Abstract
In Mexico during the 1960s, population growth , rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation , and the stagnation of agricultural production with an increase of imported basic food , resulted in a severe crisis in the agricultural sector. Furthermore, land reform had come to an end. There was no land available for distribution, and political unrest had further limited regional redistributions of land. Landlords and small plots of land forced young people to leave the rural area. The land under cultivation was parceled into such small plots that it had become unproductive. Smallholdings had been highly dependent on governmental support, which further reduced the yields, and 30 to 40 per cent was lost in storage. To change this situation, the Government decided to reinforce the agricultural sector by supporting intensive production, concentrating loans, and stressing technical innovation (extensionismo), especially in irrigation and storage infrastructure, so from 1970 to 1976 it promoted a collective ejido. The Government aimed to change the subsistence production into a market-orientated system. With this support, the Government also tried to neutralise political tensions, criminality and violence, especially in the region of Guerrero, where a guerrilla movement called “The Army of the Poor” [El Ejército de los Pobres] existed.
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- 1.
This text is based on a translated summary of the author’s PhD dissertation Úrsula Oswald Spring, (1978). Unterentwicklung als Folge von Abhängigkeit [Underdevelopment as a consequence of dependency ], Lang Verlag, Bern. The developments since 1977 are reflected in the conclusions.
- 2.
Ejido refers to the system of assigning to peasants either individually or collectively a plot of land for agricultural exploitation . It became institutionalised after the Mexican Revolution and was opened to private selling and renting in 1992, thus removing an important protection of the most vulnerable poor small-scale farmers of Mexico . To improve the productivity of the ejido , several governments promoted collective ejidos , where farmers organised themselves collectively to improve their income with a larger production area.
- 3.
Victor Turner developed a methodological framework and processual mode of analysis, and his conception was considered to be an anti-structure. Turner (1957a: 91) uses the term ‘processional’, and in his book about the Ndembu he developed four phases: “(1) a breach of regular norm-governed social relationships between persons or groups of a social unit; (2) a crisis or extension of the breach, unless the conflict can be sealed off quickly; (3) adjustive and redressive mechanisms brought into operation by leading members of the social group; and (4) reintegration of the disturbed social group or social recognition of an irreparable breach or schism (91–94)” (Deflem 1991: 2).
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Oswald Spring, Ú. (2019). Underdevelopment as a Consequence of Dependency. In: Úrsula Oswald Spring: Pioneer on Gender, Peace, Development, Environment, Food and Water. Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94712-9_9
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