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Maize diversity is important to the livelihoods of millions of farmers in Mexico, the crop's centre of origin; to maize breeders seeking new genetic material; and to producers and consumers worldwide. Key social processes that determine maize diversity include historic and cultural emphases on maize as a primary crop; land-use practices encompassing heterogeneous agro-ecological conditions; farmers' seed-saving practices; farmer selection of useful traits; and farmer seed exchange and purchasing networks. We consider the impacts of recent agricultural and rural development policies on these processes. We focus on La Frailesca, a commercial and semi-subsistence maize-growing region in southern Mexico. Qualitative data were collected via focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation in four villages at intervals over a 2-year period. These techniques were complemented with semi-structured interviews with local and state policymakers. Observations suggest that policies promoting market liberalisation, agricultural modernisation, and rural education have contributed to significant changes in the social processes which have historically generated maize diversity. Increasing numbers of smallholder maize producers are diversifying into alternative livelihood options, including temporary or permanent migration, and cultural and economic emphases on maize production are changing. Changes in La Frailesca raise important questions about the fate of maize genetic diversity as the Mexican agricultural sector is further realigned with the global agricultural economy. KEY WORDS: Chiapas, Mexico, agrobiodiversity, maize, focus groups, NAFTA

BACKGROUND Women's family caregiving responsibilities and the increase in women's labor force participation over the past century have been extensively documented in industrialized countries, yet fewer studies have been conducted […]

LINDY WILLIAMS, Department of Development Sociology, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. MICHAEL PHILIP GUEST, Population Council, P.O.BOX 138, Pratunam Post Office, Bangkok 10409, Thailand. Attitudes Toward Marriage […]

LINDY WILLIAMS, Department of Development Sociology, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. MICHAEL PHILIP GUEST, Population Council, P.O.BOX 138, Pratunam Post Office, Bangkok 10409, Thailand. Attitudes Toward Marriage […]

The Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, highlights the ability of a locally engendered social movement to gain support from countries across the globe. The movement can be traced to native peasants' local efforts to gain recognition and equitable rights from the government. As these pleas are basically rights that should have been guaranteed by a democratic government, the movements' supporters gained nationwide attention. The government was restrained from using its military forces to suppress the uprising by international organizations that uphold human and civil rights.

In the past half century, in several indigena (Indian) communities of highland Chiapas, Mexico, a transformation in ethnic relations toward greater equality and less antagonism between the formerly dominant mestizos (ladinos) and the formerly dominated indigenas has taken place. I describe this change and the improvements in ethnic relations it produced, for one highland community, Tenejapa. I show that one important cause of this phenomenon of ethnic succession was the imparting to indigenas of skills for the mestizo world by the national agency, INI (Instituto Nacional Indigenista). This transfer of skills constitutes a type of power, often overlooked because of its long-term and subtle nature, one that can have significant effects. However, INI's use of this power depended on the fact that the state government neither strongly obstructed INI's action nor carried out this action itself. The material for this study is drawn from field research I conducted in 1990-91 and follow up research in 1994.

An astronomically based cosmology was a central element of ancient Maya society, some elements of which continue to survive among the Lacandon people of southeastern Chiapas, Mexico. Most contemporary Lacandon houses face east, as did the Mayans, and many think of the Milky Way as the road or alligator it is portrayed as in Mayan art.

Maya in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, have used steambaths for therapeutic purposes for at least 2000 years, and continue to do so. Most ruins of ancient steambaths indicate large masonry structures used by warriors and rulers, although small wattle-and-daub constructions were used by the laboring classes. Steambaths are used for general hygiene, recovery from childbirth and in treating many illnesses. Former religious purposes of steambathing have been largely subsumed by Christian practices.

This study explores how participation in the colonial world economic system influenced patterns of economic inequality within and among the indigenous communities of the Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico. Specifically, the research addresses frequently debated issues regarding changing levels of economic stratification within colonial Indian communities and among modern peasant communities as participation in the world economy increases. An analysis of documentary and archaeological data from Soconusco reveals that during the course of approximately 250 years, both leveling and increased stratification occurred in different towns and at different times. Further examination of historical data provides possible explanations for the variable trends. The research demonstrates that diachronic analysis covering centuries rather than decades is critical to our understanding of changing levels of economic inequality.

The contributions of local land tenure, community solidarity and market activities to the 1994 rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico, are investigated. Results show that neither the ejido land tenure system, nor community solidarity, nor community disruption and commercialization can be considered as major factors in the revolt. Instead, the rebellion was due to the need for land by immigrants to the Lacondon forest area and modifications in the land tenure law which prevented them from acquiring real property.

Our focus on 'the customary social unit that mediates relations between household .. and community in Mesoamerican Indian and rural society' (Mulhare 1996:93) leads to a rich conceptual space. A [...]

Much of the information the reader is about to see is little known inside Mexico due to Chiapas' relative inaccessibility and to the government-controlled television system. The Mexican people know [...]

The Indian rebellion in Chiapas, led by the Zapatista National Army, is a postmodern political revolution against the exploitation of Indians by the West. The rebellion aims not at establishing socialism in Mexico but at changing the social scenario in Chiapas and in the other parts of Mexico. The postmodern nature of the Chiapas' rebellion is revealed by its identification with the Mexican revolution that occurred in the early 20th century.

LINDY WILLIAMS, Department of Development Sociology, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. MICHAEL PHILIPGUEST, Population Council, P.O.BOX 138, Pratunam Post Office, Bangkok 10409, Thailand. Attitudes Toward Marriage Among […]

The social-class divisions that separate youth groups in matters such as access to education and the labor market are examined. Despite the limitations of national and international Zapatista support networks, they seek to encourage the development of autonomous school projects.

Las Abejas, or The Bees, has emerged as a nonviolent resistant organization in Chiapas, Mexico, responding to oppression of indigenous peoples and peasants in this area. Las Abejas's commitment to nonviolence is synonymous with support for liberation and reaffirms its members' dignity.

This article explores changing views of alcohol in San Pedro Chenalho, a township in highland Chiapas, Mexico that has been profoundly transformed by the Zapatista democracy movement. The first part of the article provides an overview of drinking in Chenalho in the 1970s and 1980s when alcohol was still a strong symbol of community solidarity and an important part of healing ceremonies. The second part describes the period since the Zapatista uprising, a period in which indigenous women have begun to intensify their involvement in the political affairs of their communities. In their search for autonomy and to recover pride and dignity, both women and men supporters of the Zapatista movement reject alcohol as a symbol of political and economic domination. A commentary examines the relationship between the critiques of alcohol that have developed in Chenalho since the 1970s and political economy perspectives in alcohol studies. Both explanatory frameworks focus on the power structures in which alcohol sales and use are embedded. Keywords: Alcohol; Indigenous people; Zapatista uprising; Chiapas; Gender; Prohibition; Mexico

The transformation of the Las Canadas area of the Lacandon forest, Chiapas and the heartland of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional is examined.

The Zapatisti uprising is discussed in terms of ethnic identity in Las Margaritas, Chiapas.

This article seeks to demonstrate that the cofradias (lay confraternities) in late-sixteenth-century Chiapa, Mexico, replaced preexisting calpulli arrangements and norms within the early colonial indigenous communities, generating new, turbulent social and religious currents. As this study emphasizes, the cofradias were not a 'leveling mechanism' as previous scholars estimated, but instead exacerbated group conflicts. On the one hand, they become the loci for Hispanicized Indians, members of local elites, to separate themselves from the commoners, in the search for religious and cultural autonomy. On the other, the cofradias became a stage for the Indian commoners upon which to recover their sacred ritual sites and old concepts of territoriality, as an inseparable part of maintaining a distinct and unique identity under the colonial brand.

Guatemalans living at the El Amata refugee camp in Chiapas, Mexico, are struggling both to survive and to return to Guatemala. These refugees fled their country to escape the civil war there and the Guatemalan army's murderous treatment of civilians. One refugee, a women named Manuela, describes how the army's brutal attacks forced her and her family to flee. The refugees and their representatives, the Permanent Commission, are hoping to reach an agreement with the Guatemalan government for their peaceful repatriation.

The Zapatista movement in Mexico is discussed with regard to the future of politics in Chiapas.