ZAPOTECA MIGRATION, TABLE GRAPE AND ETNO-MULTITERRITORIALITY IN SONORA, MEXICO

Abstract

In this paper I present the case of the Zapotec families from Oaxaca settled in Estación Pesqueira, in the northern state of Sonora, Mexico. The close relationship between the migratory process and the appropriation of geographic spaces in destination areas is shown. The case study is an ethnographic approach in areas of export crops, especially table grapes carried out from 2010 to 2015. This work has allowed me to show how the spatial and identity appropriation of these settlement sites is achieved based on characteristics individuals of each group and their families, for example, based on popular religiosity or ethnic spirituality. With respect to the Zapotec families of Oaxaca, especially in the area of the Central Valleys, which is where the families I speak about in this article come from, migration has been a factor present in their strategies of social reproduction. Zapotec families in this area began in the migratory process since the 1940s with the Bracero program, then continued to migrate to the area of Costa de Oaxaca, Papaloapan, Chiapas and Veracruz in the 1970s, especially in crops cotton and coffee plantations. Later they migrated to the agricultural areas of northwestern Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa, Sonora), even reaching states such as California, Oregon and Washington in the United States in the late 1970s, employing themselves mainly as agricultural day laborers.

Keywords

• migration
• table grape
• sonora
• zapotecs