The Politics of Indigenous Identity for College Students in Oaxaca, Mexico

• In Event: Plural Approaches to Education and Equality

Abstract

In this article, I address the question; how does Indigenous identity operate as a factor in language politics for university students in Oaxaca, Mexico? Additionally, in what ways do young people take into account indigeneity when facing language choices in their studies and professional pursuits? Working within a collaborative methodological framework, through methods including political ethnography, qualitative interviews, focus groups, and surveys, I examine two distinct groups of young people age 17-24 in Oaxaca who are working towards a Bachelor’s degree, or Licenciatura in Spanish. In doing so, I find that despite significant improvements in Indigenous inclusion in Mexico, discrimination in practice continues to deter many Indigenous students from choosing to study Indigenous languages, while young people who are somewhat removed from Indigenous identities are more eager to embrace Indigenous languages as a way to reclaim a past their families have already moved away from. I argue that curricular language choices reveal how in Oaxaca, the process of Indigenous identity validation as seen in law, policy, and tourist brochures, does not yet play out in practice.

Author

• Mneesha Gellman, Emerson College