Development projects and their effect on indigenous communities in Mexico-Maria Camila Aguilar

María
Camila Aguilar.
Development projects and their effect on indigenous communities in Mexico
Abstract: This article aims to identity the relationship between development projects and
indigenous groups in Mexico, studying the sates with significant indigenous groups in their
population. At the same time this research came up with two hypothesis based on the extraction of
natural resources and conflict opinions, using interviews and a regression model as the
methodology to prove that connection.
Introduction
Indigenous communities are one of the most vulnerable groups inside a society: they suffer
discrimination and poor access to education programs, health service, drinkable water and justice.
At the same time, territories where indigenous people live are often rich in natural resources like
oil, water, gold, petroleum and, gas, which makes these places important for the government and
for transnational companies. In recent years a large number of development projects have tended
to take place in indigenous territories supported by states or private companies. This appears to be
a great opportunity to help poor communities, by providing employment and infrastructure.
However, the results after a development project takes place may be quite different from those
what communities believed they would be.
In Mexico, there are 68 indigenous groups distributed around the county. Most of them are
in the states of Oaxaca (14,4 percent), Chiapas (14,2), Veracruz (9,2), Mexico (9,1), Puebla (9,1),
Yucatan (8,8), Guerrero (5,7), and Hidalgo (5.0), representing 75% of total indigenous population
in Mexico in 2015 (Instituto nacional de los pueblos indigenas, 2017). Those communities, as well
as all indigenous people, have a very strong connection between where they live and who they are.
Nevertheless, phenomena such as migration have been increasing in the last decade, caused by
violence, lack of employment opportunities or environmental changes. Likewise, indigenous
communities in Mexico are disadvantaged compared with the government or the private
organizations. Even though each community has the right to decide what type of project can be
executed inside their territory, these communities may suffer intimidation by government
employees or by companies’ workers with the purpose of coercing that community to allow the
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project, and communities may be given incomplete and wrong information about the consequences
that projects will have for all the population (Business and human rights resource centre, 2016).
The aim of this paper is to identify the effects of development projects on indigenous
migration in Mexico. By migration I mean national or international movement of people caused
by different reasons like economic, environmental, personal, or social issues (Trujano, 2008). By
indigenous people, I mean
Those which have historical continuity with pre-colonial society and consider themselves as
distinct from others communities, as the same time they are determined to preserve and transmit to
future generations their ancestral culture, land and ethnic identity according with their patterns,
legal and social system. (Trujano, 2008).
Development projects are defined as “intervention in a medium to solve an existing problem and
achieve the desired change. Said problem can be perceived as a limitation or an excess of a good
and/or service” (Valencia, 2010) (Translation by the author).
This problem is important because it has a historical, academic and social impact. First, its
relevance is based on the need of making aboriginal people visible in historical memory and as
important members of the society, because unfortunately indigenous groups historically have
suffered violations of human rights and discrimination, threatening their culture and self–
determination. Second, its relevance is based on the need to provide the field of social science with
a different perspective about indigenous migration. In most previous research, indigenous
migration was included in the larger category of general migrations, without any distinction to
other social groups, causing a lack of literature referring to this topic as well as difficulties in
analyzing the causes and consequences of this phenomenon based on the impact of development
projects. Third, indigenous people live in rural areas where often can be found a large number of
natural resources attractive to the government or to transnational companies, which then try to
extract those resources, affecting the lifestyle of the communities who live there and creating
conditions where people decide to migrate. Finally, when the consequences of development
projects are known, it is easier to mitigate consequences and create adequate investment in those
areas, increasing wellbeing for indigenous communities and for the general society.
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Literature review
Research on migration studies come from different fields such as anthropology, sociology,
and political science. These fields have not reached a universal definition about this phenomenon.
For example, a study led by Baker and Takeyuki tries to synthesize studies from anthropology or
archaeology, with the main objective of distinguish what is common to all migrations process and
what depends on specific situations (Baker & Takeyuki, 2015). For those authors, migration can
be defined as “the movement of people across significant socio-cultural, political, or
environmental boundaries that involves uprooting and long-term relocation,” leaving out internal
movements, and seasonal movements. However, other scholars believe that the definition of
migration proposed by Baker and Takeyuki doesn’t comprise all important elements that define
21st century migration. As a result, some academics integrate the definition given by the
International Organization for Migration or the United Nations Refugee Agency, adding some
elements that they consider relevant for the study of the field (Faist, 2016). The IOM defines
migration as the “ process of moving, either across an international border or within a state. It is a
population movement, encompassing any kind of movement of people, whatever its length,
composition and causes; it includes migration of refugees, displaced persons, uprooted people, and
economic migrants” (Trujano, 2008). According to Faist, migration includes all forms of mobility:
international migration, circular migration, seasonal migration and student migration with the
intention of overcoming inequities cross-border. (Faist, 2016). For Velasco, “migration has to be
with any displacement with expectation of changes in individual or familiar scenery and have an
impact in residences, employment and social integration” (Velasco, 2014) (Translation by the
author).
Evert Lee explains that migrations depends on four factors: factors operating in the place
of born, factors operating on the place of destination, personal factors and factors that act as
intervening obstacles (Husain, 1994). An important point developed by Lee is that migration
contains both factors “push” and “pull” factors which influence people to leave or stay in a
determinate place. Push factors include difficulties in the rural areas, poverty, unemployment and
shortages of food. Pull factor include job or income opportunities that are attractive. Both factors
may impact a migrant’s decision (Kumar & Barragan, 2012).
Factors affecting indigenous migration have been explored by some social scientists, who
focus their research on the main causes and consequences obtained by the social movement of
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indigenous problems. Specific studies have found that contemporary indigenous migration follows
a long history of regional displacement within ethnic territories whose limits do not correspond to
those of the present (Velasco, Paris, & Olavarria, 2014). However, indigenous migration includes
movement through urban territories as well as rural areas. Studies observe that the reason for
movement has changed and includes economic reasons, political reasons and social reasons more
that ancestral traditions.
In the case of Mexican indigenous migration, social scientists began to focus on this in the
1990s, as a result of escalation of migrants to United States, primary from in the south of Mexico
(Velasco, 2014). This was motivated by the deterioration of living conditions at the indigenous
territories and low income, having higher percentage on poverty than the general population
(Velasco, Paris , & Olavarria, 2014). Moreover, Kumar and Barragan (2012) believe that Mexican
underdevelopment is the driving cause for migration as a consequence of the different between
incomes in rural and urban areas. Those migrations have caused several changes inside
communities; for example female indigenous migration has been studied within a new generation
of migrants. Academics determine that while female women migration is caused also by economic,
social and culture influences and, they also explain how those process are different for women and
men. Some academics find that young indigenous citizens have migrated from the countryside to
the urban areas, creating a new category to study (Del Polo & Ribotta, 2011). They suggest that
indigenous youth are a vulnerable group inside the urban community. Additionally, indigenous
leaders are concerned about the consequences of youth migration because that means that young
generation are apart from their roots and suffer discrimination. Although, considerations such as
poverty, deficient access to education and investment are present as causes of migration in young
generations (Del Polo & Ribotta, 2011).
Some studies from the field of political science consider that communities have changed
since migration process stopped being a temporary process in 1970 and started to be a permanent
process in 1990, losing considerable percentage on their resident population (Robson & Berkes,
2011). A great contribution made by Robson and Berkes (2011) theorizes that migration processes
hold important implications for traditional forms of governance that depends upon the active
participation of its members, creating new process to change how political structure can handle
this issue. (Robson & Berkes, 2011).
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A different point of view suggests that transnational mobility and internal mobility are the
sum, not just of “less development” in rural areas, but of the kind of development that people have
inside their community, and that particularly unequal development drives migration (Canales,
2015). Canales argues that the problem not is the absence of development or public investment, it
is in the characteristics of that development policy. Following that argument, Canales proposes
other strategies and styles of development that fit with the communities needs, including policies
to fight against inequality. Additionally, Torche (2014) argues that socioeconomic disparities
extend to every aspect of life, from distribution of income, land and other assets to access
education, health services, justice, and political voice and influence.
Despite the growing literature in Latin America are about indigenous migrations and
development, the published literature on this topic remains small and none of it comes from
indigenous academics. However, authors and research from a variety of fields have agreed that
indigenous people are vulnerable to discrimination during the migration process and that the causes
of migration could including include economic, social, cultural, political and environmental
reasons. Though most of the reasons are related with quality of live inside communities, some
studies consider the kind of social development in origin communities to be important, because
not all social projects are adequate for indigenous people. Likewise, there is a debate on whether
development projects can reduce migration or if development projects increase migration by
changing the environment in which indigenous people are used to live. If the answer is that
development investment causes migration, how can governments and NGOs can create adequate
social projects to reduce migration and improve quality of life for indigenous groups?
Theory and Hypotheses
This project will investigate whether indigenous people are more likely leave territories
where development projects are based on the extraction of natural resources. A relevant example
to show the connection between development projects, land dispossession and human rights
violation that can cause indigenous migration, is a study made by The Working Groups on
Business and Human Rights demonstrating that there are several negative impacts related with
business activity. In hydrocarbons and mining activities the report provides that the most common
violation against human rights are related to land access, territory and healthy environment and an
important number of intimidations against people. Forty-one international companies, 55 national
companies and eight government companies were involved in 32 cases of intimidation; 32 abuses
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of land rights; 67 cases of human rights violation where the most mentioned sectors are mining
(56 cases of abuse) infrastructure (51 cases), and hydroelectric and wind farms (linked to 51 cases
of abuse) (Business and human rights resource centre, 2016). However, the report talks about rights
violation against indigenous and non-indigenous communities without distinction. I expect to find
a relationship between indigenous migration and hydrocarbons, mining projects because those
projects tend to affect vulnerable communities and generate negative consequences as
intimidation, land dispossession and changes in the environment which are related to the most
common causes of migration.
Hypothesis 1. Development projects in indigenous territories based on the extraction of resources
increase rate of migration out of the territory.
A development project that establishes mining extraction, petroleum extraction and carbon
extraction in areas that have cultural and spiritual importance for aboriginal groups may force
people to leave as a consequence of the damage caused to the land, because when a place is
destroyed there is no possibility to continue practicing spiritual rituals. Agriculture activity is also
affected by the new use of the ground because rivers are contaminated by chemical products of the
extraction activity. For these types of projects, driven by the location of resources, companies and
the government usually buy lands where projects are going to take place, offering a new use of the
ground to indigenous people for their lands or resorting to forcible land dispossession and
segregation against communities that disagree with the project.
Hypothesis 2. In indigenous communities where opinions conflict about the viability of a
development project will have a rate of subsequent migration.
Inside indigenous communities the concept of social wellness is one of the most relevant
values, prevailing above personal interest. Nevertheless, when big companies or the government
try to convince a community to allow a development project, the community tends to divide their
opinion. In societies where all members have the same attitude about the project, whether to allow
or refuse the project, is less probable that these community present higher number of migrants.
However, when the community is divided, companies try to bribe people inside, principally
important members who have power to convince others. Cases where leaders collaborate with the
government or big organizations can break down trust and create conflict and violence inside the
community. Additionally, when a member of a community collaborates with a company or with
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the government, they are under pressure to make the majority of the population agree with the
project and in some cases may use intimidation or violence to convince others to vote for the
project, creating tension between those who want the project and those who do not. People facing
social rejection and violence, as well continued threats that make their social live difficult, may
view migration as an alternative to avoided violence and social pressure.
Methodological section
I have chosen two methods to test my two hypotheses: interviewing and a regression model.
Interviewing indigenous people from different communities in Mexico is important because they
will provide the research with priceless information and details about migration issues inside their
communities and development projects. My idea is to interview 10 different indigenous citizens
per field trip in states such as Hidalgo, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Estado de México and Puebla, I plan to
visit the capital city of each state and two towns in the state of Mexico Metepec and, San Juan
Teotihuacan, I decided to visit the capital city because there I can find different people from
different communities who have migrated from their original towns, as well as visit the original
communities where those people are from.
Each private interview will last about 15 minutes and the interview will be audio recorded.
I will identify indigenous interviewees according with their social role; I will focus on community
leaders, victims of displacement from other communities, and people with relatives who have
migrated. Likewise, I plan to contact with some NGOs such as Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray
Bartolome de las Casas in Chiapas or Centro Prodh, which would help me to contact with
indigenous groups.
Possible questions: 1. Describe your community before and after the development project
took place (mining, infrastructure, petroleum etc.)? 2. Why did you decide to migrate? 3. Was the
decision of allow the project were agreed on by all members of the community? 4. What is the
behaviour of the government or the private companies when a community doesn’t agree to a
project? 5. Which positive and negative repercussions has the project had for the community?
The second instrument is the linear regression model, with data drawn from the IOM and
ACHNUR, to explore the relationship between the number and kind of development projects
(independent variable) and indigenous out-migration between 2010 and 2018 (dependent
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variable). The units of analysis are indigenous community-years. The sample will consist of 80
indigenous communities chosen randomly from all Mexican indigenous communities, with data
measured for each of the nine years between 2010 and 2018 (n = 720).
Nevertheless, if the data drawn would not be enough to create an appropriate linear
regression, I plan to collect the data by myself surveying 65 villages and ask them about the number
and type of development projects in the last 8 years and the rate of migration away from the
community. Those indigenous communities would be chosen randomly but in the sates of Hidalgo,
Chiapas, Oaxaca, Estado de México and Puebla where I plan to do the interviews having in count
mobility and time facilities. Using a linear regression model is an excellent method because it
should be possible to see larger trends between the type and number of development projects and
migration out of indigenous communities.
Using quantitative and qualitative methods permits a better analysis of the causes of
indigenous migration. However, there are some limitations to each approach. It is possible that
people lie during the interview either because they are afraid of retaliation by companies or the
government, or because they say what they believe the researcher wants to hear. In my quantitative
analysis, the relationship that I propose is linear, but I may need to adjust the regression if this is
not the case. Indigenous migration will be measured as the percent of indigenous citizens who
leave each community each year between from 2010 and 2018. I will also collect information from
the “Comision nacional para el desarrollo de los pueblos indigenas” and that corresponds to my
independent variables about development projects. I will measured the number of projects in
indigenous lands, with additional dummy variables indicating the types of the projects.
Ethical section
For this project I will need ethical approval from Rosario University’s ethics committee
because indigenous people are catalogued as a vulnerable group. The information that they will
provide to the investigation must be treated with discretion because there is a risk to subjects of
repercussions from the government, companies, or other community members. I will use
pseudonyms for both the communities I study and the community members that are interviewed,
and my notes and audio-files will be stored on an encrypted computer drive. I will change or
exclude details to avoid their identification.
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Conclusion
The relevance of this research is based on the need to help the government, private
organizations and NGO´S to create social wellness throughout development projects in vulnerable
communities, no just extracting natural resources and building infrastructure, there is a necessity
to bring education, health, security and peace to those groups who have been discriminated during
centuries. There is evidence which proof that development projects affects indigenous group’s life
conditions, creating migration process inside communities. There is also evidence that can prove
that communities where development projects take place also change the social life of those who
do not migrate out their ancestral lands. Indeed, there is a strong connection between the type of
development project and the effects causes to the community, projects that do not fit with the
necessities and values of the social group who live there do not improve life condition and causes
a negative impact for them.
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Proposed Budget
Transportation
Round trip flight to Mexico City
Trip flight to Chiapas(Tuxtla Gutierres)
Trip flight to Oaxaca from Chiapas
Trip flight to Mexico city from Oxaca
Trip bus to Hidalgo(Pachucha)
Trip bus to Puebla from Hidalgo
Trip from puebla to Mexico city
Local Buses in Mexico ,Puebla ,Pachcua ,Oaxaca
$
$
$
$
$
1.800.000
1.400.000
800.000
1.400.000
60.000
$100.000
$50.000
$60.000
Hostal
Hostal
Hostal
Hostal
Hostal
Hostal
Food
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
75.000
120.000
120.000
120.000
120.000
200.000
600.000
Living Expenses
in Mexico city (3 days
in Tuxtla city (1 week)
in Oxaca city (1week)
in Puebla city (1 week)
in Pachuca city (1 week)
in Mexico city (1 week)
Equipment
Digital recorder
USB memory sticks (2)
Notebook
Pencil
$200.000
$50.000
$10.000
$3.000
Incentive for people
$900.000
Other
TOTAL BUDGET
$
JUNE
SCHEDULE OF THE PROJECT
W1 W2 W3 W4 W1
8.188.000
July
W2
W3 W4
Ethics Review from Rosario University
Trip to Mexico city
Trip to Tuxtla
Interview
Trip to Oaxaca
Inverview
Trip to Pachuca
Interview
Trip to Puebla
Interview
Trip to Mexico State
Interview
Analisys of data
Conclusion
Writing up the article
Sumit the article
10
Augost
W1
W2
W3
September
W4 W1 W2 W3
W4
October
w1 w2
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Bibiography
Baker, B., & Takeyuki . (2015). Migration and disruptions. (B. B. Tsuda, Ed.) University Press of
Florida. Retrieved February 13,2019
Del Polo, F., & Ribotta, B. (2011). Migraciòn de jovenes indigenas en America Latina. ALAP Editor,
101-126.
Robson, J., & Berkes, F. ( 2011). How does out migration affect community institutions? A study of two
indigenos municipalities in Oaxaca,Mexico. Human Ecology.Jstore, 39(2)pp179-190.
Business and human rights resource centre. (2016). Mexico :Empresas y derechos humanos . Retrieved
March 17, 2019, from https://www.business-humanrights.org/es/m%C3%A9xico-grupo-detrabajo-de-la-onu-sobre-empresas-y-derechos-humanos-realizar%C3%A1-visita-oficial-0
Canales, A. (2015). El debate sobre migracion y desarrollo: Evidencias y Aportes Desde America Latina.
The Latin American Studies Association,50(1),pp 29-55.
Faist, T. (2016). Cross-border migration and social inequalities . Annual Review of Sociology ,42 pp323346.
Husain, M. (1994). Human Geography. Rawat publications.
Instituto nacional de los pueblos indigenas . (2017, July 11). Instituto nacional de los pueblos indigenas .
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Kumar, A., & Barragan, M. (2012). Social segregation of indigenous migrants in mexico: An overview
from Monterrey. Urbanistični inštitut Republike Slovenije,23(1), 140-149.
Torche, F. (2014). Intergenerational mobility and inequality:The Latin American case . Annual Review of
Sociology ,40 pp619-642.
Trujano, C. Y. (2008). Indigenous routes:A framework for understanding indigenous migration.
Switzerland: International Organization for Migration.
Valencia, W. A. (2010). Proyectos de inversión :Un enfoque diferente de análisis . Industrial data , 13(1),
28-31.
Velasco, L. (2014). Estudiar la migracion Indigena.Itinerarios de vida de trabajadores agricolas en el
noreste de Mexico. Economia,Sociedad y Territorio, 14 pp715-743.
Velasco, L., Paris , D., & Olavarria, M. (2014). Introduction: Indigenous migration in Mexico and Central
America:Interethnic Relations and Identity transformations. SAGE Journals, 41(3), pp5-25
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