The aim of this doctoral thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the issue of ethnic identity of the Zapotecs in the Sierra Norte of the Mexican State of Oaxaca, and to contribute to... Show moreThe aim of this doctoral thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the issue of ethnic identity of the Zapotecs in the Sierra Norte of the Mexican State of Oaxaca, and to contribute to an indigenous criticism aiming at decolonizing cultural memories and social realities in México and the Americas. In discussing the reality of a specific indigenous people today, we are confronted with important questions, not only: ¿Who are the Zapotecs in the Sierra Norte of the Mexican State of Oaxaca, what are their characteristics?, but also How do they represent themselves and construct their cultural identity in their own terms? How do the processes of identity formation take place within a context of imposed and stigmatized ‘alterity’? How are forms of ethnic representation created and recreated in a situation of coloniality and social inequality? How is ethnic identity constructed in a framework of modernity and globalization: which role do cultural memory and worldview play in this? Show less
