Browsing by Subject "Oaxaca"

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Depositional and diagenetic processes in the formation of the Eocene Jackson Group bentonites, Gonzales County, Texas
(2011-12) Michaelides, Michael Nicholas; Kyle, J. Richard; Gardner, James; Heister, Lara; Serenko, Thomas
Bentonite clays are exposed in Paleogene strata stretching over 650 km parallel to the Texas coastline. This study focuses on a white and blue and a yellow and brown commercial Ca-montmorillonite bentonite near the city of Gonzales, Gonzales county, Texas. The deposits have stratigraphic ages of Late Eocene (~36.7 - 32.7 Ma). The bentonites in these deposits have varying colors, purities and brightness affording them diverse industrial uses. The distribution and geologic character of the high purity white and blue bentonite suggests that the deposit represents an accumulation of volcanic ash in a secondary tidal channel during the ash-fall event. A low rate of terrigenous clastic sedimentation and rapid accumulation of fresh ash were critical to the formation of high purity clay. The lower purity yellow and brown bentonites appear to have a fluvial origin marked by higher rates of detrital sedimentation and episodic accumulation of clay and ash. The bentonite and associated strata were studied using optical microscopy, SEM, XRD and REE analyses to constrain their textural, mineralogic, and chemical character. vii Eocene pyroclastic volcanism is well documented from sources in southwestern North America, specifically in the Sierra Madre Occidental (Mexico), Trans-Pecos (Texas) and Mogollan-Datil (New Mexico) volcanic fields. Projected Eocene wind patterns support this region as a potential source for the Gonzales bentonites. A comparison of the trace and REE fingerprints of the white and blue bentonites and the yellow and brown bentonites with data available for Late Eocene volcanics in the North American Volcanic Database provides a couple of potential matches. The strongest potential match for the Late Eocene bentonite protolith is described as a sample of silicic tuff with an age range of 32.2 – 30.6 Ma, located in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. While the trace and REE match is strong, the tuff is somewhat young compared to the Jackson Group sediments. In addition, the sample location is due almost directly south of the Gonzales deposits, rather than the western location expected for a Gonzales bentonite source. The other potential matches are located in New Mexico, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. These potential matches only have 6 REE available for comparison, and require further investigation. Many Paleogene volcanic units in southern North America are undocumented with regard to REE data or precise absolute ages. As additional geochemical analyses become available for a more extensive suite of Paleogene volcanic units, stronger matches with Gulf of Mexico Basin bentonites are expected to emerge.
El derecho a no migrar : Mexico’s colonialism and the forced displacement of the Ñuu Savi
(2016-08) Lopez, Noe; Menchaca, Martha; Gonzales, Alfonso
The emergent field of Mexican indigenous migration studies has focused on remittances, hometown associations, cultural reproduction, and identity formation in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. In my project, I contribute to the work of indigenous migration studies by analyzing and contesting the Mexican Nation’s State hegemony. Mexico’s political and economic structures have systematically caused the forced displacement of Ñuu Savi (Mixtec) people from their land in Oaxaca, Mexico. Through a historical analysis, I explore the Porfirian period (1876-1910), as it instigated land dispossession, initiated government projects against indigenous communities, and forced indigenous people to become laborers for hacienda plantations. Then, I examine the agrarian reform government initiatives of 1915 and their implementation during the Lázaro Cárdenas Administration (1934-1940). Drawing from literature reviews and policy analysis, I contend that indigenous people from Mexico now living in the United States were forced to out-migrate because of Mexico’s colonial, racial, and ethnic policies towards indigenous people, policies that negated their right not to migrate.
Grammatical sketch of Teotepec Chatino
(2011-05) McIntosh, Justin Daniel; Woodbury, Anthony C.; England, Nora C.
Teotepec Chatino is a Zapotecan language of the Otomanguean stock, spoken in the Southeastern Sierra Madre, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although other varieties of the Chatino language family have been described - Panixtlahuaca (Pride, 1963; Pride and Pride, 2004), Yaitepec (Rasch, 2002), Quiahije (Cruz, E, 2004; Cruz, E. et al., 2008), Tataltepec (Pride and Pride, 1970; Pride, 1984), Zacatepec (Villard, 2008), Zenzontepec (Campbell, 2009; Carleton, 2000) - there are no previous descriptions of Teotepec Chatino. Among the many interesting features of Teotepec Chatino is an inventory of twelve lexical tones. These tones distinguish between lexical items and have grammatical func- tions. The basic word order is VSO, however the language exhibits the alternative orders of SVO and OVS. These orders have specific semantic and pragmatic functions. The language has aspectual prefixes and some derivational patterns. There is verbal and nominal com- pounding which plays an important role in the formation of complex concepts. Animate direct objects are optionally marked by 7įᴿ ‘to’. The presence or absence of this marker with nominal constituents encodes whether an object is alienably or inalienably possessed. Teotepec Chatino has a vigesimal number system - a common areal feature of other languages in the region. There is a complex set of motion verbs that encode spatial orientation and reference. There are several constructions that result in complex sentences. These include relative clauses, complement clauses, adverbial clauses and conjunctions. There are a number of interesting temporal adverbs that are used to define different time events. The description and analysis of these aspects of Teotepec Chatino is based on data gathered through elicitation and oral texts. This work is a preliminary sketch of the language and should not be considered exhaustive.
Justicia en reforma : a diagnostic of Mexico's criminal procedure reform in early-implementer jurisdictions
(2011-05) Nichols, Denton Patrick; Villarreal, Andrés; Hansen, Patricia I.
Until recently, Mexico’s criminal court system systematically failed to observe the human rights of defendants, leading to widespread criticisms about the integrity of the system and the vulnerability of defendants to unconscionable judicial practices. Intending to remedy those deficiencies, several Mexican states have proceeded to transition from a semi-inquisitorial criminal procedure to an American-style adversarial one. Because of a 2008 reform to the national constitution, all Mexican states must adopt such criminal procedure reforms by 2016. In theory, these reforms should result in fewer overall cases, a reduced reliance on pre-trial detentions, and more dismissals of cases and acquittals. This thesis uses data collected by Mexico’s official statistical agency, INEGI, to test these hypotheses in judicial districts in four states: Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Morelos, and Zacatecas. While far fewer criminal cases are being brought in early-implementer districts that have transitioned to the new criminal procedures, the results on other statistical indicators are mixed. Nonetheless, the balance of evidence suggests that the reformed procedures are more likely to be fair to defendants and reduce overall wrongful convictions.
The K-12 educational experiences and identity formation of Na’ Ñuu Davi in Washington State
(2015-05) Guevara-Cruz, Griselda; Rodríguez, Néstor; Urrieta, Jr. , Luis
In this project, I look at how individuals of Ñuu Davi background came to an understanding of their social position while in the United States' K-12 educational pipeline and how it contributed to their life goals (academically and personally). Some questions addressed are: How does resilience work for students who face multi-layered barriers in education? How do they negotiate their identity? How do acquired skills in school become useful beyond academic settings? Does their acquired knowledge and path of resistance allow for civic/social engagement? Although the focus of this project is very specific, children of individuals of La Mixteca Baja region of Oaxaca residing in Washington State, the findings of this research are relevant in other places where Ñuu Davi (Mixteco) students are present and are being served in the educational pipeline. I see the importance of looking into this community's children's experiences, struggles, and needs in school in order to best equip them to navigate unfamiliar spaces. This exploratory research project stems from my personal experience as a Ña'a Davi (Mixteca) growing up in the Pacific Northwest--juggling three cultures and languages--and the curiosity of learning about the experiences of others from the same background, particularly in education.
Mining memory: contention and social memory in a Oaxacan territorial defense struggle
(2014-05) Macias, Anthony William; Hale, Charles R., 1957-
Faced with the profound social and ecological threats posed by extractivist projects such as large hydroelectric dams, wind farms, and mining operations, many indigenous communities and their allies in Mexico have articulated new forms of contentious politics into a broad territorial defense movement. This project explores the strategies of contention practiced by an anti-mining movement based in the Municipality of San José del Progreso in the southern state of Oaxaca. As a deeply-divided community that has suffered increased violence and conflict directly related to a Canadian-owned gold and silver mine operating in its vicinity, it presents a valuable case study in how strong social movements can still develop under conditions of disunity. This study combines ethnographic and archival research methods to uncover the deep historical roots of community division, and to develop a close analysis of the contentious strategies employed by the anti-mining movement. The historical record and local narratives show the central role that hacienda colonialism played in creating a salient geography of ethnic discrimination and division in the municipality whose effects can still be seen today. In response to the ongoing processes of colonization and dispossession in San José del Progreso, a legacy of contention has defined and defended both campesino (peasant farmer) and indigenous claims to local territory. More than a series of instrumental strategies designed to expel the hacienda and later mine project, this politics of contention operates as a form of social memory to produce a hybrid form of indigenous/campesino identity linked to healthy land stewardship, an interconnectedness between the earth and human subjects, and a shared history of struggle. As a result, the anti-mining movement in San José del Progreso has shown success in converting its troubled past and checkered present into the foundations of a healthy social and ecological commons, independent of its failure to fully-unite the municipality or close down the mine project in the short-run.
Phonology, tone and the functions of tone in San Juan Quiahije Chatino
(2011-08) Cruz, Emiliana; Woodbury, Anthony C.; England, Nora C.; Sherzer, Joel; Epps, Patience L.; Rasch, Jeffrey
The dissertation is a basic description of segmental phonology, tone, and the functions of tone in the San Juan Quiahije (SJQ) variety of Eastern Chatino. Chatino languages are spoken in the southern part of Oaxaca, Mexico. Chatino languages form a subgroup that is coordinate with the Zapotec languages in the Zapotecan family of the Otomanguean linguistic stock. The dissertation focuses on the sound system of SJQ Chatino, its system of tones, and the lexical, morphological, and syntactic functions of the tone system. SJQ Chatino is of special interest because it is a Chatino variety that has reduced nearly all historic simple stems to monosyllables, leaving behind complex consonant clusters; it has an exceptionally large tone system and complex system of tonal sandhi; the tones mark significant grammatical contrasts in addition to lexical units; and tone sandhi is significant in cuing syntactic and discourse structure. This description starts with an introduction to the language, its language family, a typological overview, a brief history of my fieldwork, and the methodology undertaken in this study. The work then describes the segmental phonology, including syllable structure and the distribution of the consonant and vowel phonemes, and the tones and tone sandhi, arguing for a system of fourteen contrastive tones at the lexical level. The work then turns to the functions of tone, including the restrictions on the lexical tone system according to the part of speech, with special emphasis on numeral words; the use of tone in marking possessor person and number in inalienably possessed nouns, and in marking aspect and subject person and number in verb; and tone in Spanish loan words. The description and analysis of these aspects of Quiahije Chatino is based on data gathered through elicitation and oral texts as well as my own intuitions as a native speaker of SJQ Chatino.
Placing technology : examining the emerging use of solar water heaters in Oaxaca, Mexico
(2011-08) Shannon, Steven Jacob; Adams, Paul C.; Knapp, Gregory W.; Doolittle, William E.
This study is an examination of the (broadly envisioned) process that has led to the emerging use of solar water heaters in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. In 2007, Mexico launched a major policy initiative designed to encourage the use of solar water heaters in the residential sector throughout the country. As this policy has been implemented, over one hundred thousand solar water heaters have been installed on new homes and many people are beginning to encounter this technology for the first time. This policy has been successful in placing solar water heaters on the rooftops of new homes, but problems with how some of them are functioning threaten the long-term prospects of diffusion of the technology. The study shows that while solar water heaters have the potential to carry positive environmental and economic benefits at the household level, there are also many potential and actual scenarios in which the technology can have detrimental effects. Drawing on literature from the Diffusion of Innovations, the Social Construction of Technology, Actor-Network Theory, the Multi-Level Perspective on Technological Transitions, and Ecological Modernization Theory, this paper also seeks to contribute to the literature concerning the overall processes of socio-technical transitions.
The San José project : mining, repression and resistance in Oaxaca
(2010-12) Williams, Edward Sansom; De Uriarte, Mercedes Lynn; Torres, Rebecca M.
This report chronicles a conflict over a Canadian-owned silver and gold mine in San José del Progreso, Oaxaca, as told by the author’s first-hand experience, eyewitness interviews, and research. Beginning with the Mexican Federal Government’s concession of ejidal land for use by the mining company, without the consent or consultation of the surrounding population, elaboration of the Trinidad mine in San José del Progreso has resulted in division in the community and intense activism, sometimes resulting in violent conflict.
Socially embedded and sustained point-of-use disinfection : enhancing silver nanoparticle enabled ceramic water filters with a Navajo pottery technique
(2020-05-11) Rowles III, Lewis Stetson; Saleh, Navid B.; Lawler, Desmond F.; Kirisits, Mary Jo; Katz, Lynn E.; Kovar, Desiderio
For the nearly 800 million people that lack access to safe drinking water, point-of-use water treatment systems are a common solution to help provide potable water. Despite the availability of numerous treatment devices, failure at the implementation stage is common, mostly due to an oversight of the target community’s needs and thereby creating barriers for adoption. A classic example of communities with barriers against outside influence is the Navajo Nation, which also has extensive water contamination. Developing a water treatment solution for the Navajos thus has to consider community sentiment and empower the solution with local materials or century-old practices, which can possibly overcome such barriers and facilitate long-term adoption. This two-pronged dissertation centers around socially-aware water treatment. The first part is community-engaged research, aimed at identifying social drivers that underlie a community’s relationship with water and assessing the need for water treatment technologies. A qualitative study on water in indigenous communities in Mexico helped to identify the diverse drivers relating to water use. This aspect was further developed utilizing structural equation modeling to quantitatively link factors relating to water in the colonias in the United States. A systematic study on water quality in these unincorporated communities was also completed. The development of a socially-aware technology is the connecting link between the community-engaged research and the scientific laboratory research, which focuses the design of a socially appropriate nano-enabled ceramic device for disinfection. A natural polymer, Navajo pottery glaze of pinyon resin, was utilized to apply silver nanoparticles to ceramic water filters. The use of this material may help to facilitate adoption while rendering needed technological advancement to these widely used water treatment devices. Results show that embedding silver nanoparticles onto ceramic with this polymer allows for sustained dissolution of ionic silver in a range of waters and serves as a barrier to passivation from sulfide and chloride. The polymer was also found to control biofouling and to be toxic against Gram-positive bacteria. Overall, the community-engaged research provides valuable insight on understudied communities through innovative statistical methods, and the scientific research is one of the first to integrate traditional Native knowledge with novel materials engineering.
Son de Oaxaca : nationalism, indigenismo, and folkloric performance
(2022-05-06) Parme, Kevin Matthew; Moore, Robin D., 1964-; Seeman, Sonia T; Menchaca, Martha; Garrard-Burnett, Virginia; Carson, Charles
This dissertation explores how indigenous brass bands and folkloric performances contributed to the construction of the Mexican nation in postrevolutionary Oaxaca. It also considers how national and indigenous imaginaries continue to be renegotiated in the settings of tourism, activism, and local celebrations. Prior studies of nationalism in Mexico have struggled to resolve the apparent contradiction between the indigenista goal of integrating native populations into mainstream society and the enormous amount of ethnographic knowledge that indigenista elites produced about indigenous groups during the first half of the 20th century. My study resolves this contradiction by showing how, through music education initiatives and public performances involving music, cultural elites developed not only a national culture but also contributed to the structures of knowledge underpinning daily life in Oaxaca. Both efforts served a common end in establishing the authority of the federal government in the region. I argue that this expanded view of nationalism and indigenismo helps explain the importance of folkloric performances in Oaxacan public life, where they continue to inform notions of indigenous heritage, political belief, and historical consciousness.
Sovereign subjects : same-sex desire and national formation in the Ñuu Savi diaspora
(2021-07-13) López, Noé; Menchaca, Martha; Merabet, Sofian; Canova, Paola; Domínguez Ruvalcaba , Héctor
The following dissertation is an Anthropological study that took place in the agricultural city of Oxnard, California, and in Oaxaca, Mexico (2017-2018). I examine sovereignty and community belonging among the Ñuu Savi people, commonly known as the Mixtec. I deliberately place same-sex desire among indigenous “queer” men as the focus to assess formations of indigenous nationalism and citizenship across the contemporary United States-Mexico borderlands. I do this through an ethnographic account of the queer-identified people among the Ñuu Savi. Between 2017 and 2018, I met informants who shaped their community's notions of belonging and sexuality based on their intimate and diasporic lives. I argue that same-sex desire, found within complex global and historical assemblages—geographical, political, economic, and cultural pluralities —is pivotal to understand contemporary indigenous community political formations, as desire— will, eroticism, and pleasure —, is interlinked with traditional notions of gender and sexuality. In turn, the reformulations of sexuality and gender in the diaspora shape traditional notions of indigenous citizenship, land acquisition, and national proclamations. I assert that indigenous sovereignty in the contemporary globalized world is rooted in a deep historical consciousness, a desire for pleasure, and a legitimate call for self-determination. This means that indigenous people who negotiate their gender and sexuality in a diasporic context also exercise their indigenous national sovereignty in Mexico and the United States.
(Vol. 01, 1998-05) A New Species of Ageratina (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) from Northwestern Oaxaca
(1998-05) Panero, José L.; Villaseñor, José L
Fieldwork in connection with the project to document the flora of the Mixteca Alta region of the state of Oaxaca has resulted in the discovery of a new species in the district of Juxtlahuaca, Ageratina juxtlahuacensis. Its distinctive morphological traits are discussed and compared to putative sister species.
(Vol. 02, 1999-12) Heterocentron Chimalapanum (Melastomataceae): A New Species from Oaxaca, Mexico
(1999-12) Todzia, Carol A.
Heterocentron chimalapanum, an unusual species from the dense cloud scrub forest of the Chimalapa region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico, is described and illustrated. Most closely related to H. elegans, H. chimalapanum differs from that species in its bright pink petals, smaller leaves, and strigose hypanthia.
(Vol. 03, 2000-12) Passiflora Microstipula, a New Species of Passifloraceae from Southeast Mexico
(2000-12) Gilbert, Lawrence E.; MacDougal, John M.
Passiflora microstipula was originally collected as seed in 1978 at the Los Tuxtlas biological station, Veracruz, Mexico. When plants grown from these seeds flowered in cultivation the next year, it was immediately clear that this species represented a completely new group within Passifiora. P. microstipula exhibits unusual characteristics such as tendril-borne flowers and conspicuously winged seeds. Observations of this species in cultivation revealed that significant morphological changes occur as development proceeds from a seedling to reproductively mature lianas. Morphology and ecology are discussed with regard to the species' likely taxonomic placement within the genus.
(Vol. 09, 2006-12) Three New Species of Ageratina (Asteraceae: Eupatorieae) from Oaxaco, Mexico and a Key to the A. Mairetiana Complex
(2006-12) Turner, Billie L.
Three new species of Ageratina subg. Neogreenella are described from Mexico, as follows: Ageratina mayajana, from Mpio. San Miguel Chimalapa, Oaxaca; Ageratina mazatecana, from Mpio. Santa Maria Chilchotla, Oaxaca; and Ageratina pochutlana from Districto Pochutla, Oaxaca. Although all of the taxa belong to the A. subg. Neogreenella, only the latter two relate to the A. mairetiana complex as defined by Turner (1987, 1997). A revised key to that complex is provided.
(Vol. 20, 2017-12) Contribution to the Floristic Knowledge of the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico.
(2017-12) Munn-Estrada, Diana X.
The Sierra Mazateca is located in the northern mountainous region of Oaxaca, Mexico, between the Valley of Tehuaca´n-Cuicatl´n and the Gulf Coastal Plains of Veracruz. It is part of the more extensive Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, a priority region for biological research and conservation efforts because of its high levels of biodiversity. A floristic study was conducted in the highlands of the Sierra Mazateca (at altitudes of ca. 1,000–2,750 m) between September 1999 and April 2002, with the objective of producing an inventory of the vascular plants found in this region. Cloud forests are the predominant vegetation type in the highland areas, but due to widespread changes in land use, these are found in different levels of succession. This contribution presents a general description of the sampled area and a checklist of the vascular flora collected during this study that includes 648 species distributed among 136 families and 389 genera. The five most species-rich angiosperm families found in the region are: Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Rubiaceae, Melastomataceae, and Piperaceae, while the largest fern family is Polypodiaceae.
(Vol.15, 2012-12) Justicia Salasiae, A New Species of Acanthaceae From Oaxaca, Mexico
(2012-12) Daniel, Thomas F.; Lott, Emily J.
Justicia salasiae, a new species from tropical deciduous forests in the Sierra Madre del Sur of southern Oaxaca, Mexico is described and illustrated. The species is distinctive by its panicles of spikes bearing elongate bracts and its tuberculate seeds that bear minute trichomes on the tubercles.
(Vol.16, 2013-12) Two New Species Of Wamalchitamia (Asteraceae: Heliantheae) from Oaxaca, Mexico
(2013-12) Turner, Billie L.
Two new species of Wamalchitamia are described from Oaxaca, Mexico: W. serboana and W. yautepecana. Photographs of their holotypes are provided and their relationships to yet other species in the genus are discussed. A key to the accepted taxa in Wamalchitamia is provided, along with maps showing their distributions.