‘We eat meat every day’: ecology and economy of dietary change among Oaxacan migrants from Mexico to New Jersey

Abstract

In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the USA has experienced large-scale and continuing immigration from around the world, especially Latin America and, within Latin America, from Mexico. One dimension of these transnational processes is dietary change. In this paper, we qualitatively assess the effects of migration from Oaxaca, Mexico to central New Jersey on the ecology and economy of dietary patterns. We explore multiple factors at the micro and macro levels. Data come from focus groups held among Mexican migrants in New Jersey, and in Oaxaca among people from their sending communities. Economic constraints and lack of culturally appropriate foods are larger barriers to healthy eating than lack of knowledge about appropriate diets. We end with recommendations for nutrition education and interventions.     

Anthropology and the politics of facts,knowledge, and history

Conclusions In this paper I have tried to discuss several levels of the politics of facts, knowledge and history in relation to contemporary anthropology. Taking off on the current school of anthropology known as interpretive anthropology or anthropology as text, I have suggested that issues involving the representation and documentation of knowledge and history are not primarily found in the process of writing an ethnographic text, but in the arenas of power relations which fall outside of ethnographic production. The power dynamics of unequal language as described by Asad operate in the political, economic, cultural and social lives of real individuals who carried on a historical existence before the entrance of the anthropologist and who continue to struggle, day to day, to survive and retain a sense of autonomous identity after the anthropologist leaves.Here the politics of facts, knowledge, and history have been explored in relation to my own fieldwork in the Zapotec community of Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca, Mexico. My discussion focused on the power relations of history and language reflected in the community archives, the ways in which different sectors of the community use history to defend their own agendas and differential access to power in a gendered and economically stratified community, and the ways in which collaborative projects can highlight different bases of linguistic and historical authority within a community.Unlike many indigenous peasant communities in Mexico, Teotitlan is not in the throes of an economic or political crisis. In fact, it probably has one of the highest standards of living of all the indigenous communities in Oaxaca. The community's protection of its many histories has been used, particularly by the merchant sector, as a way of asserting a claim to Zapotec weavings. The cultural claim to the textiles has been used to facilitate the community's insertion into the international capitalist economy. A claim to Zapotec ethnicity has been critical to the community's autonomy struggle as it has worked to gain independence from the Mexican state, first through circumventing documentation of production, and later, by avoiding deep involvement in craft development programs, which put the state in the role of middleman.Other indigenous communities and populations in Mexico and throughout Latin America face a much more severe crisis of autonomy, usually linked first to physical survival, and secondly, to maintaining control over natural resources. In the state of Oaxaca, significant numbers of the human rights violations which have occurred in the 1970s and 1980s involved indigenous peoples who were murdered, beaten, jailed or harassed for ethnically based political activities. Particularly outstanding were abuses leveled against the Trique living in and around San Juan Copala who have engaged in confrontations involving 13,705 hectares of disputed woodlands and communal land.For indigenous communities waging battles for self-determination and autonomy, the representation of history and facts are linked to political struggles to improve material conditions and gain greater control over their place in the larger political-economy. At the level of struggle at which the Trique are engaged in the crisis over authority and representation is played out in armed incursions by troops, police and gunmen, assassinations of Triqui leaders, torture, and rape. In the community of Teotitlan, it is played out more subtly in negotiations with American importers and within the community over prices and who controls the production and distribution of Zapotec weavings. In both instances the politics of facts, knowledge, and history reappear in the colonial encounter people live on a day to day basis and which anthropologists focused on in the 1970s. While the enterprise of ethnography winds itself through changing epistemologies in the pages of journals and at conferences, the lives of indigenous peasants continue in a struggle of empowerment against a history of marginalization.Lynn Stephen is Professor of Anthropology, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.     

Transnational Migration in Rural Oaxaca, Mexico: Dependency, Development, and the Household

Contradictory models of dependency and development have dominated the discussion of migration between Mexico and the United States. Transnational models of migration resolve these contradictions by defining a series of interdependencies (economy and society, for example). Using data collected in a rural Zapotec community in Oaxaca, Mexico, this article focuses on three areas: the stage-specific development of transnational movement; the domestic cycle, household decision making, and migration/remittance outcomes; and the changing nature of community participation. Rooting the discussion in household decision making captures the important role local social variability and economic dynamism play in understanding transnational processes and advancing migration studies. [ households, migration, transnationalism, dependency and development, Oaxaca, Mexico ]     

Neurospora in temperate forests of western North America

The fungal genus Neurospora has a distinguished history as a laboratory model in genetics and biochemistry. The most recent milestone in this history has been the sequencing of the genome of the best known species, N. crassa. The hope and promise of a complete genome sequence is a full understanding of the biology of the organism. Full understanding cannot be achieved, however, in the absence of fundamental knowledge of natural history. We report that species of Neurospora, heretofore thought to occur mainly in moist tropical and subtropical regions, are common primary colonizers of trees and shrubs killed by forest fires in western North America, in regions that are often cold and dry. Surveys in 36 forest-fire sites from New Mexico to Alaska yielded more than 500 cultures, 95% of which were the rarely collected N. discreta. Initial characterization of genotypes both within a site and on a single tree showed diversity consistent with sexual reproduction of N. discreta. These discoveries fill important gaps in knowledge of the distribution of members of the genus on both large and small spatial scales and provide the framework for future studies in new regions and microhabitats. The overall result is that population biology and genetics now can be combined, placing the genus Neurospora in a unique position to expand its role in experimental biology as a useful model organism for ecology, population genetics and evolution.     

Bootlegging on a desert mountain: The political ecology of Agave (Agave spp.) demographic change in the Sonora river valley,Sonora, Mexico

Recent studies suggest that wild agave (Agavespp.) plants in Sonora, Mexico, are being over-harvested by mescal makers on communal lands. Using the conceptual framework of regional political ecology (Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987), I discuss the ecological processes of agave depletion, and investigate the social, economic, and political contexts in which unsustainable harvest practices arise. Whereas all the mescal makers have knowledge of sustainable harvest methods, population growth, expansion of agriculture onto ecologically marginal lands, and increasing dependence on wild harvested products from communal lands created the socioeconomic context for increased demand for mescal income. The ideology of household autonomy, and the belief that the village has no right to internally regulate use of the commons, created the political context for rapid, unsustainable harvesting—a tragedy of the commons. However, recent cultural changes have caused a reversal of this trend, and some wild agave populations may be recovering.     

Genetic characterization of indigenous peoples from Oaxaca, Mexico, and its relation to linguistic and geographic isolation

We used 15 short tandem repeat (STR) loci (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, VWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818, and FGA) to genetically characterize 361 individuals from 11 indigenous populations (Amuzgo, Chinanteco, Chontal, Huave, Mazateco, Mixe, Mixteco, Triqui, Zapoteco del Istmo, Zapoteco del Valle, and Zoque) from Oaxaca, Mexico. We also used previously published data from other Mexican peoples (Maya, Chol, Tepehua, Otomí, and Mestizos from northern and central Mexico) to delineate genetic relations, for a total of 541 individuals. Average heterozygosity (H) was lower in most populations from Oaxaca (range 0.687 in Zoque to 0.756 in Chontal) than values observed in Mestizo populations from Mexico (0.758 and 0.793 in central and northern Mestizo, respectively) but higher than values observed in other Amerindian populations from South America; the same relation was true for the number of alleles (n(a) ). We tested (using the software Structure) whether major geographic or linguistic barriers to gene flow existed among the populations of Oaxaca and found that the populations appeared to constitute one or two genetic groups, suggesting that neither geographic location nor linguistics had an effect on the genetic structure of these culturally and linguistically highly diverse indigenous peoples. Moreover, we found a low but statistically significant between-population differentiation. In addition, the genetic structure of Oaxacan populations did not fit an isolation-by-distance model. Finally, using AMOVA and a Bayesian clustering approach, we did not detect significant geographic or linguistic barriers to gene flow within Oaxaca. These results suggest that the indigenous communities of Oaxaca, although culturally isolated, can be genetically defined as a large, nearly panmictic population in which migration could be a more important population mechanism than genetic drift. Finally, compared with outgroups in Mexico (both indigenous peoples and Mestizos), three groups were apparent. Among them, only the Otomí population from Hidalgo has a different culture and language.     

Embedding Science in Politics: "Complex Utilization" and Industrial Ecology as Models of Natural Resource Use

Throughout the short history of industrial ecology, issues of implementation have been heavily emphasized. Less attention has been given to the ways in which the technical models of industrial ecology interact with social processes. Yet the practitioners of industrial ecology frequently encounter challenges pertaining to contextualization when embedding a general model in different local contexts. In addition, there are reasons to believe that the models of industrial ecological systems become politically meaningful only when they are carefully contextualized and linked to localized needs. In this article, we aim at a better understanding of the political embedding of industrial ecology. In order to demonstrate some general mechanisms of embedding, we first conduct a frame analysis of complex utilization—a scientific policy instrument analogous to industrial ecology, developed in the Kola Peninsula, Russia. We identify five frames in which complex utilization has been promoted between 1935 and 2005. These frames are then compared to six frames identified in the industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg, Denmark. We find that effective political embedding relies on frames that function both on a general level and in specific contexts. General frames, such as efficiency, economy, and environment, need to be aligned with localized perceptions of particular issues. What is more, sensitivity to purely context-specific frames is necessary for effective political embedding. Finally, the political processes of framing also shape the scientific-technical models that are being promoted.     

保护生物学概要

保护生物学的形成是对生物危机的反应和生物科学迅速发展的结果。它是应用科学解决由于人类活动干扰或其它因素引起的物种、群落和生态系统出现的问题的新学科。其”目的是提供保护生物多样性的原理和工具“,其基础科学和应用科学的综合性交叉学科。系统学、生态学、生物地理学和种群生态学的原理和方法是保护生物学重要的理论和实践基础。     

Phylogeography of the Trans‐Volcanic bunchgrass lizard (Sceloporus bicanthalis) across the highlands of south‐eastern Mexico

We quantify the population divergence processes that shaped population genetic structure in the Trans‐Volcanic bunchgrass lizard (Sceloporus bicanthalis) across the highlands of south‐eastern Mexico. Multilocus genetic data from nine nuclear loci and mitochondrial (mt)DNA were used to estimate the population divergence history for 47 samples of S. bicanthalis. Bayesian clustering methods partitioned S. bicanthalis into three populations: (1) a southern population in Oaxaca and southern Puebla; (2) a population in western Puebla; and (3) a northern population with a broad distribution across Hidalgo, Puebla, and Veracruz. The multilocus nuclear data and mtDNA both supported a Late Pleistocene increase in effective population size, and the nuclear data revealed low levels of unidirectional gene flow from the widespread northern population into the southern and western populations. Populations of S. bicanthalis experienced different demographic histories during the Pleistocene, and phylogeographical patterns were similar to those observed in many co‐distributed highland taxa. Although we recommend continuing to recognize S. bicanthalis as a single species, future research on the evolution of viviparity could gain novel insights by contrasting physiological and genomic patterns among the different populations located across the highlands of south‐eastern Mexico. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 110 , 852–865.     

Population dynamics of the bat Dermanura tolteca (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in a tropical forest in Mexico

The fruit-eating bat, Dermanura tolteca, has a broad geographic distribution in Mexico and it is a very important seed dispersal of Neotropical plants. Nonetheless, information on the biology of this bat species is scarce, especially with regard to demography. We studied some ecological aspects and population dynamics of D. tolteca from Southeastern Mexican State of Oaxaca. The study was conducted in a perennial tropical forest, over a period of 80 nights, a sampling effort of 73 200 mist-net-hour, from May 2006 to August 2007. A total of 176 specimens were captured, 98 females and 78 males. Population size was estimated in 237 individuals in the study area, with a greater number during rainy season. The population density of this bat, in its range of distribution in Mexico is low compared to other nose-leaf bats. Captures were correlated with monthly precipitation, and this result may be linked to food resources abundance in tropical and subtropical areas. The reproductive pattern was bimodal polyestrous, with birth periods between August-September and April-June. Greater body mass was observed in females than males. The male-female ratio and age-related demographics were similar to other nose-leaf bats. The biological characteristics of D. tolteca are typical of nose-leaf bats of the family Phyllostomidae.     

Imagining the Highway: Anticipating Infrastructural and Environmental Change in Belize

ABSTRACT

This article examines the social and political, as well physical, construction of infrastructure, by attending to the implications of a highway yet to be built. In southern Belize, where the development of rural road networks figures strongly in historical narratives of political and environmental change, the recent paving of a major domestic highway has had distinctive implications for livelihoods and land rights among the predominantly Maya population of rural Toledo district. At the time of research, a plan for a new paved highway to the Guatemalan border animated longstanding debates over territoriality, environment and development, even as the details remained elusive. Bringing political ecology into conversation with attention to the perception of sensory environments, and the affective power of anticipation, I argue for extending anthropological conversations about infrastructure to encompass the meanings and consequences of imagined infrastructures for the ways people encounter, experience and enact social and environmental change.     

The power and promise of population genomics: from genotyping to genome typing

Population genomics has the potential to improve studies of evolutionary genetics, molecular ecology and conservation biology, by facilitating the identification of adaptive molecular variation and by improving the estimation of important parameters such as population size, migration rates and phylogenetic relationships. There has been much excitement in the recent literature about the identification of adaptive molecular variation using the population-genomic approach. However, the most useful contribution of the genomics model to population genetics will be improving inferences about population demography and evolutionary history.     

Yam is King! But Cassava is the Mother of all Crops: Farming, Culture, and Identity in Igbo Agrarian Economy

The history of Igbo scholarship has benefits from pioneer scholars such as Victor Uchendu, Ikenna Nzimiro, Don Ohadike, Michael Mbabuike, Ezenwa-Ohaeto, and Angela Uwalaka, among many others. Collectively, their scholarship defined the contours of Igbo political economy, anthropology, and sociology, and linguistic. As an agricultural people, the history of the Igbo people was defined by their relationship to the land and their ecology. These scholars, to whom I humbly devote this piece, have touched upon the changing nature of Igbo political economy as much as the link between Igbo agriculture and their identity.     

Systematic studies on mexican coreopsis (compositae). Coreopsis mutica: Flavonoid chemistry,chromosome numbers,morphology, and hybridization

Coreopsis mutica is a highly variable species occurring in the highlands from Central Mexico southeastward barely into El Salvador and Honduras. It is not continuous over this range, however, but is found in three geographic population centers: one in Guatemala and Chiapas, a second in Oaxaca, and the third in Central Mexico. Populations in Guatemala and Chiapas are uniform in chromosome number (2n = 56), leaf flavonoid chemistry, and morphology. Var.microcephala is proposed to accommodate these assemblages. Plants comprising populations centered around Cd. Oaxaca have a chromosome number of 2n = ca. 112. This large complex consists of two distinct varieties and their putative hybrids. Those plants to the northwest of Cd. Oaxaca (var.subvillosa) are constant in leaf flavonoid chemistry (producing only flavones) and possess a combination of distinctive morphological traits. To the southeast of Cd. Oaxaca plants invariably contain flavonols and anthochlors in their leaves in addition to flavones. Moreover, these plants (the newly proposed var.carnosijolia) are readily separable from var.subvillosa by a number of morphological features. Evidence is presented that the two taxa hybridize in the vicinity of Cd. Oaxaca. On the southeastern edge of the var.subvittosavar. carnosifolia complex a population was encountered which has a chromosome number of 2n = 56 and a very distinctive morphology and flavonoid chemistry. These plants have been accorded taxonomic status as var.multiligulata. Two morphologically similar, yet distinguishable, varieties occur in Central Mexico. It has been determined that the two differ also in chromosome number and leaf flavonoid chemistry. One taxon (var.leptomera) has a chromosome complement of 2n = 56 and produces only flavones in its leaves, whereas var.mutica has a chromosome number of 2n = ca. 112 and produces flavones, flavonols, and anthochlors.     

An Interview with Juan Jose García, President of Ojo de Agua Comunicación

This is an interview with Zapotec video maker Juan Jose Garcia, president of the award-winning media organization Ojo de Agua Comunicacion, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He presents a brief history of native video in Mexico and discusses issues such as indigenous video production and circulation, thematic content, communal practices, relation to indigenous communities, funding, and current projects of his group.     

Whatever happened to economic anthropology?1

In the 1970s, economic anthropology, along with kinship and ecological anthropology, was regarded as a core discipline in the teaching of anthropology. The centrality of all these subjects was reflected in the debates of the time. For economic anthropology, understanding the articulation of modes of production was the problem; the holy trinity—tribe, peasant, capitalist—provided the key terms of the debate. These terms, and this problem, are history. The discipline of anthropology has been de‐cored over the past 30 years: economic anthropology, kinship and ecological anthropology are not even on the agenda in many universities today (ANU included). This presents us with a paradox because these academic trends are in inverse proportion to the importance of contemporary developments in the economy, the family and ecology as global problems facing humanity. This paradox must be addressed not by arguing for a rehabilitation of the core subjects of the 1970s—those days are long gone—but by taking a critical look at the implicit theories of value that inform anthropological thinking about the economy, the family and ecology today. I shall argue that, along with neoliberalism, ‘agency’ has been the key term of the new paradigm that emerged in the 1970s, that this paradigm is about to become history and that new ways of thinking about the economy will have to emerge as we all become victims of the ‘financialisation’ of Europe, the industrialisation of Asia and the desiccation of Australia.     

Diversity of Alticinae in Oaxaca,Mexico: A preliminary study (Coleoptera,Chrysomelidae)

This is a preliminary study of the diversity of the Flea Beetles (Alticinae) of the Mexican state of Oaxaca based on fieldwork by the author in 1991, 1997, and 2010, the literature, and specimens in several institutional collections. The number of genera and species for Mexico as well as for Oaxaca increased significantly from previous studies. There are now 625 species in 90 genera recorded from Mexico with 275 species in 68 genera recorded from Oaxaca. There are 113 species known only from the state of Oaxaca and another 38 species known only from Oaxaca and the surrounding states. Oaxaca has a relatively high diversity as well as a high percentage of endemism. This study also demonstrates the effects of how even a small amount of fieldwork together with extracting specimen data from institutional collections can significantly increase the total faunistic and diversity knowledge of an area. A complete list of the genera and species known from Oaxaca is included.     

Maternal fetal transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi: a problem of public health little studied in Mexico

The first case of neonatal Chagas was reported in Mexico in 1998, but there have been no studies since then. Therefore, we investigated the rates of congenital infection of Trypanosoma cruzi by examining the seroprevalence among 1448 pregnant women in Oaxaca, Jalisco and Mexico City. We performed ELISAs to screen for recombinant and total antigens in mothers, and examined the frequency of congenital T. cruzi transmission by PCR with cord blood and antibody testing in children when they reached two years old. Our results showed that the prevalence of infection in pregnant women was 7.32% (106/1448) overall, and 4.4% (35/794) in Oaxaca, 12.02% (67/557) in Jalisco and 4.12% (4/97) in the Mexico City. In Oaxaca, T. cruzi infection was detected by PCR in 20% (7/35) of infants born to seroreactive mothers and 11.9% (8/67) in Jalisco. No infections were identified in infants from the Mexico City. From these only eleven serological follow up their children are agree to take blood. Therefore, the maternal-fetal overall transmission rate was 4.08% (4/98) in Oaxaca and 9.1% (3/33) in Jalisco 1.5% (1/65) children with positive serology were given specific treatment Chagas. In conclusion, these are the first reports of the rates of congenital Chagas disease in Mexico. The seroprevalence was higher in mothers from Jalisco, and could be related to that there is not the periodic fumigation of the transmitting vector performed in that state. The high rates of maternal-fetal transmission found in Oaxaca could be related to the differences of pathogenicity of trypanosome. No association between both the rate of congenital transmission and the gynecologic anthropometric data was observed.     

Phylogeography and population structure of the endangered Tehuantepec jackrabbit <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lepus flavigularis</Emphasis>: implications for conservation

The Tehuantepec jackrabbit (Lepus flavigularis) is an endangered species restricted to a small area in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. To evaluate its phylogeographic structure, population genetics, and demographic history we sequenced the mitochondrial Control Region hypervariable domain (CR-1) for 42 individuals representing the entire species range. Phylogenetic patterns indicated that this species is subdivided into two highly divergent clades, with an average nucleotide genetic distance of 3.7% (TrN) between them. Clades A and B are geographically distributed in non-overlapping areas to the west and to the east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, respectively. Genetic diversity indices showed reduced genetic variability in L. flavigularis when compared to other species of Lepus within main clades and within populations. This low genetic diversity coupled with the restricted distribution to very small areas of occurrence and limited gene flow suggest that genetic drift has played an important role in the evolution of this species. Historical demographic analysis also pointed out that these two clades underwent a recent population expansion that started about 9,000 years ago for clade A and 3,200 years ago for clade B during the Holocene. Consequently, from the conservation perspective our results suggest that populations included in clades A and B should be regarded as distinct evolutionary lineages.     

Genetic drift and natural selection in an isolated Zapotec-speaking community in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico

Genetic drift and natural selection were analyzed in a genetically isolated Zapotec-speaking community in the Valley of Oaxaca, southern Mexico. Moderately intense genetic drift and selection potentials were found. Potential for drift was related to (1) the small effective size of the population, and (2) the exceptionally low number of migrants into the population. Potential for selection was due to (1) an unusually high variance in fertility, and (2) a high contribution of prereproductive mortality. Significant potential for genetic evolution was found due to genetic drift and natural selection.