ICAR Students Study Zapatistas Applied Practice and Theory Team Visits Mexico

This year there is one international Applied Practice and Theory (APT) team, studying the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. The Zapatista movement is a group of mainly indigenous Mexicans who have been actively struggling to exercise their right to work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace since the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. After dialogue with the Mexican government came to a standstill, the Zapatistas formed autonomous communities, which they still rule independent of the official government.

The international APT team is a group of four M. S. students, Elizabeth Clawson, Crystal Ruple, Sofey Saidi and Amanda Tyson, advised by Dr. Karina Korostelina. An important element in selecting this particular conflict as the subject of their APT was the desire to visit a conflict zone to gain a true understanding of the issues. Prior to the trip, the group developed a research design including interview and survey questions.

The team was able to visit Chiapas, Mexico, over spring break to interview local experts. The team conducted 15 interviews of experts in Mexico and in the Metro region. The majority of the interviews were with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in San Cristobal, the town where most of the NGOs that focus on the Zapatistas are based. In addition to NGOs, the team interviewed academics and was in communication with government officials. Despite the sensitive subject matter, the NGO members were willing to help the students and provided not only extremely interesting answers to the interview questions, but aided in everything from scheduling interviews to locating the next interview site and contacting other groups. Currently, the group is working on transcribing the interviews and analyzing the results to produce a final paper.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to the Zapatista community. Through the help of one of Sofey's friends, the team was able to visit a Zapatista community and interview representatives of the Oventik Good Government Council, one of the five ruling bodies of the Zapatista territory. Upon leaving Oventik, the group stopped at San Andrés, where the accords between the Zapatistas and the Mexican government were signed in 1996. San Andrés is now a community that is part Zapatista and part non-Zapatista and an interesting picture of how Zapatistas continue to live in their own communities amid the oppression they still feel from the government.

The group had previously visited two non-Zapatista indigenous communities, San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan. The most poignant difference between them and the Zapatista community at Oventik was the different roles of women and children. Throughout Chiapas, street vendors, mainly women and girls, were selling artisan products. In the Zapatista community, however, these vendors were conspicuously absent. It was obvious that women were on more equal footing with men. In fact, the Zapatista representative who talked with the team was a woman. It was also apparent that the children were not expected to sacrifice their education to sell products.

Overall, the trip was an amazing experience and will contribute greatly to the research of the APT team. Visiting the area gave insights into the conflict that could not be gained in the US.

To learn more about the conflict and the trip to Chiapas, contact Amanda at [email protected]