Common-property regimes owned and governed by predominantly indigenous communities are widespread in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The traditional governance systems of these communities are under strain because of transnational migration, which reduces the number of resident adults available to assume public offices and contribute labor to community projects. A study of responses to this situation in two such communities identified adaptations including the establishment of hometown associations in migrant communities in the United States and the requirement that migrants hire substitutes to fulfill their obligations in the home community. Given shifts in migration patterns and migrant profiles, however, these adaptations have so far been insufficient to relieve the stress on governance institutions, and this has implications for community identity and governance in the future.Regímenes de propiedad comunitaria en donde los propietarios y gobernantes son las comunidades indígenas son comunes en el estado mexicano de Oaxaca. En la actualidad las estructuras tradicionales de gobernación de estas comunidades sufren bajo la tensión causada por la migración trasnacional, la cual reduce el número de residentes adultos disponibles para asumir cargos públicos y prestar mano de obra para proyectos de la comunidad. Un estudio de las respuestas a esta situación en dos de esas comunidades identificó adaptaciones que incluyen el establecimiento de asociaciones de tierra de origen en las comunidades de migrantes en los Estados Unidos y el requerimiento de contratar a suplentes que cumplan las obligaciones de los migrantes en sus comunidades de origen. Sin embargo, dados los cambios en el modelo migratorio y el perfil del migrante, estas adaptaciones han sido hasta el momento insuficientes para aliviar la tensión en las instituciones de gobierno, lo cual tiene implicaciones para el futuro de la identidad y gobernación comunitarias.
013James P. robson is a Banting Fellow and currently a visiting Professor at the University of redlands, california. His research interests are common property, migration, conservation, and land use change. raymond e. Wiest is professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of manitoba and the author of many books and articles on labor migration and transnational mexican life. they thank the citizens of san Juan evangelista Analco and santiago comaltepec for their warm welcome and participation in this research. the study was funded through the canada research chair in community-based resource management, a University of manitoba Graduate Fellowship, and a grant to Leticia merino (iFri crc at iis/UnAm, mexico city).
Two images of Bangladesh as a country are commonplace in the West and often simplistically intertwined—a land of overpopulation and poverty, and a land cursed by natural disaster. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world with an estimated per capita income equivalent to only U.S. $180. It is also one of the world's most crowded countries. One hundred thirteen million people live in Bangladesh, an area about the size of Wisconsin, with an average density close to two thousand people per square mile. Since only 13% of the population is urban, this tremendous population, currently growing at a rate of 2.8% per annum, exerts especially great pressure on resources in the rural areas.
Migration of married men to the United States provides the primary source of support for an increasing number of Mexican rural families. Extensive research in a rural Mexican mestizo municipio provides firm evidence that migratory married men continue to fulfill traditional familial obligations associated with their gender and even provide for household comforts leading to a rise in social status. Conjugal families are maintained but women’s dependence is increased, while men continue to realize the ideals of machismo and associated dominance. The issue of fertility control is analyzed in this context to illustrate how migration, as an acceptable economic strategy, is used to resolve a paradox, turning fertility control from a negative attribute for males into a positive one.
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