Implications of Commerce and Urbanization for the Learning Environments of Everyday Life

Abstract

In recent decades, Maya ecocultural environments in Chiapas, Mexico, have undergone continuous change from more subsistence based to more commerce based and from more rural to more urban. Through ethnographic observations of one family during a 10-year period in rural and urban settings, activity settings analysis revealed changes on the micro level that reflected these shifts in the macro environment. The development of commerce between 1997 and 2007 led to increased reliance on technology, increases in individuation and individual choice, specialization for economic tasks, and for women, more formal education. Other changes in this period that were greatly intensified by urban dwelling included contact with strangers, contact with people of different ethnicities, and women’s economic achievement. Urban dwelling also introduced freedom for young women to have unchaperoned contact with young men.

Schooling and Identity: A Qualitative Analysis of Self-Portrait Drawings of Young Indigenous People from Chiapas, Mexico

“…These are drawings that go beyond the description of the here and now and specific daily activities to represent psychological states, aspirations, feelings, expectations, desires, and dreams. This data concurs with the literature review in the introduction, which identifies abstraction as a consequence of participating in decontextualized cultural practices such as school and university (Greenfield and Bruner, 1966; Rogoff, 1981; Scribner and Cole, 1981; Greenfield, 1999, 2009; Greenfield et al, 2003, 2009; Maynard and Greenfield, 2008; Levine et al, 2012; Santamaría et al, 2012). …”

“…All of these factors have transformed traditional subsistence living for many communities including that of Zinacantan in los Altos de Chiapas (Greenfield, 1999; Greenfield et al, 2003, 2009). …”

“…In that regard, longitudinal studies conducted by Greenfield and colleagues analyzed the psychological impact of historical and sociocultural changes on the indigenous people of Altos de Chiapas, in Mexico (Greenfield et al, 2003, 2009; Maynard and Greenfield, 2008; Manago and Greenfield, 2011). …”

“…In one of their studies, they analyzed cultural practices and family values ethnographically. More dependence on technology, a rise in individualistic values (autonomy, individual choice), specialization in economic tasks, and more widespread schooling, especially among women, were documented (Greenfield et al, 2009). …”

The Relational Habitus: A Lens for Studying Microprocesses of Learning in Context

“…Analytically, the relational habitus is similar to activity settings analysis [Gallimore, Goldenberg, & Weisner, 1993;Greenfield, Maynard, & Martí, 2009;O'Donnell, Tharp, & Wilson, 1993] except that the relational habitus aims to analyze the specific aspects of learning and change through the intersubjective aspects of the setting. Gallimore et al's [1993] anthropological approach to activity settings suggested we examine personnel, tasks, scripts for tasks, materials available, goals and values, and people's emotional experience at doing the tasks.…”