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Becoming Autonomous: Indigeneity, Scale, and Schismogenesis in Multicultural Mexico
Author(s) -
Pharao Hansen Magnus
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
polar: political and legal anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1555-2934
pISSN - 1081-6976
DOI - 10.1111/plar.12258
Subject(s) - framing (construction) , indigenous , independence (probability theory) , sovereignty , multiculturalism , state (computer science) , politics , political science , sociology , political economy , law , geography , ecology , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , algorithm , computer science , biology
Four towns in the state of Morelos, Mexico, are lobbying the state government for the right to become independent “indigenous municipalities” operating under local customary law. Focusing on one of those towns, Hueyapan, this article ethnographically and ethnohistorically examines the process that has led the people of Hueyapan to overwhelmingly favor the decision to opt for municipal independence. In doing so, it attends particularly to the ways that discourses of indigeneity and sovereignty have interacted with local political conflicts between the town of Hueyapan and the municipal seat, Tetela del Volcán. Using an analysis based on Bateson's concept of schismogenesis, I argue that today, for the first time, Hueyapan is in a position in which demanding independence is feasible, because it has successfully established itself as a competitor to the municipal cabecera (municipal seat) community of Tetela, rather than as a subordinate and marginalized community. Nevertheless, by framing the quest for independence within the narrative model of indigeneity, Hueyapan can represent its demands with a stronger ethical and historical force than it could otherwise.