Indigenous Languages, Gender and Community Organisation in the Era of Globalization The Case of the Mazatec Women of the Naxi-í in Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

We thank the scientific and financial support provided by the iuf Mesoamerican Morphophonology project (MAmP) to carry out the field research, and also to the Axe 7 EM2 project at Labex efl (Paris 3 and 7) for analyzing the data. Information on this project can be found at "EM2 Cross-mediated endangered language elicitation." <http://axe7.labex-efl.org/ em2-description>, visited on 14 November 2013. 2 Neoliberal ideology promotes the shrinking of the state and the promotion of free markets. It implies the implementation of reforms that make citizens responsible for services that were previously provided by the state. These reforms have had specific effects on indigenous peoples, who now receive even less support than before, and who have increasingly been made responsible for their own well-being. They have become responsible for marketing their own produce for instance, even though historical conditions have left them in a weak position to compete in the market. In Mexico public spending was dramatically reduced through structural adjustment policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund in the 1980s and through measures adopted by the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). Social spending was reduced and measures were taken to privatize elements of the education and health systems. The process of agricultural reform was stopped, as were subsidies to the agricultural sector, leading to a situation in which many indigenous peasant farmers could no longer survive in the countryside.