Power, community and the state : the political anthropology of organisation in Mexico / Monique Nuijten.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nuijten, Monique.

Series:

Anthropology, culture, and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political anthropology.

Ejidos.

La Canoa (Jalisco, Mexico)--Politics and government.

La Canoa (Jalisco, Mexico).

Ejidos--Mexico--La Canoa (Jalisco).

Political anthropology--Mexico.

Mexico.

Mexico--La Canoa (Jalisco).

Physical Description:

x, 227 pages : maps ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; Sterling, Va. : Pluto Press, 2003.

Summary:

This book explores the balance of power between the state and local communities, with particular reference to societies in the developing world. Nuijten shows how rituals of bureaucratic power and accusations of corruption give flesh to conspiracy theories among officials, peasants and brokers. At the same time she shows that in this labyrinthine world of bureaucratic obstacles and state control, local agrarian communities manage to find room for autonomy. Drawing on her extensive fieldwork in Mexico, and her experience in development, Nuijten draws wide conclusions that can be applied to many societies. Providing a detailed ethnography, she focuses on various themes, including a theoretical anthropology of state power; families and factionalism after agrarian reform; local organisation; questions of law; corruption; and development theory. Examining the relationships between a local community and the state, this study is relevant not only to political anthropology, but also to development studies more generally.

Contents:

1 An Anthropology of Power and the State 1

Introduction: anthropology and the state 1

A study of state processes through peasant communities in Mexico 4

A fascination with power and conspiracy 6

Organising practices and force fields 10

Three dimensions of the state 15

The creation of a multi-sited, reflexive ethnography 19

2 Factionalism and Family After the Agrarian Reform 26

Introduction: Cacicazgo and factionalism in Mexico 26

Agrarian struggle and land reform in the valley of Autlan 27

Land, power and party politics 32

Ejidatarios and their landless neighbours 34

Land and local politics 36

A glimpse of present-day life in La Canoa 41

Factions and the kinship idiom 42

Conclusion: a globalised situated community 46

3 Politics and Local Organisation 48

Introduction: organisation and organising practices 48

Ejido administration and the role of the commissioner 49

Meetings as arenas of bickering and indecisive confrontation 51

The force fields of ejido organising practices 54

The unpopularity of formal positions 60

Contrasting discourses of organisation 63

Conclusion: alternative forms of governance and accountability 67

4 Illegality and the Law 70

Introduction: a shadow world of illegal practices 70

A basic contradiction in the agrarian law 71

Migration and the renting out of land: a risky endeavour 74

The inheritance of land and the law 77

Organising practices within an illegal land market 82

A famous land conflict in La Canoa 84

Conclusion: multiple force fields and the role of the law 88

5 The Lost Land I: The Priest and the Lawyer 91

Introduction: land conflicts and the 'idea of the state' 91

Predicament of the conflict and obscure enemies 93

Story-telling, maps and murders 97

Resuming the fight against the Pequenos in 1991 99

The struggle begins: licenciado Salazar 102

More dealings with Salazar and growing doubts 110

Shifting constellations and individual frustrations 112

Conclusion: the labyrinthine bureaucratic machine 115

6 The Lost Land II: The Surveyors 119

Introduction: the 'desiring machine' 119

The SRA surveyor Serrano arriving in the village 120

A new broker: the gatekeeper in Mexico City 124

The priest visiting the head of the SRA in Guadalajara 128

The second surveyor: Castaneda 132

Distrust, conspiracy and dealing with contradictory information 136

About maps and other 'hard data' 138

The third surveyor to arrive at the ejido: Morales 142

Conclusion: modern myths and the culture of the state 148

7 Inside the 'Hope-Generating Machine' 152

Introduction: the world of the officials 152

The interrelation between politics and the bureaucracy 153

Getting access to the bureaucratic lifeworld 155

Officials dealing with a politicised bureaucracy 158

A new institute and officials fighting corruption 161

Officials and ambiguous institutional environments 164

Conclusion: officials in a world of contradiction 172

8 Development Discourses and Participatory Approaches 176

Introduction: a top-down imposition of participation 176

Organisation and participation in the development debate 176

The IER programme in a new institutional environment 179

Intervention and rituals of resistance 184

The myth of the 'modern', 'accountable' organisation 189

Conclusion: deconstructing the myths in the development debate 191

9 Corruption, Order and the Idea of the State 194

Introduction: Power in multiple force fields 194

Fantasy and the culture of the state 196

The hope-generating machine and its dividing effects 198

Corruption and the underworld of rituals 200

The continuing importance of the idea of the state 206.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-220) and index.

ISBN:

0745319475

0745319467

OCLC:

51607489