3f ..

”fun
r'

"nan-r1, u.
m

Laiéié'i.

.‘o' ‘
.

‘u.
1'

n
‘35".— A

 

—I.w

' ‘J

J:

..... u:
H “.4
u
-«

53:32:“
r...
..

u’lh”~r}'

W aw -

”V 3"» ~
«u- un-

m
:2.

aw:

3.1;:
.‘r‘l
.n,.

v '3
- ‘ v I \
5:, -

.- .x

I.»
up.)
v. . t
3m££$§
. ‘ ...‘

‘3
.i—“Nv’ . .
' Jun 49%

'1
by:

NJ.
337W}; '
2H3 [Safe .523

fi.
. 1

gig;
3:3

4?»

List); ‘:
z 3;).
3%.“???

‘h
1
2-33.

3.5%

cu
m

, u
o

u

Mv
‘”?:N
v0”...
.- 'A
etw
“1.155
0'9 '
o
'G'I‘JV "
" w

1

”3?:-

o

w:

-g'£'~"-5",-;'A'..-.

mm.
”m—‘nm

M
m..." ..
1

Q J
423?}?

.
1 8 z'!

35s a

vw

i

«13% ‘B 32% '
A ii “ wax- ‘ 3"“
‘z‘ 232%".

‘ ; ‘2 ‘V v5 .
it}: if: a?
. ¢{' ‘r’\

3‘!“

§
._

1
a >2.
5'
33‘s.: '
‘ T do

a
3

_ ‘ a?
fiafigfi 'F

§,§
3:33,,
3:91,

32%: .

‘25};

1-352.

f..m“
3'
.u

 

1:" ‘ -
' find"
.‘wfiifimi

«

‘3.
Mk

I
5‘

A

TEL-5&8

l/lll/lll/lI/l/I ll/ll Will/ll

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

New Social Movements and Identity
In the Case of La Colonia Guerrero

presented by

Akemi Kamakura

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M.A. Anthropology

degree in

 

 

x0. M/vxC‘afiga

Maj rp fessor

Date Feb. 26, 1996

 

0-7639 MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

 

 

 

LIBRARY
Michlgan fitate
University

 

 

 

PLACE ll RETURN BOX to man thlo ohookout from your rooord.
TO AVOID FINES Mum on or baton dot. duo.

DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MSU Is An Afflrmotlvo WM Opportunity Inotltwon
WWI

NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND IDENTITY: IN THE CASE OF
LA COLONIA GUERRERO

BY

Akemi Kamakura

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ART

Department of Anthropology

1996

ABSTRACT

NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND IDENTITY:
IN THE CASE OF LA COLONIA GUERRERO

BY

Akemi Kamakura

In this thesis, new social movements (NSMs) theory will
be examined by using La Union de Vecinos de la Colonia
Guerrero (UVCG), a housing association in Mexico City, as a
case study. As feminist theory suggests, actors need to be
situated within larger economic, political, and social
contexts, thus, the background of Maxico, Mexico City, and
gender characterization in Mexican society are presented.
With. concrete understanding' of the ,poor' Mexican. women's
condition, their' perception change ascribed to the
participation in UVCG will be analyzed. I will apply an
identity paradigm which pays close attention to the process
by which actors of social movements build collective
identity. Women’s pursuit of practical interests and the
development of strategic gender interests will be elicited
through women's own analysis of their changing perceptions.
Based on the case study, I conclude with suggestions for the
future directions of NSMs theory with regard to both

identity and resource mobilization paradigms.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my committee members, Dr. Jacob Climo,
Dr. Ann Ferguson, Dr. Laurie Medina, and Dr. Scott
Whiteford. It was through their expert guidance that I was
able to complete this thesis.

My thanks are also due to the members of La Union de
Vecinos de la Colonia Guerrero. Their hospitality,
patience, and friendship are unforgettable.

Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to my
friends and parents for their precious suggestions and warm

support.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Problem . . . . . l
Approaches to New Social Movements in

Anthropology . . . . . . . . 4

New Social Movements Theory . . . . . . 7

The Focus of Study . . . . . . . . . 12

Research Design . . . . . . . . 13

Organization of the Thesis . . . . . . 19

II. LITERATURE REVIEW ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN

AMERICA AND MEXICO . . . . . . . . . 21
Origins of New Social Movements . . . 22
Rationale for the Emergence of New Social
Movements . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Actors . . . . . . . 25
Orientations and Characteristics . . . . 26
Level of Struggle . . . . . . . . . 30
Feminist theory . . . . . . . . . 33
III. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION IN MEXICO AND
MEXICO CITY . . . . . . . . . . . 36
North American Free Trade Agreement . . . 36
Mexican Economy . . . . . . 38
Quality of Life in Mexico City . . . . . 43
Women, Organizing. . . . . . . . . . 46
IV. LA UNION DE VECINOS DE LA COLONIA GUERRERO . . 50
Foundation . . . . . . . . . . 52
The Growth Period . . . . . . . . . 54
Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Organization . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Activities . . . . . . 61
Living Condition in the Shelters . . . . 65
Problems of UVCG . . . . . . . . . . 69
Interview with Carmen . . . . . . . . 70

iv

V. REBUILDING GENDER IDENTITY . . . . . . . 77

Practical Interests . . . . . . . . . 78
Strategic Interests . . . . . . . . . 84
Strategic Gender Interests . . . . . . 86
Interplaying Interests . . . . . . . . 90

VI. CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Further Studies . . . . . . . . . . 99

APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
"Esta marcha no es de fiesta! Es de lucha y de protesta!"
"This march isn't about a party! It is about struggle and
protest!“
THE PROBLEM

Thousands of Mexicans, old, young, females, fewer
males, with banners, occupied Reforma Street, one of the
busiest streets in downtown Mexico City on November 8, 1995.
It was a large-scale protest, demonstrating against the lack
of proper housing in the city. Hundreds of police with guns
surrounded the area to stop the protesters, including me,
for marching toward the Mexican White House.

These protests and marches in Latin American cities
have been quite visible for at least a few decades. Their
movements should not be dismissed as trivial, since they
often reflect large and complicated issues; at the same
time, they themselves contain important analytical elements.
Recently, theorists have paid more attention to the growing
urban social movements; this new social movements (NSMs)
theory is the theme of this thesis.

By the year 2000, more than half the population in this
world. will be living' in large cities of more than. one
million residents (Thorbek 1994:10). This is partly because
many cities have been experiencing rapid industrialization
and commercialization and thus, have been attracting myriads

of migrants in search of job opportunities. Poverty in the

rural area, stemming from "fragmentation of holdings,
environmental degradation and over cropping (Barai
1993 : 165) " , is another stimulus to rural /urban migration.

According to Daksha Barai (1993), 40 percent of population
growth in urban areas is accounted for by migration from
rural area. Coupled with a sharp decline in death rates,
populations of many cities have been mushrooming at the rate
of 5 percent per year, which results in a doubling of
population. every' fourteen. years (Gilbert 1985:15). The
attraction of cities has been evident for decades and it
will continue into the future as well.

The most striking point about the city, Manuel Castells
(1982:251) writes, is that it does not function without
state intervention in the sphere of "the production,
distribution, and management of the collective consumption
of goods and services." Examples given as collective
consumption are "housing, health, schools, transportation,"
potable water, garbage collection, and drainage. Moreover,
the rate of states' provision of these services is not
catching up with the extremely high speed of urbanization in
most of the large cities, especially large cities in
underdeveloped countries. Thus, people face housing
shortages, extremely dense populations, degradation of their
living environment, decreasing job opportunities, and
increasing gaps in income distribution. In fact in the
metropolitan area. of jMexico City, it is estimated that

577,000 housing units are urgently needed. This is the

equivalent of 44.6 percent of the existing housing stock
(Covington 1990:20). Thus, Castells came to the conclusion
that cities naturally "create a basis for social protest
movements (Thorbek 1994:200)." In the 19705 Mexico City saw
the springing up of low-income neighborhood organizations
and housing associations in response to the housing
shortages. These organizations are good examples of what
are now being called New Social Movements (NSMs).

This study is an attempt to examine the movements by
the poor, specifically one housing association, La Union de
Vecinos de la Colonia Guerrero (UVCG), in Mexico City in the
context of NSMs theory' as used. by Tilman Evers, Alain
Touraine, Doug McAdam, and others. As an anthropological
study, a micro—level approach will be taken. In other words,
people's own perspectives, in this case the perspectives of
the members of the housing association, play a crucial role
in the analysis. This approach should overcome the problem
that the macro-level approach tends to fall into; that is,
extreme generalization. In anthropology, generalization is
sought without neglecting the uniqueness of the individual
cases.

This investigation of the housing association will
address the following questions:

1) How do members define the objectives of their movements?
2) What are their expectations of these associations?
3) How were their perceptions of themselves affected by

participating in the movements?

The NSMs theorists, Arturo Escobar and Sonia Alvarez
(1992:319), urged "researchers to investigate the production
of meanings by movement participants and the role of these
meanings in identity construction and political practices."
The above questions fulfill the mandate of Escobar and
Alvarez. People's own perspectives about themselves as well
as my own analysis will be presented.

APPROACHES TO NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Early studies by anthropologists tended to focus on
rural remote areas of the world and they also tended to
treat these cultures as static. It was not until the late
19508 and early 19605 that the aspects of relatedness with
other societies and of change were paid attention. Some
anthropologists started to treat complex or urban societies
as their focus of study and began to tackle current issues
such as urbanization. Let us trace the transition of major
anthropological works in the area of urbanization and social
movement in order to see the contrast between earlier works
and the works of NSMs theorists.

Oscar Lewis is one of the precursors who conducted
anthropological research in the cities and in modern
settings. In his classic works ["Five Families (1959)" and
"The Children of Sanchez (1961)"], Lewis examined families
who lived in Mexico City. He formed the concept of the
"culture of poverty" which perceives poor families' lack of
political consciousness and aspiration as products of the

poor community itself. Lewis argues that the poor possess

distinct characteristics formed by the environment and that
these peculiar characteristics are passed down from
generation to generation.

Janice. Perlman, in her work "The Myth of Marginality
(1976)," strongly criticized Lewis's concept of the culture
of poverty. In her study of favelas (or slums) in Rio de
Janeiro, she found that the inhabitants were not distinct

from the richer population of Rio de Janeiro in degrees of

fatalism or pessimism. She excellently grasped squatters'
"complex: reality' (1)" without falling into stereo-typing
them. However, she did not perceive the dynamics of their

activities to the same degree as current NSMs theorists.
Hence, she did not conceptualize favela residents as actors
having the potential to change the system.

In the 1970's, anthropologists also became interested
in the migration of peasants to cities. William Mangin's
work, "Peasants in Cities (1970)," is one example. His work
was different from traditional anthropological work in its
analysis of peasants in urban settings and its delving into
the problems accompanying urbanization. He focused his
analysis on peasants' capacities to function in the urban
setting. He described Latin American squatters fighting
with the police, building their own houses on invaded land,
and so on. Although in his work he portrayed people's
initiatives, he interpreted them as adaptations, not
changes. The aspect of the people, conforming to the city,

was highlighted, but the aspect of the people, struggling to

break away from the standard and to change the status quo,
which NSMs theorists highlight, was not. Mangin writes that
squatters "seem to gain a confidence and strength from the
activity that enables them to become a functioning part of
the... society... (xxxiii)."

Eric ‘Wolf’s "Peasant. Wars of the Twentieth. Century
(1969:276)" is another example of £1 non-traditional
anthropological peasant study; it deals with a heightened
stage of social movement, i.e. revolution. Peasants were
not depicted as powerless, but their movements were analyzed
as if they were solely a by-product of history. Initiatives
from the people's side were not fully understood. For Wolf,
explaining revolutions in terms of "the retention of
'tradition' or the advent of 'modernity'" is too "abstract."
Instead, he advocates looking at solely "concrete historical
experience."

What differentiates Wolf’s View from the NSMs theory is
his View of states as molders of actors. Furthermore, he
views "class (xii)" as very important, which is another
criticism which NSMs theorists find inadequate for analysis
of current. movements. IFor example, as Touraine (1985)
points out in Marxist approaches, "actors...are submitted to
a logic of domination and are unable to be real actors."
Diane Davis (1994:377) also criticizes Marxist approaches
and argues that they have "relied heavily on analyses of

class relationships, political. parties and/or the state.

None has focused. on social mobilization alone to chart
fundamental political outcome."

The eighties saw a focus on "practice, praxis, action"
and "agent, actor, person (Ortner 1994:388)". This trend
reflected the complex relationships between the system and
the actors. People are not treated as passive anymore.
James Scott, in his work "Weapons of the Weak (1985)," for
example, attempts to elicit meanings in people's practices
and beliefs. The poor's subtle but active resistance was
clearly depicted. However, his analysis on the issue was
restricted to class struggle.

NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THEORY

Alan Knight (1992:81) writes that "[T]he contemporary
period...has witnessed the development of new social
movements that represent a significant departure from their
historical predecessors." NSMs theory treated people's
practices as a point of departure and argues that social
movements since the late sixties saw a new phase in terms of
the actors and the character of their movement.

Some scholars also perceive newness in their way of
approaching to social movements. Diane Davis (1994:375-376)
writes "[t]he underlying theoretical premise of ...[NSMs]
approach is that challenges to the state from social
movements are a principal driving force of political change
in modern society." Davis contends that NSMs theory takes a

people-centered approach in analyzing politics and gives

credit to people for their capability of organizing and
acting in order to take control of their own destiny.

Alain Touraine (1985) similarly welcomes NSMs theory
for its realistic treatment of movements. Touraine was not
satisfied with earlier analysis by structural Marxists, for
perceiving people as "prisoners of a system (767)." He did
not perceive people as totally dominated by the system and
unable to act. Rather, for him, social movements are
"defined as an agent of conflict for the social control of
the main cultural patterns (785)." What he focuses is that
culture or society is actively molded by people's practices
such as social movements.

Arturo Escobar (1992:171) is also comfortable with the
approach taken by NSMs theory. He writes "for the first
time, (postindustrial) society is the result of a complex
set of actions that society performs on itself." For him,
society is both the molder and the molded.

There are two distinct paradigms in NSMs theory: the
resource mobilization approach and the identity approach.
Those views that perceive newness in today's social
movements are primarily presented by the scholars oriented
to the identity approach. Some scholars using the resource
mobilization orientation even avoid using the term, new
social movements. They sometimes refer to the identity
approach as new social movement approach.

The resource mobilization approach, which is more

prevalent in the U.S., is influenced by Mancur Olson and

focuses heavily on the "strategic rationality of collective
action (Cohen 1985:677)." Its point of departure is
considerably different from that of the conventional one.
According to Bert Klandermans and Sidney Tarrow (1988: 4—7),
in the conventional study of social movements, the existence
of grievances in a society was considered to cause social
movements. However, in the resource mobilization approach,
"the availability of resources and opportunities for
collective action were considered more important than
grievances in triggering social movement formation."

Anthony Oberschall (1973:28-29), who takes the resource
mobilization. approach, explains that resources can. range

from "materials— jobs, income, savings, and the right to

material goods and services— to nonmaterial resources-
authority, moral commitment, trust, friendship...."
According to him, "resources are constantly being created,

consumed, transferred, assembled and reallocated, exchanged,
and even lost." He refers to these processes as "resource
management." His point is that people who make decisions
weigh. the jpositive and. negative outcome and. that it is
possible to predict their decision by the measure of
"rationality.”

Klandermans and Tarrow (1988:6-7) point to expectations
of success as an important unit of analysis in the resource
mobilization approach. Factors such as "political
opportunity structure..., the influence of sympathetic third

parties..., and influential allies available to challengers"

10

were discussed as leading factors to successful social
movements. Accordingly, this approach "began to move
resource mobilization theory closer to the analysis of
politics and political interaction."

An important point to note is that scholars who take
the resource mobilization approach, including Oberschall
(1973), perceive collective actions taken by states and by
the ordinary people as sharing the same nature: rationally
motivated collective actions attempting to maximize their
resources.

Criticizing the resource mobilization approach,

Touraine (1985:769) writes:

[t]he notion of resource mobilization has been used to
transform the study of social movements into a study of
strategies as if actors were defined by their goals and
not by the social relationships- and especially power
relationships— in which they are involved.

He "refuse[s] to separate cultural orientations from social
conflicts...and [he gives] a basic role to the notion of
social movements, defined as an agent of conflict for the
social control of the main cultural patterns (784)." In
other words, he sees fundamental differences between
collective actions taken by the states for the maintenance
of the status quo and collective actions taken by the
ordinary people who challenge the system.

Klandermans and Tarrow (1988:9) also point out that the
approach taken by the resource mobilization theory is

"neglecting the structural precondition of nmwements- that

11

is, for focusing too much on the ‘how’ of social movements
and not enough on the ‘why’..." Also, it "ignores the
social-psychological bases of social movements...and how new
resources emerge in the production of collective action."
Ton Salman (1990:111) points out ultimate weakness of

the resource mobilization approach. He states:

It proves rather difficult to compare the weight of

different resources: often, they are of such a
different nature (e.g. money, knowledge and police
forces 'versus commitment, social legitimacy’ and

numbers), that they cannot be weighed comparatively.

Another approach, the identity approach, differs
significantly from the resource mobilization approach. First
of all, it "seeks explanation for the rise of the social
movements of the past two decades in the appearance of new
grievances (Klandermans and Tarrow 1988:7)."_ This is why it
is sometimes referred to as new social movements approach.

The focus of the identity approach is on "the processes
by which social actors construct collective identities as a
means to create democratic spaces for more autonomous action
(Escobar and Alvarez 1992:317)." In a similar fashion, Jean
Cohen (1985:690) argues that the identity approaches "look
into the processes by which collective actors create the
identities and solidarities they defend." In addition, the
identity approach attempts "to assess the relations between
adversaries and. the stakes of their conflicts" and "to
analyze the structural and cultural developments that

contribute to such heightened reflexibity."

12

Klandermans and Tarrow (1988:7-9) list some of the key
elements in the identity approach: values, action forms,
constituency, new aspirations, and satisfaction of needs
endangered. According to them, participants of NSMs "seek a
new relationship to :nature, to one's own body, to the
opposite sex, to work, and to consumption," by
"unconventional forms of action." "Marginalized" strata of
people or people in the "new middle class" are participating
with new aspirations such as "post material values" and are
trying to struggle against "a loss of identity."

The identity approach is criticized for "not paying
enough attention to the 'how' of mobilization (Klandermans
and Tarrow 1988:9; Escobar and Alvarez 1992:317)." It does
not address the resources that enabled social movements to
be started, be maintained, and be expanded.

In this paper, I have chosen to focus on the identity
approach. This is because one of the purposes of this paper
is to show people's value changes and that people's
perceptions will be more explicit by taking the identity
approach. As I describe in greater detail in the following
chapter, however, even. among the scholars who are more
inclined to the identity approach, their understandings of
this approach vary considerably.

THE FOCUS OF STUDY

In my case study, the following questions are

addressed: how significant is UVCG for the participants?;

what is improved by the movement and how is it expressed in

13

household or individual strategy? Based on the identity
paradigm, one would expect to see people's expanding
capacity in identity building. Thus participants of the
movements may have non-conservative values in the area of
politics, gender, culture, society, and so on. By applying
the identity approach, my study will specifically focus on
the aspect of gender. Is the mother still the main figure
for child rearing? Do women still stay home and take care
of domestic chores? Motherhood, the relationship between
husband and wife, and women's obligations will be
highlighted. Feminist theory will be also applied to have
further understanding of the meaning of the movements.
Thus, the aspect of women's perception changes through
participation to NSMs and the aspect of gender is the focus
of this study. The case study is used to identify the
strengths and weaknesses of NSMs theory as well. I conclude
with suggestions for the future directions of the theory.
RESEARCH DESIGN

Mexico is one of the countries in which scholars have
used the NSMs approach. Many works have been done by
Mexican scholars but a "paucity of literature in English" is
pointed out by Escobar and Alvarez (1992:5). Mexico City is
one of the most populated cities of the world and its very
rapid urbanization is causing serious problems such as
environmental degradation and housing shortages.

Selection of the site and the population. I am a

student from Japan and my interest has always been on

14

development. I was specifically interested in bottom-up
type development, thus I made a contact with some Japanese
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which have development
projects in Latin America. After studying Spanish during my
undergraduate years, I traveled several Latin American
countries and I always had special interests in Mexico. One
NGO, S.J. House, sent me information on a Mexican NGO,
Centro Operacional de Vivienda y Poblamiento (COPEVI) or
Center for housing and population. This organization is
concerned with the issue of urban housing. It called them
and asked if they could help me to facilitate my study.
They generously accepted and told me about their connection

to one of the housing associations, La Union de Vecinos de

la Colonia Guerrero (UVCG) . UVCG turned out to be in the
midst of social movements, actively engaging in the
betterment of its living standard. Thus, I decided to use

it as my case study.

The location. La Colonia Guerrero, where UVCG began,

 

is located at the center of Mexico City. Its southern
margin starts from Hidalgo avenue, which runs just north of
Alameda Park, several blocks away from Mexico City's central
post office. This colonia is in the midst of a
bureaucratic, commercial, and service area. But for many
years, it has encompassed many low-income neighborhoods.

Field methods. In order to understand people's

 

perspective more fully, it was desirable to directly

experience their ways of life. Therefore, on arriving, I

15

visited three families whom I planned to stay with: two
couples with children and one single mother with children;
the children. helped. me at first by' walking around the
neighborhood with me. Colonia Guerrero is basically a
residential area, but on its baking-hot streets, I saw many
people with oil stains on their clothes fixing cars for a
living.

I needed some time to get to know people before I
started collecting data. At the first general meeting I
attended, the leader of UVCG introduced me to the members as
a student who came to learn about UVCG. Some people looked
at me curiously, and some showed no interest. After that, I
attended their meetings every Saturday night. Most of my
data was collected by participant observation and
interviewing.

Over a thousand people who live in apartments built by

UVCG are considered as members. However, they are not
active anymore except a few. Most of the active members
live in shelters. Therefore, I conducted my informal

structured interviews with the representatives of each
caseta in the shelter on Luz Street, where a little over two
hundred people live.

Many residents in the shelter expressed their affection
for their shelter and. caseta” After living there for
several years, the shelter becomes a precious part of their
lives; containing their memories of happiness, hardship,

sadness, and joy; In order to respect these people's

16

feelings, the terms "shelter" and "caseta" will be used
instead of "slum" and "hut" respectively. However, by using
these more neutral terms, we should not forget that these
are the places that carry injustice and many contradictions
of today's society. In fact, this is where social movements
partly stem from and these shelters and casetas are places
where members of housing associations such as UVCG
originate.

By the time I started interviews in Luz shelter, I was
living in this shelter, sharing a caseta with a family
consisting of a single mother with four little sons. Inside
of the fenced area of the Luz shelter, there are fifty two
casetas, built with metal sheets and wood. Each caseta is
rectangular shaped, about 4x8 meters and has a concrete
floor. Each row has about eight casetas connected, only
divided by thin wall made of metal sheets. One light bulb
is hanging from the ceiling, but it is dark inside, so
people open up one small metal sheet with a stick for
ventilation and light. Forty eight casetas are occupied as
living space and four as storage spaces. I walked around
the shelter with a portable tape recorder and visited people
from door to door. Some people were almost always occupied
with their daily activities, therefore the interviews
sometimes took place on the street where they sell their
prepared foods. Although I was introduced to shelter
inhabitants on my arrival, it took some time to get to know

people. Children were often helpful, inviting me to their

17

casetas. Inside of the shelter area, several children
followed me everywhere I went. They wanted to take a look
at my portable tape recorder and also wanted to listen to
it. They asked me many questions as well: where are you
from?; what is your mom's name?; how do you write your
name?; and do you have dogs in Japan? For most of the
children, I was the first foreigner to speak to, so they
were very curious. They had a great laugh out of my Spanish
with Japanese accent as well. They made me say a word such
as “albergue” since I have a difficulty in pronouncing “1”
and “r" and they burst into laughter. When I visited each
caseta with my tape recorder, parents talked with me more
freely when their children took me to their casetas.

The fact that I was living among them also helped
people to open their hearts to me. I directly experienced
how hot it gets inside of the casetas during daytime, its
coldness at night time, how inconvenient to have kitchens
and bathrooms outside of the casetas, how inconvenient to
face frequent water shortages, and so on. When people
described their experience of being in a shower, soap all
over their‘ body, and. the ‘water flow stops abruptly or
incidents of waking up in the middle of the night, debating
if they should go out to the bathroom despite of coldness or
endure till the morning, people knew that. IE fully
understood. I could share the laughter, pain,
inconvenience, and affection for the casetas sincerely with

the people. I became their friend and they became a part of

18

my life. We still send letters and their pictures are
hanging on the wall.

Another“ advantage of living’ there ‘was desalojo (or
eviction), which I will describe in detail later. When a
bell rings in the shelter to let people know about an
eviction, people rush to the site as soon as possible to
stop the eviction. Sometimes we came back, feeling good
about our deed of stopping it. Sometimes, we found all the
furniture scattered on the street and the entrance sealed,
which means we arrived too late. When this happens, there
is nothing people can do. These evictions always happen
abruptly, thus, it was a great advantage for me to live in
the shelter.

Most of the interviews were conducted in the presence
of many people, such as family members, neighbors,
children's friends. I conducted interviews in an informal
atmosphere and the participants freely carried on casual
conversation, so that sometimes I was there but not
gathering data at all. Thus my plan to interview all the
casetas took more time than I had expected.

Aside from the interviews with the representatives from
all forty eight casetas, I conducted more in-depth
interviews with three young mothers and three older mothers
in this shelter in order to examine the changes in their
gender perspectives through participation in UVCG. As an
Asian female living in U.S., I always had interests in

gender relations. In addition, eighty percent of the

19

members of UVCG were women, thus I had more opportunity to
talk with women. As a young female, I felt more
comfortable, interviewing women than men as well. I also
conducted interviews with the leader of the organization, a
member of the women's commission, members who already
obtained housing, and NGO members who are involved in UVCG.

Since neither Spanish nor English are my native
languages, I had. difficulty' in translating Spanish
conversation into English. English translation that I can
think of comes from my knowledge of textbook English. I am
not familiar with either English or Spanish colloquial
expressions. Therefore, my translation of shelter dwellers'
interviews may sound too tidy. However, I tried my best to
paraphrase their own words as original as possible since it
is important in anthropology that people’s own words are
presented in text.

In order to ensure anonymity, the names of all people
in the text are pseudonyms.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

Chapter II will examine the NSMs as characterized by
the NSMs theorists, representing the identity paradigm. I:
find my interpretation of movements' emergence, orientation,
and meaning in the literature. Feminist theory is presented
as well in order to better situate my case study of gender
relations. Chapter III gives background data about Mexico
and Mexico City in order to understand the situation of poor

Mexicans. Then in chapter IV, I narrow down the scope of

20

the investigation to the characteristics of housing
association, UVCG. This chapter examines the case study of
UVCG; its history, organization, composition of members,
activities, and. networking, along ‘with. a description of
their identity expansion. Chapter V will present examples
of people's changes in gender-related perception. By
employing feminist theory, this chapter will also consider
the strengths and weaknesses of the identity paradigm. 131
the final chapter, I conclude with the analysis of the
implications of my findings for NSMs theory. I consider a
change that enables NSMs theory to account for data from
more diverse regions, a theory which can account for the
future of social movements, and more coherent theory by

integrating two different paradigms.

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA AND
MEXICO.

As discussed in the previous chapter, there are two
quite distinct paradigms within NSMs theory: resource
mobilization and identity. Since the highlight of my study
is to understand changes expressed in people's identities, a
focus will be put on the latter, identity paradigm.

Definitions and interpretations of NSMs are still
evolving, but most scholars identify such movements as: base
communities of the Catholic church; women's movements; peace
movements; environmental. :movements; and. low-income
associations (Slater 1985:1; Evers 1985:43; Mainwaring and
Viola 1984:17).

In this chapter, NSMs will be analyzed from the
following points: origins, rationale, actors, orientation,
and levels of struggle. Contributions come mostly from
scholars who use the identity paradigm. Furthermore,
feminist theory will be presented in order to account for
the highlight of this thesis, gender relations. A
distinction will be made between women’s practical gender
interests or their immediate needs and strategic interests
by which they attempt to change the larger political

structure .

21

22

ORIGINS OF NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Willem Assies (1990:3) identifies the emergence of
"new" social movements with the successful capitalist co-
optation of working classes in the 19605. That was when the
notion of the "end of ideology" became widely accepted. But
contrary' to these: expectations, protest. movements became
progressively evident. However, these movements were hardly
taken seriously by nainstream authorities; they were
interpreted as trivial movements of peculiar groups of
people who happened to be less affected by the dominant
social values. Assies writes that these are the movements

that came to be interpreted as "new" social movements some

years later -- the NSMs. Alain Touraine (1985:749) similarly
contends that NSMs were not mainstream. He writes, "after
the sixties, social movements... were identified with the

counterculture, the search for 'alternative' forms of social
and cultural life."
RATIONALE FOR THE EMERGENCE OF NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The uniqueness of the identity paradigm is that it
recognizes the complex :nature of the rationale for the
emergence of NSMs. The tendency in the 1980s was to look at
actors' contribution rather than focusing on external
forces. Reflecting that, NSMs theorists such as Escobar and
Alvarez (1992:318) contend that "structural changes alone

cannot account for the rise of organizational and

23

ideological resources and the production of cultural
meanings that are critical to movement emergence and
development." In this vein, emphasis was put on people's
autonomy and spontaneity (Assies 1990:3).

On the other hand, as Assies (1990:3—4) argues:

The new celebration of the individual actor and his/her

emancipation/desalination has often led to an overtly

exclusive focus on the internal process of social
movements as well as to a neglect of their interactions
with the 'environment' and the changes they bring
about, even if these are less spectacular than a heroic
societal revolution.
Thus, scholars of the identity paradigm came back to look at
the "environment", but using notions of an interactive or
dialectic development of the movements.

Claus Offe (1985) understands the emergence of NSMs as
rational responses to modernization. Change in modes of
control and domination caused consolidation of power on the
side of existing political and economic institutions. This
resulted in power-holders' diminished capacity to moderate
or adjust to the pressures from the people. Therefore,
people's discontent became intense and triggered the
emergence of NSMs.

Chantal Mouffe (quoted in Slater 1985:2-3) argues in a
similar vein but more specifically that since World War II,
everything relating to human labor, (from products to

services), has become comrnodified. All aspects of social

reproduction have become subject to state intervention, and

24

every sphere of the world has come under the influence of

the mass media. This has led to such forms of people's
subordination as: "commodification", "bureaucratization",
and "cultural massification". Mouffe locates the emergence

of NSMs in people's counteraction to this hegemonic
domination by late capitalism.

In their study of Brazil and Argentina, Scott
Mainwaring and. Eduardo 'Viola (1984:32) discern the
foundation of NSMs, partly, in the dissolution of the
military regimes. They also recognize people's skepticism
toward the traditional left, and their lack of faith in
populist style politics.

Joe Foweraker and Ann Ciaig (1990:83) examined
specifically the Mexican case and argue that "In Europe,
NSMs mainly represent a response to post—industrial
contradictions, while in Latin America, the movements arise
in response to clearly material demands."

David Slater (1985:8) also recognized that in Latin
America, where the penetration of the state welfare system
is less significant, there exists slightly different
rationales. He calls attention to the states' centralization
of its decision-making power as one of the reasons why Latin
Americans expressed their dissatisfaction in the form of
NSMs. In addition, the states' provision of "collective

means of consumption" such as urban amenities, water,

J' L-
? 1;-

t-

I"

25

electricity, health, transport, housing, etc. are well below
adequate levels. Thus, Slater argues that people became
skeptical of the legitimacy and capability of states and

political parties.

ACTORS

How are the actors in these movements characterized
under the identity paradigm? First of all, theorists point
to the wide heterogeneity of the actors, and how
characterizing them is not an easy task. Many researchers,
however, do point to a non-class basis (Assies 1990:9; Cohen
1985:667). Ernesto Laclau (1985:32) saw the complexity of
defining the actors as emerging from "an ensemble of subject
positions (place of residence, institutional apparatuses,
various forms of cultural, racial and sexual
subordination)."

Offe (1985:832) also points out the difficulty of
placing actors within conventional dichotomies of the
political code such as left/right and liberal/ conservative,
or within socio—economic codes such as working class, middle
class, rural or urban populations, poor, wealthy, and so on.
He identifies "the new middle class," "elements of the old
middle class," and "people outside the labor market or in a
peripheral position...(such as unemployed workers, students,
housewives, retired persons, etc.)" as likely candidates.
Instead of class or ideology, he sees identity as the

binding factor of NSMs. Besides their various objectives,

26

actors of NSMs are struggling to construct collective
identity.
ORIENTATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

NSMs widely differ geographically and address diverse
objectives. Due to this heterogeneity, there are some
complications in discussing orientations and characteristics
of NSMs.

Differences can be seen between Western Europe and
Latin .America” Touraine (1985:774), drawing cases from
Western Europe, contends that NSMs theory deals less with
issues that Marxists would have focused heavily on. He

states that:

central conflicts deal less with labor and economic
problems than with cultural and especially ethical
problems, because the domination which is challenged
controls not only 'means of production' but the
production of symbolic goods, that is of information
and images, of culture itself.

Similarly, Cohen (1985:667) contends that NSMs "target
the social domain of ‘civil society rather than economy or
state, raising issues concerned with the democratization of
structures of everyday life and focusing on forms of
communication and collective identity."

On the other hand, Foweraker and Craig (1990:5-6)
caution those theorists who derive data from Western Europe.
By specifically examining the Mexican case, they contend
that in Latin America, "class and class struggle continue to
be far more important than many want to admit." They also

point to "material demands of Mexico's movements" and feel

27

that Western European movements with "post material demands"
are quite different in nature.

After geographical differences the issue narrows down
to specific types of movement. For example, Mainwaring and
Viola (1984:19—28), who focus on Brazil and Argentina, point
to NSMs' "affective concerns, expressive relations, group
orientation and horizontal organization". Even after
examining Latin American cases, they came to suggest that
NSMs are characterized by non-materialistic values.
According to them, therefore, housing associations should be

located within older style movements. They write:

A limited number of middle class associations have been
oriented towards developing a sense of neighborhood and
towards the affective dimensions of life, with little
concern about obtaining material goods from the state.
Associations whose primary purpose is to extract
resources from the state are close to the paradigmatic
old movements.

Tilman Evers (1985:50-51) questions their proposition
of separating housing association from NSMs. He suggests
that "even when the original motive [for organizing] was a
material necessity like securing legal recognition for the
plots of land occupied for housing," people's participation
results in building collective identity. This is the key
factor which emerges from NSMs and housing associations
share this characteristics.

Alberto Melucci (1980:219), supporting Evers' view,
also urges us to see the people's struggle as being "not

only for the reappropriation of the material structure of

28

production” but also for (collective control over socio-
economic development, i.e., for the reappropriation of time,
of space, and of relationships in the individual's daily
existence." He states that "personal identity- that is to
say, the possibility, on the biological, psychological, and
interpersonal levels, of being recognized as an individual-
is the property which is now being claimed and defended."

This focus on identity seems to solve theoretical
conflicts of both differences in locations and in types of
movements. In Latin America as well as in Western Europe,
in other words in both social movements with the element of
class struggle and non-class struggle, collective identity
can be built as a result of participation. A focus on
identity building is also applicable whether movements have
materialistic or non-materialistic values.

Along with many other scholars, Evers (1985:57-8)
especially focuses on the aspects of identity, democracy,
and autonomy in NSMs. For instance, he identifies the
novelty of NSMs in their "quest for an autonomous identity."
To search for identity, according to Evers, means to attempt
to recover one's sphere of control. Thus, he contrasts
identity with alienation and domination. Accordingly, "any
domination is a theft of identity." Moreover, he points out
that identity can not be simply given or passed down. One
has to struggle to obtain it or it has to be consciously
constructed "from below." He perceives this spreading of

the notion of identity specifically among the participants

29

of NSMs with their democratic modes of organization. He
concludes by saying, "identity cannot be found within
authoritarian structures." He ‘believes that under
authoritarian structures, people are deprived of the

identity, since they are not given the freedom to construct
it "from below."

Cohen (1985:694) also recognizes the significance of
identity in NSMs. However, his position differs somewhat
from Evers's. He argues that "asserting their identity" is
not the focus of NSMs, because he views that people already
possess identity that was given or more likely imposed.
Rather, the focus is on the involvement of "actors who have
become aware of their capacity to create identities and of
power relations involved in their social construction."

Offe (1985:849-50) argues differently, saying that
"values such as autonomy, identity, authenticity, but also
human rights, peace, and the desirability of balanced
physical environments" are nothing' neW' and largely
noncontroversial in the context of social movements. What
is salient is the "'contemporaneous' character of the
underlying values." His explanation is that there is no
value "change" involved, but rather, the issue is "the mode
of implementation of values, and the presupposed links
between the satisfaction of different values." He gives us

an example of the critique of modernization.

What we observe... is not a 'value change' [such as
antimodernization] but an. awareness of the

30

disaggregation and partial incompatibility within the

universe of nmdern values... This cognitive awareness

of clashes and contradictions within the modern set of
values may lead to a selective emphasis upon some of
these values..."

LEVEL OF STRUGGLE

Amongst NSMs scholars of the identity paradigm,
interpretation again varies on the issue of "level of
struggle".

Foweraker and Craig (1990:16) contend that "in both
Mexico and Europe equally the movements tend to be
characterized by the autonomy of political parties,
especially those of the left." They add that in the Mexican
case, movements seek institutional recognition in order to
achieve their end” i.e. material improvement, more
effectively, which is not the case in Europe. Thus they
contend. that in the case of Mexican. popular' movements,
"autonomy cannot...be constructed abstractly as
'separateness' from the political system and as the polar
opposite of jpolitical representation, but is in fact a
concrete condition of such representation." Accordingly,
"autonomy" carries a different nuance between Mexican and
European NSMs.

Another point Escobar and Alvarez (1992:4) make is that
social movements:

embody a transformative potential in at least two

dimensions: first, the widening of 'sociopolitical

citizenship,‘ linked to peoples' struggles for social
recognition of their existence and for political

31

spaces of expression, and...the transformation or

appropriation by the actors of the cultural field

through their search for a collective identity and the
affirmation of their difference and specificity.

Evers (1985:48-50) is one of the main figures who pays
close attention to the latter dimension of transformative
potential that Escobar and Alvarez discuss. He points out
that the analysis of social movements should not be
restricted to seemingly the political as primary. He,
instead, urges us to direct our attention to the socio—
cultural sphere. Ton Salman (1990:131), however, considers
Evers' analysis still within the political dimension. He
criticizes Evers's perception of politics and power and
points out that "Evers does not define his notion of the
political very well." Salman feels that Evers views power
only as possession of control over others, thus when he
mentions the political, he means politics happening at the
level of political party. Thus, when discussing the
dimension of power, such as people's capacity for
resistance, Evers does not perceive it as political, which
is confusing. For example, Evers (1985:48) states:

It is my impression that the 'new' element within the

new social movements consists precisely in creating
bits of social practice in which power is not central.

In this case, Evers means power at the level of political
party. He does not intend to devalue people's power of
resistance , which is clear from the rest of his argument;

"the innovatory capacity of these movements appears to

32

lie...in their ability to create and experiment with
different forms of social relations in everyday life." He
continues; "this process is taking place at a level far
below existing power structures."

What Evers (1985:50) contends is that he does not
expect to see in NSMs a political transformation in the
sphere of production, but rather he expects to see socio—
cultural change in the sphere of reproduction. Evers
therefore pays close attention to social expressions at the
level of everyday life. Millions of everyday practices are
unconsciously shaped by individuals' experiences, beliefs,
perception, and interests and most of the time they result
in reproducing the existing structure. Thus, Evers finds
"the everyday 'do it differently' of new social groupings"
meaningful. He locates significance of NSMs in their
"ability to create and experiment with different forms of
social relations in everyday life." This is the aspect
strongly focused by the identity paradigm.

Escobar (1992:70) also states that "culture is not
something that exists in the abstract; it is embedded in
practices, in the everyday life of people. Culture is [made
of] people's practices." The influence of the identity
paradigm is visible. He continues, "[w]hen people
'practice' their everyday lives, they are thus reproducing
or creating culture. We are all cultural producers in some
way and of some kind in our everyday life." From his

perspective, NSMs have to be viewed as "cultural struggles

33

over the production of meaning and as collective forms of
cultural production (320)." Discussions on such topic as
"survival struggles" or "struggles over 'basic needs'" do
not satisfy him.

In sum" Mexican and.‘Western European NSMs are not
totally identical in terms of their origin, rationale and
orientation. However, according to the identity paradigm,
they seem to share similar aspects in active identity
building. The same can be said for the differences in types
of movement; their significance lies in participants,
becoming aware of their own capacity in the identity
building.

FEMINIST THEORY

In my case study, I will present La Union de Vecinos de
la Colonia Guerrero (UVCG), a housing association in Mexico
City. Because of the nature of the organization, their
primary objective is aimed at satisfying their material
needs. By applying both identity paradigm and feminist
theory, however, I will attempt to analyze the objectives of
these female participants from a different angle.

Feminists argue that it is important to understand the
complex nature of gender relations. Maxine Molyneux
(1985:232), for example, contends that the interests of
women should not be considered homogenous, because “women
are positioned within their societies through a variety of
different means- among them, class, ethnicity, and gender-

the interests they have as a group are similarly shaped in

34

complex and sometimes conflicting ways." As third world
feminists in the U.S. point out, being a white woman and
being a woman of color, for example, are quite different
life situations. Thus in this case, middle—class or
professional white women's objectives of achieving
exclusively gender equality do not accommodate the needs of
the women of color to fight against racial discrimination.
In Latin America, feminist “discussions of gender
differences and differences among women are situated within
larger economic and political contexts (Gallin and Ferguson

1993:5)." To be a poor Mexican woman encompasses multiple

hardships caused by international, class, and gender
relations.
What, then, are women’s common gender interests?

Molyneux classifies them into two categories: practical
gender interests and strategic gender interests.

According to her, practical gender interests “are
usually a response to an immediate perceived need" and are
inductively formulated by female participants themselves.
More specificallyy Molyneux: suggests that “by ‘virtue of
their place within the sexual division of labour as those
primarily responsible for their household's daily welfare,
women have a special interest in domestic provision and
public welfare.” Precisely, in the case of UVCG, it is
mostly women who organized to tackle the issue of housing;

women constitute eighty percent of the members of UVCG.

35

Strategic gender interests, on the other hand, are much
more far reaching. They are “derived...from the analysis of
women's subordination and from the formulation of an
alternative, more satisfactory set of arrangements to those
which exist." Thus expected outcome by the movements with
strategic gender interests are such as “the abolition of the
sexual division of labor,... the removal of
institutionalized forms of discrimination, [and] the
attainment of political equality.”

How about the case of UVCG? What are UVCG members'
practical and strategic interests? Are they pursuing both
strategic interests as well as practical ones? How do these
two interests interplay? Before going into the detailed
case study, I will shift my focus, at first, to give some
background as to how the poor Mexican women participating in
Mexican housing associations live. As discussed above,
situating actors in larger socio-economic context and
understanding specific geographical information are
essential” Thus in (Chapter‘ III, Mexican socio—economic
conditions are examined with focus on structural adjustment,
debt crisis, and urbanization. Socially-defined women’s
subordinated position will be described as well. The
following chapter IV will lay out the background of the

housing association, UVCG.

CHAPTER III
THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION IN MEXICO AND MEXICO CITY

In this chapter, I will discuss the context from
which the Mexican new social movements arose. Mexico's
economic situation, industrialization and urbanization
are examined. with. special consideration given to the
influence of the lives of poor people, i.e. actors in the
social movements. Furthermore, social characteristics
derived from hierarchical gender division in Mexico will
be explored as well.
NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

On January 1, 1994, the Mexican government
implemented North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
It is ironic that on that very day, the organized
peasants in Chiapas, the Zapatista Army of National
Liberation, rose up against the central authority of the
Mexican government. Samuel Ruiz, the Catholic Bishop of
San Cristobal, replied to the question whether NAFTA had
a role in the uprising, "The question has many nuances.
Did this happen because of NAFTA? No. But did NAFTA
influence it? Yes (quoted in Nairn 1994:6)."

Many scholars had predicted that NAFTA would not
lead to improvement of poor Mexicans' lives. Teresa
Rendon and Carlos Salas (1993:110-118) contend that

"NAFTA is a new instrument to benefit a few, while

36

37

deepening’ poverty' and inequality' in. most of Mexico."
They point to employment level as one of the reasons. A
growth. of employment level in commercial and service
activities may be expected, however, "the net effect of

NAFTA on the employment level in Mexico will be nil due

to jobs eliminated in small and medium—sized
enterprises." Wayne Cornelius (1995), a director of
center for U.S.- Mexican Studies at University of

California, San Diego, reports "hundreds of thousands of
jobs lost" in Mexico since the implementation of NAFTA.
He and. his colleagues, in fact, conducted interviews
among Mexican farmers one year after the implementation
and found out that "two-thirds felt they had been
personally harmed by the trade agreement in some way."
Julie Erfani (1995:179) points to the Mexican
government's reduced ability to interfere in the sphere
of "wages, working conditions, welfare, and lives" and
contends that NAFTA will result in worsening of Mexicans'
standard of living. She states that:
the Mexican state is still endowed with extensive
legal authority over most people's lives but minimal
ability to improve most people's lives. In fact,
the state's constitutional authority to intervene in
the economy, to regulate commerce, and to arbitrate
property rights is now substantially circumscribed

and subject to dispute from private investors across
the continent.

38

Tim Koechlin (1995:25—27), an instructor of
economics at Skidmore College, examined the impact of
NAFTA on Mexican workers and peasants. He states that
"higher interest rates, dramatic cuts in government

spending and a weak currency mean fewer jobs, lower wages

and more poverty." Thus, he came to the conclusion that
NAFTA is "a disaster for workers . " He feels that the
"Mexican economy is a world-class mess . " But how did

Mexico's economy reach this condition?
MEXICAN ECONOMY

Mexico saw significant economic growth after World
War II partly because of booming investment from foreign
countries, especially from the U.S. As a result,
Mexico's industrialization became prominent among Latin
American countries.

The Mexican government attempted to promote import—
substitution industrialization, i.e., replacing imported
products with domestically made products. In order for
that to succeed, protection of domestic industry was
needed. Therefore the government devalued the peso and
exempted tax for the private sector. This "import-
substitution industrialization. . . facilitated capital
accumulation and increased income inequality (Covington

1990:4)."

39

The end of economic boom and the rise of crises in

 

the 19808.

 

The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the
ruling party of Mexico for decades, successfully elected
Lopez Portillo as president of Mexico from 1976 to 1982.
.According tx) Sally' Covington (1990:4), the PRI's
strategic social control has been functioning since the
1930's. She argues that the PRI has been solidifying its
"corporate political structure based on the vertical
integration of workers, peasants and the popular sector."

Economic recession was weakening the Mexican economy
by the time Portillo was inaugurated and Mexico was
accumulating its foreign debt significantly. Portillo,
attempting to stimulate the Mexican economy, poured
investment into the modern sectors. His strategy was
made possible by obtaining more loans from abroad. He
assured the world Mexico's capacity to pay back its debt
hw' pointing' to its oil reserves (Escobar and. Alvarez
1992:240).

At the same time, expenditures on social welfare
were cut sharply under the Portillo administration. As
far as housing is concerned, rent control was abolished
and state housing construction was diminished.
Furthermore, squatters were evicted repeatedly during

this period (Covington 1990:5).

40

By the end of Portillo's term, economic problems in
Mexico were quite serious. Oil prices, on which Portillo
relied, were falling and investment was diminishing.
Capital flight became even greater and inflation was
skyrocketing (Davis 1994:384). Portillo's strategy
obviously failed and finally he had to announce in 1982
that Mexico would suspend some of its debt repayment,
which shook the world banking system.

De la Madrid took over the presidency in the same
year and adopted IMF's austerity program in order to
receive financial support. As a result, government
spending was cut even more significantly. For instance,
the government reduced more than 80 percent of its food
subsidies from 1984 to 1986 (Covington 1990). The
government spending on education and health was reduced

by’ 29.6 jpercent and. 23.3 jpercent respectively' in. the

period between 1982 and 1988 (Tanski 1993:85). According
to Janet Tanski, "total per capita social spending fell
by 40 . 2 percent . " Also, the Mexican peso was devalued

for the purpose of protecting domestic industry.

These government policies hit the poorest strata of

Mexicans the most. According to Vivienne Bennett
(1992:243), "inflation surged from 28 percent in 1981 to
101.9 percent in 1983, 132 percent in 1987." Covington

(1990:6) points to "a 100 percent increase in the price

41

of bread and tortillas, a 60 percent increase in the
price of gasoline and a 30 percent increase in the price
of natural gas and electricity."

The condition of poor Mexicans.

 

Mexico's economic growth did not result in the
betterment of economic conditions for all Mexicans. What
is more, the economy became worse and the poor people's
quality of life diminished. even. more. For example,
impoverished Mexicans in the rural area have been pouring
into the urban area in search of jobs. The urban/ rural
population ratio of Mexico was approximately 1:1 in 1960
but rose to 7:3 in 1984 (Cubitt 1988:138).

Mexican capitalists and. government have aimed at
promoting capital-intensive industry. This type of
industry does not create many jobs. Despite rapid
industrialization, job availability did not increase
significantly. According tn: Covington. (1990:20), 37.9
percent of Mexican employees were working in the
industrial sector in 1960, but that percentage decreased
to 28.8 percent in 1979. Tanski (1993:84) compared the
data of 1982 and 1992 and found out that "the industrial
sector as a whole employs fewer people in 1992 than it
did in 1982."

A high unemployment rate would be expected, but the
figures are not that high. According to Tessa Cubitt

(1988:149), unemployment was 7.3 percent in 1975, 4.5

42

percent in 1980, and. 6.9 percent in 1983. Castells
(1982:253) explains this contradiction by arguing that
being constantly unemployed in underdeveloped nations is
almost impossible. "This is so," he explains, "because,
strictly speaking, unemployment, namely the absence of a
regularly paid labour activity, is a privilege of
advanced capitalist countries, as also of a tiny labour
aristocracy' in. developing countries, strong enough to
obtain unemployment insurance." In the case of Mexico,
unemployment insurance simply' does not exist. Thus,
Mexicans must have some income generating strategies.
However, many of them can not obtain sufficient income to
support themselves. These strata of people are not
considered as unemployed but as underemployed. In 1980,
underemployment in Mexico was estimated at a startling
40.4 percent' of the population (Cubitt 1988:150).
Accordingly, people who lacked sufficient resources to
meet basic needs in 1990 are estimated to represent 49.2
percent of the population (Tanski 1993:83). A report on
October 15, 1991 by the Mexican government's National
Nutrition Commission and the National Solidarity Program
revealed that nearly half the Mexican population failed
to meet basic nutritional requirements.

The wealth remained in the hands of a few; in 1986,
the poorest 20 percent of Mexicans were sharing only 4
percent of the wealth (Navarrete 1994:28). Tanski

(1993:84) points to the falling of real wages, which, in

43

August of 1992, were only 34.6 percent of what they were
in 1980. Only 15 percent of the economically active
population was earning more than the minimum wage (Carr
and Montoya 1980:3). The minimum wage in Mexico City in
1979 was equivalent of 170 US dollars a month (Gilbert
and Ward 1989:56). After the drastic peso devaluation by
the new president, Ernesto Zedillo, the minimum wage
presently in 1995 is approximately 100 US dollars, a fall
of 41.2 percent since 1979.

QUALITY OF LIFE IN MEXICO CITY

The domination of Mexico City in the country.

 

The import-substitution industrialization that
Mexican government promoted after World War II required
two key elements for its success: protectionism and
centralization. The dominance of Mexico City in the
country is quite eminent and as David Cymet (1992:20)
explains, centralization was needed "as a means of
achieving the domestic and labor market necessary for
indigenous industrialization."

Gilbert and Ward (1989:54) feel that Mexico City's
dominant position in the country was already established
by the 1940s. According to them, 32 percent of the total
industrial product and 30.6 per cent of the gross
internal product were generated in Mexico City in the
1940's. The contribution of Mexico City to the gross

internal product in 1970 was 37.4 percent. "Mexico City

”,1

N

‘P

has been the foremost center of financial, commercial and
political decision making."

The domination of Mexico City was established by
designed centralization. To accelerate the process, the
government laid the foundation for Mexico City: providing
large amount of public expenditures such as food and fuel
subsidies, road construction designed to connect Mexico
City with other major cities, and concentration of
government decision making agencies (Cymet 1992).

Another aspect of centralization is shown by the 41
percent of higher educational institutions and 44 percent
of specialist hospital institutions that are congregated
in Mexico City (Gilbert and Ward 1989:54-56). Gilbert
and Ward also point out that the Federal District
provides Ibetter' school facilities, and. thus, "children
are not only nmre likely to attend school, but also to
graduate."

Urbanization.

 

Because of all the "pull" effect, urbanization of
Mexico City was dramatic. In 1940 Metropolitan area
Mexico City (MAMC), the urban area was only 4.8 percent
and rural area 95.2 percent of the country. In 1975, the
urban area consisted of 32.5 percent or 6.7 times more
than that of 1940 (Cymet 1992:80).

Population growth was significant as well. Many
factors contributed to this. First, the lowering of the

death rate, along with only a slight change of birth rate

45

can be listed. In Mexico City, the birth rate per 1000
from 1910 to 1921 was 45.0 and from 1970 to 1980 it was
37.0. On the other hand, the death rate during the
former' period.*was 28.0 percent and. the latter jperiod
dropped to 7.3 percent (Cymet 1992:17). Another reason
is of course migration. Migrants made up 73.5 percent of
the population in MAMC in 1940 and 64.5 percent in 1950.
Migration is decreasing, but in 1990, the percentage was
still 31.1 percent (Cymet 36). Hence, the population of
Mexico City in 1950 was 3.1 million; which leaped to 13.3
million in 1978 (Gilbert and. Ward 1989:54). Today,
Mexico City, with 18 million inhabitants, is probably the
most populated city in the world (Gilbert and Ward
1989:139).

Dramatic urbanization naturally lowered the qmality
of life in Mexico City. First, it is well-known that the
air pollution situation is very grave. Gilbert and Ward

(1989:57) explain that:

Located in an upland basin, the city suffers from
frequent temperature inversions which prevent the
dispersal of pollutants. As a result, smog has
reduced daily visibility from an average of 15
kilometers in 1967 to between 4 and 6 kilometers

today.
Transport is another problem. Traffic jams in the
city' are constant and. very ‘heavyu Pointing out its

economic cost, Gilbert and Ward write that "[o]n balance,
it seems that public transport costs people more in the

way of time than money."

46

Also, housing in Mexico City is extremely poor
compared. to other‘ parts of Mexico. In IMAMC, it is
estimated. that 577,000 ‘units are 'urgently' needed
(Covington 1990:20). Also, statistically, people had less
space in a house. In Mexico City, there were 4.9 people
per household in 1950 and that increased to 6.2 people
per household in 1980. Furthermore, it is estimated that
40 percent of the population in Mexico City live in one
room. homes (Covington. 20). IFor 1980, Cymet (1992:2)
believes that 65 percent of Mexico City inhabitants lived
in colonia populares.

In addition, there ‘was a strong earthquake near
Mexico City in September, 1985. Many buildings fell and
streets were filled with people who lost places to live.
The government exhibited its incapability to manage the
situation; its slow and inflexible response caused great
suffering for the people and people's criticism toward
the government became intense.

WOMEN, ORGANIZING

Especially during the last two decades, more women
than. men. have Ibecome 'visible in the scope of social
movements in Mexico. Women's mobilization around the
issue of housing is significant. Some scholars reason
that women are at home more than men and they feel a more
keen need for housing.

Traditionally in Mexico, the concept of family

carries a very important value. Cubitt (1988:101)

47

considers the family as "a key institution in society"
and believes that is because of strong church support.
Elizabeth Jelin (1990:2) believes that family
"constitutes the base of the whole system of social
relations." Low-income populations especially resort to
family members in times of hardships (Cubitt 1988:101—
103).

In Mexico, under the system of fictive co-
godparenthood (compadrazgo), people’s social obligations
are sometimes extended beyond blood-tie relatives. Thus,
members of fictive kinship are included within the notion
of family.

Within the family, the division of labour between
sexes is marked. Women are responsible for the domestic
sphere, and men for the public sphere. The relation
between the genders is hierarchical, which is associated
with the concepts of machismo and marianismo.

Machismo is an expression of man, exhibiting his
manliness. Males are supposed to attest their superiority
over females and to compete with each other. Cubitt
(1988:103) explains that "to fulfill macho behaviour
patterns, a man must show no fear, demonstrate sexual
prowess, father many children and exercise tight control
over female kin."

Marianismo, on the other hand, is the subordinated
role played by females. Women have the obligation of

taking care of their husbands and children and motherhood

48

is especially idealized. "The ideal woman is gentle,
kind, long—suffering, loving and submits to the demands
of men, whether they be husbands, fathers, sons or
brothers (Cubitt 104)."

Hence, in order to understand the situation of poor
Mexican women in Mexico City, one needs to look at
multiple levels of hardship. Firstly, to be a Mexican
means to be a citizen of a Third World country. I have
discussed in this chapter that as a peripheral country
within the world capitalist system, Mexico is entangled
with economic predicaments such as debt crisis and NAFTA.
Secondly, citizens of Mexico City suffer from extreme
lack of proper housing, an overly dense population, and a
worsening of the environment. Thirdly, for the poor, a
cut in the government's social spending and high
underemployment will pose another burden. Finally, women
are entangled in a gender hierarchy; they have to play a
subordinate role.

La Union de Vecinos de la Colonia Guerrero (UVCG) is
one of many housing associations organized almost
entirely by women. They address the issue of housing in
Mexico City, which is a prevalent topic in the context of
many Latin American social movements. The fact that UVCG
is concerned about housing and its nineteen years of
organization became the keys for selecting UVCG as my
case study. The following chapter will discuss La Union

de Vecinos de la Colonia Guerrero specifically. Its

49

history, activities, and members' living condition will

be described in detail.

CHAPTER IV
LA UNION DE VECINOS DE LA COLONIA GUERRERO

Mexico City is "home" of more than 18 million people
today (Gilbert and Ward 1989:139). However, for the
majority of the poor, the type of "home" is quite different
from what we think of. Until the 1940's, rented houses were
the only alternative for the working class population in
Mexico City (Gilbert 1985:15). These rented low-income
housing is called vecindad. This traditional form of
renting rooms around courtyards can be traced back to
colonial times (Cymet 1992:40). Many of these vecindades
were overcrowded, ill-equipped, and unsanitary and they
exist even today.

In 1942, rent of $300 MP or below was frozen due to
World War IIi. As a result, the profitability for the owners
of these low-income housing declined (Cymet 1992:41). In
addition, due to rapid commercialization and business
expansion, land prices went up sharply, especially at the
city center. Inevitably, new investment for low-income
housing dropped. Furthermore, this happened at the time
when the population of Mexico City was increasing rapidly.
Compared to 630,000 residents in 1910, the number of the
residents in 1940 almost tripled to 1.8 million (Gilbert
1985:14). This resulted in an extremely low supply of low—
income housing. Colonia Guerrero, where I studied, used to
have many vecindades and still encompasses many survivals

from old vecindades. The condition of existing vecindades

50

51

deteriorated year after year because of minimal maintenance
efforts by landlords. Most of the buildings are made of
sun-dried brick called adobe and are quite susceptible to
humidity. Once water is absorbed, adobe falls to pieces
easily. Thus, many vecindades collapsed during rainy
seasons and many residents were killed or injured.

Furthermore, tenants always faced the fear of eviction.
Landlords attempted to evict them from vecindades so as to
utilize their property for more profitable means, such as
luxury housing or offices. For ordinary people, however,
moving out and finding new places to live for a reasonable
price was very difficult due to extreme shortages of
housings. First of all, renting a small apartment in Mexico
City these days costs about twice the minimum monthly
salary. Secondly, people naturally are not willing to move
out of the area where they were brought up and where many of
their relatives are. In addition, they will face
transportation problem if they move to the peripheral areas.
Thus, they have had no choice but to live with fear of
eviction and collapse in cracked vecindades with windows
without glass.

Tenants endured but they did not just passively accept
their dreadful conditions. Their awareness grew by the
1970’s. Low—income housing associations were booming in

Mexico City. Colonia Guerrero was part of this movement.

52

FOUNDATION

Conditions became so unbearable that tenants of
vecindades started. to (organize to stand. against illegal
evictions in the mid-19705. Tenants on Chetumal Street were
one of the examples. They organized themselves and
attempted to avoid eviction. In addition, they appealed to
the authorities that the vecindad should not be left without
maintenance. They also demanded that the government should
plan to construct houses for poor people rather than to
convert the land inside of Colonia Guerrero into offices.
The authorities promised that they would build houses with
the social interests of the neighborhood in mind but never
made an effort to carry out the promise. Tenants
frustrations increased. They had the sense that something
was wrong but their articulation of the problem was not well
defined at this stage.

Some other organized tenants did what they could do as
well, but their efforts were put separately into each
vecindad, and. thus did. not create strong enough. power.
People started to realize that they had no knowledge of
their rights, and also that it was impossible to expect
generosity or good will from the authorities and landlords.
They started to be convinced that landlords were too greedy
to invest money into maintenance of vecindades and that the
authorities were not going to force landlords to fix their

vecindades.

53

The union of these separate organizations was triggered
on October 11, 1976, by the collapse of one vecindad. This
happened on 68 Mar Street, where UVCG now has an office and
a storage space. Although there was no human cost by this
collapse, people’s frustration was at its height.

A few days later, people of the neighborhood who were
affected by the collapse in the past or were in danger of
collapse in the future gathered at the church nearby,
Iglesia de Santa Maria, and autonomously formed La Union de
Vecinos de la Colonia Guerrero (UVCG), which aimed to attain
a safer and more just life. This was the beginning of UVCG.
It started as a group of people who fought against eviction
and. who cooperated. in the incidence of collapse. Old
members told me that they used to run and hide when they saw
landlords but the first thing they learned from UVCG was not
to be afraid of landlords. In other words, UVCG taught them
to defend their rights as tenants. By belonging to the
organization, people’s awareness was broadening.

Little by little, members of UVCG fixed houses on 68
Mar Street, etc., by picking up pieces and putting walls and
roofs back. Their rented rooms or apartments in vecindades
were getting old, therefore, the objectives of UVCG also
expanded to put their effort in reconstructing these falling
vecindades. People organized themselves to help reinforce
walls in danger of falling apart. At that time, there was
no possibility for them to obtain their own housing. But

they started to take the initiative to defend their lives

54

and their places to live. They were clearly aware of the
power of organized people.
THE GROWTH PERIOD

The devaluation of the peso in November, 1976, affected
members of UVCG significantly. The prices of primary
necessities went up and rent increases happened as well.
There were many cases where landlords forced tenants to sign
papers for increasing rent. The tenants, of course, did so,
otherwise, they would face immediate eviction; with
landlords demanding the immediate termination of the
contract, (if indeed there was one.) Landlords continued
giving receipts for the older lower rents (or no receipt at
all) so as to avoid being accused of illegal rent increase
by the government.

Injustice like this continued and the influence of UVCG

became stronger. Although UVCG did not always succeed in
achieving its demands, people’s participation grew
significantly. Though participation, people realized the

advantages of organizing themselves with others who faced
similar problems. At the same time, they came to realize
that the laws are not made to support nor protect tenants.
Thus, they came to reject the legitimacy of authority.

The 1980’s still saw many evictions, collapses, etc.
UVCG sought to work on its networking and joined Asamblea
Nacional de .Movimiento urbana Popular or the National
Coordination Council of Popular Urban Movements (ANAMUP) .

According to Covington (1990:2-9), Coordinadora Nacional de

55

.Mbvimientoi Urbana Popular' (CONAMUP), which. became .ANAMUP
later, was formed in 1981 with the intention of creating a
horizontal integration of locally—based organizations.
Covington analyzes how CONAMUP “has sought to unite local
struggles in order to strengthen its challenge to state
urban development policies and forge ties with independent
labor and peasant organizations in order to build a social
base for fundamental structural change.” Prieto (1986:81)
also analyzes ANAMUP and concludes that it has shifted the
level of struggle from that of production to reproduction,
which succeeded in attracting “a wide range of actors in
support of the revolutionary movement."

On the topic of networking, it has to be noted that
UVCG has consciously attempted to reject help from
political, religious, and professional groups. At the
general assembly, people voted “no" for receiving financial
help from Fathers of Santa Maria church and also for
receiving technical help from Centro Operacional de Vivienda
y Poblamiento (COPEVI), a group of architects. The reason
behind it was that people believed the movements had to be
carried out exclusively by the tenants themselves.

In 1985, Mexico City experienced a strong earthquake
which destroyed many buildings. Streets were filled with
people who lost their houses. UVCG made a kitchen and
provided meals for earthquake victims. Many members came to
help run this kitchen. People gained a feeling of self-

worth by helping others. As an organization, the experience

bl

56

was helpful as well, since it successfully played the part
which the government should have played. Success,
continuing proof of government incapacity, and the feeling
of antipathy against the government, all have led to greater
sense of empowerment among people in Colonia Guerrero.

After the earthquake, UVCG negotiated with the
government to provide shelters for homeless people. Despite
the government’s rejection, UVCG now has several shelters.
The shelter on Blanca Street, for example, is on a space
between roads. UVCG had no legal right to build a shelter
there, however, people desperately needed places to live.

Thus, they illegally occupied the land and built the

shelter. The government tried to shut it down, but people
resisted strongly since they had nowhere else to go. It
still remains as a shelter. This is another clear

demonstration of people’s rejection of government authority.

The idea of remaining inside Colonia Guerrero is rooted
deeply in members of UVCG. A leader of UVCG told me that
the government has plans to transfer inhabitants of shelters
to the peripheral areas. She added, “People can not be
simply transplanted as if we were plants!"

After the earthquake in 1985, UVCG also started to
build some apartment buildings with donations from fOreign
organizations such as Red Cross and the loans from the
government and banks. Negotiation with the government and
banks for loans have been consistently carried out. More

than fifteen apartment buildings were completed and housed

57

over three Ihundred. families. Currently; they' are
constructing a large apartment called Sol, which will house
152 families. Its construction is in the last stage and
people had to pay deposit of 5500 pesos (approximately
US$915) by June 1995. More than half the people were able
to pay only partially and some were not able to pay at all.
Some people resigned their right to move in because of their
economic incapacity. Once people move in, they will be
paying monthly rent of 600 pesos (US$100) for twenty-five
years as their repayment. Economically, it is tough, but
mentally it is a relief, because they do not have to worry
about rent increase or eviction anymore.
MEMBERS

There are just a little more than three hundred members
currently in 1995. About 80 percent of them are women. As
I discuss more detail in the following chapter, women’s
participation is supported by husbands cooperation in many
cases.

Members economic conditions vary. Some earn 20 pesos
a day (which will come to minimum salary of 500 pesos), some
are unemployed and currently looking for a job, and some
earn as much as 3500 pesos per month. This demonstrates
that among the poor, some are even poorer. Variation within
social classes can be seen.
ORGANIZATION

Rosa has been the leader since 1988. She was elected

at the general assembly after participating in UVCG for six

58

years. She told me that she was scared of the
responsibility and that she was nervous to speak in front of
the microphone at first. But she learned little by little
through experience.

There are ten council members (six women and four men)
but some of them are not currently working. They have a
meeting every Wednesday and discuss what the subjects for
general assembly will be and whether there are some issues
that need to be protested, etc.

UVCG is very democratic. Councils come up with
proposals or suggestions at the Wednesday meeting, but
everything has to be voted on at the general assembly on
Saturday nights. The leader is just like another member.
Her opinion will not be approved unless people vote yes at
the general assembly.

For instance, the current leader, Rosa, used to have a
job in a factory, but she quit it in order to devote her
time to UVCG's work. In addition, her husband was
temporarily unemployed and she was in a very bad economic
condition. She was assigned. the right to move into an
apartment that UVCG would start building soon. However, she
did not have enough money to pay the deposit, like some
other members. At general assembly, people voted that if
they did not pay the deposit, they would lose their right to
move in. Therefore, Rosa, just like other members who could
not pay, lost her right and continues to live iriaa caseta

built of wood, metal pieces, and plastic sheets.

IE

Du

59

Commissions which are currently active are Comision de
Mujeres (women's commission) and Comision de Juridica
(juridical commission). The women's commission has seven
members. They organize event on Mother’s Day and sometimes
give toys to childreni They also negotiated ‘with DIF
(Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la
Familia), a government agency which is in charge of family
integration and development, for rations of breakfast and
basic foods for two years and succeeded in obtaining cheap
rations since 1989.

Members with children under the age of twelve or
seniors who are more than fifty-five are eligible for
receiving breakfast. Pregnant women are also eligible and
when they deliver a baby, their babies start to receive it.
People have to bring" birth certificates to prove their
eligibility. Each child or senior receives six bags of
breakfast per week. One bag contains one box of milk
(250ml) and a cookie and it costs 0.2 pesos. People usually
organize within the property and rotate to come to pick up
the distribution. Also, there is dispensation of basic
food: rice (3kg), beans (1kg), and two packets of pasta for
2.5 pesos. DIF charges one peso for the dispensation but to
cover the cost of transportation and packing, members of
UVCG agreed to pay 2.5 pesos to UVCG. One kg of rice alone
cost three or four pesos in a store, thus 2.5 pesos for
rice, beans, and pasta is quite cheap and people express

their appreciation.

FINANCE

UVCG itself has almost no economic resources. First of
all, UVCG does not ask fees from members. When UVCG builds
apartments, it negotiates with the government agencies and
banks for loans. That is how UVCG is able to provide
housing for the members. For the construction of Sol, for
instance, they negotiated with government agencies such as
FICAPRO (Fideicomiso de Casa Propia) and FIVIDESU
(Fideicomiso de Vivienda, Desarrollo Social y Urbano).

A few years ago, UVCG carried out socioeconomic studies
with each family who will be moving into Sol. The banks do
not lend money to someone who does not have jobs or the
capacity to pay back. In order to be eligible for loans,
people must have stable work with a salary that enables them
to cover the expenses including rent. Minimum. monthly
earning of 1800 pesos is required. An upper limit is not
set. Each one of them has to pay more or less 42500 nuevos
pesos (or about US$7100) to pay off their apartments in Sol
within 25 years.

Outside non-governmental organizations, such as COPEVI
(Centro Operacional de Vivienda y Poblamiento), do not
donate money, either. Only when the earthquake hit Mexico
City in 1985, did UVCG obtain donations from foreign
organizations such as the Dutch Red Cross but these were
spent on construction and reconstruction. Thus, UVCG is not
in a good condition financially, however, this is how UVCG

remains independent from any outside organization.

N'"
5‘» L e '

 

mo

8..

the

pecl

to

61

ACTIVITIES

Activities of UVCG include organizing meetings every
Saturday night, preventing eviction (desalojo) by gathering
many people, the rehabilitation of houses (jornada),
painting announcements on the walls (pinta), organizing
marches, providing donations for the families of the
deceased (boteo), communal cleaning (aseo), and guarding the
property of UVCG (guardia), etc.

The system of UVCG is that members accumulate points by
participating these activities. At the meetings or marches,
members report to a jperson in charge of marking their
presence in the notebook. The more points they have, the
more likely they are to obtain housing. People who have
many points, for example, are given the priority in choosing
which housing they want to move in to. Those who chose Sol
expect to receive housing sometime in 1996. People with
fewer points are simply assigned the leftover. A minimum of
two-year-participation is required to obtain the right to
move in to houses. The aim of UVCG is to achieve people’s
dream of obtaining houses. The leader of UVCG expressed
that they want this done in exchange for hard work, so that
people value and take good care of their new houses. By
participating in meetings and marches, people are expected
to learn the importance of cooperation and hard work.

In fact, people who used to hide when they saw
landlords have come long way. They are now more aware of

their rights and are working hard to defend themselves. UVCG

62

also sent some female members to Acapulco to attend courses
on feminism. Monthly publication of “La voz de la Guerrero”
is another activity by UVCG, which also contributes to the
education of members. Publication has been continued since
the foundation of UVCG. In fact, the education contributed
considerably for the members changes in their perception,
which will be discussed in the following chapter in more
detail.

Desalojo (eviction).

 

When I was visiting Angelica who lives in a shelter on
Luz Street, suddenly" a bell rang. In the shelter, a

coordinator rings a bell when there is an emergency or when

they have something to announce. Angelica rushed to the
entrance where people gather. I waited in her caseta with
her babies. She came back and told me that there was

eviction at 261 Merida Street. It was about 11:00 a.m.

When UVCG started, people with bicycles let people know
when there 'was an eviction” Then another organization
taught UVCG to use three rockets (cohetes). People rushed to
where cohetes were launched. Nowadays, people communicate
by telephone. It costs 2000 pesos to install the telephone
but a few people even in the shelter have one. Tenants who
face problems often ask help from shelter residents.

Angelica could not go to the desalojo because of her
babies, so I went with other people from the shelter. Six
of us piled into the small Volkswagen beetle taxi and rushed

to Merida Street. Some people came by bicycle. When we

S!

63

arrived there, there were about 30 members, already arguing
at the entrance of the vecindad. Rosa and Maria, council
members, were among them. A man and a woman were shouting
that tenants had not paid the rent for two months. People
gathered there explained to me that this man and woman are
not even landlords. Furthermore, they told me that tenants
have been paying rent but simply do not have the receipts
and that this man and woman are lying. I was not sure what
to believe, since these tenants looked too poor to pay rent.

So-called landlords and members of UVCG argued at the
entrance for a while, then we all climbed up to see the room
that was locked and blocked by the landlords despite of
protests by tenants. However, being surrounded by the mass
of people from UVCG, the landlords agreed to open the house
and let the tenants in. This is one example of the power of
the mass. Accumulation of small people's power resulted in
strong coercion.

The tenants agreed to discuss the matter that night at
the UVCG office and we all left the building. People from
the shelter rarely use a taxi: mostly to arrive quickly at a
site of an eviction. On our way home, of course we did not
take a taxi. We walked back to the shelter together. It
took us about fifteen minutes.

At eight o’clock at night, the tenants came to the
office to talk with the juridical commission. The leader of
UVCG was also there. The situation was that the so-called

landlords did not have the legal papers proving that they

were landlords. The woman claimed that her deceased father
was a landlord, and therefore she is one now. However, her
father did not have legal right to be a landlord either.
What is more, some tenants do not even have contracts or a
fixed rent. According to the tenants, the contract was made
verbally. Therefore, landlords charge them various rents
with the excuse of the cost for water and electricity.
Current tenants pay from 150 to 300 pesos per month, but the
landlords are not satisfied. They want to have wealthier
tenants to be able to charge more rent. Thus, they are
trying to evict the current tenants with an excuse that they
do not pay rent. The tenants have been paying the rent
every month but landlords do not give them receipts, thus
tenants can not prove their payment. The juridical
commission advised tenants to obtain proof that so-called
landlords do not have legal right and also any kind of
documents that can prove their points. UVCG will then
question so-called landlords formally with these documents.
These tenants did not belong to UVCG. Miguel, one of
two members of juridical commission, told me that tenants do
not realize that there is something they can do, since they
are ignorant about their rights as tenants. They also did
not perceive the landlords' illegality of not giving them
contracts nor receipts. Under such condition, landlords do
whatever they' want to do, such as evicting tenants or

increasing the rent outrageously.

65

LIVING CONDITION IN THE SHELTERS

Currently, about 90 percent of the active members live
in shelters. The largest of all the shelters is on 18 Luz
Street where I temporarily lived during my fieldwork. It
was, at first, built by the government for earthquake
victims as temporary housing during reconstructing their
vecindades. When people moved into their new houses in
1988, the government tried to shut it down to be used for
other purposes. However, there were plenty of people who
desperately needed a pdace to live. Thus, UVCG could not
let the government destroy the shelter. One day, UVCG
organized 17 families, invaded the shelter at night, and has
been occupying it for seven years. People had to take turns
to guard 24 hours at the entrance not to let police or
government officials in. There is a mobile fence at the
entrance of the shelter and it is still locked at night in
order not to let outsiders in.

A little more than two hundred people live in this
shelter currently. There are 48 casetas used as living
space and 4 as storage. On average, there are five people
in one caseta of 4x8-meter rectangular space, but a few were
occupied by only one and a few were occupied by two or three
families (totaling up to ten. people!) About half the
casetas were occupied by the same family for more than five
years. About 20 percent came less than two years ago.
People in thirty of the forty—eight casetas used to rent a

house. Of the reasons given for coming to the shelter, nine

 

66

of them said eviction, eight had economic problem, seven had
dwellings that collapsed, and six had trouble with their
landlords. There are sixteen cases where people used to
live with relatives but had trouble (either conflict or
capability problem) and thus they had to come to the
shelter. In most cases, people faced urgent problem of
finding new place to live, thus, they could not afford to
choose which organization to go to for help. Only one
family tried out another organization but it did not seem to
be functioning, thus they came to UVCG. Fourteen of them
were from Colonia Guerrero. The rest are from outside of
Colonia Guerrero, but they got to know UVCG through their
relatives or friends. (See appendix)

Residents of the shelter do not pay rent. Water and
electricity are free as well, but there are frequent water
shortages. The cost of gas is the only expense people pay.
They decided that each caseta pays the cost according to the
number of people who live. For example, they pay 11 pesos
every month if a caseta is occupied by one person and 30
pesos for five people.

There are two communal kitchens and four communal
showers, which are not enough for two hundred people. They
are both simply made with metal pieces. Men and women have
two separate bathrooms each. Three people can go in there
at the same time and there are no doors in between three
toilet bowls, thus there is no privacy. There are two

laundry spaces. Each has water taps with stone washing

 

67

boards for several people. Residents have ropes in front of
their own casetas to hang their washed clothes. Some people
have washing machines and bring them to laundry spaces.

Everyone takes turns to be coordinator, assistant, and
treasurer. This way they all learn to run things in the
organization. They also take turns to clean the communal
kitchens, bathrooms, and passages. People lean to cooperate
and to be responsible by carrying out these duties. If
people do not do their cleaning duty, they have to clean
communal kitchens, bathrooms and passages on the following
day. People have set up their own rules such as these and
they run their shelter by themselves. This kind of communal
way of living was new experience for all the residents. It
contributed to give people idea of cooperation and
responsibility.

Communal kitchens and laundry spaces are places for
socialization. Around three o clock in the afternoon,
kitchens are filled with women carrying vegetables, meat,

tortillas, cooking oils, frying pans, cooking utensils,

soaps, etc. Cooking utensils are frequently lent and
borrowed. Everyone knows what other people are eating,
naturally. They also told me that they can tell other

families economic condition by looking at what they are
cooking; if they are cooking meat, they have money; if they
are eating soup, beans, and eggs, they do not have money.

In some casetas, there are new TV, stereo, beautiful

tables, chairs, decorations, etc. In others, there are only

68

old beds, with no decoration, no dining tables, no chairs,
and very little furniture. Thus, it is very obvious that
people’s economic capacity varies. Some had no jobs and
some families have more than one person with a job. Some
have a job in the U.S. Their occupations vary from office
workers, taxi drivers, vendors at the market, and even
professional robbers.

Although the majority of residents are quite poor,
theft still happens inside of the shelter and people tend to
hide their wealth, (if they have any). People often go to
other casetas to borrow ten pesos ($1 = 6 pesos) and cannot
pay it back for more than a week.

At the entrance, one woman always sells fruits and
sweets during daytime. At night, other women sell fried
bananas, chicken legs, tamales, atoles, etc. More women
join and sell their own foods at times of tight economic
condition. At night, I saw people working inside of their
casetas as well. Some fold cardboard boxes for the cake
store. One woman told me that she earns 20 pesos by folding
1000 pieces of cardboard, which takes the whole night. Until
around 1 am, many casetas have lights on and people are
working or relaxing. Many people wash clothes at night.
After 1 am, the shelter becomes quiet.

Some inhabitants told me about how nice it was to be
able to sleep under a roof. At the same time, however, they
told me about the hardship of living in the shelter. First

of all, not having water in their casetas causes various

69

problems. It is not convenient to have to go to communal
kitchen or bathroom especially during heavy rain or in the
middle of the night. Families with babies and small
children especially found it difficult to bathe them or feed
them sanitarily. The majority of casetas are well kept.
Many people wash the floors and in front of their casetas
daily with water and soap, but mice and cockroaches are
still present.

There is not much privacy in the shelter. Metal sheets
are very thin, thus people can hear what is happening in
other casetas quite ‘well. They often experience noise
problems from music, children playing, etc. Furthermore,
one finds difficult to sleep, change, or study since a whole
family is in one room. Most of the children go to school
but some quit without finishing even the primary level. Some
children work discarding garbage from other casetas to earn
1 peso, or sell cardboard picked up from the street or
obtained from the stores. Numbers of places purchase one
kilo of cardboard for about five pesos, which will be sold
to recycling company.

PROBLEMS OF UVCG

Sometime in 1996, an apartment building, Sol, will be
completed. When UVCG was building shelters, the government
made them sign a document that UVCG would agree to closing
all the shelters when Sol is opened. However, not everyone
from the shelter can move in. What is more, there are more

families waiting for an empty caseta to move in to.

70

Therefore, UVCG has to face these problems in the very near
future. The rent for a small one-bedroom apartment is one
thousand pesos. Ordinary people, in a country of 500 pesos
minimum salary, are not likely to find an affordable place
to live.

Secondly, UVCG does not expect extensive external
support. Thus, it is not willing to set up affiliation with
political, religious, or professional groups. 'Fhey extend
their networks only to other colonias with common interests
through ANAMUP. Whether this exclusive tendency works in a
positive or negative way is debatable.

Also, people’s continuing participation after attaining
their goal is a problem for UVCG; many people stop
participating actively once they obtain housing. A man, who
used to be more active before obtaining housing, expressed
that “people have other trajectories of life now." How to
overcome this problem is another key to the future success
of UVCG.

INTERVIEW WITH CARMEN

Here, I present an interview with Carmen. Despite of
having cancer, Carmen is a very active member of UVCG. She
lives alone in a small caseta in front of where UVCG’s
weekly meeting is held. Because of her hard work, people
agreed that she would receive an apartment in Sol despite of
her incapacity to pay. She has not long to live; when she
dies, another family from the shelter will replace her and

start paying the rent.

 

71

Carmen: I came to the shelter on Luz Street in 1988.
Prior to that, I was living in Colonia Santa Rosa, which is
located in northern part of D.F. There was a gas leakage
and the house I used to live was burnt. I lost everything

and I became homeless.

I was only 15 when I got married. I had a beautiful
life. My husband passed away 16 years ago. I have several
children” NOW’ I even have great grand children. iMy

children were all grown up and have their own lives with
their spouses and children in their own space. I didn’t
want to bother them, so I was on my own.

One of my friends said to me, “Let's go to Colonia
Guerrero. They have shelters there." I did not know what
to do because I had never lived in a place like a shelter.

She also said to me that if we fight enough, we will be able

to obtain our own house. So I went to the shelter on Luz
Street. I felt terrible, because once we were in there, we
were in a closed space. We were enclosed and couldn’t

leave. I had never lived like that.

When I went to ask if I could join them, they at first
refused me because I did not have necessary papers. After a
while, they finally accepted me. I was relieved. But we
'were still in danger. The government wanted to remove us
from the property. We resisted and insisted that we stay
there. But the government kept saying no. They wanted our
space for the offices or luxury apartments. That is why we

fight.

72

I was in the shelter on Luz Street for three years. I
had to work very hard for UVCG. I participated in guarding
(guardia) and I went to march. There were cold days and hot
days, and I became sick. People todk me to a doctor. He
examined me and told me that I had cancer. Members of UVCG
provided me with. a great help. They took care of
transportation to go to hospitals and also gathered money to
cover my hospital expenses. I was in a critical condition.
Probably my dream of obtaining my own house and the support
from the companeros helped me survive through the operation.
UVCG is like a big family to me and I am happy here.

I once thought that dreaming of obtaining a house is
like trying to reach the stars in the sky. It seemed
impossible. But one companero said to me one day, “Let’s

reach to the stars then!"

This movement is very beautiful. We listen to cohetes
(rockets) and run to see what is going on. It is very
beautiful. When you are in trouble, companeros will run to
help negotiate and stop eviction. Holding meetings and

participating in them are beautiful ways to communicate with
people as well. We can get information and we can be
together, united.

I lived on 221 Santiago street after leaving Luz
Street. Santiago is another space that we invaded. It was
idle land. The building was almost falling down. Some of
the rooms made of adobe were in terrible condition. The

owner was very rich and owned many other houses and

73

properties. We invaded to live on this land and fought with
the landlord to sell us the land. He threatened to put us
in jail. We went to a government agency to see if we could
purchase the land. We badly needed place to live. We
finally won and constructed 15 apartments in the end.

Our strength is in our great numbers. We unite, fight,
and march with great numbers of people. We all are a part
of the chain, a very big chain, made up with each colonia.
We march by gathering various colonias. Each organization
sends two people to the meetings of ANAMUP. People inform
each other and make suggestions. ANAMUP transmits
information about marches. In order not to be attacked by
the authorities, who try to lock us up and beat us, we have
support from a large organization like ANAMUP.

The government promises a lot and says beautiful things
but they do not carry them out. They promised to construct
some houses, for example, and it was reported in newspapers.
So we ask them, “Where are you going to construct them?"
They responded “we don t know yet." That's why we protested
again” The government says conditions of Mexicans are
improving, however, we have so much unemployment and we wear
clothes with patches. What is this? We want the government
to recognize our real condition. So we protest and march
under ANAMUP. We organize and carry out peaceful marches.
We ask for solutions. We don t want aggression.

We make our living by working. We never ask the

government to maintain us. We only ask them to sell the

74

land to us. UVCG taught us to live together and to fight
together to be able to obtain houses. The government has so
many things. They have money and they have power. That is
why we fight. We want only a little share that each Mexican
should get from the government. They stick to their power,
so we need to pressure them. We make them do things by
fighting and by marching. That is why we unite. We really
need to make the government understand that the first thing
we need is housing. Appropriate food for our children is
also very“ important. We want all the Mexicans to be
healthy, prepared, and be with a strong volunteer spirit.
But that is not possible without food. We demand our right
of having mild, sugar, etc. The children of today will be
men and women of tomorrow. But if we do not have
employment, what are our children going to eat?

We are an independent organization. We do not have
connections with any political parties. Many people in

Mexico support PRI, because Zedillo said, “Vote for peace.

Vote for your family. VOte for me.” And this is what we
have? People are suffering in Chiapas. Indigenous people
are attacked. Many of our children in Chiapas are almost

dying from hunger.

Isabel and Rosa reported to us about the predicament of
Chiapas. Some <organizations decided. to take a 'trip to
Chiapas so UVCG sent those two. That is how we know the
necessity and the pain of the people in Chiapas. we were

informed from UVCG, not from newspaper nor television. We

75

were informed from our members direct experience. We sent
these two representatives to provide a helping hand to the
indigenous people, our people in Chiapas. We are not
economically rich but we managed to send biscuits, milk,
cheese, and cans, so that our indigenous people can receive
what little we have.

When they came back from Chiapas, the government said
what we were telling was a lie. They said that we were
lying about our trip to Chiapas, about us reaching the
woods, and about the murder of the people there. It is
terrible that the government like this owns the lives of
powerless people such as indigenous people and those who
cannot even speak Spanish. This is a big lie of the
government. I do not want my children and grand children to
live under a government which lies. The government of
Mexico is a murderer. They are attacking every one of us.

We have diverse interests. We march, firstly, for
housing, and also for the May Day. On May Day, we march
because our salary is very low and is not enough to maintain
anyone’s life with dignity, because today, we are more
restricted than before, because our children have more needs
than before, and because workers do not have the protection
they used to have anymore.

We are also involved in the protests which defend the
rights of teachers. The government was making them work
more hours with less salary. Also we were involved with the

issue of workers rights; employers lack consideration of

76

working conditions, hours, and pay. There are many workers
who became sick because of poor working conditions.

We teach our children to be careful with water. Also,
we attempt to use soaps that do not pollute water. Before,
we protested against the factory which was contaminating the
water. We do these things not only for the Mexicans but for
everyone. We are concerned with the contamination on the
world scale. We have to take care of our world. Our world
now is full of contamination, noise, factories, and garbage.

All of these affect all of us. That is why we march and

protest.

Summary.

Carmen is a typical case. Participation in UVCG made
her aware of many contradictions around her. As a result,
she became radicalized. As I have described in this
chapter, many members exhibited similar tendencies.

Participation in UVCG has enabled people to become aware of
their rights, of some of the contradictions in their
society, and of their capacity to change the status quo.
This transformation of people’s perceptions through
participation is quite visible.

The following chapter will focus on the female
residents of Luz shelter. Their value changes, both general

and gender—oriented, will be highlighted.

CHAPTER V
REBUILDING GENDER IDENTITY

In this chapter, I delve into the shelter dwellers'
perceptions of identity' and. gender: How' have members'
values changed through their participation in the social
movements? Are members of UVCG pursuing strategic interests
as well as practical ones? Do these two interests interplay
at all? How are these interests manifested in individual or
household level? To delve into these issues, perceptions of
the members of UVCG, mostly women, were examined through
interviews.

Interviews were conducted. with representatives from
forty eight casetas in Sol shelter. Seventy five percent of
the respondents were females. One of the casetas is
occupied by only one man. Out of forty seven casetas,

fifteen of them (32 percent) did not have husbands. These

fifteen women are single mothers, divorced, or their
husbands are dead. Eleven of these fifteen women work
either inside or outside the house. This proportion is

higher than women in the shelter in general, of which is 46
percent work. Women who do not have husbands and who do not
work have other outside sources such as patrons and
relatives to help them economically. Fifteen households (31
percent) have children under school age. Among those

fifteen, eight women (53 percent) work, either outside or

77

78

inside of the house. When they work outside, older
children, relatives, or neighbor's children, take care of
their small children, thus statistically, the existence of
small children. does not seem. to eaffect their choice of
working or not working.

At first I will present an analysis of practical
interests in general. Then a focus will be shifted to
strategic interests. Finally, I will specify my analysis on
strategic gender interests.

PRACTICAL INTERESTS

In case of UVCG, the movement started with practical
interests. People organized themselves in order to avoid
eviction from 1976 to 1985 and their objectives expanded to
rehabilitation of old vecindades and construction of new
apartment buildings after the earthquake thanks to the
financial help from other sources at first and then loans
from the government agencies as shown in the previous
chapter.

Every one of forty—eight shelter dwellers whom I
interviewed identified obtaining housing as primary or a
part of their objectives today. Asked what their
expectations are from UVCG, twenty out of forty eight (42
percent) responded that they expect nothing but housing from
UVCG. For a future goal of UVCG, twenty two (46 percent)

responded to help people obtain housing. Asked what their

79

concerns are, close to 50 percent responded with nothing but
obtaining housing. These fifty percent did not seem to show
their concern in gender, social, nor political issues. (See
appendix) .According to Sandra, one of the members of
COPEVI, 74 percent of marches in Mexico City in 1994 focused
on issues of collective consumption” There are groups
voicing lack of housing as well as lack of services of water
or electricity. Thus, the context of material or pragmatic
gain in people's movements is strong.

In the case of UVCG, the issues of water and
electricity were no longer major concerns. Probably because
of the location, a lack of provision of water and
electricity is rare. Also because of the location, garbage
pick—up service is provided. People usually dump garbage on
the street in front of their property and government trucks
come to pick it up. Thus, people's pursuit of these
practical interests were not evident.

There has been an attempt to have a child care center
to enable women to go out to work. Some women
enthusiastically said that they are eager to go to work if
that plan is realized:

It will be great if we achieve to have child care.

Women can go to work without worrying, because we will

know that our kids will be safe in Colonia Guerrero
under the supervision of people we know.

80

However, as I discussed above, when they desperately need to
go out to work, they manage to find someone, relatives or
neighbor's older children, to look after their small
children. Thus, although there is a need for a child care
center, it is not urgent.

In some cases, a woman, who is a full—time housewife,
looks after neighbor's children voluntarilyu For example,
within the apartment on Bolivar Street, Lucy looks after the
children of her neighbors. She goes to elementary school to
pick up her own and her neighbors' children at 12:30, walks
them back to Bolivar, feeds them, and looks after them until
their mothers come home from work at around three or four.
Lucy said, "I just like to help." She is a comadre of these
neighbors' children, which could explain Lucy's considerable
investment in these children. She did not articulate her
contribution as enabling women to have equal opportunity
with men. In other words, she does not perceive the element
of pursuing strategic gender interests in her action.

An attempt for demanding sanitation and health clinic
was simply not evident. Asked about a community effort for
a health clinic, Angelica explained that:

We get decent health care from the government. A

clinic run by the government is close from here and

they sometime provide us with vaccination for infants,
dogs, etc. We fortunately have these services.

81

One aspect of pursuing practical interest was seen in
their fight of obtaining breakfast. Angelica talks about

solicitation to DIF, a government agency:

Women's commission organized marches to demand
provision of breakfast to DIF. We learned that we had
to defend our rights and our children's rights. I
don't think we are behaving like beggars. We are just
asking for help which is necessary to maintain healthy
families. That's why we are paying a lot of taxes in
Mexico City and the government should contribute to
improve the lives of people with scarce resources.
Yes. I learned these concept of defending our rights
from UVCG. This fight is to improve our lives, not
only to obtain decent housing. It is also to maintain
healthy family and to defend our children.

Expansion of their interests.

 

Participation in UVCG brought people, who used to be
isolated or who used to be struggling individually,
together. They used to have little awareness of their
capability to organize and their rights than they do now.
People, who were not aware of the importance of uniting or
organizing before and who were hiding from the landlords,
now talk about how important and beautiful organizing is.
Awareness of the advantage of organizing and the capacity of

organized people were clearly evident. Linda says:

Before I knew UVCG, I was easily intimidated . Now,
there are some things that don ' t scare me anymore .
Well . I still have problems and it is hard to face

these problems. But it seems that everybody has
problems and everybody finds ways to solve these
problems. Thanks to the experience of UVCG, our
possibilities are opening up more and this is
beautiful.

Angelica:

82

Before, I was fighting alone. It is very difficult to
rent an apartment in Mexico City for people with scarce
resources. Only by uniting, organizing, and fighting
together, we are able to obtain credits from the
government.

Cooperation, which UVCG is trying to promote, is
crucial for a successful organization. Cooperation is also
important in order to understand the expansion of people's
interest from practical to strategic. Emactical interests
could be pursued with organized individualistic people. But
for the pursuit of strategic interests, the concept of
sharing or altruism may be important, because the fight is
partly for themselves but also for other people who share
the same identities.

For example, members of UVCG organize to support others
economically. In the case of member's death, even poor
people contribute what little money they have for the family
of the deceased, especially when they are extremely poor. In
addition, volunteers from UVCG go around the neighborhood to
ask for donations to provide extra economic help.

Other activities, such as rehabilitation of old houses,
guarding of property that UVCG purchased for future
construction of apartments, stopping eviction, etc., too,

lead to promote cooperation value. Gloria says:

I have learned to live together with the community and
to help each other in order to achieve our goals
against the government. Now it is clear that one
person's strength is not enough” II have learned that
cooperating at the community level will bring out the
vital strength.

83

With a touch of festivity, UVCG organizes a party once
a year on the day when the Santa Maria Church holds festival
in..Augustu People organize themselves and. set ‘up food
stands. They cook together and sell atole, tamales,
quezadillos, etc. Many of them told me, "It is great fun."
A dance party was organized a few years ago as well. Running
a food stand and organizing a dance party naturally enhances
their communication and connections to one another and thus
facilitate cooperation.

Cooperation naturally strengthens the cohesion of a
group. When people tightly identify themselves with the
group, the category of "we" is created and a creation of
"we" will lead to a categorization of "they". Organizing
and cooperating values have led women of UVCG to have clear
understanding of 'we, the neglected citizens' versus 'they,
the government.’

Their perception of fighting against "them" or "the

government" is quite powerful. Miguel says:

Before, we fought against landlords. I think that the
government and banks are our new opponents now. They
are our new landlords, if you will.

Also Rosa says that:

We march and we protest to the government, because the
government wants to leave us without decent salary,
without employment, and without food that is necessary
for our children to grow up. Today, we don't have
possibility of providing clothes, shoes, school
materials, or things youths need to progress in life
under these conditions.

84

One example of their clear categorization is evident in
people committing to evade evictions even for the tenants
who do not belong to UVCG. Margarita, who proudly pointed
at her glasses which one of the lenses was cracked by a blow
from the landlord, says "we won!" Since she cannot afford
to fix them, she has been wearing cracked glasses for two
years but with the satisfaction of "our" triumph.

Now, they are aware of their organized power to change

the status quo as well. Juliana told me that:

UVCG taught us that we have to take action in order to
bring about changes and in order to improve our lives.
We have to go out to the street to get what we want.

Rosa, the leader of UVCG, explains that:

We demonstrate to the government that with work, with

effort, with firmness, with fight, with participation,

and with unity of all the companeros, we have the
strength to defend our space, our house, and our
children.

In sum, new values such as cooperation and organization
resulted in enabling people to solidify their identity as
"we." Compared to when they were confined in house, much
more social and political issues became relevant to their
lives.

STRATEGIC INTERESTS
Many women showed concern for children's
education. Their participation in the teacher's

movement is partly from practical interests but also

partly from strategic interests, because they are aware

85

of not only the power of education but also the greater

implication of supporting the teacher's movement:

UVCG marched together with teachers, because if
teachers earn better salary, well, they will teach our
children better. What is more, they will contribute to
the society more.

This statement clearly’ exhibits ‘women's concern for
both practical interests and strategic interests. Through
their experience in UVCG, they came to learn and realize
that they should. actively" demand their right and their
children's right to live in a better society. Some people
seem to be pursuing or ready to pursue both practical and
strategic interests.

Accordingly, some people see different objectives in
their participation in UVCG than mere practical interests.

Juan explained:

For me, obtaining a house is secondary. Yes. We do
want it. But what I see is people, helping each other
and trying to survive together by cooperating. That is
the ultimate goal for UVCG.

Some seemed to be even surprised to hear the question.

What do I expect from UVCG? On the contrary, UVCG is
giving us a lot. It has protected us very good. So
now we are here to serve UVCG.

Asked what the goal of UVCG, response from 54 percent
of the people went beyond mere housing. (See appendix) Some
perceived that their goals are "grandisimo!" Maria

responds, for example,

I don't think we should have fixed goals. There are so
many problems and we should get involved in many

86

different marches, for example, to achieve these goals.

People's needs are, unfortunately, increasing.
STRATEGIC GENDER INTERESTS

Among strategic interests, let us specifically focus on
the aspect of gender interests. For this purpose, more in-
depth individual interviews were conducted with six mothers,
living in Sol shelter: Angelica, Gloria, and Ernesta, who
have little children under school age and Juana, Linda, and
Juliana, who have older children. Angelica was my closest
friend in this shelter because I stayed at her caseta, thus
I asked her to help me select the other five women. Two
categories of women. were selected. by the age of their
children to see the difference in women at different stages
of life cycle. However, I did not find any significant
difference among these two categories of women. It may be
partly due to their close friendship, but their responses
turned out to be quite uniform. Women's analysis of self
similarly exhibited the changes they have experienced
through their participation in UVCG.

Women, analyzing themselves.

 

When asked if they see themselves as traditional
mothers, every one of these six women said no. Angelica
explains,

Traditionally, women in Mexico are very conservative.
They, well, not all, but majority of them, think that

men have to go out for work and for struggle. She
thinks that he finds place to live for the family. But
women in UVCG are not like that. UVCG teaches us,

women, that we should also fight for obtaining better
ways of life.

87

I asked Ernesta if she thinks female participants of
UVCG are different from mainstream traditional women. She

responded:

Sure. Yes. I was chatting with women who do not belong
to any of these organizations the other day. These
women. only' dedicate themselves to their' houses and
that's it. But women in UVCG are not like that. We
dedicate ourselves to work and fight for housing and
for the family. But what traditional women think of is
exclusively their housework.

Asked if her perspective was changed by participating

to UVCG, Juana says:

When I didn't know about UVCG, I had very different
views, well, about how a life is. Before joining UVCG,
I never worked outside. I was always with my children
at home, taking care of them and also my husband. At
that time, I was thinking that this is what the life
is. Well, I joined UVCG and I changed radically,
because I came to learn many things and I came to see
many things. Well, what I had been doing was good, but
I realized that I can do more than that.

Changes brought by the part ic ipat ion to UVCG af f ec t
women's role in the family as well. Some women are not
solely responsible for the rigid obligation of housework

anymore. Gloria says:

This participation is for all the family. In some
ways, my husband and my children also have to
contribute. My husband should help me.

Linda says:

Well, participation in UVCG affected my relationship
with my husband to some degree. Sometimes, he comes
home and the meal is not ready yet. But I don't think
that I am neglecting my responsibility. It's that my
time is not all for my house anymore. I have to leave
to work and to fight.

88

Relationships between wife and husband were affected because
of women's participation in UVCG. The changes were in many
cases positive ones. Ernesta explains:

Sometimes, he comes home and wants to eat but I'm not
home. I am out for meetings or marches. But he
doesn't impose me not to go. On the contrary, he looks
after the children so that I can go out without
worrying about them. We learned many things by
participating in UVCG and as a result, I now have
more intimate relationship with my husband. This
participation. did. not destroy' our family; On the
contrary, it opened our eyes and we take care of each
other better.

There are some families that both husband and wife help
each other to participate in UVCG. Gloria says:

I need to go out for meeting and marches frequently.
Before, my husband thought that I was neglecting my

family. But now he lends me hands, looking after the
children when I go out. He cooperates and facilitates
me. And when there are activities such as

rehabilitation of houses, he participates and I stay at
home with children.

Thus, woman made up eighty percent of those who attended
meetings and marches, but their husbands were also involved
by facilitating their wives' participation.

In the case of Juana, understanding of gender relations
was accelerated by education. She was sent to Acapulco by
the UVCG to attend a course called, "Feminism, politics and
identity." She enthusiastically told me about what she

learned from it:

Well. We women have had very wrong ideas about
feminism, no? We thought that if someone was a
feminist, she may be a lesbian. Or people may think

that feminists are against them in all perspectives.
But that's not true. I think that being a feminist

89

does not prevent a woman from working harmoniously with

men. In fact, I think it's opposite. The idea of
feminism is to search a way to harmoniously be together
with men. The other thing I learned is that we women

have as many rights as men do. Well, I didn’t think
like this before. I used to think that it was O.K. for

my husband to come home late at night, drunk. I also
used to think that I needed to stay at home, only
looking after the children. Well, I realized that
women can and should do the same as men. In other

words, we can go for coffee with our friends or we can
even go out for a drink.

Juliana also talked about the second aspect about being
equal to men:

Before, only men worked, right? Now women also go out
to work and I think that is beautiful. Women learned
that we don't have to be at home all the time, cooking,
and ironing. Beside these daily chores, we can go out
to work. Yes. We are almost equal to men. I believe
that women are as capable as men.

These new foundations of their identity have led them
to be proud of who they are and enabled them to see their
new values, as seen by Juana.

I was trying to..., well, actually sometimes even now,
I try to maintain the virtue of feminineness. I mean,
I do things the way men like. Because men believe that
we should wash, iron, cook, look after children, etc.
Well, doing these things nicely fit into the idea of a
good woman, but men will never look at the value of me,
myself. Now I, at least at my home, try to make my
husband value who I am, just the way I am.

Maria, who successfully obtained her house after
fighting for several years in UVCG, showed her satisfaction:

Men are looking at women fighting for decent housing
and for better ways of life. If a man considers a
woman’s action as negative, I would say he doesn't
value the effort of the woman. This kind of man
doesn't know the values of the real woman. That only
creates insecurity in him. As far as I'm concerned, I
am very happy and very satisfied, because I, with my

90

work with UVCG, achieved obtaining my own house. I
wasn't aware before, but now I can say that women have
power!

INTERPLAYING INTERESTS

These interviews clearly portray important changes in
women's values as a result of participation in UVCG. Through
their experience and learning in UVCG, women started to see
the strategic gender interests as well as practical gender
interests. Their concern was a practical one, such as
giving their family housing or obtaining breakfast. Then
their perception expanded to pursue strategic interests such
as abolition of sexual division of labor and equality of men
and women.

Thus, dichotomization of groups that are pursuing
practical gender interests and group that are pursuing
strategic interests is not always applicable. As Helen Safa
(1993) suggests, "women's struggles over practical interests
may well be transformed into struggles over strategic gender
issues in the process of collective action and
politicization (quoted in Gallin and Ferguson 1993:6)."

Kathleen Logan (1990:155) points out that "low—income
activist women have not yet seen a need to challenge their
traditionally defined gender roles as mothers. They think
of themselves as acting consistently within the confines of
their role." th is evident that Logan's approach focused

only on practical interests. If one extends focus to

91

strategic gender interests, movements by women activists
come to encompass different meanings; these movements
possess the element of challenging the conventionally
defined gender roles.

Thus, as Escobar and Aivarez (1992) suggest, women's
organization should not be looked at as merely a survival
strategy. By closely examining their newly defined
collective identity, it becomes evident that their new

identity challenges the conventional gender relations.

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION

In this chapter, summary of preceding chapters will be
given at first. Then, based on these points, the strengths
and weaknesses of identity paradigm and resource
mobilization paradigm will be considered. Finally, I will
conclude with a suggestion for the future directions of NSMs
theory with regard to both paradigms.

NSMs theory embraces two distinct paradigms: resource
mobilization paradigm and identity paradigm. In chapter II,
the latter approach was employed to examine different kinds
of NSMs evidenced in the different continents. The
discussion focused on participants' active identity building
in the sphere of reproduction. Furthermore, feminist theory
helped to explain the complex nature of the analysis of
gender relations. Feminist distinction of practical and
strategic gender interests are presented as well.

In the following chapter III, it was depicted how it is
to be a Mexican, to be poor, and to be a woman. As Latin
American feminist theory suggests, it is important to
understand the condition of the actors of social movements
in larger economic, political, and social contexts. Thus I
examined Mexico’s socio-economic condition as a Third World
country, its effect on the poor, and the gender relations

manifested in machismo and marianismo.

92

93

In chapter IV, the specific condition of members of
UVCG was highlighted. Their struggle and the development of
new identity in the process were described as part of the
case study.

Chapter V was more detailed case study of UVCG. This
time, members who live in Sol shelter, especially women,
were highlighted. It was shown that the women themselves
perceived the changes in their perceptions and that their
recognition was reflected in their activities in society,
family, and individual levels. This case study also showed
women’s pursuit of both practical and strategic gender
interests clearly.

SUGGESTIONS

Now, I conclude with three suggestions for the future
development of NSMs theory. A suggestion for further study
will be given as well.

Firstly, identity paradigm's tendeney to neglect
historic and cultural specificity needs to be moderated. As
shown in chapter III, members of UVCG experienced various
economic crises and. ‘went through. ‘various political
experiences in Mexico. Their history is unique as in their
living conditions in Mexico City. Their case is distinct
from housing associations in other Latin American countries.
The degree of government's interference varies from country

to country and the degree of housing shortages due to Mexico

w,

)1

94

City's population density is incomparable to other cities.
What is more, as Foweraker and Craig (1990) point out, due
to different stages in development, Western European and
Latin American cases may present even more different data.
In European context, the role of welfare state and arising
postmaterialist values and antimodernistic values were
implied in the analysis of NSMs (Klandermans and Tarrow
1988:7-8), however, those are quite irrelevant iri'the case
of UVCG because Mexico has not reached that degree in its
developmental stage. The identity approach especially seems
not to be able to incorporate different data exhibited by
organizations with distinct historic and cultural
backgrounds.

The resource mobilization approach accounts for these
problems because their research is developed "mainly at the
group and individual level, looking systematically at the
groups that organized mass protest, at their forms of
action, and at the motivations of individuals who joined
them (Klandermans and Tarrow l988:2-3)." However, scholars
under resource mobilization paradigm as well as identity
paradigm tend to neglect historic and cultural specificity
of the countries other than U.S. and Western Europe.
Escobar and Alvarez (1992:14) point out that "there has not
yet been a sufficiently significant effort on the part of

these scholars to include work being done in other parts of

95

the world, such as Latin America, Eastern Europe, and
India." Current theory emphasizes Western Europe and U.S.
exclusively, but as I showed throughout my paper, people's
objective, resources, and proponents in Mexico, for example,
differ from those of Western Europe and the U.S. Both
approaches of NSMs theory need to be tested its
sustainability with the data from different part of the
world.

Secondly, modification of the theory is expected to be
able to account for the future social movements as well.
Recently, children who have been brought up with the social
movements are starting to actively take part in the
movements. They have been witnessing their parents'
predicament and participation since they were small. They
unconsciously absorbed the values of organization and they
are ready to express their demands in public. In the very
near future, they will start to take over the social
movements from the older generation. The improved theory
needs to account for these participants with considerably
different identity’ and.<different rationale. They' may' be
already oriented toward strategic interests as well as
practical interests. During my fieldwork, I witnessed that
some children of the members of UVCG came to speak at UVCG
general meeting and showed their interests in taking classes

on organizational management. Also, when there are marches

96

in the afternoon, some high school girls run back to the
shelters to take part in protests. Some of them even take a
lead to shout the slogans. Thus, these moderations are
hoped in the future so that NSMs theory is able to offer
thorough explanation on social movements.

Finally, as Escobar and Alvarez (1992:317) point out,
blending of identity and resource mobilization paradigms
needs to be attained in order to account for the following
two perspectives: types of organization and two interplaying
interests.

Blending two paradigms.

 

As Klandermans and Tarrow (1988:2-3) insightfully point
out, the identity paradigm tends to focus on "larger
structural issues— the structural causes of social
movements, their ideologies, and their relation to the
culture of advanced capitalist society." In other words, it
does not have the capacity to account for differences among
types of social movements or organizations. NSMs encompass
many different types of organizations. We find such
seemingly different groups as feminist movements, housing
associations, environmental movements, and peace movements.
All these movements have their own distinct objectives —-
such as equality between sexes, obtaining housing, or
preserving nature. Those movements with non-materialistic

objectives, those movements which started with materialistic

97

objectives that were only later accompanied by non-
materialistic objectives, and those movements with
postindustrial orientations may not be bundled up together
as one unit of analysis.

For instance, under the identity paradigm, the
appearance of new grievances are associated with the
motivation for mobilization without referring to the
differences among the movements. In the context of
ecological movements or peace movements, the appearance of
new grievances is quite likely. However, in the case of
UVCG, the appearance of new grievances was not evident.
They had the grievances of not having proper housing but
that was chronic; nothing new appeared. Only the degree of
grievances became more intense. In their case, what led to
the creation of their movement was gradually built-up new
perceptions about their rights and their awareness of their
capability. These elements arose when isolated people came
together to act in conjunction with others who had the
identical problems. The crucial aspect of breaking up out
of isolation cannot be accounted for by the identity
approach.

On the other hand, Doug McAdam (1988:132—7), one of the
chief proponents of the resource mobilization approach,
precisely accounted for the emergence of movement by using

the notion of "cognitive liberation." He explains that for

98

collective action to emerge, cognitive transformation is
indispensable. He lists three tentative aspects:

First, "the system' —or those aspects of the system
that people experience and perceive- loses legitimacy.
Large numbers of men and women who ordinarily accept
the authority of their rules and the legitimacy of
institutional arrangements come to believe in some
measure that these rulers and these arrangements are
unjust and wrong. Second, people who are ordinarily
fatalistic, who believe that existing arrangements are
inevitable, begin to assert "rights" that imply demands
for change. Third, there is new sense of efficacy;
people who ordinarily consider themselves helpless come
to believe that they have some capacity to alter their
lot.

What is more, McAdam, comes to contend that these aspects of
liberation are not ascribed to individual's observation or
communication but to "cuings among groups of people who
jointly create the meanings they will read into current and
anticipated events." His analysis is quite precise in the
case of UVCG. People started to feel that something was
wrong and the first thing they learned from UVCG was their
rights as tenants. They came to realize the power of
organized people in the process. The resource mobilization
approach is capable of explaining different data drawn from
different types of organizations. Thus, this is one reason
that blending two approaches will help improve the NSMs
theory.

Next, strategic aspect needs to be modified. As
Melucci (1988:329) insightfully characterizes as "actor
without action," identity paradigm emphasizes the aspects of

values, identity, meanings, etc. On the other hand,

99

resource mobilization paradigm is characterized as "action
without actor." Although resource mobilization paradigm
also examines cognitive aspects, the attention is paid only
when those aspects were counted as resources to influence
the success of collective action. In other words, their
focus is exclusively on practical interests, while the
identity approach focuses on strategic interests. In the
case of women participants of UVCG, the aspect of more
intimate relationship> with. their’ spouses, that is their
strategic interests, only slightly interests resource
mobilization paradigm. As a result, analysis by the
resource mobilization approach tends to overlook shifting of
collective identity and hidden meaning of people's action
such as challenge to the conventional system.

As the case of UVCG demonstrated, social movements tend
to develop both practical and strategic elements. Thus a
theory which can analyze the interplay of both practical
interests and strategic interests is what is expected.
Currently, both paradigms are capable of exploring only one
interest, therefore, blending of these paradigms is hoped
for the improvement of the theory.
FURTHER STUDIES

Melucci (1988:329) sees the parallel between "Marx's

old problem (how to pass from class in itself to class for
itself)" and this problem of splitting the identity paradigm
and the resource mobilization paradigm within NSMs theory.

In my case study, six women who were chosen for the in-depth

100

interviews all seem to articulate strategic gender interests
as well as practical gender interests. In order to better
understand how these two interests develop, comparison
between women who identify both of these interests and women
who only identify practical interests of obtaining housing
need to be carried out. Furthermore, comparison among UVCG
members who already obtained housing and who have not
obtained. housing' yet is useful to see if they exhibit
different patterns in their identification of identity,
gender interests, objectives of 'UVCG, etc. Examination
between non-members and members of UVCG should be carried
out as well.

Furthermore, from. gender perspective, comparison
between a men's identity and a women's identity should also
be made. Do men also see their collective identity as men?
How are they different from those of women?

Another important question to be raised is the
formation of identity. How and on what level are people's
identities formed? People's identification with the state,
the city, and the low—income neighborhood need to be
examined. If they identify themselves as Mexicans, for
instance, what do they think they are entitled to as
Mexican? The same questions could be asked on the level of
the city and the low-income neighborhood. How do people's
response for these questions vary among the members of UVCG
and non-members? How do participations in NSMs contribute

to expand participants' identities?: from individuals

101

confined. within. household. to :members of low—income
neighborhood, to neglected citizens, to maltreated Mexicans?

Due to limited time frame, my study mainly focused on
the aspect of active female members of neighborhood
association and their development of practical and strategic
gender interests exhibited in their everyday life. More
extensive observation may identify the contradiction between
what people say and what they actually do. Thus, further
participant observation with those important questions that
I raised above in mind needs to be pursued in the future

study for the better understanding of NSMs theory.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX

HOW MANY YEARS DO YOU LIVE IN THIS SHELTER?

1 year — 1 4 years- 4
2 years- 10 5 years- 5
3 years- 8 6 years- 20

WHY DID YOU COME TO UVCG?

*used to live in relatives house but problem arose
*used to rent houses/ evicted . . .

/ economic problems

/ trouble with landlords
*used to live in vecindad but collapsed . .
*used to own a house, sold it, then being cheate
*used to live in Sol theater

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT UVCG?
*born in colonia Guerrero l
*relative's information
*friends are members
*friend's information
*relatives are members
*relatives live in colonia
*from other organization

l-‘NlbU'IQQifi

HOW DO YOU PARTICIPATE IN UVCG?

*meeting, avoiding eviction, construction, protest,

paining walls, guarding properties, etc.

WHAT ARE YOUR CONCERNS, ASIDE FROM HOUSING?
*none 14
*Mexican economy
*teacher's movements
*Chiapas
*unemployment
*Ruta 100
*salary increase
*feminism
*environment
*education

wawppppmm

each

*world peace

*social welfare such as unemployment insurance
*education about Mexico, Mexican culture
*juridical issue

\

102

16

HHQmCDKO

103

*anything happening in colonia Guerrero
*other countries such as Cuba
*human right

Q: WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM UVCG?
Housing (everyone) and:

*nothing but housing 20
*protection (landlord/ emergency) 10
*education to members 5
*avoiding eviction 2
*provision of breakfast 2
1 each

*organizing and uniting people who have similar

problems
*more negotiation, more construction of houses
*companerismo

Q: WHAT ARE THE FUTURE GOALS OF UVCG?
*Nothing but to help people obtain housing . . 22
*to provide housing for all the people who need.
So gaining more participation, including
people who already obtained housing. . . 4
*to get involved more in different issues
such as politics, society, etc. 3
*child care center . . 3
(each) 1
*to help people economically
*to keep being independent from political party
*to keep being responsible for any people who need help
*to cooperate each other and live together
*to bring cultural activities back
*grandisimo. We shouldn't fix our goals.
*to improve our situation by providing houses
*to improve our standard of living
*to get united with other organizations
*to improve everyone in Mexico
*to defend our right to obtain proper housing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Assies, Willem.
1990 Structures of Power, Movements of Resistance: An
Introduction to the Theories of Urban Movements in Latin
America. Amsterdam: CEDLA.

Barai, Daksha C.
1993 "The Augmentation of Water Supply to Meet the Needs
of Rapidly Growing Metropolitan Cities in India." In
Diddee and Rangaswamy. pp.165-177.

Bennett, Vivienne.

1992 "The Evolution of Urban Popular Movements in Mexico
Between 1968 and 1988." In Escobar and Alvarez. pp.240-
259.

Carr, Barry and Montoya, Ricardo Anzaldua.
1980 The Mexican Left, the Popular Movements, and the
Politics of Austerity. San Diego: University of
California.

Castells, Manuel.
1982 "Squatters and Politics in Latin America: A
Comparative Analysis of Urban Social Movements in Chile,
Peru and Mexico." In Safa. pp.249—282.

Cohen, Jean L.
1985 Strategy or Identity: New TheOretical Paradigms and
Contemporary Social Movements. In Social Research.
vol.52, no.4 winter.

Cornelius, Wayne A.
1995 Nafta Costs Mexico More Job Losses Than U.S. In New
York Times. October 17. A14

Covington, Sally
1990 Urban Popular Movements in Mexico. New York: Bildner
Center Publications.

Cubitt, Tessa.
1988 Latin American Society. New York: Longman
Scientific & Technical.

Cymet, David.
1992 From Ejido to Metropolis, Another Path: An
Evaluation on Ejido Property Rights and Informal Land
Development in Mexico City. New York: P. Lang.

HM

105

Davis, Diane E.

1994 Failed Democratic Reform in Contemporary Mexico:
from Social Movements to the State and Back Again. In
Journal of Latin American Studies. vol.26, n.2, pp.375-
408.

Diddee, Jaymala and Rangaswamy, Vimla.
1993 Urbanization: Trends, Perspectives and Challenge.
New Delhi: Rawat Publications.

Erfani, Julie A.
1995 The Paradox of the Mexican State: Rereading
Sovereignty from Independence to NAFTA. Boulder: L.
Rienner Publishers.

Escobar, Arturo.
1992 "Culture, Economics, and Politics in Latin American
Social Movements Theory and Research." In Escobar and
Alvarez. pp.62-85.

Escobar, Arturo and Alvarez, Sonia E.
1992 The Making of Social Movements in Latin America:
Identity, Strategy, and Democracy. Boulder: Westview
Press.

Evers, Tilman.
1985 "Identity: the Hidden Side of New Social Movements
in Latin America." In Slater. pp.43-71.

Foweraker, Joe and Craig, Ann.
1990 Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico.
Boulder: L.Rienner Publishers.

Gallin, Rita and Ferguson, Ann.
1993 The Women and International Development Annual.
Vol.3. Boulder: Westview Press.

Gilbert, Alan.
1985 Housing, the State, and the Poor. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Gilbert, Alan and Ward, Peter.
1989 Housing and Land in Urban Mexico. San Diego:
University of California Press.

MM

Jelin, Elizabeth.

1990 Women and Social Change in Latin America. New
Jersey: Zed book.
Klandermans, Bert, Kriesi, Hanspeter,
1988

and Tarrow, Sidney.
International Social Movement Research. London:
Press.

Jai
Klandermans,

Bert and Tarrow,
1988

Sidney.
“Mobilization into Social Movements: Synthesizing

European and American Approaches.” In Klandermans,
Kriesi, and Tarrow. pp.1-38.

Knight, Alan.
1992

"Historical Continuities in Social Movements." In
Escobar and Alvarez. pp.78-102.

Koechlin, Tim.

1995 NAFTA's Footloose Plants Abandon Workers.

In
Multinational Monitor. vol.16, n.4,

pp.25—27.
Laclau, Ernesto.

1985 "New Social Movements and the Plurality of the
Social." In Slater. pp.27—42.

Lewis, Oscar.
1961 The Children of Sanchez. New York: Vintage Books.
1959 Five Families; Mexican Case Studies in the Culture
of Poverty. New York: Basic Bocks.

Logan, Kathleen.

1990 "Women's Participation in Urban Protest." In
Foweraker and Craig. pp.150-159.
Mainwaring,

Scott and Viola, Eduardo.
1984

New Social Movements, Political Culture, and
Democracy: Brazil and Argentina in the 19805. In Telos.
no.61, Fall, pp.17-54

Mangin, William.
1970 Peasants in Cities. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company.

McAdam,
1988

"Micromobilization Contexts and Recruitment to
Activism." In Klandermans, Kriesi,
154.

Doug.

and Tarrow. pp.125—

107

Melucci, Alberto.

1988 "Getting Involved: Identity and Mobilization in
Social Movements." In Klandermans, Kriesi, and Tarrow.
pp.329-348.

1980 The New Social Movements: A Theoretical Approach.
In Social Science Information. vol.19, n.2. pp.199—226.

Molyneux, Maxine.
1985 Mobilization without emancipation?: Women's
Interests, the State, and Revolution in Nicaragua. In
Feminist Studies. vol.11, n.2, pp.227—254.

Mouffe, Chantal
1984 "Towards a Theoretical Interpretation of New Social
Movements." In Hanninen. pp.139-143.

Nairn Allan.

1994 After NAFTA: Chiapas Uprising. In Multinational
Monitor. vol.15, n.1-2. pp.6-9.

Navarrete , Francisco .

1994 Free Trade and Traditional Farming in Mexico. In
Earth Island Journal. Spring. pp.28-29.

Oberschall, Anthony.
1973 Social Conflict and Social Movements. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall Inc.

Offe, Claus.
1985 New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of
Institutional Politics. In Social Research. vol.52,
no.4, winter.

Ortner, Sherry B.
1994 "Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties. In
Culture/ Power/ History. New Jersey: Princeton
University Press. pp.372-411.

Perlman, Janice E.
1976 The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics
in Rio de Janeiro. Berkeley: University of California
Press.

Prieto, Ana Maria.
1986 "Mexico's National Coordinadoras in a Context of
Economic Crisis." In Carr and Montoya. pp.75-94.

108

Rendon, Teresa and Salas, Carlos.
1993 The Probable Impact of NAFTA on Non-Agricultural
Employment in Mexico. In Review of Radical Political
Economics. vol.25, n.4, pp.109-119.

Safa, Helen. .
1982 Towards a Political Economy of Urbanization in
Third World Countries. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Salman, Ton.
1990 "Research Strategies on Social Movements: A

Comparative Perspective." In Assies. pp.99—l62.

Scott, James C.
1985 Weapons of the Weak. New Haven: Yale University
Press.

Slater, David.
1985 New Social Movements and the State in Latin
America. Amsterdam: CEDLA.

Tanski, Janet M.
1993 Capital Concentration, Mexican Conglomerates and the
Proposed North American Free Trade Agreement. In Review
of Radical Political Economics. vol.25, n.4, pp.72-90.

Thorbek, Susanne.
1994 Gender and Slum Culture in Urban Asia. New Jersey:
Zed Book.

Touraine, Alain.
1985 An Introduction to the Study of Social Movements.
In Social Research. vol.52, no.4, winter.

Wolf, Eric.
1969 Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century. New York:
Harper and Row.

"‘11111111lllllilll“