The Role of Local Political Hierarchies in Colonization of Mexico's Southern Frontier

0093739海南农业边界的殖民化是推动全球森林砍伐的关键因素。 热带森林拥有宝贵的生物多样性，有助于全球环境的健康。 亚利桑那州立大学的一位文化人类学家的这个项目考察了塑造墨西哥热带边境定居点的微观政治过程，以评估这些过程如何影响被砍伐的农民的土地使用决定。 该项目的重点是社区管理的农场社区，以研究村庄权力动态如何影响移民和农业做法。该项目研究了墨西哥坎佩切州的卡拉克穆尔，那里有25，000名移民农民和墨西哥最大的受保护热带生态系统卡拉克穆尔生物圈保护区。初步研究表明，村庄冲突影响农业决策。 卡拉克穆尔居民区分有土地和无土地的农民，后者在制定地方政策的议会中没有发言权。 该项目将雇用一个区域大学和当地社区的研究人员小组，在五个月内在10个社区进行村庄和家庭一级的调查。这些调查，加上档案资料，将记录该地区不平等的变化范围。将对有关新来者的政治地位、可供他们使用的土地的质量和数量、以及对经济作物而不是自给作物的关注、间作以及劳动力和肥料投入水平的假设进行检验。鉴于最近的增长Calakmul作为一个网站的移民，并在墨西哥的ejido立法的变化，这项研究将提供宝贵的信息的性质和来源的变化，在当地的环境做法。这一新知识将与人口不断增长的热带地区生物多样性受到威胁的其他情况有关。

0093739HaennColonization of agricultural frontiers is a crucial factor driving global deforestation. Tropical forests house valuable biodiversity which contributes to the health of the global environment. This project by a cultural anthropologist from Arizona State University examines the micro-political processes shaping settlement of Mexico's tropical frontier to assess how these processes contribute to land use decisions by swidden farmers. The project focuses on the ejido, or communally managed farm community, to examine how village power dynamics affect migration and farming practices. The project studies Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico, home to 25,000 migrant farmers and the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Mexico's largest protected tropical ecosystem. Preliminary studies show that village conflict affects farming decisions. Calakmul residents distinguish between landed and non-landed farmers, the latter having no voice in ejidal assemblies that formulate local policies. The project will employ a team of researchers from a regional university and local communities to conduct village and household level surveys in 10 communities over a period of five months. The surveys, coupled with archival information, will document the range of variation in inequality in the area. Hypotheses will be tested relating the political status of newcomers and the quality and quantity of land available to them, as well as the focus on cash rather than subsistence crops, intercropping and input levels of labor and fertilizer. Given the recent growth of Calakmul as a site of in-migration, and changes in Mexico's ejido legislation, this research will provide valuable information on the nature and sources of change in local environmental practices. This new knowledge will be relevant to other situations of threats to biodiversity in tropical areas of expanding population.