Dissertation Research: Gender, Autonomy and Indigenous Rights in Chiapas, Mexico

在过去几十年里，拉丁美洲的农村政治已经从国家大众和基于阶级的议程转向土著身份的政治，往往超越了区域和国家的界限。 这种转变造成了紧张局势，因为多元文化的民族国家巩固了新自由主义的治理形式，同时面临着民族群体对集体权利和自治的日益增长的要求。 本论文的研究由文化人类学家从得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校将研究民族解放军的自治和土著权利运动在恰帕斯州，墨西哥通过比较两个社区在萨帕塔运行的自治乡镇在加拿大地区，这有很大的差异，在性别平等和妇女的参与水平。 本研究将透过户调、口述历史、半结构式访谈、参与观察、档案研究等民族志方法，探讨这些差异的历史建构，并分析性别与自主性的关系。 这项研究的重点将是两性平等如何对自治的实践和巩固产生积极和消极影响，并将有助于土著妇女组织的理论化。 这项研究还将评估国家对这一进程的性别反应的影响。 更广泛的影响：通过促进对妇女权利等个人权利的要求与土著运动中集体权利的要求之间关系的理解，研究结果将有助于学术界、决策者和土著组织寻求和平解决冲突的方法。 该项目还将有助于培养一名青年社会科学家。

Over the past few decades in Latin America, rural politics has shifted from national popular and class-based agendas to a politics of indigenous identity, often transcending regional and national boundaries. This shift has produced tensions as multicultural nation-states consolidate neoliberal forms of governance and simultaneously face increasing demands for collective rights and autonomy from ethnic groups. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Texas at Austin will examine the Zapatista Army of National Liberation's movement for autonomy and indigenous rights in Chiapas, Mexico by comparing two communities in Zapatista-run autonomous townships in the Canadas region, which have strong variations in levels of gender equity and women's participation. Through the ethnographic methods of household surveys, oral histories, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and archival research, this project will investigate the historical construction of these differences and will analyze the relationship between gender and autonomy. The study will focus on the ways in which gender equity has positively and negatively affected the practice and consolidation of autonomy and will contribute to the theorization of indigenous women's organizing. The study will also assess the impact of gendered state responses on this process. Broader Impacts: By advancing understanding of the relationship between demands for individual rights, such as women's rights, and for collective rights within indigenous movements, the research findings will be of use to academics, policy-makers, and indigenous organizations as they search for peaceful ways to resolve conflicts. The project will also contribute to the education of a young social scientist.