Abstract

PIP: In today's world, where large numbers of people migrate for reasons that are not strictly economic, the preservation of the cultural identity of migrants has attracted scrutiny. Indigenous populations are one of the most vulnerable groups in Mexico because of their economic disadvantages and their ethnic identity. Paradoxically, however, their ethnic identity has constituted a basis for preserving their cultural identity and creating a broad network of social relations that assist them in their territorial movement. The Mixtec region of western Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla is one of the poorest of Mexico, with high rates of emigration, infant mortality, and illiteracy, and villages lacking potable water and basic services such as schools and roads. Holdings of less than two hectares of impoverished and eroded lands do not provide resources to support life at even a subsistence level. Migration, a constant in Mixtec economic and social life, accelerated in the 1980s. The Mixtec have become one of the largest ethnic groups of workers in the northwest of Mexico and in California, Oregon, and Washington. Entire communities have migrated in search of work. In their continuous movement the Mixtec have conserved ties that permit their collective survival. Associating with other Mixtec allows the migrants to share food, lodgings, and information on possibilities for success in their search for work. Mixtec families living in Tijuana, for example, assist those staying temporarily in Tijuana on their way elsewhere. The migrants provide their hosts with information about their villages or on conditions elsewhere. The continual movement in search of work has led the Mixtec to establish themselves in Guadalajara, Culiacan, Hermosillo, Nogales, Tijuana, Ensenada, and elsewhere, creating parallel routes north for subsequent migrants. More than 20,000 Mixtec were estimated to be employed in California, Oregon, and Washington in 1990. The Mixtec find temporary work in agriculture but also in small cleaning and maintenance enterprises. In Mexico they work as agricultural laborers or construction workers, domestics or ambulatory vendors. Migration has become an element in the daily life of the Mixtec, who have broadened their horizons while preserving their identity.