1997, 2010).
From this perspective, the role of African women within the area not only allows to
define the gender identity, associating it with practical implications, through which, the
idea of race stigmatization exacerbates an a priori principle that emphasizes the gender
difference and the socio-cultural development limiting social positions of actors
involved in the dynamic of local recognition. On the other hand, analyzing the
importance of women for the definition of the Afro-Mexican identity, within the Costa
Chica, forces us reflecting on the meaning of a sort of “gendered-blackness” as an
example of cultural sub-cathegory of a national minority, characterized by the academic
forgetfulness and under representation.
More clearly, the woman, as an integral part of the local context, determines the
dynamics of equity, fairness, shared justice and cultural definition, at least in three
ways: by differing from the other members of the community because of her needs and
social position; rationalizing communities’s intercultural relations; ensuring the unity of
the groups.
In the first case, the gender equity is built from the fact that women, differing from
other members of the community, in terms of demands and specific duties, promote the
creation of a process of identity construction “by difference”. Their identity takes then
199
three specific meanings (Giménez 1997b; Réaume 2000). Depending on what women
decide to highlight, it represents a certain type of objective unity whose function
appears to be clearly distinguished from group members; embodies a specific way of
being “separated” from a more general African local identity; and serves as a sort of
communication channel among group members. ‘…So women not only differ from
other members by definition…they also feel different from “the others”…Here, within
the Costa, the machismo effect is very important, so oftenly women try to show us the
need they have for being considered different from men. These ones consider
themselves superior so they limit work activities of their wifes. We are very conscious
local institutions are doing nothing and we consider a very much more important fact
giving a concrete opportunity to the persons who want to really change the thinks within
the African communities of the Costa Chica…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City
interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO). In this way, ‘…especially through some social
programs, as profesional workshops, we try to offer them a better consciousness of their
blackness but also about the importance they have within the communities…Without
women, African communities would be only other unscholared and poor villages of our
country…’ (20th October 2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra, UABJO).
In this sense, it seems women are really qualitative distinctive from the other
members of the communities because of their individual performance and the existence
of a specific set of socially appreciated roles (some kind of “role identity”) which allow
them being considered as effective members of their original or adquired community
(identity “by membership”) (Deschamps & Doise, 1978; Tuan, 2002). Thus, the local
matrilineal power comes not only to be measured on the degree to which women
perceive their membership or level of acceptance by the other members of the
community (being formally accepted as integral and essential actors to the everyday
socio-cultural dynamics). It also depends on the degree to which group members
perceive the diversity of women as potentially accepted and legitimized within the
community context (Foreman & Whetten, 2002). According to this dynamic, women
define their identity by a comparison mechanism that, on one hand, allows them
reproducing the same codes, beliefs and behavior of the group (ensuring its cultural
continuity); on the other, by developing their female role into the matrilineal
organization (Foreman & Whetten, 2002: 619)194.
194
See also Ashforth & Mael (1989), Dutton, Dukerich & Harquail (1994), Reger, Gustafson, De
Marie & Mullane (1994), Whetten, Lewis, & Mischel (1992).
200
Secondly, as regards the cultural rationalization, women exercise their matriarchal
power as both for the maintenance of internalized normative patterns − which involves
making festivities and rituals, as recurrences on the occasion of the death of a member
of the community − and guaranteeing the inter-villages socio-cultural connection.
‘…Thanks to the communitarian action of women, people gather themselves togheter,
celebrate and preserve some local recurrence and customs. So they guarantee Mexican
collective African cultural reproduction of the Costa Chica…In this case the role of
women is catering to the guests (preparing food for people who come to the house in
which the meeting takes place), meeting members of other communities, and creating
social bonds between the families of the villages. Their action promotes inter-group
communication and local cooperation’ (05th November 2011, El Ciruelo interview,
father Glynn Jemmoth).
Therefore, if on one hand, women contribute to the maintenance of the ancestral
traditions of the community (such as preparing the musical arrangements and African
religious dances), on the other, the female gender is a key in connecting families and
members of the referential group. Thus, the men become virtually generalized “users”
of local festivities, while women impluse the unity of communities’ members aimed at
producing a specific process of negotiation for local Afro-Mexican identity195. ‘…In this
sense, without women African men, here, are not able to be really African…if it would
depend on them we would have almost none about sub-Saharan traditions…’ (21th
November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Tive).
Finally, depending on the degree of mutual recognition between gender cultural
groups that make up the local socio-cultural environment, the principle of difference
helps to strengthen the unity of the group and enhance the sense of belonging. ‘…So, as
I told you…men depend on women but we also need them. We are a group and we are
not known in Mexico…it is funny but it is so. We have to be a group, or united, because
we were told we are not very much and if we are a few we have to be togheter…’ (21th
November 2011, Llano Grande Tapextla interview, Tive). In this way, thanks to the
relationships between families and communities, the identity construction process
begins to demand not only the homogeneity of the groups that make up the African
population in the area, but also the relative uniqueness of each sub-group (Messick &
Mackie, 1989). Although being essential to the existence of the cultural group itself,
195
Referring to communities’ interrelationships and the in-group process of negotiation of identity,
see Pallí (2003).
201
such process will offer the women a sort of a multiple identity, primarily guaranteed by
the continuity and internalization of a cultural complex serving as a symbol for the
protection of certain specific interests of their vulnerable minority, (Réaume, 2000: 245;
Savidan, 2010; Taylor, 1993; Appiah, 1994, 1996).
Finally, the problem of recognizing a peculiar Afro-Mexican female identity is
twofold. On one side, it supposes a ‘…dynamic that justifies the importance of female
gender within the area for a local definition of a matrilineal presence, aimed at
perpetrating some ancient African traditions came to Mexico during the early century of
Spanish colony. On the other, it allows obtaining a certain degree of formalization of an
Afro-Mexican identity whose existence and continuity are inseparably anchored and
represented by the female gender and a very present matriarchal power…’ (20th October
2011, Oaxaca City interview, Prof. Gloria Zafra).
5. A Female Afro-Mexican Identity?
If defining African identity is a topic of discussion that has been systematically
ignored by both political theorists and national institutions, characterizing AfroMexican identity associated with gender, embodies an empirical challenge even more
complex to account for.
Neverthless, while recognizing national cultural reality, Mexico would not only
enrich its national traditional heritage. It will also promote the knowledge of a sociocultural environment that it could possible represent a special way of recognition for
black identity troughout the area of the Costa Chica. Moreover, Mexico would prove to
have started a political trayectory aimed at empirically recognize minorities as a
constitutional practice, that could also gain a clear definition of Mexico as a “proper
multicultural state”196.
Thus, recognizing the presence of Mexican African women as a cultural sub-group
that belongs to a broader population defined by some clear African roots, supposes the
existence of a per sé Afro-Mexican community that could be also understood as a sort
of specific symbolic universe that clearly contributes to the definition of a wider
concept of “Mexicanity”. The same sub-group also supports the need to increase the
representativeness of its members (meaning offering a formal recognition,
institutionalized and constitutional), by integrating the African culture of the area with a
196
The difference beween “proper” and “fragmented multiculturalism” will be explored through the
next chapter.
202
current homogeneous idea of national identity, as the “third Mexican root” (Martínez
Montiel, 2000).
By analizing the problem of matrilinage within the Costa Chica of Oaxaca we took
into account a twofold perspective. On one hand, we emphasized the existence of
blackness as a cultural element of Mexican national culture; on the other, we offered a
different perspective of the presence of female population of the area that comes to be
crucial for the definition of African-descent culture and identity throughout the Costa
Chica’s social environment. Which it means is illustrating strength and weakness of
women and offering a micro-sociological view of integration-exclusion socio-cultural
dynamics for this sub-group.
The first part of the discussion described the family organization of settlements
starting by the matrilineal or matriarchal role of the woman with particular emphasis on
the everyday activities distributed among cultural events, education and work, and
stressing the importance of women have for both the definition of households and the
creation of certain intra-communities relations.
Secondly, we analized the effects of the role of women on the local socio-cultural
dynamics in obtaining a certain degree of equity gender, built on the principles of
shared and distributive justice, and race.
The most relevant results of our discussion can be resumed by three specific social
qualities locally attributed to the female gender: women as an essential element for the
definition of the category of “African descent”; its economic importance within the
communities; and the potential of Afro-Mexican women, in the future.
The first point would explain why the African culture of the area has retained some
ancestral traditions that from the sixteenth century started to be part of the Mexican
local idiosincrasy, despite syncretism between African and Indian population within the
area (Martínez Montiel, 2006; Chance, 1978).
The second suggests women seem to represent the only communitarian actor, which
guarantees a certain kind of social security, by providing job, food and education to the
people that belong to the community a “dominant” woman is part of, but also being
located in its immediate surroundings. This dynamic impulses the cooperation between
the settlements and contributes to perpetrate the unity and a certain degree of
membership.
Thirdly, women embody an undisputed potential economic development that extends
beyond the African communities of Oaxaca. In this sense, their socio-cultural action
203
represents a new clear incentive for the generation of specific public policies aimed at
developing local businesses, so bettering daily conditions of settlers.
Finally, recognizing Afro-Mexican women as a specific located sub-group would
suppose a twofold dynamic. Offering a new analitic perspective about the topic of
black-Mexican identity, and creating a sort of empirical conscience that could limit
prejudice and discrimination within the area (Mansbridge, 2000), by impulsing the
existence of a certain kind of “constitutional patriotism” (Habermas, 1989) aimed at
defining a specific sort of local multicultural frame.
This kind of multiculturalism will be organized starting by a dichotomous and
potentially conflicting relationship with the local culture. A relationship involving the
use of a praxis of pluralism that goes beyond a simple principle of diversity aimed at
defining the presence of socio-cultural sub-categories more or less defined and that, by
contrast, involving a certain degree of independence of the in-group from the
widespread socio-cultural context. In this way, communities’ members would access to
knowledge and idiosyncrasy of the “dominant culture” (by conditioning and being
conditioned by it), without losing the opportunity to define themselves from their own
cultural parameters. Despite contributing to the definition of a broader concept of
Mexicanity, they could thus express a peculiar feeling of Mexican identity aimed at
defining some sets of specific symbolic universes which, because of a certain degree of
generalized cultural system operative closure, they would reproduce their own traditions
and modus vivendi in a constant, exclusive and independent way.
The system operative closure would mean the cultural environment within which
minorities are inserted won’t contain any reciprocal mode of production for all those
cognitive operations of the members of the settlements, and it would not have enough
elements to understand and incorporate the specificity of each local national sub-system.
Such situation explains why the possibility of cognition by the system (who produces
and uses a model of multiculturalism directed to recognition) occurs only by part of
some specific and unknown element of knowledge based on the same socio-cultural
environment. In this sense, the exclusivity of certain local symbolic systems, like the
Afro-Mexican women’s, comes to be charged of a solipsistic meaning that, only
because of a certain degree of in-group convenience, makes the autopoiectic system
getting closed and promotes the openness of the community symbolic universe and the
interaction between the communitarian standard of cultural recognition with “the
others”. Thus, female local cultural minority will not receive specific inputs from the
204
environment, but only some “disturbances” which in turn may eventually modify some
aspects of the system itself (Maturana & Varela, 1980).
In other words, while the external events to the Afro-Mexican community are mixed,
in some way, with the culture of the in-group, the role of women expresses a concrete
element of local idiosyncrasy retaining a clear control over both a certain “random
cultural degree” and a standard way of recognition for the whole community. Such
gender position allows women being part of the Afro-Mexican population but also
separated from it. A gender behaviour that places women in a position of widespread
control. That is, on both monetary resources, but also all those cultural aspects which,
without women, would be lost. What it means is allowing the implementation of what
Luhmann defined a kind of Auslösekausalität (“an impulsed causality”) instead of a
normal development of social actions prefixed to the system (Durchgriffskausalität)
(Luhmann, 2000: 401). In this sense, cultural dynamics impulsed by women are inserted
on a specific way of being African that, despite of representing a homogeneous and
unchangeable national symbolic universe, it expresses a concrete and peculiar local
blackness, by the principles of exclusivity and autopoiesis (Luhmann, 1992, 1993a,
1993b, 1993c, 1986, 2000; Mingers, 1995).
Therefore, while ignoring a classic definition of liberal multiculturalism for the
Mexican case, we can say the practice and use of diversity as an essential element in the
everyday coexistence, finally impulses some kind of local visibility of the Mexican
multicultural model in its “fragmentary modality” (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Barberá,
2003; Assies, 2005).
205
206
Part III
Multicultural Discussion
207
208
1. Presenting Mexican Multiculturalism
The problem of Mexican multiculturalism is characterized by two specific topics that
limit and impulse its regional debate.
On the one hand, the local application of the principle of multicultural recognition
for national minorities is exclusively aimed at formalizing a certain kind of
representation ‘based on national indigenous people’ (Constitución Política de los
Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2.)197, excluding a priori the opportunity for validating
the presence of any other minority not constitutionally classified ab origine.
On the other, this dynamic explains the State is promoting the visibility of local
aboriginal population, by offering to it some social, labor, educational or economic
privileges, especially through the implementation of specific intercultural programs
(Izquierdo Muciño, 2005). That fact supposes a sort of multicultural frame that seeks for
recognizing and representing diversity within the socio-cultural local environment. In
this sense, the direction taken by the Mexican State not only represents a multicultural
approach that hides a fictive recognition of pluralism, but it also embodies, through the
Mexican Constitutional Document, a specific element of an in crescendo process of
negotiation of identity for national minorities.
This is the case of the State of Oaxaca. Indeed, even though its constitutional
document (Constitución Política del Libre y Soberano Estado de Oaxaca ) does not
provide any minority-right for Oaxaca’s African integration, the “Law for the Rights of
Indigenous People and Communities of Oaxaca” (Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y
Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca ) establishes a kind of indirect recognition of the
African presence within the Costa Chica198. In this sense, it apparently seems to be
directed to the construction of a sort of multicultural consciousness, appropriated by the
social symbolic universe characterizing the state itself.
With such condition granted, which would be the national benefit of implementing
some specific programs directed to increase the opportunity of labor integration, health
care, political representation, and social recognition? Which is the importance of AfroMexican identity in a context that, even recognizing the presence of cultural pluralism,
does not understand diversity as a multicultural praxis?
197
The original text recites: «sustentada originalmente en sus pueblos indígenas».
‘…This Law also protects Afro-Mexican communities and indigenous people belonging to any
minority coming from other states of the country and, for any reason, reside within the territory of the
State of Oaxaca…’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2). See also note n.171.
198
209
For the analysis of the problem, we face Oaxaca’s multiculturalism starting by three
key elements: the multicultural frame, understood theoretically as a form of social
behavior, rather than a method for public policies; the empirical applicability of cultural
recognition within the territory; the in-group functionality of communities, related with
the principle of local pluralism.
Firstly, we try to reconstruct the idea of diversity, taking into account the classical
theoretical approach of political-philosophers (Taylor, 1992a, 1992b; Kymlicka, 2001,
2002, 2007a, 2007b; Barry, 2002), by contextualizing the concepts of multiple identity,
multiculturalism and cultural security. In this case, by taking into consideration the
Constitución Política del Libre y Soberano Estado de Oaxaca and the Ley de Derechos
de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca , we will empirically locate the
problem, and describe the pro and the contra of the Oaxaca’s multiculturality.
Secondly, we take into account the “multicultural situation” of the Oaxaca’s State,
starting by four regional socio-cultural elements. The need for organizing specific
State’s programs in line with communities’ needs; the level of applicability of a certain
degree of “culture insurance” for black communities (especially related with the
opportunities to maintain, modify or ignore traditions and in-group modus vivendi); the
potential socio-cultural response by part of the State or civil society; and the
opportunities for an informal integration model. We discuss thus the existence and the
potential effects the use of these principles can have for the political and cultural logic
of the state.
Finally, while analyzing some variables of Oaxaca’s legal pluralism and the potential
institutionalization of the African collective identity, we reason about the ideas of selfconsciousness and membership as the core elements for cultural recognition and
representation.
2. A Matter of Context
The 2nd article of the “Law for the Rights of Indigenous People and Communities of
Oaxaca” protects Afro-Mexican communities residing within its territory (Ley de
Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca , art.2). Despite of that,
the Ley de Derechos doesn’t provide any definition for the concept of African
community, nor formalizes the opportunity of black population for self-defining their
autonomy, territorial location, individual or collective rights, in-group normativity. By
contrast, the Ley de Derechos offers those same minority-rights to indigenous
210
population by reserving the full 3rd article of its text for defining Indian privilegies, as
autonomy, territorial adscription, individual and communities’ rights, and in-groups
normative system (Ley de Derechos, art.3).
What it means is that, even though African communities obtain a certain kind of
recognition (referring specifically and exclusively to their physical presence throughout
the Costa Chica), the black population of the area does not enjoy the rights the
indigenous actually do.
Now, if we consider the problem of Afro-Mexicans as a definition-matter, we
consider the African-origin population of the area should be firstly defined by a sociocultural classification (meaning that avoiding any ethnic description) that includes a
specific sense of representation. For example, while choosing a definition for the
formalization of African presence throughout the area, the State should also take into
account the way through which African see themselves, why they claim any way of
recognition, and which kind of representation it should be organized. So, if we choose
to define the blacks of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica as Afro-Mexicans, we suppose two
differents point of the question: their ancestral origin, the African one, and the current
right to be recognized as national citizens.
More clearly, if we refer to the empirical applicability of the principle of legal
pluralism, we would be assuming the Mexican constitutional framework facilitates the
production or preservation of specific minority rights aimed at perpetrating the
traditions of local sub-groups, maintaining language and medicine, in-group
normativity, and religion (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 111). While respecting the demands
of minorities and implementing a new constitutional perspective within the existing
national political frame, the concept of legal pluralism would be transformed and it
would assume a sort of human perspective, whose mission would be twofold. On one
side, it would account for recognizing the existence of black communities. On the other,
it would be aimed at analyzing all those socio-cultural mechanisms that would allow
making an efficient use of the State Law and Right, without avoiding their relations
with the in-group normativity (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 111). Meaning that imposing
the development of a specific empirical availability of the concept of legal pluralism
aimed at impulsing a sort of ideological challenge, rather than institutional, potentially
guaranteeing the coexistence of black legal norms with some specific State legal
instances.
211
In this context, although the Mexican carta magna formally attests the national
cultural pluralism, and the Ley de Derechos of Oaxaca admits the presence of the black
population within the state, both documents do not recognize any special right for such
national minority. Mexican law appears thus completely spurious.
In this sense, the absence of an explicit recognition for black-Mexican communities
supposes the idea of a certain level of rejection of the constitutional order that promotes
the forgetfulness and marginalization over the integration and use of existing legal
instances directed to institutionally coordinate local minority-rights and the way through
which the Mexican State should act for being defined a proper multicultural nation. By
contrast, it indirectly impulses avoiding the assimilation of all those sub-groups that,
constitutionally, have not obtained the definition of pueblos originarios (“ab origine
people”). As a result, Mexican cultural pluralism, far from impulsing the visibility and
development for black population, seems to be very much more helpful in hiding the
African culture and “routing” all those cultures which are not explicitely Mestizas,
toward a specific process of civilization (Izquierdo Muciño, 2005: 112).
That fact supposes at least two core elements.
On the one hand, the state of Oaxaca includes in its institutional concerns the
presence of norms aimed at recognizing local African communities. Which clearly
refers to a model liberal multicultural theory seems intended to promote.
On the other, does not exist any formalization of the representation for African
population built on a principle of self-government or organization, by contrary admitted
in the case of the indigenous principle of usos y costumbres (“uses and traditions”). In
that case, it would also be guaranteed some rights of self-identification; self-definition;
and self-description, institutionalized by local laws199. In this sense, the use of the
State’s law does not allow the flexibility of social roles of actors and it seems to be
much more directed to a sort of “imposition” of a “by decree” socio-cultural standard of
199
In the case of the indigenous population, those kinds of rights are completely granted and they are
recognized in many states of the Mexican Republic, as in the case of self-government or self-definition.
Those rights are recognized in Chiapas (art.13, Constitución Política del Estado de Chiapas ), Oaxaca
(right to the territory, art.16, and self-determination, art.25 of the Constitución Política del Estado Libre y
Soberano de Oaxaca ), Nayarit (art.7, Constitución del Estado de Nayarit), Chihuahua (art.8 of the
Constitución del Estado de Chihuahua recognizes the right to autonomous justice), Campeche (art.7 of
the Constitución del Estado de Campeche establishes the right of protecting the territories where the
Indians are settled and solving local conflicts through in-group social and political organizations),
Quintana Roo, whome Constitutional Document establishes the rights to solve controversies by usos y
costumbres (art.13 of the Constitución del Estado de Quintana Roo ), Veracruz, which accepts the right of
self-determination (art.5 of its Constitution).
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behavior than to the concrete production of any local methodology of State intervention
and community self-realization.
The Oaxaca’s adequacy to the classic multicultural model is thus in a liminal
situation, standing between what Kymlicka defines a form of forced accomodation and
a way for facilitating communities’ integration (Kymlicka, 1989; 1995)200.
The negative aspect of this dynamic is the ineffective African presence, in terms of
cultural visibility and recognition within Oaxaca’s social structure.
The positive one is the fact the Ley de Derechos , by introducing the idea of AfroMexican community, emphasizes the existence of a sort of an in crescendo lax
multicultural background seeking specific governmental programs in the struggle
against discrimination and marginalization of local African minorities.
By contrast, in Mexico, the nationalist Mestizo discourse and the use of the concept
of “homogeneous identity”, as a way of recognition and self-definition aimed at
producing a sense of National Culture, are clearly predominant. In this sense, Mexican
State prefers mantaining a kind of cultural behavior based on a Nationalist pattern, over
extending minority-rights aimed at positively responding to African communities’
claims. If it would be so, such a situation would produce a certain kind of shared
cultural predominance of local restricted groups and create a generalized social
multicultural vision of the problem (González Manrique, 2006)201. That fact not only
means obviating the recognition of certain national minorities characterized by some
unique cultural elements taking part of a larger symbolic universe, built on what, in the
local case, we would call “Mexicanity”. Not formally recognizing the presence of
national minorities and offering concrete solutions to the socio-cultural or economic
demands highlighted by them, also limits the redistribution of resources and potential
development of workforce for such groups.
200
Referring to the modalities of national minorities’ accomodation, Kymlicka suggests two
typologies of intervention: an enforced assimilation , generally used by asimilationist countries, and a
facilitating assimilation , integrated into the political structure of those countries defined traditionally as
liberal-democratic. See also note n.29.
201
Negotiation of identity represents a complex subject of study whose development has not been
seeked by academics nor local political institutions. Indeed, despite colonial historical dynamics impulsed
the abolition of slavery and (theoretically) established racial equality within the region, Mexican State did
not really recognize nor formalize cultural representation for both pre-colonial and imported national
groups. By contrast, from Independence, Mexico began to enjoy the status of a sovereign nation and
started to ignore all sorts of “egalitarian policies” aimed at homogenizing the rights of cultural groups that
historically have not obtained the definition of “ab origine population”. Thus, the country chose to
perpetrate a racial protectionism policy that, over the centuries, encouraged the substitution of the concept
of “plural nation” (today characterizing the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) with
a clearly nationalist idea based on mestizaje.
213
In the first case, the principle of national multiculturalism would entail the obligation
to grant a set of specific rights for minorities and sub-groups, based on both the idea of
Mexican identity and specific forms of an in loco recognition of pluralism. A sociocultural dynamic that, while being understood as part of the national collective
imaginary, it could also being mainly defined by local and unique characteristics.
In the second, the consequence to consider “Mexican” only the result of those
aspects that are being considered Mestizos, it would prove the presence of an a priori
cultural constraint built on a sense of nationalism tended to define the country as
homogeneous over than what we should outline as a sort of “ethnic salad bowl”,
contrasting than with an explicit local ethnic hyphenation (Alexander, 2001). A
symbolic universe fed and maintained by both the existence of a principle of diversity
per sé, and a cosmopolitan effect granting the heterogeneous presence of pluralism and
the manteneance of traditional national culture (Pallí, 2003; Sanders, 2002; Alonso,
2004; Miller, 1992; Hale, 1997; Barberá, 2003; Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila,
2011; Kymlicka, 2002, 2007a, 2007b; Kymlicka & Norman, 2000; Volpato, 2012).
If Mexican State obviates the presence of African minority who originally constitutes
the cultural, linguistic and social structures of its territory (referring to Oaxaca but also,
in an extended meaning, to the whole Mexican Republic), the standard identity of actors
who take part into the African cultural environment thus tends to lose its meaning. By
loosing its meaning, African communities would loose their sense of self-recognition,
and the local perception of their collective identity. What it means is that Mexican
dominant culture will absorbe local identities into a generalized national frame, which
will impose to local realities disappear202.
By contrast, if the State recognizes the presence of Afro-Mexicans and promotes the
existence of a number of specific basic needs for them (like health services,
employment or education), such group may get the chance to be integrated into the
socio-cultural structure − what Parsons would define the “world of life” (Parsons &
Shils, 1959; Parsons, 1968) – and begins empirically to exist.
So, especially for the Mexican case, when we talk about multiculturalism and
identity we cannot refer to an abstract idea of self-perception with which we are born, or
202
The idea of “dominant culture” contrasts with the concept of “national minority”, being
respectively understood as: the most locally known, institutionally recognized as the autochthonous one,
or the culture historically imposed by a nation to another (as because of the Spanish Conquest); and the
set of customs, rules and practices of those groups characterized by a limited number of members, or that,
because of historical, racial, religious or migratory cause, suffer any kind of discrimination or
marginalization. See Rawls (1992, 2001), Kymlicka (1996a), Walzer (1992), Barry (2002).
214
a set of natural rules that never change throughout human life. On the contrary, if we
reason about the idea of local multiculturalism we must take into account the social
effects of two specific elements.
First, recognizing cultural difference as an essential element for the integration,
representation and shared justice, justifies considering the local Ley de Derechos’s
African mention as an example of multicultural respect.
Secondly, creating an institutional structure, which would eventually culturally
integrate Afro-Mexicans through education, work or whatever else productive activity,
means having imprended a political trajectory that not only values the presence or
absence of certain national minorities within Mexico. It would also embody a specific
political effort aimed at bringing the principle of “cultural security” to its full
development and social commitment.
Thus, while ensuring the internalization of liberal democratic values, together with a
sort of multicultural awareness of social actors, local pluralism would become part of
the normative system, and it would start to be essential in understanding local
multiculturality through all those minority’s claims based on the historical living in
certain economic, educational, social, cultural conditions imposed to them (Walker,
1997; Kymlicka, 1994; Margalit & Raz, 1990). At the same time, considering diversity
as a local cultural worth, supposes to develop a certain kind of “shared individuality” −
what Katherine Fierlbeck (1996) defines a fair and neutral selfhood – and protecting the
collective identity of communities, without forgetting the local or generalized legal
framework on which the Oaxaca’s Constitution and the Ley de Derechos actually are
constructed.
As a consequence, impulsing such plural mentality would suppose creating a local
liberal-democratic framework, free from multicultural and international criticism, and
aimed at implementating the principle of equality of rights for all groups that participate
into the local socio-cultural structure, including indigenous, African and civil society in
general. What it means is impulsing an equitable recognition policy, developed and
carried out by a sense of justice based on the respect for the difference, rather than a
nationalist feeling produced by a model of forced equality or ethnic homogeneity
(Young, 1989).
Thus, if the State is responsible for maintaining these cultural parameters by
associating them to the representativeness and respect of African minority, it means the
actors belonging to such group have specific cultural parameters by which they can
215
interact with a “generalized other” that defines two different symbolic universes
separated but also complementary. Such cultural universes are aimed at representing,
maintaining or modifying a psycho-social heritage through which they can selfrepresent and choose to take part or not in the environment into which they begin to be
recognized as an imprescindible cultural ingredient203. This dynamic supposes taking
into consideration the specific needs of minorities involved in the process, by
considering and trying to solve African local demands. Doing that, would represent a
concrete institutional response directed toward the development of a certain localized
and in-group self-management of intellectual and human resources.
For example, if the State guarantees a certain number of local policies for the
integration of African population and establishes certain parameters of education for
such program, it should be done in accordance with the current culture of black people
and communities, and depending on the specific kind of education required by them. In
this way, it should seek to promote education whose subjects and methods of teaching
should be related (in the most appropriate way as possible) with the needs and problems
of the people and communities whom students and teachers come from. Meaning that
respecting minority-rights, by ensuring the continuity of local elements without
avoiding the set of those cultural essentials belonging also to the collective Mexican
imaginary. Therefore, promoting the integration of the Afro-Mexican population into
the socio-cultural environment of Oaxaca would mean admitting the presence of black
communities (in an institutional way), and accepting being part of the acculturation
dynamics underlying social behavior of the non-ab origine population.
For the formal affirmation of diversity and integration of those cultural elements, it is
necessary to consider four key elements of multicultural recognition (Martínez Ayala,
2012): the organization of State’s programs according to local needs; the guarantee of a
certain level of “culturally security” (Kymlicka, 1995; Rawls, 1971, Barry, 2002;
Waldron, 2000; Martínez Ayala, 2012); the localized socio-cultural response; the
method of informal integration.
3. Identity, Sense of Membership and Informal Integration
If we consider local multiculturalism as a socially transversal way of recognition of
diversity, that fact supposes at least two things.
203
About psychological effect of recognizing and being recognized by part of a specific community or
sub-group, we offer a classical reference to Mead (1974: 1, 135).
216
Theoretically speaking, if Mexican State is not according to an ethical recognition of
cultural pluralism, local multiculturality indirectly contributes harming minorities in
relation with the obtention of a certain level of representation and the possibility of
being potentially understood as sub-groups seeking to promote their social and cultural
status within Mexican society.
Moreover, if the State does not apply the principles that, as in the Mexican case, are
taken into account by its carta magna , the multicultural principle characterizing it
appears spurious and weak. Meaning that, not having empirical purposes aimed at
constructing a sense of community’s membership and being not directed to the
improvement of the social and cultural image the African minority potentially could
enjoy within civil society. Therefore, while recognition comes to be unilateral, directed
exclusively to account for the needs of indigenous population, it is clearly unprecise
defining the Mexican political model being able to implement some specific minorityrights for Afro-Mexicans.
By contrast, if institutions fulfill local cultural policies designed for the specific
needs of minorities, while they advance in the resolution of their basic needs, they also
allow black settlements to formally exist within the local socio-cultural environment.
As a demonstration of what we said, the Ley de Derechos shows a first interest for
the Oaxaca’s black culture but, far from offering some kind of explicit ways of
accomodation for African communities, the State looks for incorporating blackness by a
sort of assimilationist political model. In this way, such settlements are only allowed
enjoying those rights the Mexican Constitution or the Ley de Derechos guarantee (Ley
de Derechos, art.2) for the whole Mexican society.
Thus, the social impact on communities’ cultural structure appears twofold.
On one side, the incorporation of communities’ mention in the constitutional text
allows us to affirm that fact amplifies the level of State acceptance, by revealing its
human side and regional pluralism.
On the other, not highlighting any kind of minority-right, or mentioning some
specific African tradition (or at least their existence), means impulsing the forgetfulness
of African culture of the Costa Chica and moving the indigenismo discourse from a
general view of it (aimed at worldwide defining Mexico as a Mestizo nation) to a local
perception of equality far from the multicultural idea of pluralism.
In this way, while the State of Oaxaca does not recognize collective ancestral
traditions as part of the African communities’ organization (oftenly meaning avoiding
217
national and international migrations), the State demonstrates of not understanding the
multicultural requirement based on local African communities, and forgets recognizing
local identity. What it means is excluding a part of the Mexican society from existing.
On the contrary, while respecting the customs of minority-rights and selforganization, self-definition and autonomous justice (Rawls, 1992, 2001; Young, 1990),
Oaxaca’s State would contribute to a systematic integration of the local population,
estimating the number of settlers and ensuring two types of cultural construction.
Firstly, allowing maintaining the standards of territorial self-control, it would
guarantee the African permanence within the area. Secondly, making visible the
population, by offering a dynamic of specific “social acculturation”, black Mexicans
would be allowed to be recognized by part of non-black or indigenous people
(somebody normally ignoring their existence) as part of the socio-cultural environment.
In this case, for example, providing the opportunity to study a career that would allow
economic development of these communities would lead to the modification (not
breaking) of the in-groups normativity parameters, and improving the quality of life for
black people, without obviating the need for preserving local cultural traits (IEM, 2011).
That fact would promote the respect for their culture, and the improvement of human
capital. Such intervention would be thus essential in fulfilling the first article of the
Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos , by allowing the State
impulsing ‘…human rights in accordance with the principles of universality,
interdependence, indivisibility and progressivity...’ (Constitución Política , art.1), as the
legal pluralism, multilingualism, respect of diversity and ethnic origin.
In the first case, the affirmation ‘…the full realization of legal pluralism in the
Americas remains a utopia…’ is invalidated (Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila,
2001: 59; Ariza Santamaría, 2006). In the second, this dynamic encourages an idea of
universal membership that, despite of avoiding the need for cathegorizing communities
by social class or race, would understand aesthetic attributes not as a separator, but as a
cultural trigger with a social function. Meaning that choosing to highlight the potential
Mexican way to acculturation over feeding the rejection and the stigma that cultural
diversity sometimes involves.
In this context, the State of Oaxaca promotes the cultural diversity as a way to
enhance citizens’ participation turning discrimination or stigma into an a priori
guaranteed and explicit institutional and formal respect for the conditions of equality,
human rights and all those fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
218
cultural or any other dimension of public life (Constitución Política del Estado Libre y
Soberano de Oaxaca , art.16, III par.).
Such dynamic drives the process of group identity negotiation, at least by two ways:
through an individual ability to internalize specific forms of cultural behavior and
expectations of a generalized other, and from a new way of building the sense of group.
In the first case, members of black minorities build a dynamic of self-perception that
characterizes their basic symbolic universe and a new perception of a sort of
“widespread” socio-cultural environment within which the national minority begins to
be formally part. In the second, gaining recognition and an institutionally established
collective representation imposes a potential integration process towards the creation of
a multicultural social consciousness. In this sense, offering an ad hoc solution for local
African people also means respecting priorities, cultural and basic needs aimed at
producing and maintaining the socio-cultural environment characterizing them
(Kymlicka, 1996a, 2002, 2007; Inglis, 1996)204.
Now, in relation with the idea of “cultural insurance”, it is necessary to reflect on the
way through which it should be the best method for recognizing the African presence
within the area (formally offering to be present in the symbolic universe of reference).
That fact supposes then understanding the problem of how “re-locating” the cultural
base of Afro-Mexican heritage, by producing a specific process of identity negotiation
aimed at formally and collective representating a portion of Mexican national culture
and identity, without avoiding the importance the indigenous culture actually has and
the need for the non-indigenous population of seeing national culture properly
represented. Meaning that while being differentiated by the presence and use of certain
standards of behavior, traditions, beliefs, norms, or specific values, being also
recognized as a community representing a specific socio-cultural space. A symbolic
universe produced by the presence of certain local elements defined and shared as a
204
Despite its originally-Canadian modality, Kymlicka’s democratic position seems not far from the
idea of representation and rights Mexico seems to be needed. By contrast, his political proposal makes an
explicit reference to both classical multiculturalism, expressed by Taylor and based on a “utopian”
universal accommodation, as on all those new demands imposed by the phenomenon of globalization. In
both cases he takes into account the requirement for recognition as an identity definition, or the
negotiation of identity as an extension of national and international policies based on a theoretical model
for the definition of a semiotic cultural concept. The result of this socio-cultural position justifies thus
both the need of a legitimated claim by part of black minority and its right to obtain an equitable response
by part of Mexican state. That fact would be relevant for the manteneance of socio-cultural African local
traditions, the integration of black minority into the civil society, labor and economic market, or the
obtention of some kind of health services.
219
proper cultural heritage intended to characterize the identity of the African sub-group
and the nation black culture is part of.
Together with the above, and ensuring the institutionalization of a certain standard of
social, cultural, political or economic equality – for both citizenship in general and
members of Oaxaca’s black minority – local multicultural project takes into account a
twofold socio-political process. By one side, it seems to be tended to the conservation of
the whole set of democratic political traditions and African uses205 − something
Kymlicka (1996a, 1996b) would define a cultural insurance206. By the other, it
promotes the institutionalization of national cultural diversity as a value (Waldron,
2000). In this sense, the Mexican Constitution obtains a sort of human principle, which
was defined a sort of an emotio constitutional modality (Häberle, 2003), whose main
function would be understanding human condition from individuals’ profund way of
phycologically being perceived by “the other”. Such a process would then guarantee the
recognition for local groups (meaning that applying the political principle of
representation to some specific local minorities) and the psychological security their
members have of being recognized not only by the cultural elements characterizying the
generalized national symbolic universe, but also thanks to the peculiar ways they choose
to be represented by.
The concept of recognition would thus starts on an identification of diversity in
reflexive terms, where its main element would not be a specific cultural tradition, as in
the indigenous case, or concerning to Mexican Mestizo identity, but a set of mixedAfrican-origin universal traditions created and sanctioned by the Constitution: human
rights and the fundamental principle of democratic state of law. In this way, the sense of
a local approach of recognition and membership would be exclusive but included; a
principle which would give to Oaxaca’s Africans a motive to self-representing as
proudly Mexican (Crowley & Silva, 2002). Because of that, Mexico, even not being
classified as liberal-democratic, as needed by political-phylosophers, would represent an
ethnic-cultural nation, constrasting with the classical position about the topic, but
legitimated of being peculiarly multicultural. What it means is not being forcely
205
About the processes of recognition and rights’ equality production, within multicultural states, we
refer to Rawls (1971) and Barry (2002). Referring to the problem of “idealizing” the Constitution, as a
way to negotiate a certain kind of political identity, see Habermas (1989), Müller (2007), Peces-Barba
(2003), Rosales (1999), Sternberger (2001), Velasco (2002).
206
Kymlicka refers explicitely to a certain number of minorities’ rights aimed at converting
themselves into in-group specific elements for self-definition or self-government, especially directed to
define minorities’s cultural borders (Kymlicka, 1996a).
220
multicultural but aimed at developing a sort of integration of diversity, not a necessary
regulated version of it. A regulation that, instead of imposing to follow a Canadian
multicultural way of recognition, would impulse a specific dynamic of interactive
pluralism (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005; Barberá, 2003; Assies, 2005). African minorities
of the area would thus ensure their presence through the diversification of local culture
as a result of a strict dynamic of integration, which automatically will classifies them as
part of the formal civil society.
Moreover, by considering the potential cultural local response, the problem assumes
an even greater responsibility, which alternates itself between the social acceptance of a
sort of “co-presence” of the African population into the institutions, public exercises
and cultural integration, as a potential contrast for representation and sense of selfdefinition.
So, finding the right way to carry out the integration of minorities, not only allows
not excluding the requirements of all social groups involved into such dynamics. In
addition, it will allows us to build up a mature vision of a “generalized other”, prepared
for a concrete inclusion of actors in a strictly multicultural frame (Mead, 1974: 138).
Thus, in order to impulse a process of “automatic integration”, who is part of such a
dynamic takes part of a way of mutual recognition and potential respect for the
diversity, by providing a proper consideration of all those cultural elements are ethically
up to be included into the dynamic of recognition (Darwall, 1977: 38). On the other
side, integrating minorities also means maintaining in high regard people being part of
these groups, and in a certain sense, admiring their potential functions and skills related
to the social, economic and cultural experience they represent (Darwall, 1977: 41). Such
dynamic creates a way of cultural association aimed at offering a new definition of
identity and self-recognition.
In this context, identity must be understood not only as a natural feature that
determines the production of a certain cultural heritage that allows the definition of
certain attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values. It should be better considerd as a
concept that incorporates the possibility of creating an understanding of people, and that
is based on the consciousness of not only being “an observer”, but also part of the
context we are analyzing and probably perceiving as a parallel world to ours.
Starting by that, the effect of African integration into the local socio-cultural
environment involves creating a kind of double consciousness aimed at defining a
unique and generalized identity (as being African or Mexican), by assuming the use of a
221
specific number of cultural elements that can define rules and collective values. Such
subjective way of self-perceiving produces then the conviction of communities they are
also characterized by an Afro-Mexican identity which defines for them an ab origine et
civitate representation. That fact means changing institutional recognition of diversity
from a de jure way of understanding pluralism to a de facto empirical application of
such concept.
Therefore, identity appears as a symbolic project that social actors construct using
empathetic and strategic interactions essential for the creation and maintenance of a
certain standard of empirical uses and symbols (Habermas 1981, vol.II, 2009, vol.II), by
allowing specific dynamics of integration and limiting the disintegration of their
standards of life, thanks to the preservation of traditions, ways of being and customs. On
the other side, such dynamic provides the opportunity for people within local minorities
to obtain a kind of liminal status between integration and recognition, offering a
position that gives them enough formalized status and presence within the territory to
deserve a socially recognized respect and integration (Owens Moore, 2005; Du Bois,
1903). A fact which would construct a “cause and effect” relationship between social
structure and minorities, and allow recognition being part of a specific constitutional
democracy. While not being able to assure social and economic equality, such a
principle, would at least offer two conditions: an unbreakable fairness of opportunities,
and (unlikely to usual) a redistribution of resources so the most vulnerable communities
being able to obtain the best conditions for social inclusion and integration (Rawls,
1992: 191).
In the first case, Mexico would be more similar to a sort of cosmopolitist nation, a
model thanks to which each group interacts with itself, other sub-groups and the system,
and offers two different kind of socio-cultural facility: public, where the principle of
shared justice would guarantee a sort of laboral blindness (that means not having any
tendency for phenotypes – and so stereotypes); and private, where cultural manifestation
would be absolutely granted, as an element of self-recognition (Alexander, 2001;
Hollinger, 1995)207.
207
About the difference between multicultural political models, Hartmann and Gerteis (2005) explain
there are four typologies, each of which understanding diversity as a risk for homogeneity and
interculturality (assimilationist, A), as an element of identity integration ( cosmopolitist, B), as the result
of a socio-cultural situation based on self-representation of groups but characterized by a color-blind State
(fragmentary pluralism, C), and an integral element for decentrating national culture (interactive
pluralism, D). See Scheme I.
222
If the State promotes this kind of formal recognition, local African minority can thus
create a new form of “standard-identity based” self-recognition. An identity that
includes norms, traditions and all those elements recognized as the official national
cultural heritage and part of the generalized symbolic universe which is supposed to
take care of social and culturally local minorities within the society.
Scheme I208
A
B
D
C
Related with the second, those same minorities start to recognize themselves because
of being similar with others, even if they show some specific differences and choosing a
particular sensation to look at their own self through the others’ eyes and being
perceived thanks to an exclusive double identity guaranteed by the State, as a formally
institutionalized element of socio-cultural environment (Owens Moore, 2005: 752; Du
Bois, 1903: 16-17).
This would mean integrating a special social cathegory not only for the identification
of the “right way” to recognize the Oaxaca’s African minority as an exclusive local
symbolic universe. But also by the quality of being a whole “identity secundary system”
through which members can be what they feel they are, and thanks to which they have
not to avoid the best way they consider to define themselves and the culture
characterizing their settlements.
208
Taken by Hartmann and Gertis (2005: 225).
223
If this process works, minorities enjoy what some contemporary multiculturalists
decided to define “informal integration” (Nemetz & Christensen, 1996; Tebble, 2006;
Kymlicka, 2007a).
In this context, and even when informal integration seems to be empirically far from
a concrete realization and respect, the case of Oaxaca contrasts with the option of a
“fragmented pluralism” embraced by Latin American countries, and it really shows
Mexico is trying to impulse a sort of social conscientization of diversity. In this sense,
Oaxaca’s case embodies a very much more different way of being separated by an
assimilationist vision of regional pluralism (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005) and, togheter
with obviating the easiest way of forgetting about the African presence within the Costa
Chica, in some way, it offers a social position that potentially could represent the first,
concrete, institutional step for the production of some kind of special rights for the black
national minority (Kymlicka, 2007a).
Thus, contrary to the studies aimed at analyzing the multicultural phenomenon that
characterizes explicitly the pluriethnic states, regional multiculturalism is presented by
two different aspects. On one side, regional vision of the problem considers
multiculturality as a certain kind of national identity including similarities and
diversities in a clearly conservative Latin Americanist discourse (Volpato, 2012;
Moreira, 2001); on the other, regional academic tendency shows to prefer an
ethnohistorical and predominantly ethnocentric view of the phenomenon (Barberá,
2003; Rodrigues Pinto & Domínguez Ávila, 2001; Volpato, 2012)209.
Such analytical perspective excludes a broader view of the issue of political
representation for national minorities and limits the empirical study of how State could
eventually produce some politics for the intervention on local minorities’ claims. What
it means is that Latin American multiculturalism seems much more to be an “imported”
analytical problem that, even theoretically recognized by part of many regional nations,
didn’t obtain the development or the popularity we consider it should have (Volpato,
2012). By contrast, Oaxaca’s multiculturalism resists to the vision of regional cultural
pluralism, at least in three different ways: in the relationship between universalism and
209
Latin American multicultural studies are tendentially based on a historical view that, thought to the
invisibility of Indians during the Colonial period, they seem aimed at “preferring” an indigenous
perception of the problem of diversity. In this sense, regional multiculturalism looks like as a sort of ab
origin matter and avoids the principle of shared justice, central for the liberal-democratic perspective. As
a consequence, the core concern of regional States is studying constantly pluriethnicism, and obviating all
those groups that are not characterized (because of being inmigrated or diasporic minorities) by an ethnic
social structure. In Mexico, all of them are institutionally and formally forgotten.
224
cultural relativism for the integration of minorities within the local socio-cultural
environment; in the meaning of the concept of culture (which determines the perception
of the possibility of adaptation of minorities, out of the context of their traditional
experience); in the production of a dichotomous relation between a managed and a
transformative multiculturalism (Assies, 2005).
From this perspective, if we are intended to analyze the current aspects of Costa
Chica’s multiculturalism and highlight the social role diversity has in the organization
of local context, the dichotomous relationship between “cultural universalism” and
“relative particularism” becomes an essential element of discussion (Sciolla, 2007).
While the dilemma is between universalism and particularism, and we consider the
historical dynamics Latin American societies have been through have marked a radical
turning point between a pre-construction of current social environment’s idiosyncrasies
(before the Colony characterized by an idea of traditional culture), it has also to be taken
into account a twofold perspective, produced by such historical trayectory. The creation
of an assimilationist project led to a kind of dissolution of local ethnic identities (Gros,
2002: 128), and the idea of a local pluralistic culture emphatically distinguishing itself
from the multinational political model traditionally known. What it means is that in
Latin America, classical multiculturalism is loosing its own first significance as a per sé
theoretical category, and is starting to be in contrast with its classical perception, as
liberal. Thus, although the idea of a liberal multiculturalism seems to be obsolete in a
dynamic of globalization that embodies the urgence of adapting existing political
models to new social and cultural needs, Kymlicka’s proposal (1989, 1994, 1995a,
1995b, 1996a, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007a, 2007b) still provides the theoretical base of
reference for the definition of those states included into a definition of colonized
nations, where a classical multicultural model is clearly not able to be employed.
Neverthless, and especially referring to the Latin American region, the classical
multicultural perspective has been replaced by some kind of legislation that is actually
able to recognize indigenous and African rights, as for the case of Brazil and
Colombia210.
210
For further information about modalities of recognition in Colombia and Brazil, see the
Constitution of Colombia (http://wsp.presidencia.gov.co/Normativa/Documents/Constitucion-PoliticaColombia.pdf, art.1, 2, 7, 10, 13, 23, 37, 38, 40, 43, 55, 58, 63-68, 70-72, 74, 86, 103, 106, 171, 176, 247,
302, 350; laws 21/1856, 22/81, 70 /93, 99/93, 115/9; decree 1795/9, law 70; decree 2249/95, law 70 of the
year 1993; decree 1122/98; Conpes 2909/ 97, 3169/02, 3180/02, 3169, 3310/04, Sentencia 225-98;
sentency C-169-2001), and Brazil’s (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Brazil/vigente.html).
225
Indeed, despite of being established as a universalized set of values emboding an
aggregate of behavioral patterns and customs that represent the whole of symbolic facts
of a society (Giménez, 2005: 67, vol.I), local multiculturalism is far from what the
Mexican general assimilationist context shows as a clear evidency of a potential liberal
challenge. By contrast, the formal admission of presence for the Afro-Mexican identity
within the Oaxaca State (at least theoretically exposed), especially through the Ley de
Derechos, allows us infering the existence of a set of local African shared values that
constitute to make up the social environment and implicitly accepts to define regional
culture as a space of assimilation and miscegenation. In this way, it is also fed by the
conviction that the diversification of being conscious about membership can be finally
be understood as a new relationship between African and Mexican identities (Gros:
2002: 133), and supposes Oaxaca accepts a very local kind of multiculturalism
produced by the conjunction of a multitude of peculiar and opened micro symbolic
universes.
About that fact, the case of the Costa Costa is also exemplary in relation to the
region. Indeed, although from the 80s Latin America has been characterized by a series
of constitutional reforms that were aimed at recognizing specifically (and mostly
“Indian-shaped”) linguistic or cultural norms – as for Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Venezuela, Panamá and Perú 211 − such legal
formality has not only created a multicultural consciousness, understood as an explicit
agreement created from a relationship based on mutual (not just ethnic) intercultural
respect212. It also has perpetrated the permanence of racist practices, more or less
211
See lo ca l d o c u me n t s, esp e ci al l y r e ferr i n g to th e Co ns ti t u t io n s o f Co st a R ic a
(http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Costa/costa2.html# mozT ocId11182);
Ecuador (http://pdba. georgetown.edu/Parties/Ecuador/Leyes/constitucion.pdf); Honduras
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / H o n d u r a s / v i g e n t e . h t m l ); N i c a r a g u a
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / N i c a / n i c a 0 5 . h t m l );
Bolivia
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / B o l i v i a / b o l i v i a 0 9 . h t m l ); Brasil
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / B r a z i l / v i g e n t e . h t m l );
Perú
(http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/RelatAgenda/constitucion.nsf/$$ViewTemplate%20for%20
constitucion?OpenForm); Guatemala (http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Guate/guate93.html);
Panamá ( h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / P a n a m a / v i g e n t e . p d f ) ; V e n e z u e l a
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / V e n e z u e l a / v i g e n t e . h t m l ); P a r a g u a y
(h t t p : / / p d b a . g e o r g e t o w n . e d u / C o n s t i t u t i o n s / P a r a g u a y / p a r a 1 9 9 2 . h t m l ); Argentina
(http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Argentina/argen94.html).
212
Different types of formal or informal recognition for indigenous and Africans have been ratified, as
in the case of the “169 Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Labour
Organization” (Convenio 169 de la Organización mundial del trabajo sobre pueblos indígenas y
tribales), which includes national programs for integration and local development for both minorities. By
contrast, only a few states produced specific constitutional articles allowing the formal recognition of
them, and none of those has ratificated any minority-right for European, Asian or Arabish origin subgroups.
226
hidden, demonstrating the existence of unequal ethnic relations and racial
discrimination, which create a dynamic of continuity about the privilege of being or not
part of a specific color-defined sub-group (González Manrique, 2006). By contrast,
Oaxaca’s multicultural dynamic does not allow defining its cultural space as a universal
aggregated where groups define themselves as part of an unfinished nation which offers
to them a collective identity ideally attributable to a clear definition of traditional
culture (Bobes, 2007).
Within such social space, the tylorian concept of culture − which according to the
Western view of the problem has been embodied by pre-Columbian populations that
currently characterizes ab origine ethnic groups – is turning itself into a sort of semiotic
way of being213. Therefore, it not only embodies a process of modification of their
traditional culture, accessing to modifying their multinational status, but it also
conditions the empirical level of self-identification of local minorities through symbols,
values and norms that, traditionally represent integral and inseparable elements of the
collective local socio-cultural imaginery.
The process of self-ascription and the construction of group identity underling these
dynamics are thus defined by the production of new behavioral rules learned and
internalized by minorities because of the need to adapt to the surrounding social
environment. At the same time, those elements are established as cultural parameters
that define a form of “passive multiculturalism”, dedicated to prove the existence of a
certain kind of pluralism, without any State intervention.
While such local version of it is potentially tended to accommodate minorities and
politically recognizes local “Africanness” through a specific territorial recognition, it is
also focused on developing a new collective social consciousness and, for the specific
case, potentially representing a kind of “evolution” of Mexican politics about the topic.
What it finally means is encouraging the institutionalization of multiculturalism as a
way of acquiring local regulations aimed at importing a globalized socio-cultural model,
but without forgetting to accommodate local needs of minorities and respecting an
undeniably plural Mexican national essence.
Such perspective of Oaxaca’s multiculturalism will be explained separately, by
analyzing the most relevant factors which, within the coast, allow us reasoning about
213
See note n.186.
227
both the motives for empirically limiting the recognition of local “Africanness”, and
understanding regional diversity.
4. The Multicultural Way of Oaxaca: Race and Ethnicity
If we define Oaxaca’s black settlements as an example of pluralism and diversity it is
also needed defining how physical features can be relevant (in the Oaxaca’s case it
actually is) for the definition of multiculturality.
So, while Mexican Constitution pretends of being the most important document that
should define both the pluralism and its recognition through the production of specific
minority-rights based on the principle of equality (but, instead, emboding what
multiculturalists define a “color blind constitution”) (Kymlicka & Norman, 2000;
Kymlicka, 1994, 1996a; Zwart, 2005; Wallerstein, 2003), the Ley de Derechos of
Oaxaca seems to embrace a different perspective of the topic; a point of view that
highlights the cultural difference through mentioning ethnic indigenous groups and
African communities.
By this perspective it can be said there are two main core points of the question that
allow us asking about which are the principles that permit the Ley de Derechos looking
forward the respect and admission of local diversity. In this sense we would be able to
understand if Oaxaca State could (or couldn’t) be concretely defined a multicultural
space respectfull of pluralism and diversity, and at what level: as a way to figure out a
local criterion of representation based on history, territorial rights and race, or an
empirical symbolic universe embodying the sum of the human contradictions built
throughout life and the semiotic essence of the local culture.
First: as argued by the Ley de Derechos, all minorities living within the area are,
institutionally and constitutionally, protected. Neverthless and depending on which kind
of minority we are referring to, the law establishes (or not) some rights and statements
that actually allow some minorities being over others and obtaining some local
privilegies other do not enjoy.
So, while concerning to Afro-Mexican communities, the Ley de Derechos establishes
only the right of “being protected” (without adding anything more)214, the approach
referring to Indian population – especially for Amuzgos, Cuicatecos, Chatinos,
Chinantecos, Chocholtecos, Chontales, Huaves, Ixcatecos, Mazatecos, Mixes, Mixtecos,
214
See art.2 of the Ley de Derechos.
228
Nahuas, Triques, Zapotecos and Zoques (that represent the whole indigenous population
of the area) – grants a complete article of the Ley de Derechos (art.3) that includes
seven more sub-paragraphs contributing both to define and protect ab origine
communities (par.II to V and VII to VIII).
Referring to the indigenous population, it is defined being composed by ‘…those
human, economic, social and cultural communities that have given historical continuity
to political institutions which had their ancestors before the creation of the State of
Oaxaca itself; having their own economic, social, political and cultural forms of
organization; and claiming their free membership to any ethnic group mentioned by the
second paragraph of Article n.2 of this Law. The State recognizes to those indigenous
peoples the juridical status of legal persons of the public law, for all those effects
derived from their relationships with State, Municipal Governments and third parties…’
(Ley de Derechos, art.2, II sub-par.)215.
In second instance, and concerning to Indian communities, they enjoy a especific
definition as ‘…groups of people that constitute one or more socio-economic and
cultural unities, belonging to a specific indigenous population that is part of one of those
ethnic groups mentioned by the Article n.2 of this Law, and have a lower administrative
cathegory than that of a municipality, as municipal or police agencies. The State
recognizes to those indigenous communities the juridical status of legal persons of the
public law, for all those effects derived from their relationships with State, Municipal
Governments and third parties…’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, III sub-par.)216.
Thirdly, ‘…The expression of self-determination of indigenous peoples and
communities as integral parts of the State of Oaxaca…[is]…in line with the existing
legal order, to take decisions for themselves and establish their own practices related to
worldview, indigenous territory, land, natural resources, socio-political organization,
administration of justice, education, language, health and culture’ (Ley de Derechos,
215
The original text recites: «…Aquellas colectividades humanas que por haber dado continuidad
histórica a las instituciones políticas, económicas, sociales y culturales que poseían sus ancestros antes de
la creación del Estado de Oaxaca, poseen formas propias de organización económica, social, política y
cultural, y afirman libremente su pertenencia a cualquiera de los pueblos mencionados en el segundo
párrafo del Artículo 2° de este Ordenamiento. El Estado reconoce a dichos pueblos indígenas el carácter
jurídico de personas morales de derecho público, para todos los efectos que se deriven de sus relaciones
con los Gobiernos Estatal, Municipales, así como terceras personas».
216
«Aquellos conjuntos de personas que forman una o varias unidades socioeconómicas y culturales,
que pertecen a un determinado pueblo indígena de los enumerados en el Artículo 2° de este Ordenamiento
y que tengan una categoría administrativa inferior a la del municipio, como agencias municipañes o
agencias de polícia. El Estado reconoce a dichas comunidades indígenas el carácter jurídico de personas
morales de derecho público, para todos los efectos que se deriven de sus relaciones con los Gobiernos
Estatal y Municipales, así como con terceras personas».
229
art.2, IV sub-par.)217. The Indian population also enjoys an “Indian territory”, classified
as a ‘…portion of the national territory that defines the natural, social and cultural space
domain within which indigenous people and communities are located and operate; on it,
Mexican State has fully sovereignty, and State of Oaxaca its own autonomy; within it,
the Indian people and communities express their specific form of relationship with the
world’ (Ley de Derechos , art.2, V sub-par.)218. A territorial space where social rights are
those ‘…powers and privileges of a collective nature that are recognized (in the
political, economic, social, cultural and jurisdictional areas) by the Oaxaca’s
jurisdictional order, to indigenous peoples and communities in order to ensure their
existence, survival, dignity, well-being and non-discrimination, starting by the fact they
are actually belonging to those socio-cultural groups’ (Ley de Derechos, art.2, VII subpar.)219.
Finally, Indians can actually daily employ that set of oral jurisdictional norms of
consuetudinary character that indigenous peoples and communities recognize as valid,
use to regulate their public actions, and authorities apply to solve in-group conflicts’
(Ley de Derechos, art.2, VIII sub-par.)220.
By the other side, as we previously argued, if we consider the Mexican Constitution
being the base for all other federal constitutional documents (as the Oaxaca’s), it comes
to be relevant understanding that Mexican State, as we clearly see with the II article of
the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos , chooses to identify
minorities by a specific criterion of membership. ‘…The Nation has a multicultural
composition originally based on its indigenous peoples that are those who descend from
the populations which inhabited the present territory of the country at the beginning of
colonization and maintain their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions,
217
«La expresión de la libre determinación de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas como partes
integrantes del Estado de Oaxaca, en consonancia con el orden jurídico vigente, para adoptar por sí
mismos decisiones e instituir prácticas propias relacionadas con su cosmovisión, territorio indígena,
tierra, recursos naturales, organización sociopolítica, administración de justicia, educación, lenguaje,
salud y cultura».
218
«…la porción del territorio nacional que define el ámbito espacial natural, social y cultural en
donde se asientan y desenvuelven los pueblos y comunidades indígenas; en ella, el Estado Mexicano
ejerce plenamente su soberanía, el Estado de Oaxaca su autonomía, y los pueblos y comunidades
indígenas expresan su forma específica de relación con el mundo».
219
«Las facultades y prerrogativas de naturaleza colectiva que en los ámbitos político, económico,
social, cultural y jurisdiccional el orden jurídico oaxaqueño reconoce a los pueblos y comunidades
indígenas para garantizar su existencia, pervivencia, dignidad, bienestar y no discriminación basada en la
pertenencia a aquellos».
220
«Conjunto de normas jurídicas orales de character consuetudinario que los pueblos y comunidades
indígenas reconocen como válidas y utilizan para regular sus actos públicos y sus autoridades aplican para
la resolución de sus conflictos».
230
or part of them...Awareness of their indigenous identity should be the fundamental
criterion for determining to whom legal disposition will apply on indigenous
communities...They are communities that belong to The Indigenous Peoples, those that
form a social, economic and cultural unity, that are seated in a territory and recognize
themselves according to their customs authorities...The right of indigenous peoples to
self-determination is exercised in a constitutional framework that ensures the autonomy
of national unity. The recognition of indigenous peoples and communities will be made
in the constitutions and laws of the states that, in addiction, must take into account the
general principles set out with the preceding paragraphs of this article, the ethnolinguistic and the physical location criteria’221.
Now, by considering the principle of Mexican multiculturality, we can account for
three different elements that seem to be needed for the declaration of pluralism and
recognition within Oaxaca State: history; territory; and ethnicity.
In the first case, referring also to the political action black minority developed during
the periods before and after the European colonization of Mexico, the history seems to
be a relevant issue for both indigenous and African-descent population. Concerning to
the first, Indians represent an ab origine population existing before Columbus, but also
for the latter, historical dynamic accounts for the importance the presence of black
slaves had for the protection of Mexico and the Indians222. Moreover, historical dynamic
of mestizaje turned Africans and Indians into one Mestizo population whose psysical
and cultural traits actually characterize the most part of Afro-descents of Oaxaca’s
Costa Chica. Therefore, while Africans have an explicit color or traditions they also join
a common origin of both their members and many of those Indians that have their roots
into some of local minorities. This process has been registered by the Comisión
Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CDI – “National Commission
221
«…La Nación tiene una composición pluricultural sustentada originalmente en sus pueblos
indígenas que son aquellos que descienden de poblaciones que habitaban en el territorio actual del país al
iniciarse la colonización y que conservan sus propias instituciones sociales, económicas, culturales y
políticas, o parte de ellas…La conciencia de su identidad indígena deberá ser criterio fundamental para
determinar a quiénes se aplican las disposiciones sobre pueblos indígenas...Son comunidades integrantes
de un pueblo indígena, aquellas que formen una unidad social, económica y cultural, asentadas en un
territorio y que reconocen autoridades propias de acuerdo con sus usos y costumbres…El derecho de los
pueblos indígenas a la libre determinación se ejercerá en un marco constitucional de autonomía que
asegure la unidad nacional. El reconocimiento de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas se hará en las
constituciones y leyes de las entidades federativas, las que deberán tomar en cuenta, además de los
principios generales establecidos en los párrafos anteriores de este artículo, criterios etnolingüísticos y de
asentamiento físico…» (Constitución Política , art.2).
222
See Chapter I of the “Mexican Frame”, Historical Origins of Afro-Mexican Culture and its Social
Effects (pp.87-108).
231
for the Development of Indigenous Peoples”) (2012) which, after analyzing historical
dynamics of cimarronaje, mestizaje and racial mixing argued all kinds of national
minorities produced by such socio-cultural trayectories have the right to be considered,
understood and defined as pueblos originarios (“original” or “ancestral people”). A
definition which constitutionally could obtain the recognition and so the minority rights
the indigenous people actually are enjoying. In this sense, it is not possible to talk about
history for legitimating the institutional presence or formal representation of minority
within Oaxaca or much more extensively, within Mexico.
Secondly, concerning to the territorial issue, it embodies a twofold problem. In the
case of Indian population, indigenous people adquired the possession of the lands a long
time before European coming, so today they look for being represented by a specific
“territorial rights”, meaning that being represented as the main population belonging to
a certain area. In the second, Africans came to Oaxaca because of work needs, but also
depending on new familiar duties created by the conjunction of Indians with blacks,
causing Indian women coming from their original settlement, mixing with Afro-descent
population (sometimes blacks, sometimes any other kind of “in-between” race), and
resulting into a new familiar label, caractherized by difference and homogeneity at the
same time (Meza Bernal, 2003). In that context, blacks and indigenous mixed up, and
began to occupy the same territory, which, by effect of misgenation, passed to be
possessed by both, indifferently. In this sense, the right of territoriality should be given
to both: to the Indians because of their ancestry; to the Africans because of their
acquired local citizenship.
Thirdly, as we said it is important to be remembered the problem of ethnicity, among
Afro-Mexicans, has not a concrete relevance for defining identity (Cardoso de Oliveira,
1992; Campos, 1999; Barabas & Bartolomé, 1990)223. By contrast, ethnic origins are the
most important element for the recognition of indigenous population, both by part of
commnities’ members and the State. In this sense, while referring to Mexican Indians as
a set of different ethnies that constitutionally “prove” the existence of ab origine groups
within Mexico, talking about blacks means reasoning about an eventually potential way
for understanding how and why formally represent the African minority at national and
local level.
223
See also the section Ethnic Identification , at pages 161-162.
232
The problem is rooted into historical dynamics, which conditioned the modern
Mexican idiosyncrasy and, in consecuence to that, modified the way Mexican State
actually has to account for pluralism and diversity in its political disclosure. Thus, at the
moment of recognizing identity within Oaxaca’s State, the constitutional and the general
legal approach to the issue looks for valorizing those groups which are based on a
feeling of membership that depends on a specific way of “being part of”, and does not
come from an election, but only from a territorial problem. In this sense the ideas of
territory and ethnicity seem to be strictly anchored to identity and they play an essential
role for the construction of in-group normativity, values, habitus, and ways of selfrecognition.
From this perspective, both the Mexican Constitution and the Ley de Derechos
indirectly impulse the recognition only of those modalities of identity that seek to be
valued by their “by-blood” or “by-national principle” (Ley de Derechos, “Exposición de
Motivos”). In this sense ethnic groups are considered as nations, exacly because of their
authonomy, in-group normativity, traditions and worldview (Constitución Política de
los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2, par.A, I-V sub-par. and par.B, I-III sub-par.,
art.115, par.III, sub-par.(i). The “by-blood” principle, in this case, differs from the
African feeling of brotherhood, where being part of the group means being part of a
symbolic universe to which aesthetics are really relevant for the empirical recognition of
“communitarian-family”. By contrast, concering to Indians, the principle of bloodrecognition accounts for idiosyncrasy and mentality, not necessary because of
traditional clothes or physical traits. If it would be this way, all those Mexicans
corresponding to a Mestizo phenotype would be able to be included into an indigenous
minority. Constrasting with what we said, Africans are clearly able to recognize each
other thanks to skin color or phenotypical traits and, even they are not “completely”
black or objectively African they take into account the importance memory has for the
definition of race.
Color comes thus to be relevant for in-group relations, at least for two reasons.
Because of being a clear way of visual recognition and self-adscription, and because of
the power color potentially has for the unity of such minority. In the first case, choosing
a local criterion or self-definition means having a sort of African consciousness that
allows communities’ members showing their knowledge about ancestral memory,
traditions, physical traits or any other kind of African element. In the second, being a
whole would eventually create a community-conscience able to insure the continuity of
233
self-perception in the future and granting the creation of an Afro-Mexican autopoietic
group, capable of interacting with civil society without loosing its own way of being224.
From this perspective race starts to embody the right way to understand diversity within
the Oaxaca’s Costa Chica and it clearly offers to Africans a new way of selfidentification that could be also relevant for the Indian population. In this case, it would
be important accepting local minorities have the right of not feeling represented by the
legal or the constitutional definition State imposes to ab origine sub-groups.
Minorities, specially the black one, would be thus able to “suggest” an alternative
way throught which being recognized without avoiding the importance Mexican
national values be maintained.
Second: concerning to the relation members of settlements have with their own way
of understanding the local African identity, we should account for a peculiar method for
self-defining, based on two socio-cultural processes: Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican identity as
the result of the conjunction between historical processes and daily needs; and the fact
that local culture is not exempted of being semiotic.
In the first case, African local culture contributes to clearly invalidate the principle of
a Mexican homogeneous way of being (Martínez Montiel, 2000; Aguirre Beltrán,
1967). Indeed, while during the Colony the slaves were mixed with Indians and
Europeans, such dynamic imposed a new aesthetic parameter for Mexican race and
started to represent the unique (or the best socially recognized) way of being “national”.
On the other side, each individual that came to be part of the new Mestizo Nation
produced his own version of local identity, assuring its African heritage being absorbed
by indigenous traditions or European (Vinson III, 1995, 2006). In addiction, such
process was increased thanks to the permanence of blacks within the territory. In this
sense, it is much more logic understanding local Mexican culture as a product of the
mixing between Indians and Africans, not a “contaminated” version of the official
Mexican identity.
From this perspective, the Costa Chica’s African population is allowed regulating its
own value orientation with the world of life (Parsons & Shils, 1959; Parsons, 1968) and
choosing their strategic actions (Habermas, 1981, vols.I-II) by two different ways:
mantaining its original cultural position (represented by the existence of some kind of
ancestral traditions and meanings); and because of that, creating its own sub-systemic
224
A classic reference to the meaning of “autopoietic” in Luhmann (1992, 1986, 1993a, 1993b, 2000).
234
symbolic universe. As concerns to the first, Costa Chica’s Africans use such cultural
elements in developing some specific social relations between its members and the
generalized socio-cultural environment. The latter explains the difference between being
“ethnic” or “communitarian”, meaning that choosing between keep representing our
origins through what they must to be represented by, or thanks to what we consider it
would be the best way of doing that, by granting a certain degree of culture and human
security (Beals, 1955, Lewis, 2000). The first would be representing the Indian case, the
second the African.
Now, if we reason about the difference between the concepts of “people” and
“community” (those which legitimate, or not, sub-groups being defined as ab origine)
and we consider them complementary in defining both identity and its way of
recognition, we should account for a twofold dynamic. By referring to the concept of
“people”, we would account for a unique way of measuring the representativity of the
group and self-adscription as the best elements for recognizing indigenous’ presence
throughout the territory. In this case, it would be necessary accounting for all those
components that, if avoided, would make Indian people loosing their empirical
difference from Mestizos: language and some local traditions. By contrast, the idea of
community would be clearly better in defining micro-cultural realities of Africans.
Indeed, even if (sometimes) having similar customs and traditions to non-black
population’s, aesthetics will be the core element for the recognition of their presence as
a group. Such element of self and direct recognition would thus suppose understanding
race as the only element capable of being representative for them.
As a consequence, such way of being black within the Costa Chica, supposes the
existence of a certain parameter of “authomatically generated participation” to the ingroup dynamic. In this sense, the African community itself would be constituted by the
presence of a certain level of in-group multiculturalism, produced by the concrete
existence of Mestizaje, but also by the conscience of each member of being the result
(physically and culturally speaking) of it. In such a context, everyone black would be
authomatically chategorized as Afro-Mexican, and his cultural elements will be openly
detected, and attributed to his peculiar way of identity, membership and belonging,
granted by the community of origin (Bustillo Marín, 2012). Such symbolic universe will
be thus responsible for generating the personalities of social actors who will participate
in constructing the sense of belonging itself, and it will be the socio-cultural bridge
between communities and civil society. That’s why it is not possible to understand
235
Oaxaca’s multiculturalism without taking into account a special cultural identity that, at
the same time is able to combine black settlements into one. Indeed, by talking about
Indians, we have to account for the fact indigenous are many and distinct one another,
but they are classified as a whole, as a certain kind of “people”. In this context, even if
some community is not taken into account, the idea of “indigenous” still works and it is
recognized everywhere (Bustillo Marín, 2012; Correas, 2007; Giménez, 1994). By
contrast, referring to Africans, their settlements are very similar one to the other and
they can really be distinguished only (but probably mistaking) by the tonalities of their
skin color. In this case, not recognizing blackness as something concretely important for
such minority, would make the whole black national population being not perceived. A
misrecognition that explains we are in front to a model of managed multiculturalism,
whose aim seems only being representative for pluralism itself, a superficial attitude
which demonstrates its extrictly and exclusive descriptive nature (Hartmann & Gerteis,
2005; Appiah, 1997; Chicago Cultural Studies Group, 1994; Assies, 2005).
By contrast, if the local multicultural framework is constructed on Oaxaca’s black
communities, the process of integration is measured starting by a liberal
transformational model of pluralism and diversity, where the opportunity for social
inclusion for minorities is concrete. What it means is that, ‘...while a concrete
opportunity
of
recognition
is
granted,
the
set
of
dispositions
the
communities...implement and enforce within their communities,...are the product of the
legal, political, religious, parental traditional regulatory systems, maintained through
generations’ (CNDH, 2008: 23)225. Therefore, the only way to ensure the proper
functioning of a political institution such as usos y costumbres (“uses and customs”)226,
implies the necessary regulation and implementation of an ad hoc constitutional
framework that provides certainty and some rules of general governance for minorities
(IEM, 2011).
In this context, “uses and customs” are distinguished from the common national law,
and they represent a form of an institutionalized behavior produced by the communities
constituting a per sé regulatory system which provides the full range of rights, protected
or regulated by in-group laws, and its all forms of civic, political, economic, and
religious organization (Bustillo Marín, 2012: 8). That fact supposes the empirical
225
«…disposiciones que los pueblos...aplican y observan al interior de sus comunidades y que son
producto de los sistemas normativos tradicionales (jurídicos, políticos, religiosos, parentales, etcétera)
mantenidos a través de generaciones».
226
See note n.199.
236
presence of a legal pluralism attesting communities’ legal systems, and confirming they
are valid and equal to any other, as well as their authorities and rules, whether they
coincide or not with the authorities and all the resolutions of the official legal system
(Correas, 2007: 310-311)227.
With such assumptions, the Afro-Mexican communities would not only get the
institutional visibility for the obtention of a clear constitutional recognition, but also the
opportunity to formulate some local claims directed to the affirmation, modification, or
confirmation of their presence, needs and rights, within the territory. Since this is a
social dynamic of essential importance to highlight the tension of collective over
individual rights – in a multicultural society ‘legal diversity has to be subject to severe
limitations in order not to fall into the moral pathology or immorality’ (Garzón Valdés,
2010: 8)228 – it is crucial establishing the boundaries between human rights and the
constitutional law, especially for sub-groups. This principle is not supposed granting
minority rights by accepting an alternative legal system, but impulsing the approval of
the existing system with the demands a multicultural nation imposes, by definition:
guaranteeing the foreign cultural respect and the integration of diversity in the classic
form of national identity229.
The Legislative Power should thus assume the responsibility for issuing the
necessary laws so the institutional safeguards wouldn’t be weak, as well as monitoring
the compliance of norms for ensuring the effective enforcement of justice into
minorities and between sub-groups and civil society. The achievement of this goal will
require the practice of what might be called a sort of “institutional paternalism”, in order
to offset the ‘helplessness...subjugation, discrimination and poverty (Garzón Valdés,
2010: 101)230, faced by Africans. What it means is that, while defending the official
national Mexican identity from any kind of illegal and potentially offensive way of
“contamination”, the State would admit local culture is not only a human incongruence
against the constitutive order, but only a cultural response primarly depending on local
socio-cultural environment and now inseparably Mexican.
227
«…son válidos e iguales a cualquier otro, así como sus autoridades y
resoluciones…independientemente de que coincidan o no con las autoridades y el conjunto de las
resoluciones del sistema jurídico oficial».
228
«la diversidad jurídica ha de ser objeto de fuertes limitaciones a fin de no caer en la patología
moral o en la inmoralidad».
229
See note n.24.
230
«desamparo [...], el sometimiento, discriminación y miseria».
237
On the other hand, if we consider Africans came to the Costa Chica and began to be
integrated with local Indian ethnies, it would be unfair considering Oaxaca’s black
culture a sort of an unmodified way of representation for ancestral traditions. As a
consequence, local African way of being is much more similar to a Creole embodiment
of it, than a rembrance seeking a sort of symbolic subjectivities constructed on a direct
memory of diaspora (Hooker, 2005; Iheduru, 2006; Izard Martínez, 2005). It should be
better understood as the conjunction of an undefined number of socio-cultural practices
and life experiences which, when needed, arose and impulsed the construction of a reinvented ancestral collective memory. In this sense, members of Afro-Mexican
settlements explain at least two points of view of the question: the relevance their
permanence within the territory had for the modification of original habitus, and the fact
that, even they had not been so long within the coast, their culture would have been
modified anyway.
The first element confirms what we have already discussed about history and the
motives by which blacks began of being part of the local population231. But, in
addiction, it enlightens the fact the African presence throughout the coast conditioned in
a peculiar way their cultural background, creating a very peculiar manner of feeling
Mexican.
The second, explains the semiotic character of their culture.
Oaxaca’s blackness seem thus seeking an explication that goes much far beyond a
racial or cultural mixing. It does not imposes an interpretation of local diversity as a set
of symbols (imported and modified) by a process of transculturation (Ortiz, 1906, 1916,
1921, 1950, 1951, 1952-1955, 1964, 1985), but as a symbol in itself, which allows
people obtaining a new identity, “mounted” on another (the Mexican), without being
absorbed by it. In this sense, it would not only be a way for representing the double
consciousness of Costa Chica’s Africans, but an overlapped identity which can be
assumed as part of the generalized symbolic universe, separated by it, or understood as
an in-between manner of feeling somebody, among somebody potentially different
(Deschamps & Doise, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Tajfel, 1978a, 1978b, 1982).
Such perspective of the problem is completely avoided by the Mexican Constitution,
the Ley de Derechos, and the Oaxaca’s Constitutional Document.
231
See the section Brief Historical Approach of Oaxaca’s African Population, at pages 89-99.
238
Indeed, while the Ley de Derechos and the Oaxaca’s Constitution define the presence
of Indians as the natural composition of Oaxaca’s population, Mexican carta magna
seems confounding both the institutional weight national minorities actually have in
defining national identity, and a clear definition of what Indians and non-Indians are. In
the first case, Mexican Constitution only mentions the pluricultural nature of the Nation
but obviates all those sub-groups not being ab origine (Constitución Política de los
Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art.2). In the second, it impulses an ambiguous definition of
what it calls the condición de indigenismo (“the status of Indian”), by defining it from
specific territorial, linguistic, ethnic conditions, or starting by communities’
organization, self-determination, self-definition, traditions, knowledge, culture and
identity (Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos , art.2, par.A, I-V subpar. and par.B, I-III sub-par.).
Now, if we consider the article n.2 of the Mexican Constitution as the main relevant
(and actually the only one) principle of multiculturality and respect of difference in
Mexico, we can also reasoning about the fact that Afro-Mexican communities of
Oaxaca have at least eight points in common with the definition the Mexican State
provides for defining the indigenismo condition, corresponding them to territorial
conditions, in-group organization, self-definition, self-determination, the presence of
some specific and exclusive traditions, knowledge, culture and identity232, being left
only ethnicity and language. The first condition was broken at the moment of slaves’
“extraction” (Moreno Fraginals, 1977; Cardoso de Oliveira, 1992; Barabas &
Bartolomé, 1990; Campos, 1999). The latter, that is a consequence of the first, was
modified and finally lost233.
In this sense, and depending on how much subjectively or objectively the Mexican
Costitution can be applied on the socio-cultural context, the institutional condition of
“national minority” turns itself into a specific symbolic element of local cultural
experience that can define Oaxaca’s Africanity as a way to see an impassable ideal wall,
or a way for interpreting Mexico in multicultural terms.
On the one hand, if understood as a social artifact where the conception of humanity
is not united into a whole, Mexican blackness represents what Hooker defined a matter
of political tolerance of diversity (Hooker, 2005). On the other, while it takes part into a
232
We discussed such topics through the III Chapter of the “Mexican Frame” and the first part of this
section (A Matter of Context, at pp.210-216).
233
About this process, we refer to the section A Spanish “Dialect” Modality (pp.113-117).
239
global image created by the existence of diversities and relative particularities, Oaxaca’s
blackness would be perceived as the conjunction between some specific sub-cultural
systems of interpretable signs where color represents the bridge of cultural difference
from ethnicity to race.
So while black Mexicans are a social cathegory theoretically needed to be
highlighted, they are clearly already represented, both by their own way of being, and
the collective national identity they clear also embody, in form of citizenship. That fact,
finally justifies the affirmation by which the most «...important factor in determining
success in winning collective rights under multicultural citizenship regimes is...the
extent to which minority groups are able to formulate their demands in terms that
resonate with the logic under which collective rights are justified in this citizenship
regime, which is the possession of a distinct cultural identity... » (Hooker, 2005: 299).
In this context, it is always possible arguing to be excluded from belonging to an
ethnic group, since there is no aesthetic difference between who is indigenous and who
is Mestizo, but it is certainly much less likely to do it when aesthetic differences and
color do not allow people to hide their origins.
240
Results
At the time of studying Afro-Mexican identity, two basic limitations are found. On
one hand, Mexican State ignores (institutionally speaking) the existence of any minority
which is not considered ab origin. Meaning that not providing minority-rights for nonIndian sub-groups, and avoiding potential claims by part of black population. On the
other, African communities count with a scarce conscience about their own sub-Saharan
origins. In this sense, black settlers are not concretely able claiming certain specific
minority-rights for them, nor obtaining any institutional help and recognition. That fact
also limits Afro-Mexican self-recognition and the creation of a clear way of defining
identity for this group.
In order to impulse the recognition of Mexican blackness, by justifying its relevance
in defining national and local identities, we took into account the case of the Costa
Chica of Oaxaca, in the South-West coast of the country. Indeed, it is one of the most
representative areas of African culture within the Mexican Republic, and shows the
highest national levels of discrimination.
Because of such situation, the objectives of the research were five. Three of them
have being aimed at analyzing socio-cultural dynamics of Costa Chica’s communities
(especially outlining exclusive cultural elements characterizing them); exploring
settlers’ African-origin self-awareness; highlighting concrete needs of black
communities of the area. The others have being built on the need of creating an identityclassification criterion that could be representative for African population of Oaxaca,
and inspiring the production of some specific political, social, cultural and economic
policies aimed at improving basic services within the communities.
In this sense, we tried to demonstrate two points of the question: the Afro-Mexican
culture being crucial in comprehending local diversity, as a clear indicator of regional
multiculturalism; and Costa Chica’s communities representing a unique socio-cultural
national group that “deserves” to be classified as different.
The work was organized in four sections.
The first two parts have been dedicated to theoretically analyse the concepts of
community, identity and race. Therefore, we studied the concept of cultural community,
corresponding to Oaxaca’s African population, contrasting it with the idea of ethnicity,
exclusively dedicated to the definition of indigenous as the unique ab origine minority
throughout Mexico. On the other side, the concept of race worked as a sort of universal
241
separator, socially transversal and essential for the definition of cultural categories and
their position in Mexican social structure. In the context we analysed, it also represents
a synonym for color, and embodies the clearest way to understand Mexican racial and
cultural diversity.
The third section was composed by four further moments, which explained the
reasons of Afro-Mexican presence within the Costa Chica; cultural elements
characterizing them; the level of self-perception of settlers in the definition of their
socio-cultural identity; and the role of women throughout the communities.
Finally, we discussed the idea of Mexican multiculturality by accounting the
problems of recognition, representativeness and equality. It was made by comparing the
Mexican carta magna , the Oaxaca’s Constitution, and the Ley de Derechos de los
Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca . In this context, we reasoned about the
way through which it would be possible recognizing blackness as an element of
Mexican identity and how, eventually, doing it.
Results of the research can be organized in two specific moments which explain the
most relevant achivements related with cultural uniqueness, and the need of recognizing
Afro-Mexicans as a national minority deserving some special rights for its
representativenes and integration.
Five points, in accordance with the objectives of the work, can thus address the main
results of our research. The first part of them is aimed at describing three “cultural”
objectives of the work with their related results. The second will account for the
problem of self-definition of actors and their institutional need for recognition.
I
First: concerning to Afro-Mexican cultural elements, we studied language, dances,
wedding, and the conception of human being.
About the language were analyzed the pronunciation and its potential African origin.
The main results are distributed between historical and practical motives. In the first
case, blacks were imported directly from Africa, came from Big Antilles, United States
or South America. In this context, they practically lost their original way of speaking;
also losing some religious practices that, if present, would have guaranteed the
maintenance of African-origin concepts or words. Secondly, the main empirical motives
to the loss of their language are the coexistence with Indian communities, and the need
for communicating with local ethnic groups, through a sort of lingua franca . In this
242
sense, by analyzing Afro-Mexican linguistic expressions, it is very much easier to find a
clear indigenous influence than the African is, especially in colloquial expressions or in
settlers’ strong concern in creating surnames for people. Africans of Costa Chica are
thus tended to modify the language in pronunciation (as deaf aspiration, substitution of
consonants, inversion of gender), or depending on its use, especially during festivities or
with the intention of “creating verses”. In this occasion, they employ local words
associated with sexual-cultural expressions to compliment girls or joking234. AfroMexicans count thus with no original idioms but only with a “Spanish dialect”, as we
chose to define, which characterizes a generalized costeño (“coastal”) language.
Referring to dances, we studied them starting by the most African to the less
representative one, and we can say they embody a partial African heritage. The Danza
de los Diablos is the most relevant performance that animates festivities, especially the
recurrence of the Day of the Death, during the 01th and 02th November. It represents a
heritage of African culture, since its significance refers to the spirits of ancestors who,
for the occasion, come and visit their families. The dance refers also to Ruja , a divinity
probably referred to the figure of Orula , the “supreme god”, creator of the earth and
human being, “controller” of the universe, in the Santería religion. Clothes and original
performance of the dance also seem to be inherited from Africa, since people carve and
wear devil’s masks representing spirits, and, during first presentations of the dance, the
devils used to go near to the ceiba (corresponding to a local version of the baobab tree,
sacred among Africans) to give thanks to the spirits. The Danza de los Negritos relates
the occasion when a slave has been bitten by a snake on the way to a plantation, and it
represents a sort of Indian report about some African occurrence, not an example of
African traditions. The Danza del Toro de Petate shows the Colonial life and, together
with the Danza de la Tortuga (a clear tribute to the surrounding nature), it is an example
of invented traditions that don’t refer to any African cultural heritage but to the main
result of Africans’ permanence within the area. In this sense, Afro-Mexican dances
show the existence of some cultural element potentially able to be referred to a sort or
remembrance of sub-Saharan origins, even if completely modified and exemplifying the
clearest example of the cultural miscegenation of Oaxaca’s coast.
Thirdly, wedding shows a twofold way of representing culture throughout the Costa
Chica. In the case of queridato, it expresses a clear African influence that does not
234
Note n.148 shows some examples.
243
characterizes any other socio-cultural group within Mexico. In this sense, it could be
considered a way to understand sub-Saharan heritage starting by a sort of “proper-local”
version of ethnic “pursuit for love”, where the man has the right (and actually it is the
best way to do it) to “steal” his fiancée. On the other side, the woman performs the
huida (“the escape”), justifying then the action of her potential groom. By contrast, this
tradition is also syncretic, since to obtain social respect by part of other members of the
settlement, African wedding has to be blessed by the intervention of a catholic priest
who formalizes the so-called matrimonio ideal (“perfect wedding”).
Fourtly, referring to the human being, Afro-Mexican culture seems to be very
explicit in both its African and Indian origin. Firstly, settlers consider the human body
as a container for soul and “shadow”, which can be lost, depending on different
occasions, especially when a sorcerer makes some witchcraft or the person has a bad
behaviour. In those cases, magic is the predominant way for obtaining any benefit,
when, by turn, catholic hagiography and prayers work only when the whitch-doctor
can’t solve the problem. In second instance, Africans believe everyone has a tonal, tono
or nagual, a “guide-animal” (animal-tono) which defines personalities, attitudes and the
fate of people. Such belief is not common within every community but only in those
where the population is explicitly mixed with the indigenous one, or where Africans
share the same territory with the first. This dynamic explains mestizaje by at least two
points of view. By one side, Africans express their original habitus, by maintaining
some cultural element, orally handed down, aimed at solving specific individual and
collective problems. By the other, it seems to be an in-between tradition, since Africans
also use the concept of nagual for understanding the tono. In this case, it is possible to
say Africans have a different conception of nagualism as actually held by the Mixtecs,
and it is much more similar to an invented tradition than an imported or transformed
one.
Second: in order to understand if people have any grade of self-awareness about their
African origin, informants were asked about self-identification, self-definition, and selfdescription. The main results of the question are distributed by the motives they feel
different from “the others”, the concept they prefer to be descripted by, and their
perception of physical traits.
In the first case, people said they are different because of three main caracteristics:
color, traditions and social condition. About color, our informants explained they
consider themselves blacks, so they are different from those who are not. By contrast,
244
asking for their relation with Indian ethnic groups of the area, they self-classify as
Morenos. This is since the conviction people have about the fact color is useful only for
defining individuals through physical traits. Instead, self-identifying Morenos, means
obtaining an ethnic identification which allows them dealing with Indians as a group,
not as dispersed and undefined people. Secondly, traditions are an element for selfidentification but it seems they are not essential for being considered African-descents.
Only referring to women, gender looks like the best element for understanding
traditions as relevant. Indeed, black women consider themselves essential for defining
African settlements of the area, since they are who keep traditions alive and perpetrate
their use, constantly over time. Thirdly, both men and women said a black Mexican is a
poor person. Therefore, they identify themselves through a relation of reciprocity,
between the fact Africans of the Costa Chica are poor, so it was impossible not being
black, and the conviction all blacks of the coast are more or less discriminated.
Especially referring to this point, women’s position is very interesting, since they are
doubly emarginated. On the one hand, being a woman supposes also being stigmatized
within the community she belongs to. On the other, being black is an element for
discrimination by civil society.
Secondly, when being asked about self-determination, people argued they prefer
being defined as Morenos, prietos, or Afro-Mestizos, when Moreno indicates somebody
indefinitely “dark” (but also possibly used for South-European phenotypes, like SouthItalian, Andalusian, or Arab); prieto means having a very similar sub-Saharan skin color
and tone; and Afro-Mestizo identifying both territorial origins and race mixing. Thus,
people showed their preference in defining somebody black as Moreno prieto, since
Moreno supposes the race mixing and color, while the concept of prieto suggests the
predominance of sub-Saharan origin. By contrast, at the time of introducing the concept
of Afro-Mexican, everyone sympathized with the idea of being a “Mexican with
African origins” in the sense while they are formally defined Mexicans, so being
included into the national citizenship, they preserve their African heritage. Such concept
is thus a new potential social category, which would allow blacks being, at least ideally,
integrated into the socio-cultural Mexican structure.
In third instance, we asked individuals to describe themselves through choosing
between nine Mexican phenotypes ranging from the most distant to the closest to the
African. Men and women answered by two different ways, being blackness very
relevant for men, and less for women. By men’ opinion, color assumes an essential
245
weight for being considered part of any African community. In this sense race seems to
be an element of pride, which allows people self-considering a sort of culture or
heritage container in charge of maintaining and perpetrating it. By contrast, women’
position is quite different, since, as a response to communities and civil society’s
discrimination, they chose the most far phenotype as possible from theirs.
Such answers explain that, in the context we analysed, race is a relative concept that
(depending on the use or idea people have of it) can actually harming whom
demonstrates of not being part of that portion of population who shows the “straight
way” of being Mexican.
Third; about concrete needs of settlements, the results of our research highlight two
dimensions of the problem: a lack of services, and a clear institutional absence. As
concerns to the first point, every community shows the same limitations, being these a
scarce presence of medicines and the attention of medical staff, the generalized absence
of schools or cultural institutions235, the poor infrastructure of houses (including the lack
of basic services, as water, drainage or electricity), the lack of labour opportunities. On
the other side, the only presence institutions have within the African communities of the
area is the University of Puebla, especially the Sociology Department’s staff, the civil
association África A.C ., and the local NGO México Negro. The first one is mostly
dedicated to the study of blackness throughout the area, by analysing color and
phenotype perceptions, and it led a recent (2011) campaign about “conscientization of
African origins” for settlers. As concerns to the latters, África A.C. seems to be very
active in organizing cultural committees, especially in regard with “identity
negotiation”; nevertheless, though to its active participation to socio-cultural dynamic, it
has not enough influence on institutions and people. The motive for its lack of influence
on settlers is, as said by our informants, the leader of África A.C. is not black, but only
Afro-Mestizo; therefore he is considered not fully legitimated to lead an African
association. In the second case, concerning to México Negro, it enjoys a good response
by part of settlers, since its leaders (both the founder, the father Glynn Jemmoth, and its
current head, Prof. Sergio Peñaloza) are clearly Morenos prietos. The action of México
Negro is aimed at negotiating Afro-Mexican identity through the inclusion of settlers
into labour dynamic and institutions.
235
Only in Santo Domingo Armenta, El Ciruelo and Cortijos, primary or secondary school are
present. In this case, the problem is often rooted into the unwillingness by part of people of being
teachers, or, when the municipality assigns them, they show an important lack of preparation.
246
II
Finally, regarding to the fort and fifth objectives of the research, they explain how
we should understand African-Mexicanity and the importance of recognizing blacks
having specific cultural and exclusive characteristics. What it means is explaining who
Afro-Mexicans are and how are they.
In order to answer to the first question, it has been proved Africans of Oaxaca’s
Costa Chica actually count with a rich cultural background that consists in having been
produced through the influence of three cultural roots and racial stocks: the Indian, the
European and the African. Because of that, they show a set of mixed characteristics,
which while demonstrating their cultural uniqueness, also want black culture being part
of a generalized national identity. For example, concerning to dances or language,
blacks do not perform any exclusive sub-Saharan music, but a local version of Indian
dances with some kind of African significance; while language is influenced by Mixtec.
Moreover, about aesthetics, many settlers consider they perform the Danza de los
Diablos because of their African traits, even though they have no perception of its
original meaning or provenience. They also consider of being Morenos, because it
supposes a way of being a group, not only black persons. If it would be only depending
on that, Afro-Mexicans would not be able to better their life conditions because of both
the stigma civil society has on them, and a self-discrimination principle caused by a
specific interiorization of black stereotype. As a response to such discrimination, people
shown their intention of being defined by two different concepts referring to race and
African origins as a value, not a motive for exclusion.
Indeed, as a result of our research, and referring specifically to self-definition, we are
able to say they self-consider “black-Mexicans” or “Afro-Mexicans”. That means they
emphasize on color but not avoiding the right of being included into the national
citizenship. In the first case, the concept of “black-Mexican” has the meaning of a
person who counts with the whole set of elements characterizing the “straight way” of
being Mexican, while the physical variation given by the color guarantees the empirical
identification of settlers, by using race as an individual peculiarity, not a motive for
stigmatization. In the second, being “Afro-Mexican” means accounting for origins (not
necessary color) and the right of being considered “national”. Meaning that avoiding the
significance of race in itself, by supposing the idea (potentially negative) connected
with, would not produce any contradiction in defining Mexican identity.
247
In order to summarize this point we can thus say “Mexicans with an African descent”
are a cultural sub-group, which is defined by an “African-shaped” phenotype, counting
with a culturally-mixed traditional background, and self-defining blacks or AfroMexicans.
Secondly, with the aim of clarifying the latter argument, we can say black-Mexicans
of the area consider themselves discriminated, as we argue, especially because of the
physical traits. Such affirmation represents thus a clear contradiction between the pride
of being black and the importance of not being marginalized exactly because of that. It
is since historical dynamic of Mexico, which imposed a socio-cultural process of
affirmation of indigenismo. Its main objective was highlighting the fact Mexican
citizenship was the product of a racial mixing destined to separate Indians from “the
others”, by choosing the predominance of white (or European) race. By contrast,
African population of Mexico is also relevant for its participation at the War of
Independence of 1810-1821, giving rise to a new independent Nation based on values of
freedom, equality and respect. In this sense, black population is allowed to be
considered one of the bases of Mexican identity and it represents a concrete ideological
and cultural worth of the country.
Finally, through our research we consider us demonstrated two points of the topic.
In the first instance, Afro-Mexicans represent a culture that is the result of the
conjunction between cultural and racial roots actually allowing them being part of both
the Oaxaca’s and the national socio-cultural environment. In this sense, local African
culture makes settlers able defining themselves starting by a criterion of selfidentification constructed on both the main Mexican principle of identity (Mestizaje),
and a strictly local way of being black. Such dynamic allows then Africans of Oaxaca
being in contact with other sub-groups and the civil society, without avoiding their
cultural characteristics and habitus, and producing a sort of “in-between” identity that is
actually part of three symbolic universes, the Indian, the Mestizo, and the African itself.
Moreover, by considering its proximity (culturally and racially speaking) to Indians,
and the fact that (even if needed) they do not enjoy similar minority-rights to
indigenous’, Costa Chica’s black communities demonstrate “deserving” to be classified
depending on settlers’s claims. In this case we demonstrated the princpile of pueblos
originarios (“ab origine people”) is also aplicable to them, so authomatically offering to
blacks the same rights (or similar) Indians have. Meaning that obtaining a Constitutional
definition for them and the appropiated set of rights from which they are actually denied
248
to enjoy: territoriality, self-definition, self-government, traditionality and intercultural
education.
The first point would prove the fact Afro-Mexicans are a unique cultural sub-group
ideally exercising a local version of multiculturalism as a praxis of life. That means
feeding Mexican identity in both its historical trajectory and its current ideological
value.
The second would impulse the intervention of State’s institutions for the recognition
of Afro-Mexican identity as a way to increase settlers’ life conditions, but also for better
understanding Mexican identity itself. It would finally make senses of a human African
sub-group being measured not only through the degree of membership or level of ingroup acceptance, but thanks to the range and sensitivity Mexicans are also found to
differ.
While focusing on “promoting” the study of Mexican blackness by demonstrating
substantial evidence of African uniqueness throughout the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, we
may have contributed to this lack of acknowledgment. So we stressed on the “AfroMexican” as a local “modality” of national identity, and a way for developing a political
idea of recognition and multiculturality (as far, lacking in Mexico), which assumes the
existence of a peculiar way to understand difference. An understanding of diversity that,
while representing a limit to the principle of cultural Mexican homogeneity, seems to be
the clearest example of pluralism the concept of Mestizaje primarily supposes.
249
250
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del
Perú
(http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/RelatAgenda/constitucion.nsf/$$ViewTemplate%
20for%20 constitucion?OpenForm).
Constitución política de los estados unidos mexicanos, que reforma la de 5 de febrero
de 1857, in Diario Oficial, tomo V, 4ª, Época, n.30, Lunes 05 de febrero de 1917.
Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
Constitución
Política
de
(http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Paraguay/para1992.html).
288
Paraguay
Constitución
Política
del
Estado
de
Bolivia
(http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Bolivia/bolivia09.html).
Constitución Política del Estado de Chiapas.
Constitución Política del Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca.
Constituiçã o
da
Re p ú blica
F e d e r a t i va
do
Br a s il
(http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Brazil/vigente.html).
Convenio 169 de la Organización mundial del trabajo sobre pueblos indígenas y
tribales.
Decreto Constitucional para la libertad de la América mexicana, sancionado en
Apatzingan
á
22
de
O ctu b r e
de
1814;
(http://www.biblioteca.tv/artman2/publish/1814_111/Decreto_constitucional_para_la
_libertad_de_la_Am_rica_mexicana_sancionado_en_Apatzingan_22_de_Octubre_de
_1814.shtml).
Ley de Derechos de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas de Oaxaca.
289
290
Annex
291
292
Maps
293
294
The Costa Chica (Mexico)
295
The Costa Chica (Oaxaca)
296
Santo Domingo Armenta Municipality
Santo Domingo Armenta
297
Pinotepa Nacional Municipality
Collantes
298
El Ciruelo
299
Santiago Tapextla Municipality
Santiago Tapextla
300
Llano Grande Tapextla
301
Santa María Cortijos Municipality
Santa María Cortijos
302
San Juan Bautista lo de Soto
303
304
Images
305
306
Image 1
Declaration of Independence 1810
307
Image 2
Prayer of the Virgin of Montserratt
308
Instruments
309
310
Limits in Data Collection
In order to organize the analysis of our target population, we created three groups of
ages, each one aimed at analyzing population’s profiles between 15 and 25 years old
(young), 26-60 (adults), and the elderly (over 60), divided by sex236. Successively, we
met both communities’ leaders (men) and mayors. We built thus a general information
network based on individual and shared perceptions of communities and local
institutions about both characteristics and needs of settlements. In addition, we
produced four further interviews with the father Glynn Jemmoth, founder of the local
NGO México Negro (“Black Mexico”), Lic. Lucía Vásquez, Head of the Office for
International Relations of the Government of Oaxaca’State (Encargada del Desapacho
de la Coordinación de Asuntos Internacionales del Gobierno del Estado d e Oaxaca ),
Dr. Heriberto Antonio García, Director of the Commission for the Defense of Human
Rights (Director de la Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos ) of Oaxaca,
and Prof. Gloria Zafra, from the Sociology Department of Autonomous University
“Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca UABJO)237.
Two kind of limitations can be addressed: general problems, connected with the
nature of the Costa Chica, as its territorial position; and technical, referring explicitly to
data collection.
a. General Problems
The Costa Chica of Oaxaca is one of the poorest areas within Mexico and, because of
being located relatively far from the main cities of the coast, as Pinotepa Nacional (in
the Oaxaca’s State), and Acapulco, in Guerrero, it is not a commercial area, nor
touristic. In addition, people is under control of local authorities, which is constantly
supervising potential conflicts between “families” along the coast238.
Because of its territorial position and the roads often impassable, the Costa Chica
represents also a very hard place to find, reachable only by truck or similar.
Such situation imposes two kind of problems, which are the following. Firstly,
depending on the absence of touristic structures and the Costa Chica’s isolated position,
236
See note n.9.
The whole material is in possession of the author and available.
238
The word “family” is locally used for identifying drug cartels ( narcos), which look for isolated
areas in order to hide themselves and being hard to find by authorities.
237
311
it is very unusual finding Europeans or North Americans, so at the time of contacting
with settlers, people were very reluctant. Secondly, because of the presence of police
and the violence potentially granted by “families”, people developed a strong feeling of
distrust against who is not known by communities.
Both restrictions were successfully solved thanks to the intervention of the father
Glynn Jemmoth and the “Chano”, our main informant throughout the coast239. Father
Jemmoth helped us making the first contact with the population by introducing us with
the Chano himself and local authorities (presidentes municipales). Chano made us
familiar to all other informants, and allowed us accommodating in his house. Therefore,
during the data collection we could stay within the communities, constantly
accompanied, and without any problem of security. Our informant also gave us the
opportunity to take part into diverse activities, as the vela we talk about through the text,
local meetings, and cultural events in Pinotepa Nacional. In such context, we faced two
further problems: a “disturbance” of information, and an “inclusion matter”.
In the first case, while interviewing somebody, especially men, more people were
constantly approaching trying to offer their contribution to the survey. Meaning that
people were answering together to the questions, and limiting the organization of the
information. Therefore, we had to repeat completely some interviews, in a second
moment. Such problem increased when, pushed by friends, some informants started
drinking while interviewed, making this process impossible to be carried out.
Referring to women, the restriction was different and, while they participated
actively to the survey (actually more than men did), many of them (especially young)
produced some kind of “uncomfortable” situations, by calling their friends in order to
see the gringo 240. That fact means interrupting interviewing.
Secondly, while we participated into local events, people preferred enjoying the
occasion, not answering to the survey. In such circumstances, it was practically
impossible to collect any kind of data, with the exclusion of cultural traditions, as
dances, music, and the local use of “making verses”241.
239
Chano is the responsible for the “Association for the Divulgation of Black Culture of the Costa
Chica” (Asociación para la Divulgación de la Cultura Negra de la Costa Chica ) at the Pinotepa Nacional
Municipality. He also is a very well known and respected person within the Costa, so we had full access
to local schools, shops, and houses of people.
240
As we said through the text, gringo is a local word for identifying North Americans or, sometimes,
Europeans. Moreover, young black girls of the area are always flirting with strangers, creating eventually
embarrassing situations, by proposing some company or similar.
241
See note n.148.
312
b. Technical Limitations
Instruments of analysis we used in order to collect data were eight242: 7 “Settlements’
Location and Characterization” guides, 7 “Semi-structured Interview” guides, 3
Discussion groups, 15 “Histories of life” guides (applied to over 60 years old
population), 35 valid “Household Questionnaires”, 220 valid “Opinion Questionnaires”
(100 for men, 120 for women), 220 valid “Lexicon Questionnaires” (applied at the same
time with the Opinion Questionnaire), and two “Colorimeters”, for men and women.
As concerns to “Location and Characterization” guides, we had no problems, since
once in the area we moved through the Costa Chica thanks to Chano who was
constantly with us. That means easily locating communities and institutions.
Second, referring to “Semi-structured interviews” they were also easy to obtain,
since, while being in a community, our main informant introduced us with the mayors
who, most of the time were available and opened to make the interview instantly.
Third, about “Discussion groups”, they have been organized fully by part of local
authorities who contacted with people, asking conceiding us some time to discuss some
topics about problems of communities. Many people didn’t come, because they were
not confidant (many politicians come and promise the betterment of services, without
doing it) about what we were eventually asking. Despite it we could discuss with people
who offered us enough valid information about the topics we analyzed.
Fourtly, for obtaining the information related with “Histories of life” we had to
access to people houses. In this occasion, relatives of elderlies were sometimes reluctant
to let us get in, since they didn’t have any perception of why we were asking for their
parents or grandparents. Through Chano’s friendship, we made it easier and we could
contact with people. In this case, it was not possible to recorder the information, since
people argued it was “for security”. Instead, we were allowed to write down the
answers.
Fifth, many problems were found at the time of applying Household and Opinion
Questionnaires. In the first case, people didn’t want to show completely their conditions
so, only 35 households have been correctly able to be surveyed. Despite of that,
municipalities confirmed the severe lack of services in the houses, corresponding with
drainage, piped-water, electricity and construction materials. In the second, local
242
In addition we made 15 in-depth interviews only to women. Such kind of interviews wasn’t
comtemplated during the organizational phase of the research, but during our visit at the communities, it
was very spontaneous talking with some women about the topics. Depending on that, doesn’t exist any
format aimed at registering the information. We made it in loco , only “discussing and writing”.
313
authorities “asked” us to be useful for the population, through employing somebody for
the work of collection. Indeed, municipalities “suggested” us to “employ” young
students or unemployed young people (we successively trained) for collecting data. In
this case, many incongruences were found at the time of organizing results, especially
referring to incomes, and labour activities. In this cases, people preferred not saying
how much they earned or what they were doing (been unemployed) for a living. In
addition, referring to the recorders’ registration young contributors not always could
make it easily. As a “fall-back”, we could obtain the information written, with all
limitations it represents. Despite these problems we obtained a valid information
(correctly reported) for an amount of 220 questionnaires, 100 of them thanks to the
contribution of men, 120 by women’, corresponding to more than 80% we expected243.
The same process corresponds to the “Lexicon Questionnaire”, whose information
was obtained together with the “Opinion Questionnaire”’s.
Finally, the “Colorimeter” was the easiest instrument to apply and the most
interesting one. Indeed, at the time of choosing the phenotype, people seemed really
questioning their physical aspect, so they showed us their hair, nose or skin, not being
missed jokes about the “blacks’ body” or “females qualities”. In this case, we found no
problem in asking people reporting the corresponding phenotype.
Next pages show the whole instruments in accordance with the analytic exposition of
them: Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide, Semi-structured
interview guide (presidentes municipales), Discussion group (population between 1525, 26-60), History of life guide (male and female elderly population – 60 or more
years old people ), Household Questionnaire (households characterization), Opinion
Questionnaire
(Afro-Mexicans’
profile),
Lexicon
questionnaire
(social
representations for Afro-Mexicans), Colorimeters (men and women).
243
Original plan we made supposed the presence of 250 questionnaires, distributed between seven
communities. 220 valid formats correspond exactly to 88% of the whole information we wanted to be
collected.
314
Settlements’ Location and Characterization Guide
Name:
___________________________________________________________________
Municipality:
_____________________________________________________________
Postal code:
__________________
Number of inhabitants: ___________
1. Urban infrastructure
yes (1)-no (2)
Water…………………………………………………..………………………...………..
Drainage…………………………………………………………………………………...
Electricity………………………………………………………………………………….
Public telephones………………………………………………………………………….
Transport……………………………………………………………………………….….
Roads…………………………………………………………………………..………….
Asphalt……………………………………………………………………………………..
Dirt……………………………………………………………………………….………..
2. General structure
Material Resources
Schools:
Human Resources
a. Educative
Administrative Staff
primary schools
Educators
secondary schools
Teachers
bachelor
Other (specify) __________________
Nursery
Adult Literacy centers
Other (specify) ____________________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
315
b. Health
Public Clinics (hospitals or similar)
Nuerses
Private Clinics
Doctors (if present: how much)
Other (specify) ____________________
branch
________________________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
c. Cultural
Administrative Staff
Cultural center or similar
sport club
Trainers
sport-organized areas
Supervisors
Other (specify) __________________
Other (specify) _________________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
d. Public Security
Police station
cops
Public Ministry subsidiary office
judicial officers
Law office
lawyers
Other (specify) ___________________
Other (specify) _________________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
e. Religious
Church (s) or similar
Priests
Areas for other rituals (specify)
Ministers
___________________________________
Shamans
Other (specify) ______________________
“magic men”
Other (specify) _____________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
3. Local enterprises or commercial / “leisure time” activities
yes (1)-no (2)
Pharmacies………………………………………………………………………………..
Libraries…………………………………………………………………………………..
Bookshops…………………………………………………………………………..……
Cultural centers……………………………………………………………………….…..
Malls or similar (specify)…………………………………………………………….…...
Markets……………………………………………………………………………………
Cinemas…………………………………………………………………………………..
Parks……………………………………………………………………………………..
Sport centers……………………………………………………..…………..…….…….
316
Hairdressing…………………………………………………………………………….…
Theaters……………………………………………………………………………...……
Other (specify)……………………………………………………………………………
4. Local organizations
politic:
politicians
comm.:
social workers
cultural:
community leaders
multicultural:
nurses
religious:
doctors
labor:
engineers
promoters for community
development
experts for environmental
development
Other (specify) _________________
social:
ONGs:
Gub. Org.
Other (specify) ___________________
Criterion: yes (1)-no (2)
317
Semi-Structured Interview Guide (presidentes municipales)
Name _____________________
Organization/Institution
____________________________________________________________
The following information is aimed at analyzing three core points of the negotiation
identity process for black community of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica: the knowledge about the
needs of black settlements of the area, by part of local authorities; the presence of
specific institutions or organization that work for the improvement settlers conditions
(with their relatives programs); and the effects that those programs had (or are still
having) in the mentioned task.
▬
Because of the lack of job, social, education or health (among others) services, basic
urban structures, and the outmigration phenomenon, the most part of the black
settlements of the area are suffering a profound process of identity loss. Moreover they
can’t be integrated in economic activities and cannot get any political recognition of
their presence and needs. This fact results both in a complete exclusion of those
community from any opportunity to improve their daily conditions, and in a lack of
chances to obtain some special minority rights.
Knowledge about the problem
In your organization-institution, is the “black problem” known? Exist any special
program directed to the improvement of black community life conditions? Or, maybe,
exist any institutional area connected with any other local NGO (or Governmental
institution) that takes care of it?
Did you receive any proposals by part of local organizations or community leaders
about any specific need they would resolve within their settlements? Could you bring
some example of it?
How is your relationship with black communities of the area? Do you know them? Do
the people who live in the communities know you? Did you (or some your substitute)
ever been there?
318
Institutional actions
Did your municipality organize programs for the integration of black people in the work
market, propose any cultural festival to get black culture known in others areas of
Oaxaca (and, more in general, in Mexico), promote any education campaign (or
anything else) within settlements directed to better attend the need of communities and
so to improve life conditions of settlements?
In what field the municipality considers that it would be better to invest? Education,
health, basic services, urban infrastructure, security? Why? In addition to municipality
structure, exist any other institution that is interested in working for the bettering of the
area? Which ones?
Relationship with Federal Government
How is the relationship that your jurisdiction maintains with Federal Government? Did
the Federal Government do something for black communities? What programs or
activities did? Currently, what kind of relation maintains Federal Government with
Oaxaca’s institutions? How works the municipality intervention within communities?
That means, the municipality to which you take part has to ask for any found or the
permission to use them, to the central Government? If yes: How many time takes this
process? Did you ever receive any complaint by part of some leaders, for example
about the lack of intervention, the not enough effectiveness of it, or the too large time to
wait for receiving attention? What considered the municipality to do about that?
“Proposals” and perception of the problem
For what concerns indigenous people, they have both a constitutional article that
formally confirms their presence in the Mexican territory and an official recognition as
a specific “Mexican race” in the INEGI census.
Do you think that registering all black people that live in African settlements would be
possible? Why? Do you think that could be a useful idea for recognition of black
population of the State? And what do you think about generating specific minority
rights for black Mexicans? That means, some special conditions for the presence of
blacks in governmental institution, in schools, in education-health-or any else public
center? What effects do you think this action could obtain?
319
According to your experience, depending on what is the situation of marginalization
and exclusion that suffer this part of Oaxaca’s (and more in general, Mexican)
population? Do you think that black communities life condition can be bettered in a
short, medium or large term? Why?
What are the limits you perceive to their development? What restrictions do you
consider the municipality has for better attend black communities?
The programs that have been applied in the territory got any relevant result? Which
one? According to your experience, do you consider to keep working for blacks
communities or do you think that it is not worth? Why?
What is the most relevant action that you consider those communities need for the
improvement of their life conditions?
According to your opinion, how could black community get more attention from
Governmental institutions?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thank you for your cooperation!
320
Discussion group (population between 15-25, 26-60 years)
Location_____________
The importance of defining blackness, especially for what concerns Afro-Mexican
population of Oaxaca, represents one of the central aims of our study. Indeed, obtaining
a clear perception of what people consider the color to be, and understanding the ways
through which this idea works within socio-cultural dynamics of integration,
marginalization and “mestizaje”, embody the objective of the following discussion. For
the construction of that “discussion group guide”, have been defined different core
points about which I would like to discuss with you.
Among others, we will take into consideration the topics of identity; material and
human resources; justice and security within the communities; the effect of migration on
in-group organization-cohesion dynamic; the relationship with outside environment;
settlers’ perception about communities needs.
Topic I: Identity
There are many ways through which people can perceive themselves or through which
they can be perceived by others. That perception contributes to define the identity of
those individuals that belong to a certain socio-cultural environment. Especially for
what concerns physical aesthetics and culture, people confuse the terms of Afrodescendent, Afro-Mexican, Afro-Mestizo or black, and tends to use them at the same
conceptual level.
Self perception:
How do you perceive yourself? It is very important for you to be defined as black or it is
not really relevant? Why?
What distinguish blacks from other cultural groups?
Could you describe some relevant characteristics of black people? (physical aspect,
cultural traditions, personality…)
What are the best characteristics of black people you can highlight?
What are the worst?
Tolerance:
Do you think that, in general, black people are tolerant?
Would you accept any indigenous, Mestizo, white person as friend?
Would you live with him/her?
321
Would you get married with one of them?
Women-family relations (only for men):
Do you think that is good if a woman decides working or study, or takes any decision
about family administration or other thinks?
Is it important that a women gets married? Why?
If your wife/girlfriend has a good opportunity of work in another state of Mexican
Republic (or foreign country), would you let her go?
Would you go with her?
Who gets the control in your family?
Out-group relationships:
What means for you to be recognized as black-Mexican, compared with other national
cultural minorities (as indigenous people) and the “mixed” (Mestiza) civil society?
Black and indigenous people are or not considered in different ways against State and
institutions?
What are, according to your opinion, the most relevant differences between blacks and
indigenous?
Do you think that blacks are better, worse or at the same level than indigenous
population?
Pro and contra of being black:
Do you perceive any advantage (or disadvantage) of being black?
What are the most relevant problems of being black, in Mexico?
Do you feel that people discriminate you because of physical or/and cultural
differences? How?
Topic II: Material and human resources (causes and possible solutions)
Education: Is ther e’s a school in your community?
Where your children go to the school?
Do you think that your children will have a better education than yours? (26-60)
Do you consider that you have a better education than your parents?
How is the school service (good, not very good…)?
Did the community do any effort to increase school (or education service) conditions?
Did you have any problem with school services?
Health:
322
Does your community count with a health center?
How many persons work in it?
If you have any health problem, what do you do?
Where is the closest pharmacy or health clinic?
How much do you have to pay for the attention?
Did the community do something to increase the conditions of the service?
Did local Government do something to get a better service for the community?
Urban infrastructure:
All people in the settlement count with basic services (water, drainage, electricity,
etc…), in their houses?
About those services, what are the main problems for the community?
There was any intervention by part of municipality or local Government?
Transport and communications:
What’s the most relevant problem that the community has about transport?
How much time do you spend to go to your work, or to arrive at bigger neighborhoods?
Exist any transport service to reach other communities or cities?
Your community has any communication center in which you can realize national or
international phone calls? There’s an internet center? How, normally do you get any
news or political information?
Free-time structures:
Does your community have any recreational areas?
What people, normally prefer to do in their free-time?
Did the Government or local institution make something to increase the conditions of
those areas?
Topic III: Violence and security
Violence and insecurity:
As concerns to security, in your community, do you consider that you can feel safe when
you walk through the community?
Did you ever have any problem, as robbery, assault, or other kind of abuse?
Did the State or local institutions (or Government) do something to solve the problem?
If you have any problem with other persons, do you denounce the fact? Where you go to
do it?
323
Have you ever been in the Police Station the resolve any controversy?
In some occasion, have you had to give some money to get the police help? Where is the
closest Police Station?
Women-family relations (only for women):
Which kind of relationship do you have with your husband/boyfriend?
Can you decide working, studying or taking any other decision about family
administration without consulting your man?
Is it important for you getting married?
If you don’t want to get married, could you have any problem by part of your family or
boyfriend?
If you have a good opportunity of work in another state of Mexican Republic (or foreign
country), do you think you could get it easily (without problems by part of your family
or husband/boyfriend)?
Who gets the control in your family?
Topic IV: Migration
Work: One of the effect of marginalization of Oaxaca’s black communities is the
national and international outmigration by part of settlers. The dynamic of
marginalization imposes two different types of limiting processes: the loss of cultural
traditions of Afro-Mexicans, and the breakdown of family ties.
Did you ever had the need to migrate to another state of Mexican Republic (or to a
foreign state), because of the lack of job? Somebody in your family did it or, currently is
in another state (Mexican or foreign) to work?
Family:
According to your experience, do you think that outmigration contributes to the
breakdown of family links?
How much important is, for you, that your family stays together?
What are the advantages of being all together, in your family?
What are the disadvantages to be divided?
Cultural continuity:
Do you consider that outmigration affects the continuity of cultural traditions?
Outmigration modifies or not community’s identity?
324
Topic V: Assessment of social and political organizations
Institutions:
Which are the most relevant local political organizations in the Oaxaca’s territory?
Did they help you to solve any problem?
Is it easy to get in contact with them?
In any local organization, did you ever give any money to be attended?
In your community, exist(s) some (any) organization(s)? What kind of organization are
(is)? Do you participate into it (or them)? Young population of your settlement
participates in any organization?
Institutions efficiency:
Based on your experience, do you consider that is important to vote?
Local organizations (social and political) are useful for black communities?
They, generally do something to improve life conditions and quality of services in
African communities of Costa Chica?
Did you ever get any improvement thanks to municipality, State Government or another
ONGs-governmental organization? Currently exist any social program aimed at
improving Afro-Mexican communities conditions? Which one?
Communitarian “decision making”:
How do you take any decision about what is important to do in and for your
community?
Do you have any leader that help you to get in contact with social-political institutions?
How do you elect them?
What kind of intervention make your leaders? Did they get any improvement for the
community?
What role have women in the “decision making” of the community? Who normally
decide, men or women? Why?
Topic VI: Worldview and problems perception
What are the most important things for you, in life?
How do you thing that is the better way to get them?
Do you think that, at short, medium or long term, black people will obtain more
opportunities to escape the conditions of marginalization in which currently they are?
325
What are, depending on your own perception of the situation, the most relevant
problems that black communities currently need to resolve? Have you some specific
proposal to obtaining the betterment you look for?
If you could ask something for the community, directly to an institution or a
Governmental office, what would you ask for?
326
History of life guide
(male and female elderly population – 60 or more years old people)
Name __________________________
Community _____________________________________________________
The objective of the following instrument of research is analyzing the historical
trajectory of black communities, by studying the social, cultural, economic or
political changes that settlements suffered during a seventy-ninety years time
period. That will allow us to understand both the dynamics of change that
characterized black settlement during the period we mentioned, and the
intervention of local institutions (or State Government) in the settlements.
For what concerns our discussion, I would like you to tell me some relevant
elements of black community culture, by characterizing both the past and the
present way of living of people that belong to your settlement. Specifically, I would
like you to highlight traditions, family and out-group relationship, migration
dynamic, concrete eventual improvement that you consider important for your
community, and any other element you want to add.
The topics we explore are seven: the mestizaje process, in-group relationships,
relationship with institution and authorities, culture, past and current problems of
communities, whishes and expectations for the future.
Mestizaje: The process of race-mixing has contributed not only to aesthetic changes of
people, but also to the production of a variable number of syncretic traditions. Do you
feel that exist any difference in physical aesthetics of black people in relation with the
past? Could you describe me some dynamics of mixing? People, today are different?
What’s different? How was being black in the past, and what do you think it means
today? Why? Do you feel any difference? In what sense? For you, was important to be
recognized as black, in the past? Or being recognized as “Afro-Mexican” resulted in any
improvement of life opportunities for black people? Do you think that is it important for
people, today, to be recognized as black? How do you perceive yourself? Black, AfroMexican, Afro-descendent…? Did you change some attitudes or way of life from the
past to the present? Could you bring some example of it? Why?
327
In-group relationships: Do you think that people, today are united? There’s any
difference, about cooperation and interest for the community (by part of the people)
between the past and present? Some years ago, people were more integrated in their
own communities? How? According to your opinion, why? Do you feel that, today,
family links are different? Are stronger or weaker that before? People want to stay with
the family or prefer to move to other places? From what it is dependent? Do you think
that outmigration had negative effects on original traditions, family unity,
communitarian dynamics, etc…?
Relationship with institution and authorities : How was the relationship that blacks had
with institution and Government, in the past? Today is different? Do you consider that
your community is more or less safe that before? Why? How was in the past? How is
today?
Culture: What are, depending on your own opinion, the most relevant changes that
suffered black culture? What are the core factors that you think they contributed to the
loss of cultural continuity within black communities?
Problems: What were the most relevant problems of the past, for black settlements?
And today? What did local Government to resolve those problems, in the past? The
municipality or Government, currently do something to increase life conditions of black
communities? What kind of relations have settlers with police, institutions,
organizations or any other politic organism of the area? Do you remember some
intervention that any organization, institutions or any other else governmental (or not
governmental) office did? Which one?
Whishes: Do you have some specific whishes for your community that you consider
actually helpful for settlements of African descent?
Expectations: Do you think that, today, people have more, less or the same opportunity
to reach a good job, to study and to get better life condition, than the past? Do you think
that, in the future, next generations will have more, less, or the same opportunity to find
a good job, to study, to reach better life condition than the present? Why?
Would you tell me any other experience you had or that was relevant for you?
328
Household Questionnaire (households’ characterization)
Name ________________________________
Age __________________
Household identification:
Gender _____
Street (if present, specify): ___________________________________________________
Number (if present, specify): _________________________________________________
Postal code: (if present, specify): ______________________________________________
Neighborhood (if present, specify): ____________________________________________
Type of household
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Detached house
Apartment in building
Household or room on the roof
Household or room in a neighborhood
Household or room in a private property
6. Undefined site
7. “Mobile home”
8. Shelter or camp
9. Vacant or abandoned lot
10. Slum
Household characterization
A. WALLS: By which material, is composed the most part of your house walls?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
B.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Waste material
Paperboard
Metal
Reed, bamboo or palm material
Soil material
Wood
7. Adobe (organic material)
8. Stone
9. Bricks, concrete
10. Plastic
11. No walls
12. Other (specify) _________________
CEILING: By which material, is composed the most part of your house ceiling(s)?
Waste material
Paperboard
Metal
Reed, bamboo or palm material
Soil material
Wood
C.
FLOOR: What material
composes yours house floor?
1. Soil material
2. Concrete
3. “Mosaic”
4. Wood
Other (sp.) _____________
7. Adobe (organic material)
8. Stone
9. Bricks, concrete, tiles
10. Plastic
11. No ceilings
12. Other (specify) _________________
D.
NUMBER OF ROOMS:
How many rooms do you
use to sleep?
number
How many rooms has this
house? (count only kitchen,
nor
bathrooms
or
corridors)
number
329
E.
KITCHEN: This house
has a kitchen?
1. Yes
2. No (go to F )
The room where you cook
is also used for sleeping?
1. Yes
2. No
F.
WATER AVAILABILITY: In your house,
do you have…?:
G.
1. Piped water at home
2. Piped water outside the house
3. Public piped water (or hydrant)
4.
Piped water that comes from another
house
5. No piped water (comes from a well, river,
lake)
Other (sp.) ___________________________
1. Everyday
2. Every other day
3. Twice per week
H.
HEALTH SERVICE:
house counts with:
The
1. Toilette
2. Cesspool
3. None (go to L)
Do you get the water…?
ELECTRICITY: This
house,
has
electric
lighting?
USE OF THE TOILETTE:
This service, is used only by
the persons who lives in the
house?
L.
1. Yes
2. No
1. Public pipes
2. A cesspool
3. A river, lake or similar
4. Has no drainage system
1. Gas
2. Wood
3. Coal
4. Oil
5. Electricity
Other
_________
The street counts with
electric lighting service?
1. Yes
2. No
2. Partially
I.
N.
1. Yes
2. No
5. Once per week
6. Occasionally
7. Do not get
(go to H)
1. During all the day
“FUEL”: What do
you use for cooking?
M.
P.
WATER FREQUENCY: How many days
per week, do you get the water?
DRAINAGE: This house
counts with a drainage
system to…?
O.
PROPERTY: Is this house property of
someone who lives here?
1. Yes: The house…
a. Is being paid (payment in
installments)
b. It has been already paid
Other (sp.) _____________________
(sp.)
2. No: The house is…
a. Rented
c. Cared
b. Provided by smbdy
d. Invaded
Other (sp.) ______________________
HOUSEHOLD GOODS: In the house, there’s a…? : criterion for next Yes (1) – No (2)
Radio
Television
DVD (or other formats) player
Mixer (for cooking)
Refrigerator
Q. PEOPLE:
How many people
live here, including
yourself, children and
elderly?
R.
Washing machine
Telephone
Water heater
Auto (or other transport) of your property
Other (sp.) ________________________
WORK: How many people, who live here, work?
So, all people working share the same meal expense?
1. Yes
2. No: Who, normally, pays for the food?
__________________________________________
330
Opinion Questionnaire (Afro-Mexicans’ profile)
Name _____________________
Community: ___________________________________________________________
Gender:
M
F
Age: _____________
Work and employment
A.
ACTIVITY CONDITION:
At this moment, do (are)
you…? (in any case pass to
B.
ACT. COND. (VERIFICATION):
Normally, do you…?
B)
1. Work
2. Looking for a job
3. Study
4. Do any housework
5. Retired
6. Have any physic or other
different problem because
of it you can’t work
7. Not work
Other (sp.) _____________
1. Help in a family-shop
2. Sell some product
3. Make some product to sell
4. Help in the field work (or with
animals)
5. Work in various activities (washing or
ironing other people’s clothes, carcaring,…)
6. Work in a office, school, local
enterprise, etc.
Other (sp.) ____________________
D.
MEDICAL SERVICES: Do your job offers you any medical
service in…?
1. “Seguro Social”
2. ISSSTE
3. PEMEX
4. “Defensa Nacional o Marina”
Other institution _______________________________
5. Have no access (go to E)
Do you use that service?
1. Yes
2. No (go to E)
C.
POSITION:
What’s
your
position in the
job?
1. Employee
2. Pawm
3. Day-laborer
4. Self-empl.
5. Unp. worker
E.
LABOR
CONDITIONS:
Depending on your job, do
you receive…?
Paid vacations
Annual bonus
Retirement saving
Illness-period payment
Other (sp.) _______________
F.
WORKED HOURS: Per
week, how many hours do you
work?
During the last month, how many times did you use it?
NS (99)
NC (98)
NS (999)
G.
EARNED MONEY: Overall, how much do you earn?
1. Daily 2. Weekly 3. Every two weeks 4. Monthly
$
NS (99,999)
,
NC (99,998)
331
H.
WORK LOCATION: Do you
work here (settlement) or in
another village?
1. Here
2. Other (sp.) ____________
Why? __________________
I. OTHER INCOMES: Weekly (1), every two weeks (2), monthly (3), annually(4), variably
(5)...do you receive some money as…?:
yes (1)-no (2)
How much? period
Retirement
,
Help from some familiars who live in Mexico
,
Help from some familiars who live in foreign countries
,
Help from (a) public institution(s)
,
Which ones? __________________________________
Help from some local governmental organization?
,
…ONGs
,
Migration
Scholarship
,
Other (sp.) ___________________________________
,
A. RESIDENCE LOCATION:
c. + no-yes: In some occasion, did you live
a. Are you from here?
in another place?
1. Yes
2. No: Where are you from? _____________
1. Yes: where? _________________
Why?
b. Do you live here?
2. No: Where do you live? ______________
1. I was looking for a job
2. I went to meet my family
3. I’ve changed my job
4. My workplace changed
5. I started to study
6. I married
7. Health reasons
8. …violence or insecurity
9. Natural calamities
10. I got a property
If yes-no: Why did you stop living here? or
2. No: Why?: (go to 2.a and then E, I)
1. Yes: You live here because of…?: (go to c)
1. Family (or friends) presence
2. Job
3. Origins
Other (sp.) ___________________
Why don’t you live here?:
(go to B)
1. I had no need to go
2. I like here
3. I’ve here my family
4. Because of my friends
5. Because of my husband
6. Because of my family
7. I work here
8. I work nearby here
Other (sp.) ____________________
1. I was to look for a job
2. I went to meet my family
3. I’ve changed my job
4. My workplace changed
5. I started to study
6. I married
7. Health reasons
8. …violence or insecurity
9. Natural calamities
10. I got a property
2.a: Would you like to go to another place
Other (sp.) ___________________________
to live?
If no-no + no-yes: Why are you here?
1. Yes: Why? _______________________
2. No: Why? _______________________
1. Visiting my family 3 . Looking for job
2. Visiting friends
4 . I come to work
Other (sp.) __________________________
332
B.
MOBILITY: In how many
places did you live for more
than three months?
C. MOBILITY DURING
THE LAST YEAR:
D. REASONS FOR MIGRATING:
Why did you migrate the last
year?
During the last year to
the date did you live in
another municipality?
In the last 5 years, in how
many places did you live?
In the places in which you
lived, have you got some
relatives
or
family
members?
1. I was looking for a job
2. I went to meet my family
3. I’ve changed my job
4. My workplace changed
5. I started to study
6. I married
7. Health reasons
8. …violence or insecurity
9. Natural calamities
10. I got a property
Other (sp.) _______________
1. Yes:
Where?
________________
2. No (go to E)
1. Yes
2. No
MIGRATION EFFECT PERCEPTION: If people go to another place to live, do you (or don’t
you) think that…?:
E.
yes
The family falls apart
You can earn more money
You lose your costumes
You lose your culture
Community can be richer
People start to change their traditions
F.
COMMUNITY CONTACT: Do you
keep in touch with your original
community (or with the place
where your parents were born)?
1. Yes
2. No (go to L)
H. When you can, do you help your
family living in the original
community?
1. Yes
2. No (go to L)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
partially
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
no
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
it depends NS/NC
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
G.
REASONS FOR CONTACT: Why do you keep in
touch with your original community?
1. My family lives here
2. I have here a property (o a shop)
3. Friends
4. My dead are buried here
5. Job
6. I have some obligations to resolve
7. Festivals or traditional events
8. I like the place
Other ___________________________________
I. How and how frequently do you help your family living in the original community?
Once
a week
With money
(1)
With food, clothes, medicines,
some products to sell
(1)
Working with them for a while (1)
Other (sp) _________________ (1)
once
once
a month every six months a year variable
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(5)
(5)
(5)
333
L. Do you think you’ll keep living here, or you’ll
move to another place?
Social
networks
1. Yes,
I think I’ll keep living here
2. No, I think I’ll move to another place (go to M)
3. I think I’ll live here only for a while (go to M)
4. NS
5. NC
M. Where do you think you would
live?
1. I’ll return to my own community
2. I think I’ll move to another city
3. I think I’ll go to a foreign country
Other
______________________________
4. NS
5. NC
Social networks
…if you need...
to find a job
some money
…if you have some
conflict…:
with your family
with somebody
have an accident
you feel sick
…you want…
to improve your place
…in case of…
a natural calamity
NC
NS/NC
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
Other (sp.)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
I don't have these
problems
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
Autorities of your
community
The priest of your
settlement
National or
international
humanitarian
organizations
Local politic
organizations
Your family
(1) (2)
People of your community (1) (2)
People of other settlements (1) (2)
Indigenous people
(1) (2)
People of near cities
(1) (2)
NS
Nobody
not so
good good bad
Political Parties
to,…?
(choosing max 4 opt.)
Friends
C. RELATIONSHIPS AND
NEEDS: Who do you turn
Family
2. No (go to B)
Could you tell me how is your relationship with…?
Autorities of your
community
Federal or Local
Government
Municipality
Government
1. Yes: What settlements?
_____________________
B.
Neightbors
A. RELATIONSHIPS: Do
you have some contact
with people of other
settlement?
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5)
(5)
(6)
(6)
(7)
(7)
(8)
(8)
(9)
(9)
(10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)
(10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(7)
(7)
(7)
(7)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(10)
(10)
(10)
(10)
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (99)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
Find a job
Some money
Conflict with family
Conflict with somebody
Have an accident
Feel sick
Improve your place
Natural calamity
334
(11)
(11)
(11)
(11)
(12)
(12)
(12)
(12)
(13)
(13)
(13)
(13)
(14)
(14)
(14)
(14)
(99)
(99)
(99)
(99)
Life conditions
A.
Nearby (or in) your community there’s (are)…? :
yes
no
other (sp.)
NS
Do you use them?
yes sometimes
no other (sp.)
Schools:
primary schools
secondary schools
bachelor
Nursery
Adult Literacy centers
Public Clinics
Private Clinics
Cultural center/similar
Sport club
Sport-organized areas
Police station
Public Ministry subs.
Law office
Church (s) or similar
Other rituals (sp.)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
B. HEALTH CARE: In your family (or household), the
children under 5 year are vaccinated?
1. Yes
2. No
3. There are no children (go to C)
4. Only some
8. NS/NC
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
C. Do you think that each member of
your community is treated the same
way, by health services?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes
If children have diarrhea, do you give them some
medicinal serum?
Did you have problems because of
the lack of attention by part of
health services in the area?
1. Yes
2. No: What you use to cure them?
___________________________________
1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes
Pregnant women are normally attended by a doctor?
Do you know somebody that had
problems because of the lack of
attention by part of health services
in the area?
Family
1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes
4. At the date, there were no pregnant women
1. Yes
2. No
Family
A.
COOPERATION: Is important family to increase life conditions?
Normally, family members cooperate each other?
How? _________________________________
335
Yes (1) No (2)
Yes (1) No (2)
B.
If you could choose a person to marry, how much would you prefer…?:
very much somewhat
A member of your community
…of a black community
A person who’s not indigenous
A foreign person
The person that I fell in love
Other (sp.) _______________
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
completely not
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
NS/NC
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
Only women: Do you have the permission of your husband for…?
Only men: Has your wife to have your permission for…?
Yes
sometimes
no
NC
Choosing a job
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Visiting her family
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Buying something for the house
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Going to work
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Using any contraceptive
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Buying some property
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Choosing where living
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Opening a bank account
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Deciding the school for children
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Participating in any organization
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Choosing the name for children
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
Voting any politic party
(1)
(2)
(3)
(9)
If yes: why? _________________________________________________________
Education
A. Do you think you have more or less knowledge
B. Did you study more or less than
than you parents?
your parents?
1. More 3. more/less on some things 8. NS
2. Less 4. the same
1. More
2. Less
C. Do you think that, in your community, the most
D. In some occasion, did you have any
part of people can go to the school?
problem with the school because of
your…?
1. Yes, they all can
2. Only some people can
3. No, nobody (or almost nobody) can
Other _______________________
8. NS
3. the same
8. NS
1. Religion
2. Color
3. Money (you couldn’t pay it)
4. Work (I had to work)
5. I’ve never been at school
6. Other reasons _________________
How much true is the affirmation that “…is not good spending too much money for the
education of girls because then they get married; it better to spend for the education of
boys”.
E.
Completely true (1)
partially true (2)
partially false (3)
false (4)
NS/NC (8)
Other ____________________________________________________________________________
336
Economy
A.
PERCEPTION: The economic situation of your family,
is better or worse than a year ago?
1. Better
Why? :
__________________________________________
C. Do you feel that, for a job, do
you receive more, less or the
same money than a not-blackskinned person?
1. Blacks are less payed
2. Blacks are more payed
3. Blacks are payed the same
than other person
4. It depends on:
__________________________
________________________
2. Worse
Why? :
__________________________________________
3. The same (good)
4. The same (bad)
8. NS
9. NC
Other (sp.) ________________
B. Do you consider that, black people, in Mexico, have
the same opportunity to get a job to a(n)…?
Yes
the same
money to…?
partially
not
NS NC
the same the same
Mestizo
(1)
Indigenous
(1)
White (creole) (1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
D. Did you have to offer some
(3)
(3)
(3)
(8) (9)
(8) (9)
(8) (9)
yes no NC
Obtain a job (1) (2) (9)
Finish your j. (1) (2) (9)
Maintain j. (1) (2) (9)
Other ___________________
E. What did you do (or your family) to increase your economic situation?
yes
no
partially
(tried to) sometimes
NC
Sold out your property(-ies)
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Worked in other st. of M.R.
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Worked in USA
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Your children got a job
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Worked in a local organization
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Sold some handcrafts
(1)
(2) (3)
(4)
(9)
Other (sp.) _______________________________________________________
F. Taking into accou nt…(option ),…do you think that you live better, worse or in the same
way than people who live in bigger settlements?
better
Economy
Security
Education
Health
Justice
Households
Environment
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
worse
it
depends
in both places:
good
bad
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
NS
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(8)
NC
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
Could you tell me why do you think so? __________________________________________
337
Trust
A. “IN-TRUST” LEVEL: How much do you trust…?
very much
Indigenous people
People of your community
Black people from other comm.
Leaders of your settlement
Federal Government
Priests or religious authorities
Political parties
Teacher
Mass-media
Municipal Government
Police or “order-authorities”
Development local organizations
Your village authorities
little nothing
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
it depends
NC
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
Free time
two to
once a three every
sometimes never NS NC
week time a day
week
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5) (8) (9)
A. During your free time, how often do you
use to?
Go to the cinema
Play sport
Go to buy something
Go to the “cantina” (bar)
…hairdressing
…poolroom
…“lucha libre” (wrestling)
Play cards
Dance
Carve some hand-craft works
Go to festivals, public demonstrations
Family reunions
Study any course
Go to the church or some religious activities
Go to politic reunions
Do housework
Study
Help your child (children) making their
homework
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(8) (9)
Identity and cultural change
A. IDENTITY PERCEPTION: How do you define yourself?
1. Mulato
2. Black
3. Mestizo
4. Afro-mestizo
5. Afro-Mexican
6. Black-Mexican
7. Afro-descendent
8. Mexican
Other _______________________________________
338
B. How proud do you feel of
being …(chosen option)?
1. Very much
2. Much
3. Little
4. No way
5. It depends: _____________
C. What are the advantages to be
…(option)?
or: Please, tell me three good thinks to be…
D. What are the disadvantages to be
…(option)?
or: Please, tell me three bad thinks to be…
1. ________________________________
1. _______________________________
2. ________________________________
2. _______________________________
3. ________________________________
3. _______________________________
(96) There’re no advantages
(98) NS
(99) NC
(96) There’re no disadvantages
(98) NS
(99) NC
E. How do you feel the people treat
you?
G. Do you feel that you receive a different
treatment than other persons, when you go to
(with)…?
1. Good
2. In a normal way
3. So so
4. Not very good
5. In a bad way
Other (sp.)____________________
9. NC
often sometimes never NC
look for a job
(1)
get some money (1)
make legal proc. (1)
any political party (1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
F. Do you feel a different treatment than
H. What problems do you consider are the
other persons when you go to a different
community (or city)?
most important,
(min.2 )
1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes
4. It depends:
_______________________________
9. NC
1. ___________________________________
for
black communities?
2. ___________________________________
3. ___________________________________
4. ___________________________________
Which way? _____________________
________________________________
I. Between the following persons,
which one do you think is the most
similar to you?
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
M. Do you consider that black
people, in Mexico are…than other
groups? :
1. Better
2. Good as others
3. Bad as others
4. Worse
Other (sp.) _________________
8. NS 9. NC
5. Have no problems
8. NS
9. NC
L. What person, within those, do you consider black?
(two options) If…
yes
no
NS/NC
Both parents are black
(1) (2) (9)
His/her mother is black
(1) (2) (9)
His/her father is black
(1) (2) (9)
His/her G.f. is black
(1) (2) (9)
His/her G.m. is black
(1) (2) (9)
Born in black comm.
(1) (2) (9)
Lives in.
(1) (2) (9)
Follows black traditions
(1) (2) (9)
Is black-skinned
(1) (2) (9)
Has at least one African trait:
(hair, nose, etc…)
(1) (2) (9)
Other _____________________________________
339
Participation Processes
Participation
processes
A. ASSOCIATIONS: In what of those associations do you participate (or have participated)?
yes
sometimes
I started
but I gave up
never
NC
Traders Association
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
Politic Party
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
Labor Union (syndicate)
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
Religious association
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
Any local black organization
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
Cultural association:
(1) (2)
(3)
(4)
(9)
to maintain traditions and customs
Other (sp.)____________________________________________________________
B. How do you participate in the following activities of your community?
I help…
in the
organization
with
work
Religious events
(1)
Traditional recurrences
(1)
Community festivals
(1)
“Jaripeo”
(1)
Dances
(1)
Activities to increase conditions
of buildings (school, or other) (1)
Activities to increase the social
environment
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(4)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(9)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(9)
C. In your settlement, how frequently
E. How much, do your community has contact
people generate local organizations to
work together?
1. Often
2. Only when it’s necessary 4. Never
3. Very little
9. NC
Other (sp.) _____________________
D. In your experience, when it’s
necessary working together for the
benefit of the community…?
1. people cooperate
2. people don’t cooperate
3. …cooperate only because it’s required
4. …cooperate only if there’s some
payoff
9. NC
Other (sp.) _____________________
F. Authorities develop some activities for
black communities?
with any
material in all
I don’t
help
NC
with
money
with…?
only
much sometimes never NS/NC
local authorities (1)
(2)
(3) (9)
municipality
(1)
(2)
(3) (9)
“help-org.
(1)
(2)
(3) (9)
political parties (1)
(2)
(3) (9)
Govern. auth.
(1)
(2)
(3) (9)
ONGs
(1)
(2)
(3) (9)
National organiz. (1)
(2)
(3) (9)
Other institutions _______________________
G. PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE COMMUNITY: Do
you consider that people, in the community…?
1. Are united and work for the comm.
2. Only some work for the comm..
3. There’s no union
4. Nobody works for the comm.
5. Work only if paid
Other __________________________
1. Yes
2. No
3. Sometimes
4. Never did it
8. NS
9. NC
340
H. Can you tell me, please, what are the
I. Do you think that the marginalization of
most serious problems in your community?
(3 opt. acc.)
black communities depends on…
1. Health
2. Household
3. Lack of job
4. Nutrition
5. Education
6. Services
(water, electricity,…)
7. Insecurity and violence
Other ____________________________
Other ____________________________
Other ____________________________
8. NS
9. NC
- People don’t work
(1) (2)
- Government is not good (1) (2)
- People don’t change
(1) (2)
- Nobody helps them
(1) (2)
- There’s no org.
(1) (2)
- By part of the State
there’s no interest in it
(1) (2)
- People take advantage
of blacks
(1) (2)
Other _____________________
yes no NS/NC
L. If authorities don’t resolve the problem of
community, in general do you…?
yes no NS/NC
- organize marches (or blocks)
- Go to the mass media
- Go to the authorities
- Go with a political party
- Try to organize yourselves
- Go with other organizations
- Prefer let it go
Other _____________________
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Political culture
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
To take a decision, in your
community, how much participate…?
only
NS
a lot a little s.times never NC
Young (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Adults (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Leaders (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Elderly (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Women (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Shamans (1) (2) (3) (4) (9)
Other person ____________________
Justice perceptions
A. Do you have any of those documents?
1. We consult the elderly
2. We consult only the most
important persons of the comm.:
Who are they? ___________________
3. We take a vote among all
4. Some authority decides
5. We have no leader
9. NC
Other __________________________
Birth certificate
Marriage certificate
(if he/she is married)
Voter document
(if older than 18)
Military service card
Immunization record
card
1. The party that prefers the most part
of my community
2. It’s a different one
3. I have no interest in political parties
Other
____________________________
9. NS/NC
(9)
M.
A. How do you elect your leader?
B. What political party do you prefer?
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
yes
no NS/NC
(1)
(1)
(2) (9)
(2) (9)
(1)
(2) (9)
(1)
(2) (9)
(1)
(2) (9)
B. Black people have to abide to their own
costumes and tradition, or to the Mexican
Constitution?
1. Only traditional habitus
5. None
2. Constitution
8. NS
3. It depends
9. NC
4. Both
Other ____________________________
341
C.
How much
violence
or
delinquency are present in your
community?
1. A lot
2. A little
3. There’s no delinquency
Other ______________________
8. NS
9. NC
D. Can you count with the police
intervention to regulate it?
1. Yes
2. Sometimes
3. Only if you give
them some money
4. Normally not
5. Never
6. There’ no police here
Other ________________________
F. Is it worth reporting a crime?
E. You (or your family) suffered any crime, this
year?
1. Yes: What crime? (go to E-1) if yes
1. Robbery with physical violence
2. Robbery with a weapon
3. Assault and battery
4. Abuse of authority
5. Threats
6. Fraud
7. Homicide
8. Abuse of trust
9. Damages to the private property
10. Sexual violation
11. Kidnapping
Other
_________________________________________
2. No
8. NS
9. NC
E-1. Did you make a complaint to the police?
1. Yes: Police resolved your problem? :
1. Yes
2. No
9. NC
1. Yes
2. No
2. No: Why? ______________________________
Perceptions about life
G. If police doesn’t punish guilties, do
you think that people can (or cannot)
take justice into their own hand?
1 Yes
2. Sometimes
3. Partially
4. It depends
5. No
Other _________________________
8. NS
9. NC
A.
Do you think that it’s worse…? (2 options)
1 Being poor
2. Having no education
3. Suffering authority abuse
4. Getting no justice
5. Being rejected by your own family
Other _________________________
8. NS
9. NC
B. Do you think that, in the future, you children will have
more or less opportunity for…?
More
less he same NS
1. Getting a job
(1)
(2) (3)
(8)
2. Being better educ.
(1)
(2) (3) (8)
3. Save money
(1)
(2) (3) (8)
4. Living in less
marginality conditions (1)
(2) (3)
(8)
5. Being more integrated
into civil society
(1)
(2) (3)
(8)
Other
_________________________________________________
342
C. Could you tell me the
three
most
important
things, for you, in life?
1. ____________________
_____________________
2. ____________________
_____________________
3. ____________________
_____________________
D.
Who’s the first responsible for the
development of black communities?
E. In relation to other cultural groups of the area
(indigenous), do you think that blacks live in…?
1. The Government
2. The settlers
3. Both
4. None of the previous
Other _______________________
1. The same life conditions
2. In better life conditions
3. In worse life conditions
8. NS
9. NC
Other___________________________________
Mass-Media
A. How often d o
you…?
Watch TV
Read newspapers
Listen to the radio
Use computer
B. Thanks to which mass-media,
Every day sometimes never
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(3)
(3)
(3)
(3)
NC
(9)
(9)
(9)
(9)
What’s the name of the “Presidente Municipal”
(“mayor”) of your municipality? (…)
answ.: _________________
1. Correct
2. Wrong
C.
normally, do you get information
about Mexico?
1. Television
2. Newspapers
3. Radio
4. Computer
5. “Rumors”
6. I’m not interested in it
Institutional intervention
A. In your acknowledgment, local government (or
municipality) has undertaken any specific program
directed to the promotion of black culture at localnational level, or aimed at increasing life
conditions of communities?
1. Yes: What type of program is (was) it?
_________________________________________
Had it any positive result?
1. Yes: In what fields…?
1. Education
2. Health
3. Organization
4. Economy
5. Political presence
Other _____________
2. No
2. Sometimes loc. Gov. does something but all
efforts have no (or not positive) results
3. No, it never did.
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
343
B. Did some government institutions
offer you any “special right”
directed to better attending the
needs of black communities?
1. Yes: which one?
_____________________________
2. No
b.1. Do you consider that having
any special right would be helpful
for the recognition of Mexican black
culture?
1. Yes
2. No
C. If you could ask for any measure
of improvement to governmental
institutions, what would you ask
for?
1. ___________________________
2. ___________________________
3. ___________________________
4. ___________________________
Lexicon Questionnaire (social representations for Afro-Mexicans)
Community
_____________________________________________________________
Name _____________________
Age ___________
Gender _________
1. What words do you associate with the idea of race? (say three words in ascending way,
from the most important one, for you, to the less)
a. _______________________________________
b. _______________________________________
c. _______________________________________
2. Could you tell me, with what expression do you associate the word Afro-descendent?
Is a person who…
…has African parents
…has at least one of his/her parents that comes from Africa
…is black-skinned
…has any African origin, without importing color of his/her skin
…has African origin, and also shows physical and cultural African characteristics:
(hair, nose, skin color, traditions, etc.)
…NS
…NC
3. Could you tell me, with what expression do you associate the word Afro-Mexican ? I
associate it with…
…a black-Mexican
…an African with Mexican origins
…an African who was born in Mexico
…an African-origin person but who has a Mexican culture
…an African-origin Mexican that has mixed tradition
…NS
…NC
344
4. Please, would you tell me three words that you think they characterize the idea of
negro (black)? (put the words in the person’s preference order – how his/she says them)
a. ___________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________
NS
NC
5. Between the following words, would you please choose the three ones which you
consider they better describe a black person? (in order of preference)
a. Work
f. Music
NS
b. Pride
g. Happiness
NC
c. Intelligence
h. Beauty
d. Poverty
i. Discrimination
e. Customs – traditions
6. For you, how much pleasant (or unpleasant) are:
blacks
Mestizos
indigenous
Very nice
Pretty nice
Nice
Nor pleasant, or unpleasant
Unpleasant
Pretty unpleasant
Very unpleasant
NS
NC
7. Tell me please three thinks with which you identify a Mestizo.
_______________________; _____________________; _______________________
8. Tell me please three thinks with which you identify an indigenous.
_______________________; _____________________; _______________________
345
9. What means marginalization ? (chose three options in order of importance)
a. Poverty
b. Not be recognized by others
c. Be recognized but not appreciated
d. Be excluded
e. Do not have the same opportunities then others
f. Suffer any kind of prejudice
g. Have not the same importance than others
NS
NC
10. Could you tell me three words associated with the idea of poverty?
a. ______________________________________
b. ______________________________________
c. ______________________________________
11. What are the words that, according to your opinion, better describe you? (order the
words from the most to the less significant)
Afro-Mexican
Afro-descendent
Mexican
Mestizo
Black
Afro-mestizo
12. What means “being mexican” (choose three options)
a. having the same rights than other people that live in Mexico
b. respecting the Constitution
c. being respected by part of all (including State and Institutions)
d. being recognized as citizens
e. having access to all services that the State offer
f. being born in Mexico
346
Colorimeter (men)
347
Colorimeter (women)
348