Zapata Lives! : Histories and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico

lunches, conversations, and exchanges with her, and we shared many forums for presenting our work. George Collier and Jane Collier were also often in San Cristóbal, and I thank them for sharing insights with me there and at intellectual forums in the United States. A panel that I coorganized with George Collier for the American Anthropological Association was particularly helpful in bringing together a range of scholars and generating comparative conclusions about the impact of the Zapatista rebellion. Jan Rus, another part-time resident of San Cristóbal, provided intellectual support, suggestions, and encouragement for this project at various stages; I particularly thank him for his role in facilitating in-person and online discussions on issues of research in Chiapas and for his detailed comments on this book. In the office of the Procuraduría Agraria in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Jorge Portillo was extremely helpful on many occasions, freely sharing information and helping to arrange contacts. José Becerra, state delegate for the Secretaría de Reforma Agraria (SRA) in Chiapas, was also generous with time and information. The staff of the Registro Agrario Nacional in Tuxtla Gutiérrez were most helpful in locating and copying agrarian records from several communities in the Lacandon; I thank them for their help and interest in the project. Numerous organizations and individuals in the United States were instrumental in helping me to travel and make connections in Chiapas. This richly detailed study chronicles recent political events in southern Mexico, up to and including the July 2000 election of Vicente Fox. Lynn Stephen focuses on the meaning that Emiliano Zapata, the great symbol of land reform and human rights, has had and now has for rural Mexicans. Stephen documents the rise of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas and shows how this rebellion was understood in other parts of Mexico, particularly in Oaxaca, giving a vivid sense of rural life in southern Mexico. Illuminating the cultural dimensions of these political events, she shows how indigenous Mexicans and others fashioned their own responses to neoliberal economic policy, which ended land reform, encouraged privatization, and has resulted in increasing socioeconomic stratification in Mexico.

Mixing original ethnographic material drawn from years of fieldwork in Mexico with historical material from a variety of sources, Stephen shows how activists have appropriated symbols of the revolution to build the contemporary political movement. Her wide-ranging narrative touches on the history of land tenure, racism, gender issues in the Zapatista movement, local political culture, the Zapatista uprising of the 1990s and its aftermath, and more. A significant addition to our knowledge of social change in contemporary Mexico, Zapata Lives! also offers readers a model for engaged, activist anthropology. The purpose of this chapter is twofold: to introduce relevant background information, and, more important, to locate myself within the context of my research in terms of my position in the international political economy, my relationship to those I work with, and my ethical responsibilities as an anthropologist-in other words, what is my role in the stories told in this book, and how and why did I take on the research questions I did? This study chronicles recent political events in southern Mexico, up to and including the July 2000 election of Vincente Fox. the book focuses on the meaning that Emiliano Zapata, a symbol of land reform and human rights, has had and now has for rural Mexicans Contents Maps, Illustrations, and Tables Acknowledgments Acronyms and Abbreviations Preface Part I. The Political and Historical Contexts of Zapatismo Part II. Zapatismo in Eastern Chiapas Part III. New and Old Zapatismo in Oaxaca Notes References Index