How Does Out-Migration Affect Community Institutions? A Study of Two Indigenous Municipalities in Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of human out-migration on long-standing commons institutions in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. Local communities have been increasingly engaged with national and international markets for wage labour, with many losing a significant percentage of their resident populations. This paper shows how demographic and cultural change is impacting the two social institutions—cargos and tequios—that underpin the highly autonomous form of governance the region is famed for. The loss of able-bodied men and women has meant that these customary systems are struggling to remain operational. A number of responses and institutional adaptations have been introduced by community authorities, including the forging of translocal ties that show potential for reducing the vulnerability of affected villages. While migration was temporary or circular from the 1970s to the 1990s, more permanent forms of migration have come to dominate since that time. Such a shift undermines adaptation efforts at the community level. Within this context, the lessons for commons theory are discussed, while a new layer of complexity is added to the body of work examining the consequences of rural depopulation on Mexican village life and landscapes.