2016 journal article
The Legacy of Mexico's Agrarian Counter-Reforms: Reinforcing Social Hierarchies in Calakmul, Campeche
JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, 16(1), 145–167.
author keywords: ejidatarios; intra-ejidal relations; pobladores; resource conflict; citizenship
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
1. No Poverty
(Web of Science)
10. Reduced Inequalities
(OpenAlex)
15. Life on Land
(Web of Science)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018
In this paper, we examine how Mexico's 1992 counter‐reforms reinforced social hierarchies between two ‘classes’ of residents within three ejidos in an agricultural frontier in Campeche. We carried out qualitative research with 94 ejidatarios, 92 pobladores and 13 government officials. Our research shows that the reforms cemented the second‐class status of pobladores, as their access to land, natural resources such as firewood and governmental subsidies is now even more contested. Ejidal residents have responded to these tensions by invoking various conceptions of citizenship to press for different forms of justice. Ejidatarios seek to enforce their legal prerogatives by advocating a tiered citizenship, inflected with aspects of ‘market citizenship’, in which pobladores have less access to resources and voice. Pobladores seek inclusion in the ejido via a cultural model of citizenship built around a ‘civil sociality’. Despite this generalization, both groups also selectively move between and combine these citizenship frameworks to advance their claims.