Alice's update: the group in San Lorenzo Victoria, Oaxaca

Long drives put me straight to sleep, so mere minutes after leaving Oaxaca City for San Lorenzo Victoria in the Mixteca Baja region, I was snoozing away. When I woke up, I thought we had stumbled upon a vortex and warped back to the Arizona desert, as dusty hills and cacti surrounded us. After seven hours, a good amount of which was on curvy, dirt roads, we pulled into San Lorenzo--a small Mixteca village that had never had a delegation like ours before. Not knowing where our hosts lived, we leaned out the window and asked a random man sitting on the curb where to find Elba Galindo, and he waved us in the right direction. The household we all stayed in consisted of Elba, her son Josue and her granddaughter Quetzalli, which means ¨pretty girl¨ in Nahua. Throughout our stay, Elba taught us so much about the roles of guests and hosts, the effects of migration on families and the culture of a small, indigenous town. She served us a huge meal right when we arrived, and when Lily said “No, gracias” to seconds, Elba chastised, “When I’m at your house, I won’t say no to your food.” We all guiltily stuffed ourselves with amazing food for the rest of the stay.

By some stroke of divine luck, we arrived in San Lorenzo during it’s yearly fiesta for its patron saint. Thus, we were treated to all the festivities, including jaripeo (bull riding), a religious procession and a crazy dance party where men and women danced with pyrotechnic paper mache bulls on top of their heads that showered sparks on the crowd. We were especially captivated by the rodeo, as was the rest of the town. The corral was surrounded by little abuelitas in their traditional rebozos (shawls), young men showing off with giant glistening belt buckles and ten-gallon hats, and babies with ice cream smeared over their faces. Most of the riders were thrown off in a few seconds, but some managed to cling on, and strutted off proudly while everyone cheered.

Apart from the fiesta, we spent a lot of time with the family. Josue drove us in the back of his truck to see the family’s land, where they had corn, cows and chickens. As we walked along the dry river bed, he told us about how he had worked in the U.S. for five years, only to find that his wife had left him and their daughter upon his return. His father had also been working in the U.S., but came back when his finger was severed in a carpentry shop. He had returned to the U.S. not long before our arrival, to try to have surgery on his finger and collect some workman’s comp. As we’ve studied, employers of migrants in the U.S. often put production and speed over the health and safety of their workers, who have few rights or ways to speak out. Elba, though strong, talkative and funny, also clearly showed the pain migration has caused her family. With tears in her eyes, she told us that the American Dream helps families, but it also destroys them. Josue says if he gets the visa he’s applying for, he’ll return to the
U.S. as well.

But the weekend wasn’t about seeing people as victims. We also got to see some amazing forms of resistance. We met with a group called FIOB, that organizes and support indigenous people both in Mexico and the U.S., and got to see some of the projects they’ve started in the local communities. Elba was a member of a chocolate cooperative started by FIOB, and we got to see (and taste!) their labor. It’s great to see such empowering projects, which are possible alternatives to migration, but also hard to hear that although they were producing the chocolate, they had yet to find a market for it. Anyone want to buy delicious, traditional Oaxacan chocolate that supports a good cause? We also saw a project that had just started, growing mushrooms inside people’s houses in plastic garbage bags.

But I think what we all will treasure most about our stay was Quetzalli. Despite losing her mom and possibly her dad in the future, she was the happiest little two-year old we’d ever seen. She played with all of us, especially Riley, who she fell in love with. I guess it’s our responsibility to help make a world for her where families can stay together, everyone has enough to eat and the masses are clamoring for her grandmother’s chocolate.

Vivian's update from Oaxaca

Hello again, it’s Vivian. Following a long bus ride from San Cristobal, we’re now in Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca. Another place, of the few, where I’ve spent a significant amount of time. Once again I find myself reexamining my experience in spaces I’ve been in oh so many times within the past 8 years. My family frequently returns to Oaxaca because of an apartment that we own here. Next to Mexico City, it is the place I visit most. But because my family only owns an apartment here, and we have no family or roots here, my experience has been a very surface one. I’m pretty much a tourist who just happens to know the streets a bit better. For example, in 2006 during the uprising and formation of the Popular Assembly of Oaxacan Pueblos, or APPO, my family decided not to come back for a visit out of fear. Now being back here studying the situation directly,my experiences here make so much more sense, but also make the streets feel alive.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve met with several organizations that have helped me to understand what I saw leading up to the uprising and immediately after it occurred. On Wednesday we met with EDUCA, short for Alternative Education. This organization was formed following the signing and implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Their focuses include civilian participation in politics, know your rights campaigns, promoting community development and alternative economics. Within Oaxaca there are 570 municipios, similar to counties, most of which follow the community politics of Usos y Costumbres. Within each municipio, each pueblo follows four main `rules` in community politics and function, these include cooperative work, local assembly power, a system of cargos, or specific jobs, and fiesta. EDUCA helped to make our group recognize how these traditional political and social structures of pueblos within Mexico have been changed drastically by migration to the US. Miguel Angel Vasquez de la Rosa of EDUCA brought several interesting points to our attention involving migration. He described to us the Vicente Fox plan of La Enchilada Completa for Mexican workers within the US. This included a plan to regularize the status of workers in the US, create more jobs within Mexico, and decriminalize the Mexican presence within the US. Unfortunately this plan was never realized due to the climate of fear that followed 9-11.

Jumping themes completely, Miguel made an interesting point about mental decolonization within Mexico. Mexico continues to be a very racist and classist society long after the reign of New Spain. This was one theme that carried onto our next meeting with Comite 25 de Noviembre. There our speaker spoke about indigenous struggle to be recognized as valid communities functioning much differently within the nation-state of Mexico. I had not realized before how Eurocentric even Mexican politics as often they’ve completely disregarded indigenous ways of life. While it is impossible to generalize this to all situations, it helped me to understand the incongruity of indigenous movements within the preexisting political and economic structures imposed by the Mexican government.

In other news, I’m very excited to go home in a few days. I have been to both Mexico City and Oaxaca twice without going home to Chicago once. I know that going back home to be with my family after being in spaces we normally share will help to further put this whole trip experience into perspective... at least I hope so. ‘Til next time!