The New Radicals: How Wage Labor, Physical Abuse and an Agrarian Crisis Shaped Women's Participation in the Zapatista Rebellion

My experiences in San Cristóbal de las Casas have been the primary motivation for my interest in female Zapatistas. Ever since I concluded my research project, I have had a question that has been largely unanswered by scholars. What are the separate economic and social factors that motivated indigenous Tetzel and Tzotzil men and women to volunteer in the Zapatista Rebellion, and how has feminism influenced indigenous women’s participation in the rebellion? Up to this point, few historians have studied the gendered nature of the causes for indigenous participation in the EZLN. Those who have were concerned with the impact feminism had on women in revolutions, without appreciating the vital role of female Zapatistas in Latin America feminism. Historians of Chiapas and the Zapatistas continue to repeat the accepted narrative that all participants in the rebellion pursued land reform and greater rights for indigenous people. This explanation reveals a clear gender bias, for it leans heavily on male Zapatistas and does not address the separate causes that compelled indigenous women to enter the revolution. Yet the social and economic challenges that indigenous Tzeltal and Tzotzil sought to resolve were gender specific. Males were concerned with inequalities caused by land distribution and lack of rights provided to indigenous people, for men were the chief income earners and depended on employment in an agrarian economy. Females were compelled to fight in hopes of resolving women-centered issues, which were insufficient access to primary education, employment, and healthcare for indigenous women. The majority of female Zapatistas had absorbed the popular messages of the expanding feminist movement in Mexico. Thus, indigenous women saw participation in the Zapatista Rebellion as an opportunity to pursue feminist causes.B.A. (Bachelor of Arts

Article 27 and Mexican Land Reform: The Legacy of Zapata\u27s Dream

This student note takes an historical look at indigenous land tenure in Mexico and the role that limited alienability has played in sustaining indigenous agriculture from the time of the Aztecs up until the reforms enacted by the Salinas administration in Mexico in the early 1990\u27s. As the piece was in edits, the Zapatista rebellion broke out and the text was amended to note the role that land tenure played in the uprising

Article 27 and Mexican Land Reform: The Legacy of Zapata\u27s Dream

This student note takes an historical look at indigenous land tenure in Mexico and the role that limited alienability has played in sustaining indigenous agriculture from the time of the Aztecs up until the reforms enacted by the Salinas administration in Mexico in the early 1990\u27s. As the piece was in edits, the Zapatista rebellion broke out and the text was amended to note the role that land tenure played in the uprising

Homeland Calling: Myths as Mobilizers of Conflict in the Zapatista Rebellion and the Kosovo War

How do conflict myths mobilize actors in insurgencies? This thesis aims to answer this question by exploring how insurgent leaders engage in revolutionary mythmaking in its messaging to combatants, members of the nation, and the international community, in order to incite and sustain their rebellions. I compare the Zapatista Army of National Liberation of the 1994 Zapatista rebellion and the Kosovo Liberation Army of the 1998 Kosovo war in order to examine the kinds of myths propagated in each case. This study argues that revolutionary mythmaking is not a mere feature of some insurgencies but a necessary condition for an insurgency to occur. The forces compelling fighters to take up arms, nationals to support the cause, and the international community to take interest are myths of folklore, homeland, and heroes. Unlike previous single-case studies, this thesis offers a comparative perspective that reveals commonalities in the kinds of myths propagated in insurgencies

The Colonial Legacy and Human Rights in Mexico: Indigenous Rights and the Zapatista Movement

The current status of human rights in Latin America has been profoundly affected by the legacy of colonial institutions. Since the time of conquest, through colonialism, and after independence, the growth of the Latin American state has been challenged by the alternative discourse of indigenous rights. In Mexico, the dominance of mestizaje (or the quest for a single Mexican ethnic identity) in the formation of its modern state apparatus has left indigenous cultures out of the realm of political participation and exposed to human rights violations. With the Zapatista uprising of 1994-1996, the contradictions inherent in Mexico’s constitution were brought to the forefront and placed the discourse of indigenous rights squarely on the global human rights agenda. Mexico provides an interesting case in the evolution of indigenous rights discourse, considering the large number of indigenous groups within its borders, especially in Oaxaca and Chiapas. The Zapatista rebellion illustrates the ways in which indigenous claims have sought to challenge the state, as well as claims of universality in global human rights policies. It has, in many ways, forced the leaders of the Mexican State to take a hard look at its colonial past

The Legacy of Emiliano Zapata

In the early 20th century, the Mexican government was plagued with corruption, greed, injustice and violence. Although the Mexican Revolution, which started in 1910, resulted in the end of dictatorship in Mexico and the drafting of a constitution in 1917, periodic violence continued throughout the nation well into the 1930s. A number of revolutionaries rose from the Revolution, including Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. This paper will look at Zapata\u27s life, his participation in the Mexican Revolution, and the enduring influence Zapata has had on Mexican politics and culture