Cooperation and Community: Economy and Society in Oaxaca [Hardcover]

Jeffrey H. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000

In the villages and small towns of Oaxaca, Mexico, as in much of rural Latin America, cooperation among neighbors is essential for personal and community survival. It can take many forms, from godparenting to sponsoring fiestas, holding civic offices, or exchanging agricultural or other kinds of labor. This book examines the ways in which the people of Santa Ana del Valle practice these traditional cooperative and reciprocal relationships and also invent new relationships to respond to global forces of social and economic change at work within their community. Based on fieldwork he conducted in this Zapotec-speaking community between 1992 and 1996, Jeffrey Cohen describes continuities in the Santaneros' practices of cooperation, as well as changes resulting from transnational migration, tourism, increasing educational opportunities, and improved communications. His nuanced portrayal of the benefits and burdens of cooperation is buttressed by the words of many villagers who explain why and how they participate-or not-in reciprocal family and community networks. This rich ethnographic material offers a working definition of community created in and through cooperative relationships. Jeffrey H. Cohen is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Texas A&M University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a clearly argued, well-documented ethnography of social cooperation in the face of economic and social change in [a] Zapotec town." --John M. Watanabe, author of Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292712200
• ISBN-13: 978-0292712201
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,747,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a cultural anthropologist and I do the bulk of my work in the Southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. I focus on several areas: migration, development, traditional foods and globalization/transnationalism. I also do comparative work on Turkish/Mexican migration, Dominican migration and currently on food security.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good reading!, February 24, 2000

By 

Herb Rosenthal (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooperation and Community: Economy and Society in Oaxaca (Hardcover)

This is an enjoyable and interesting ethnographic study of a small Mexican village. The author sheds light on the power structure of the village...the impact of the global economy on their weaving industry...and the important role that temporary migration of the men to the U.S., in order to send back cash, plays in village life. All this in easy-to-follow prose with neat examples. The pictures are great too!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life in rural Mexico, January 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cooperation and Community: Economy and Society in Oaxaca (Paperback)

This is a nicely written ethnography that should find a useful place in anthropology classes