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Abstract
This dissertation is about how two cultures of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua, the Raramuri Indians and the mestizos, respond to neo-liberal policy programs, and subsequently how those programs may fundamentally alter local political cultures. I acquired my data through eight months of participant observation and in-depth, often repeated, open interviews.
As policy formulator and implementor, the state affects conflict and cooperation between local groups, and serves as the final arbiter of that conflict. Yet the state is also part of the locality, represented by "embedded bureaucrats" who often have interests separate from and in addition to larger state interests. Moreover, in institutionalizing the ejido the state has created a context in which Raramuri Indians and local mestizos may discover common interests. The conclusion has three parts. First, the mestizo responds to policy by individually attempting to affect, or bend, programs to gain personal advantage. Second, the Raramuri collectively confront programs to mitigate, or blunt, unwanted effects. Third, a potential result of policy programs is a transformation of both mestizo and Raramuri culture.
The Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua is only one region in a highly heterogeneous country of hundreds of different Indian peoples and mestizo groups whose cultures are a result of a historical combination of Spanish and Indian cultures. Yet there is the generalizable struggle between on one side a people who appear to be embracing "modern" cultural values and market economics, and on the other side a people who consciously reject most of what the modern world offers, clinging resolutely to traditional values and institutions. Affecting the struggle is how different economies influence the relationship between Raramuri and mestizo--taking into account international markets, the NAFTA treaty, and the pending privatization of ejido holdings by the amendment of by Article 27 of the Mexican constitution.
After setting the theoretical framework in the introduction and the historical chapter, I introduce the three major groups, mestizos, Raramuri, and bureaucrats, and explore their cultures and motivations. I then examine the dynamics of policy implementation. Next I give an overview of the ecological context, including the state's developmental initiative.
