Indigenous Urban Families and the Oportunidades Program in Mexico

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This chapter analyzes the impact of the conditional cash-transfer program, Oportunidades, on Indigenous children’s access to education in seven Mexican cities. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2010 and 2011, which included observations and interviews with members of Indigenous households, the author describes the interfaces among program employees, beneficiary Indigenous families, and school service providers. The chapter argues that the lack of social and cultural mediation among these actors limits the accomplishment of the program’s mission. Because the program does not officially recognize Indigenous peoples’ cultural differences, the requirements it imposes on Indigenous families are often incompatible with their migration patterns tied to family and community obligations. Moreover, without compensatory measures in schools, Indigenous children with poor knowledge of Spanish drop out despite the conditional cash-transfers.