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Mujeres Indígenas Profesionistas Trabajando para Transformar las Ciudades en México: Reflexiones Metodológicas

13 April 202323 May 2023 0 min read

Las prácticas de investigación continúan sin reconocer la multiplicidad de puntos de vista, experiencias y conocimientos de las diversas personas involucradas en los procesos investigativos, pasando muchas veces por alto los significados que las personas dan a sus propias vidas y a la realidad, y silenciando así las interpretaciones subjetivas. En este blog compartimos algunas reflexiones sobre la metodología desarrollada en el marco de un proyecto sobre el Derecho a la Ciudad con mujeres indígenas en Guadalajara, México. Pensar la investigación como un sistema vivo, compuesto por numerosos engranajes movilizados por el trabajo colaborativo, puede ayudarnos a investigar de forma más consciente y responsable, escriben Azucena Gollaz y Marina Cadaval.

Mapping Racism. Guadalajara Dic 22 TODAS Calle (1) — Photo taken by the authors

En 2022, iniciamos un proyecto de investigación enfocado en comprender las principales barreras que enfrentan las mujeres indígenas profesionistas para acceder a los bienes y servicios en las ciudades, especialmente aquéllos relacionados con la educación superior, el trabajo y la movilidad. Nuestro punto de partida fue la exclusión sistémica por razones de género que existe en las metrópolis latinoamericanas, y en particular la discriminación por cuestiones de raza que se vive en Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. El proyecto fue financiado por el International Institute of Social Studies – Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS-EUR).

En el marco del proyecto, trabajamos con cinco mujeres indígenas profesionistas: E.B. (Rarámuri) del estado de Chihuahua, A.G. y S.G. (Ñoo da´vi) y N.O. (Zapoteca) del estado Oaxaca, y D.E. (Totonaca) del estado de Veracruz. Todas nacieron o se mudaron a Guadalajara en donde se han involucrado en acciones específicas para construir espacios urbanos diversos y equitativos. En nuestros diálogos, individuales y colectivos, problematizamos el concepto del “Derecho a la Ciudad”. Desde una perspectiva feminista interseccional, buscamos comprender y cuestionar las limitaciones que enfrentan las mujeres mientras viven y se mueven en las ciudades, en especial con relación a las estructuras de poder de género, de raza y de clase social. Juntas buscamos nuevas formas de entender y transformar tales realidades. Uno de nuestros acuerdos comunes fue la pertinencia de resaltar los aportes que las mujeres indígenas profesionistas realizan para la transformación de los espacios urbanos como participantes activas, en lugar de mirar exclusivamente las barreras que enfrentan.

Esto nos llevó a reflexionar sobre nuestro proceso metodológico de manera más amplia, y pensamos en el concepto de “engranajes colaborativos” como una analogía de un mecanismo que pone en marcha formas innovadoras de hacer investigación mientras se actúa frente a los problemas sociales. En nuestro proyecto, esta premisa se materializó trabajando con mujeres comprometidas a pensar críticamente sobre cómo crear espacios urbanos culturalmente diversos y equitativos. Los diferentes contextos, profesiones, posiciones y entendimientos sobre el Derecho a la Ciudad de cada una de nosotras, fueron los puntos de partida y fortalezas para construir nuestros argumentos y propuestas comunes. Este enfoque es lo que consideramos una metodología transformadora, que también se puede utilizar para revelar los aportes de las personas que son menos reconocidas, tanto en las redes colaborativas como en los procesos de investigación. Para nosotras, el reconocimiento, el cuidado y el respeto fueron factores esenciales para movilizar un sistema vivo de producción de conocimiento.

Engranajes transformadores

El engranaje inicial fue nuestra conexión como dos mexicanas haciendo doctorado en el ISS-EUR en los Países Bajos. Como colegas y amigas pudimos compartir y discutir nuestros proyectos académicos en múltiples ocasiones. Las dos hemos trabajado con metodologías feministas. La investigación de Marina se basa en la colaboración, el respeto y el cuidado y la de Azucena en el valor de las experiencias encarnadas de las mujeres para transformar los espacios y las movilidades urbanas. Nuestros intereses comunes nos llevaron a desarrollar el proyecto “El Derecho a la Ciudad y las Mujeres Indígenas: Mapeando el Racismo”.

Posteriormente, el engranaje siguió avanzando con el apoyo de la Prof. Karin Arts (ISS-EUR) quien se unió y nos ayudó a materializar la iniciativa. La experiencia de la Prof. Arts como investigadora y su asesoramiento puntual guiaron nuestras reflexiones generales y ayudaron a consolidar el marco conceptual. Su asistencia en la navegación de los procesos institucionales (administrativos) también fue importante.

Al mismo tiempo, las trayectorias, conocimientos y perspectivas de cada una de las cinco mujeres indígenas profesionistas con las que interactuamos constituyeron bases invaluables para dar forma y re-direccionar la investigación. E.B. es estudiante de la licenciatura en Diseño Urbano y forma parte de NUCU (Nuestras Culturas), un colectivo de estudiantes universitarios de comunidades indígenas y afromexicanas. A.G. obtuvo una licenciatura en Ciencias de la Educación y S.G. tiene una licenciatura en Administración de Empresas. Ambas forman parte de los colectivos JIU (Jóvenes Indígena Urbanos) y ÑOI, Cultura en tus Manos, un colectivo de mujeres indígenas. N.O. cursó la licenciatura en Historia y la maestría en Género y Desarrollo; trabaja como bibliotecaria en la universidad estatal. D. E. es licenciada en Pedagogía y tiene una maestría en Investigación Educativa; trabaja en una entidad pública que coordina y promueve políticas públicas para el desarrollo sostenible de los pueblos indígenas de Jalisco.

Transformar también significa actuar

El movimiento de los engranajes ha sido sostenido por los aportes y esfuerzos conjuntos de todas las colaboradoras del proyecto. Cuatro acciones y productos específicos resultaron del proceso metodológico. 1.- Un artículo colectivo para el blog Resistencias y Mujeres Profesionistas Indígenas con propuestas concretas para construir ciudades inclusivas y diversas. 2.- La creación y publicación de los mapas de movilidad urbana y experiencias de cada participante en Carftofem 3.- Este texto que todas revisamos y acordamos todas, y 4.- Un artículo académico coescrito.

Elementos que seguir reflexionando

Identificamos varias complejidades en el proceso de llevar a cabo una investigación colaborativa y contextual. La academia en general no considera suficiente tiempo, materiales y recursos financieros para desarrollar prácticas basadas en las experiencias de las comunidades indígenas. Por ejemplo, tejer redes, iniciar y mantener diálogos, reflexionar, repensar los matices derivados de escuchar y colaborar con las participantes de la investigación; escribir, validar borradores con cada participante, traducir entre diferentes idiomas y considerar las zonas horarias. Todo ello requiere mucha atención, tiempo y recursos económicos que no corresponden a los plazos y a los presupuestos académicos.

Sin embargo, si bien es un desafío, la colaboración desde y a través de la diversidad también es un proceso de aprendizaje y una contribución a las metodologías feministas y transformadoras. Las metodologías transformadoras deben implicar una forma respetuosa y solidaria de producir conocimiento que asegure que los contextos y las realidades se representen desde múltiples perspectivas. Es por ello que todas las participantes y colaboradoras fueron reconocidas y tuvieron injerencia en los procesos y resultados de la investigación. Para nosotras, este es solo el primero de una serie de engranajes necesarios para generar una forma alternativa y necesaria de realizar investigaciones y transformar las prácticas académicas actuales.

The translation of this article has not been checked by ISS Blog Bliss; it is therefore not responsible for factual or other errors that may occur in the translation process.

Opinions expressed in Bliss posts reflect solely the views of the author of the post in question.

About the authors:

Azucena Gollaz Morán is a PhD researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam and an Associate Professor at ITESO University. Her research interests focus on gendered embodied experiences, gendered mobilities and sustainable cities. She has specialized in mobile feminist mapping methods to understand gendered and intersectional geographies of exclusion. Azucena is currently conducting research about Gendered and Intersectional Embodied Daily Urban Mobilities Experiences in Guadalajara, Mexico. More information about the project can be found at: https://cartofem.com/en_us/.

Marina Cadaval Narezo is a Mexican PhD candidate in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies -Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS-EUR) in The Netherlands where she also completed a master’s degree in Social Policies for Development. Her action-research passion around the tensions of gender, race and class in education policies derive from her involvement in the first graduate scholarship programs in Mexico aimed at indigenous people. She is interested in producing knowledge from a collaborative and feminist perspective considering diversity and care as main values (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-82654-3_7). She has also participated in several selection committees in higher education and advised educational policies.

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Transformative Methodologies | Professional indigenous women acting to transform urban spaces in Mexico: methodological reflections

7 March 2023 0 min read

Research practices often still do not adequately recognize the multiple points of views, experiences, and knowledges of those we work with. In the process, the meanings that people give to their own lives and to reality are often overlooked, which silences subjective interpretations. In this blog, we share some reflections on the methodological process developed while carrying out a project about the right to the city with indigenous women in Guadalajara, Mexico. Thinking of research as a living system comprising numerous collaborative gears turned and interlocked by different types of support can help us do research more mindfully and responsibly.

In 2022, we started a research project focused on understanding the main barriers professional indigenous women face in accessing goods and services in cities, especially relating to higher education, work, and mobility. Our point of departure was the systemic gender-based exclusion that exists in Latin American metropolises, and more in particular the gender-based discrimination experienced in Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The project was financed by ISS-EUR.

We interacted with five professional indigenous women: E.B. (Rarámuri) from the state of Chihuahua, A.G. and S.G. (Ñoo da´vi) and N.O. (Zapoteca) from Oaxaca, and D.E. (Totonaca) from Veracruz. They either moved to or were born in Guadalajara. All of them have been involved in specific projects to build diverse and gender-equal urban spaces. In both individual and collective encounters, we jointly problematized the concept of the ‘Right to the City’.[1] We did this from a feminist intersectional perspective to understand and question the constraints women face while living and moving around in cities, particularly in relation to gender, social class, and race power structures. Together, we looked for new ways of understanding and transforming such realities. One of our common agreements was the relevance of highlighting the contributions that professional indigenous women as active participants make to modifying urban spaces, instead of exclusively looking at the barriers faced.

This triggered us to reflect on our methodological process more broadly, and we came across the concept of ‘collaborative gears’ as an analogy for a mechanism that sets in motion innovative ways of doing research while acting towards addressing social problems. In our project, this premise was materialized by working with women who engaged in critically thinking about how to create culturally diverse and equitable urban spaces. Our different contexts, professions, positions, and understandings about the Right to the City were the points of departure and strengths from which we built our common arguments and proposals.

This approach is what we consider a transformative methodology – one that can also be used to reveal the role of those who are less recognized, both in collaborative networks and in research processes. For us, recognition, care, and respect were essential factors to mobilize a living system of knowledge production.

Transformative Gears

The initial gear we identified was our connection as two Mexicans doing PhD research at ISS-EUR in The Netherlands to each other. As colleagues and friends, we were able to share and discuss our academic projects on multiple occasions. We have both worked using feminist methodologies – Marina’s research is based on collaboration, respect, and care and Azucena’s on the value of the embodied experiences of women to transform urban spaces and mobilities. Our common interests led us to develop ‘The Right to the City and Indigenous Women: Mapping Racism’.

Then, the gears kept moving with the support of Prof. Karin Arts (ISS-EUR) who joined and helped us to materialize the initiative. The experience of Prof. Arts as a researcher and her punctual advice guided our general reflections and helped us to consolidate the conceptual framework of the project. Her assistance in navigating institutional (administrative) processes was important, too.

At the same time, the trajectories, knowledges, and perspectives of every one of the five professional indigenous women with whom we interacted constituted invaluable bases for shaping and shifting the research. E.B. is a bachelor student in Urban Design and is part of NUCU (Our Cultures), a collective of college students from indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities. A.G. obtained a BA degree in Educational Sciences and S.G. has a BA in Business Administration. Both A.G. and S.G. are part of the collectives JIU (Indigenous Urban Youth) and ÑOI, Cultura en tus Manos (Culture in your Hands), a collective of indigenous women. N.O. has a BA in History and an MA in Gender and Development. She works as a librarian at the state university. And D.E. has a BA in Pedagogy and an MA in Educational Research. She works in a public entity that coordinates and promotes public policies for the sustainable development of indigenous peoples in Jalisco.

The motion of the gears has been sustained by the joint inputs and efforts of every collaborator in this project.

‘Transformative’ also means action

Four concrete actions and outputs resulted from the methodological process:

a collective article for the blog Resistencias y Mujeres Profesionistas Indígenas (Resistances and Professional Indigenous Women) with concrete proposals to build inclusive and diverse cities.
the creation and publication of the maps of urban mobility and experiences of each participant in Cartofem.
this text which all revised and agreed with, and
a co-written academic article.

To think further… things to consider

We identified several complexities in the process of carrying out collaborative and contextual research. Academia in general does not provide sufficient time, material, and financial resources for developing practices grounded in the experiences of marginalized communities such as indigenous women. For instance, the weaving of networks, initiation and maintenance of dialogues, reflection, rethinking nuances derived from listening to and collaborating with research participants, writing, validating drafts with every participant, translating between different languages, and considering time zones all require a lot of time and economic resources that do not correspond to academic deadlines and budgets.

Yet, while being a challenge, collaboration from and through diversity is also a learning process and a contribution to feminist and transformative methodologies. Transformative methodologies should entail a respectful and caring way of producing knowledge that ensures that contexts and realities are represented from multiple perspectives. That is why we organized our project in such a way that all the participants and collaborators were recognized and had a say in what the research was about, how it was carried out, and why it took place. For us, this is just the first of many (sets of) gears necessary for a very much-needed alternative way of conducting research and transforming current academic practices.

[1] We understand the Right to the City as the entitlement to access, inhabit, transit, and to participate in urban settlements.

Opinions expressed in Bliss posts reflect solely the views of the author of the post in question.

About the authors:

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Weight gains from trade in foods: evidence from Mexico by Osea Giuntella, Matthias Rieger and Lorenzo Rotunno

6 February 201818 May 2020 8 min read

Originally published on VoxEU.org on 02 February 2018

The majority of obese adults are now found in developing countries. This column presents new evidence on the effects of trade on obesity in Mexico. The results indicate that across Mexican states, a one standard deviation increase in the unhealthy share of food imports from the US increases the likelihood of individuals being obese by about 5 percentage points. As developing countries around the world open up their food markets to industrialised countries, they may be accelerating their ongoing nutrition transition and imposing high future costs on their health systems.

Obesity is not the first health challenge that comes to mind when thinking about the global south. Obesity is rather associated with the Global North, particularly the US (think soda drinks, fast food, and lack of exercise). But this conventional wisdom is passé. The majority of obese adults – those with a body mass index of 30 and more – are now found in developing countries (Ng et. al 2014). The Global South is in the midst of a health and nutrition transition (Popkin and Gordon-Larsen, 2004). While communicable diseases and undernutrition are on a (slow) decline, non-communicable diseases and overnutrition are taking hold of populations, and they are doing so rapidly.

Given the known health risks (such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and economic costs of obesity, what can policymakers in the Global South do to prevent obesity in epidemic proportions? Important lessons may come from countries that have already undergone this transition and from examining potential drivers that are amenable to public policy. The much-discussed case of Mexico is ideal for such an exercise.

Obesity and trade: The case of Mexico

Mexico’s obesity rates increased from 10% to 35% over the period 1980-2012 (according to our analysis sample including adult females). And among the already obese OECD countries, Mexico ranked second in 2015, surpassed only by the US (OECD 2017).

Coinciding with these profound changes in population health, Mexico has opened itself to trade in foods mostly with the US. Currently over 80% of Mexican food imports are American. In Figure 1, we show the evolution of Mexican imports of foods and beverages from the US over time. While overall food imports have increased dramatically, food that is typically considered unhealthy has surged quite spectacularly. Notably, exports of ‘food preparations’ are 23 times larger in 2012 compared to 1989.

Figure 1 Mexican imports of food and beverages from the US over time

In Figure 2, we classify Mexican imports from the US as unhealthy or healthy food using the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines (for instance, ‘dark green vegetables’ are recommended for increased consumption, while ‘refined flour and mixes’ are advised for reduced consumption). US exports to Mexico of both food groups have increased since the late 1980s, but unhealthy food groups at a much faster rate.

Figure 2 Unhealthy and healthy Mexican food and beverage imports from the US

Such trends naturally raise the suspicion of a possible, causal link running from greater consumption of US foods to rising obesity prevalence (e.g. Jacobs and Richtel 2017, Rogoff 2017). However, to date no paper has attempted to estimate a direct causal relationship between obesity and trade.

Estimating weight gains from trade in foods

In a new working paper, we quantify the impact of US food exports on individuals’ likelihood of being obese across Mexican states over the period 1988 to 2012 (Giuntella et al. 2017). To this end, we match several rounds of anthropometric and household expenditure surveys with product-level food trade data. Our main results are based on female adults for which data are available over this long time span.

We calculate the unhealthy share of food imports from the US by differentiating food items using the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans. We then allocate these aggregate food imports (healthy, unhealthy) to Mexican states. More specifically, we exploit variation in Mexican states’ historical expenditure by food products prior to trade integration. Our identification strategy assumes that aggregate trade shocks heterogeneously impact sub-national units as a function of time-invariant or ‘baseline’ variables (e.g. Dix-Carneiro and Kovak 2017, Autor et al. 2013). Note that there is substantial heterogeneity across Mexican states in obesity rates and historical food expenditure patterns, which further motivates our modelling approach.

Our empirical models also control for a host of state (such as food prices, GDP, FDI, migration) and individual covariates, as well as state fixed effects and state-specific time trends. In a second empirical strategy, we relate long-run differences in obesity rates at the state level to changes in unhealthy food imports conditional on baseline covariates. We instrument US exports of unhealthy foods to Mexico with corresponding US exports to other countries. And alternatively, we use ‘gravity residuals’ singling out the comparative advantage of the US in unhealthy food production relative to Mexico (akin to Autor et al. 2013).

Quantifying weight gains from trade in foods

We find that a one standard deviation increase in the unhealthy share of imports (equivalent to a 14 percentage point increase) raises the likelihood of obesity by about 5 percentage points. The effect amounts to 18% of the sample average in obesity. Findings using long-run difference models and IV estimates, as well as gravity residuals, are qualitatively similar – pointing to a plausibly causal effect.

Our main finding passes a series of robustness and placebo checks:

Plausibly unrelated imports from the US (such as apparel products) do not impact obesity.
The effects associated with food imports from the rest of the world are insignificant and small, underlining the specific importance of US foods for obesity.
Likewise, unhealthy Mexican food exports to the US are not correlated with obesity.
Similar patterns emerge if we employ food imports from the US for final demand.
Overall (the sum of healthy and unhealthy) food imports do not correlate with obesity, highlighting the importance of differentiating ‘unhealthy’ and ‘healthy’ US foods.
Our main results are robust to dropping Mexican states one by one.
Similar patterns are obtained using body mass index (in quantile regressions) or overweight as outcome variables.

Health inequality and trade

Weight gains due to trade vary across socioeconomic groups. As illustrated in Figure 3, women with low levels of education face a greater risk of trade-induced obesity – their obesity risk is 5 percentage points higher than that of more educated women in a Mexican state with average exposure to unhealthy food imports. This differential goes up to 8 percentage points as the state’s trade exposure rises by 14 percentage points (one standard deviation). This interaction effect between education and trade is robust to the inclusion of state-time fixed effects (that is, purging the main local effect of trade exposure). The results are consistent with the well-known hypothesis that more educated individuals are more efficient producers of health investment than less educated ones. This educational gradient may be exacerbated in food environments where individuals are faced with more unhealthy food choices (Mani et al. 2013, Mullanaithan 2011, Dupas 2011).

Figure 3 Inequality between education groups in obesity risk and unhealthy food imports

Income, prices, and tastes

Having established a direct impact of US food exports on obesity prevalence in Mexico, we next turn to exploring possible mechanisms. Trade impacts incomes, prices, and tastes (due, for instance, to exposure to a foreign lifestyle and advertisement), all of which may drive the observed impacts on obesity. First, note that our main effect is robust to controlling for state GDP per capita, the total share of expenditures on unhealthy foods, as well as the relative prices of healthy versus unhealthy goods. Second, estimating demand equations over healthy and unhealthy food groups, we find that exposure to unhealthy foods from the US has redirected overall expenditure towards unhealthy foods. This observed shift is robust to controlling for real income and prices (for a similar empirical strategy, see Atkin 2013). In other words, trade with the US appears to influence tastes for relatively unhealthy foods. Increased variety of unhealthy foods boosts demand. These patterns are in line with a shift to ‘Western’ food consumption and increases in body weight among East Germans following the fall of the Berlin Wall (Dragone and Ziebarth 2017).

Policy implications

Nations have a lot to gain from trade. But weight gains and the associated health losses from trade in foods have been largely omitted from the equation. As developing countries around the world open up their food markets vis-à-vis industrialised countries – which tend to have a comparative advantage in more processed and less healthy foods – they may accelerate their ongoing nutrition transition. Obesity may put high costs on future health systems and the economies of the Global South.

Undoing the nutrition transition is likely harder than moderating it in the first place. Obesity and unhealthy food habits tend to be persistent. The Mexican experience is informative for countries in the Global South. Integrating nutrition and other health concerns into the formulation of food trade policies is paramount,[1] and such concerns should feature high up on the agenda in future trade negotiations.

Our findings suggest that differentiating between healthy and clearly unhealthy imports may help slow down secular trends in obesity around the world.

References

Atkin, D (2013), “Trade, tastes, and nutrition in India”, American Economic Review 103(5): 1629-1663.

Autor, D H, D Dorn and G H Hanson (2013), “The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States”, American Economic Review 103(6): 2121-68.

Colantone, I, R Crino and L Ogliari (2017), “Import competition and mental distress: The hidden cost of globalization”, mimeo.

Dix-Carneiro, R and B K Kovak (2017), “Trade Liberalization and Regional Dynamics”, American Economic Review 107(10): 2908-46.

Dragone, D and N R Ziebarth (2017), “Economic Development, Novelty Consumption, and Body Weight: Evidence from the East German Transition to Capitalism”, Journal of Health Economics(51): 41-65.

Dupas, P (2011), “Health behavior in developing countries”, Annual Review of Economics 3(1): 425-449.

Giuntella, O, L Rotunno and M Rieger (2017), “Weight Gains from Trade in Foods: Evidence from Mexico”, University of Pittsburgh Working Paper No. 17/010.

Jacobs, A and M Richtel (2017), “A Nasty, Nafta-Related Surprise: Mexico’s Soaring Obesity”, New York Times, 11 December.

Mani, A, S Mullainathan, E Shafir and J Zhao (2013), “Poverty impedes cognitive function”, Science341(6149): 976-980.

McManus, T C and G Schaur (2016), “The effects of import competition on worker health”, Journal of International Economics 102: 160-172.

Mullainathan, S (2011), “The psychology of poverty”, Focus 28(1): 19-22.

Ng, M et al. (2014), “Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2013”,The Lancet 384(9945): 766-781.

Pierce, J R and P K Schott (2016), “Trade Liberalization and Mortality: Evidence from U.S. Counties”, NBER Technical Report No. 22849.

Popkin, B M and P Gordon-Larsen (2004), “The nutrition transition: worldwide obesity dynamics and their determinants”, International Journal of Obesity 28: S2-S9.

Rogoff, K (2017), “The US is Exporting Obesity”, Project Syndicate, 1 December.

Endnotes

[1] Related studies provide evidence for adverse effects of manufacturing imports on the health of workers – see for instance, Colantone et al. (2017) and the associated VoxEU column, McManus and Schaur (2017), and Pierce and Schott (2016).

Picture credit: Adam Clark

Osea Giuntella is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Matthias Rieger is Assistant Professor of Development Economics at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam.Lorenzo Rotunno is Assistant Professo of Economics at the Aix-Marseille University.