Tensions between the agrarian and indigenous community in Santo Tomás, Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract

We analyze the intra-community implications that arose as a result of the application of the land measurement and certification program in an indigenous community. The tensions were expressed between community members who share a community ethos and others more identified with a neoliberal ideology. The first is sustained in an ethnic membership and collective participation in the communal life. The second one defines community membership attached to agrarian regulations and a discursive framework of private property, promoted by different actors. This scenario became more complex with the conflict caused by the rent of land to an agro-industrial company, which established asymmetric relationships and practices of “community capture” and “negative reciprocity”. The community response was the expulsion of the company from its lands and an emerging process of communal reconstitution, with several challenges to face.