DAY 1
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
Day 1 Objectives: Students will: (1) define the term misery belt,
(2) describe the living conditions in a misery belt, and (3) identify economic/social, political and religious reasons why populations move.
What is a misery belt?
• Partner A writes, Partner B reports out ‐ With your partner, write 2 synonyms for “misery”
• You have 10 seconds to “think” individually, 30 seconds to write, and 1 minute to report out.
• What is the shape of a belt when someone is wearing it? • Hypothesize: what is a misery belt when you think about an urban (city) area?
Where do you find a misery belt?
• Look at map of Mexico City – hypothesize where a misery belt might exist.
Misery Belt
a circle at the periphery (edge) of a city where people live in poverty and poor conditions
Images of Misery Belts
Source: http://ofoneaccordministry.org/global_m
exico.htm
Photo by Alejandro Montes Arce 7/10/11
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Photos by Linda Burke, July 2011
Characteristics of a Misery Belt
• After viewing the photos and using your knowledge of economic “poor living conditions,” work with your partner to list a minimum of 5 living conditions that you would expect if you lived in a misery belt.
• Partner B writes, Partner A reports out.
• Take 15 seconds to think, write for 30 seconds. Report out. • Conclusion – Have we met Objectives 1 and 2?
Population Patterns
Why would people move from one location to another? Pilgrims’ movement from England to U.S. Westward movement in the U.S. in 1800s.
Two reasons for population movement
Populations move because _____________ and ____________________________.
People move due to ____________________
and _________________________.
Population Movement & Patterns
Now go back and, with your partner, indicate the reason for the movement. Write…
 E/S for economic and social reasons  P for political reasons
 R for religious reasons
These are the three concepts to be explored during this unit.
Historical Overview of Religions in Mexico • Olmecs • Mayans
The Olmec practiced shamanism. They believed each individual has an animal spirit.
Mayan religion was characterized
by nature gods: sun, moon, corn. • Toltecs, Aztecs (deities, spirits) Good and Bad
Quetzalcoatl (ket sahl KO ahtl) Texcatlipoca (tes kah tlee POH kah) • Arrival of Spaniards with Catholicism
HOMEWORK – Day 1: Identify the three major cities: Mexico City,
Tuxtla Gutierrez and San Cristóbal de las Casas – Draw a ring
around the misery belt location for each city on the city map
handouts.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. San
Cristóbal
Home to the Tuxtla Gutierrez
de las
Casas
Zapatista movement, Tuxtla indigenous Gutiérrez, traditions Chiapas. safeguarded
State Mexico City,
capital of D.F.
Mexico Chiapas, City,DF a close to megalopolis, the built on Sumidero ancient ruins canyon.
in a lake, Map of Mexico
population 25 million
Independent Practice
Handouts of two articles. • Read each article and: (1)underline characteristics of a misery belt; and (2)circle any phrases or words that are associated with political or religious factors.
• Write a reflection of 1–2 sentences of how you would feel living in a misery belt. (Identify, the summarize for 5–10 minutes)
Homework: complete for homework if not finished in class.
Ticket out the door
• Write one new piece of information learned today on colored paper on desk – put name/date. Hand in to the teacher as you are leaving class.
Day 2
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
Background – Religious Factors
Misery Belts, Religion
Day 2 Objectives: Students will: (1) define indigenous groups of Mexico and summarize their locations in Mexico,
(2)understand the interconnectedness of historical ritual belief, Catholic religious ceremony and patron saints in Mexico, and
(3) identify and chart the five principle religions in contemporary Mexico.
JOURNAL
Imagine you are living in a misery belt and it is the end of the day. Write three (3) complete sentences in your journal describing events you encountered during the day that remind you of the poor living conditions in your environment.”
Report out.
Independent Work / Homework Review
• Take out your city maps. Your assignment was to draw red lines around the predicted location of the misery belts.
• Compare your answers with your partner’s answers. • This is not an exact science, but the ring should be similar. • Show with a: • thumbs up if there was total agreement in answers, • thumbs down if total disagreement, and • thumbs sideways if some answers were the same and some different.
• Clarification from pairs showing thumbs down and sideways. Independent Work / Homework Review
Articles – Again compare answers with your partner to see if you want to change or modify answers. Your assignment was to: (1) underline characteristics of a misery belt; and (2) circle any phrases or words that are associated with political or religious factors . Report out on characteristics, political factors,
and religious factors. Who wants to share how it would feel to live in a misery belt? Mexico’s Indigenous Groups
• Definition based on linguistic criteria—what language people speak
• Mexico's 12 million indigenous people speak more than 60 languages and live scattered throughout the country's 31 states and Mexico City.
• In the Chiapas region more than 70% of the population is indigenous. Mexico’s Major Indigenous Groups
Group
Nahua peoples (Nawatlaka)
Maya (Maaya)
Zapotec (Binizaa)
Mixtec (Ñuu sávi)
Otomí (Hñähñü)
Totonac (Tachihuiin)
Source: http://www.cdi.gob.mx
Number
2,445,969
1,475,575
777,253
726,601
646,875
411,266
59%
27%
19%
15%
48%
28%
39%
Catholicism & Traditional Deities • When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th
century, they forcibly converted the indigenous people to Roman Catholicism, creating an interconnected Catholic‐Indian religion that still exists today. Many indigenous groups worship God, Christ and traditional deities. • The priests built their churches on sacred sites.
Source: West, Cristina. Los Voladores de Cuetzalan.[Video file].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYeJ-aR3uQI.
Los Voladores de Cuetzalan
Voladores getting ready: chanting. Mirrors on hats to ward off bad spirits
Voladores climbing up the 100 foot pole
The pole represents closeness to the gods and the ritual is to bring good luck to the harvest. The practice was banned in the 1800s but stayed alive. One young voladora started when she was 13 and isnow 20.
The blend of Catholicism and ritual ceremony seems contradictory to us but is accepted practice to the indigenous peoples. They go around the pole 13 times as they descend. Thirteen represents the 13 months of their calendar. Religious Festivals ‐ Patron Saints’ Days
Xico & Mary Magdalene (Santa Maria Magdalena) “We arrived in Xico on the 2nd day of a 9 day festival. As we made our way up to the church, bottle rockets were already going off. We got there just as mass was starting. We got to the church just as the "bulls" started to dance in front. There were men and boys with cow‐bells around their waists, dancing around bulls made of papier‐
maché, with a large framework covered in fireworks over the bulls.
They marched, spun, danced and made lots and lots of noise. Finally, the statue of Mary Magdalene emerged from the church and the "bulls" lead the processional up the streets of the town to another church. We followed along with the mariachi band until she was placed on the altar of the other church!”
Religious Festivals ‐ Patron Saints’ Days
Religions in Mexico
Religious Group
Jewish Muslim Seventh Day Adventist Protestants Catholics Orthodox Christian Jehovah's Witness Mormon Pagans Non‐religious Agnostic Atheist Sunis
Other Total Total Number 125,900 199,700
488,945 3,972,000 87,958,000 91,800 1,700,000 1,082,000
1,151,000 2,628,700 2,521,600 107,100
167,706 3,639,749 105,834,200 Source: The Archives of Religious Data. http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/country_149_1.asp. Note: Listings in red are not religions.
Percentage 1 2
5 3.8 83.1 1 1.6 1 1.1 2.5 2.4 1 2 3.4 Independent Practice/Homework
t
1. Circle the top five religions in Mexico on your handout.
2. Compare your answers with your partner.
3. Chart the top five religions in Mexico in a pie graph or a bar graph.
http://www.swiftchart.com/example.htm
Day 3
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
Case Study: San Juan Chamula
Religious Expulsion
Day 3 Objectives: Students will: (1) describe differences between religious tolerance and religious intolerance,
(2) paraphrase the reasons and consequences of San Juan Chamula’s religious intolerance that led to relocation to misery belts of San Cristóbal de las Casas,Chiapas, and
(3) construct a timeline of the Zapatista movement from 1994 to 2001.
Journal
Identify examples below of Religious Tolerance with the letter T
and examples of Religious Intolerance with an I.
•_____ 1. A religious leader accepts the beliefs of others and does not try to change their minds.
•_____ 2. Village leaders expelled the La Cruz family from the village because they converted to Protestantism.
•_____ 3. Indigenous students are not allowed to come into the local school because they belong to an evangelical church.
•_____4. A new family of Baptists move into a Roman Catholic neighborhood and the neighbors welcome them with food, coffee and gifts.
•_____ 5. Political bosses placed statues of Mayan deities in the public square out of respect for the town’s minority religion.
•_____ 6. One family ridicules another when they find out they go to a different church. Journal Answers
• T 1. A religious leader accepts the beliefs of others and does not try to change their minds.
• I
2. Village leaders expelled the La Cruz family from the village because they converted to Protestantism.
• I
3. Indigenous students are not allowed to come into the local school because they belong to an evangelical church.
• T 4. A new family of Baptists move into a Roman Catholic neighborhood and the neighbors welcome them with food, coffee and gifts.
• T 5. Political bosses placed statues of Mayan deities in the public square out of respect for the town’s minority religion.
• I
6. One family ridicules another when they find out they go to a different church. Review of Homework/Independent Practice
• Take out graphs and look at your answers –
compare with your partner’s.
• I need two volunteers (one pie graph and one bar graph) to go to the board and put their graphs up.
• Compare to answer sheet and pass papers forward.
Homework Answers
Forced Relocation for Religious Reasons
• In the late 1960s early 1970s Christian missionaries converted thousands of Mayan Catholics to Protestantism. • The Mexican constitution prohibits any form of discrimination, including on the basis of religion.
• However, the local village leaders, or caciques, used religious reasons to expel local families from the community. They stated that evangelicals and protestants failed to follow tradition and they didn’t contribute to fiestas. • In reality, evangelicals and protestants resisted making financial donations demanded by community norms since the money was used partly to fund local Catholic holy day festivals and Saint’s Day fiestas. Sanctions (punishments) for resisting participation in community festivals:
• families arrested
• sheep seized
• personal possessions seized
• torture
• families withdraw from community land, land taken back by community leaders
• water and electricity cut off
• loss of community rights
“Since 1974, over 20,000 indigenous people expelled for religious reasons have settled within … the misery belt around San Cristóbal de las Casas.”
Source: Sullivan, Kathleen. “ Protagonists of Change”. Women’s Work, Women’s Worth. Winter 1992. http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural‐survival‐ quarterly/mexico/protagonists‐change. Case Study: San Juan Chamula
In San Juan Chamula, the largest of the indigenous villages in the Chiapas highlands the religious conflict has existed for over 25 years.
In the last 25 years, 35,000 community members or one in five non‐catholic residents known as "Chamulas,” were expelled from their homes and fields for being evangelical or protestant.
Another few thousand have been driven out of Zinacantán, Tenejapa, and several other indigenous villages in the mountains near here. Earlier refugees had built a ring of misery, encircling the city with muddy slums packed closely with houses of cardboard and scrap lumber. Photos by Trina Bryant
Source: http://www.gbgm‐umc.org/honduras/old/articles/chiapas.html.
Reflection on Religious Expulsion
From the late 1960s on, how did a person’s religion affect how they were welcome or expelled in the area of San Juan Chamula, Chiapas? Give two examples.
Describe at least three examples of religious intolerance that occurred in San Juan Chamula.
Day 3: Expulsion to Misery Belt,
Political Factors
• While some would characterize the expulsion in San Juan Chamula as founded in religious conflicts between a Catholic majority and an evangelical/protestant minority, others have identified political reasons for the expulsion. • To better understand the role that political affiliation plays in expulsion to the misery belt, it is important to understand the Zapatista movement. This movement supported the rights of the indigenous groups.
The Zapatista Movement
Independent practice and homework
•Two handouts: “The Zapatista Movement” and Timeline of the Zapatista Movement
– Construct a timeline of a minimum of 10 important events
– Write a 1–2‐paragraph reflection: why were certain events were major and others were minor. – You may identify the events with a color code; include a legend of what the colors represent. Day 4
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
Political & Economic Factors
Rural‐Urban Migration
Day 4 Objectives: Students will:
(1) describe three facts about the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI),
(2) understand the relationship between political party affiliation in PRI and expulsion from indigenous communities, and
(3) understand three factors that in the 1970s–
1990s led to migration from rural lands to the urban areas.
Journal
Essential Question : The Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI). What is it and what is its role in indigenous communities?
PRI ‐ Partido Revolucionario Institutional
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Created in 1929 and has been the ruling party up through the 1997 elections Created to administer power Other parties participated in elections but it was a known fact that political PRI would win
PRI created political stability and economic growth in agriculture and industry. Unions were part of PRI, including Mexico’s teachers’ union with 1.3 million members
Pre‐1997, the president would remove/replace governor or assembly member at will
In the indigenous communities, a leader’s responsibility: Turn out votes for PRI so that communities received benefits/services in return (for example, electricity, sewer, paved streets, etc.)
PRI was the most central party 1997—first time there were free elections in Mexico
The dissatisfaction during the uprising of Zapatista rebels and indigenous peoples led to a change of mood across the country and for the first time, the PRI lost
Today, the PRI must truly compete to get votes
PRI and Indigenous Farmers
• In the 1930s land reform under the PRI President Lazaro Cardenas established Mexican ejidos • Peasant cooperatives brought community members together to farm large agricultural parcels
• The PRI also helped farmers obtain federal land grants
Non‐PRI Party • Not maintaining support of the PRI party was a serious offense in many indigenous communities. The PRI had helped farmers obtain federal land grants.
• Support for a non‐PRI party (the PAN, PRD) often resulted in immediate expulsion from a home and community
PEMEX – Petróleos Mexicanos
• PEMEX created by President Cardenas ‐ 1938 foreign oil companies nationalized
• Mexican state‐owned oil company
• 1970s: off‐shore drilling, many farmers attracted to better employment opportunities on oil rigs
• Exodus of farmers disturbed collaborative harvests
• Remaining farmers in downward economic cycle of being forced to sell land or move to metropolitan areas
Economic Recession 1980s
• Worldwide recession in early 80s • Peso devalued up to 500 % in 2 years
• Measures of austerity by the PRI government: no more subsidies to farmers
• Many indigenous farmers moved families to urban areas in search of a better life
Consumer Prices Mexican
Peso Real Exchange Rate
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Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics; U.S. Department of Commerce
NAFTA Influences
• North American Free Trade Agreement—1994
• Government provisions to give land to indigenous farmers were curtailed
• Landless farmers moved from rural to urban areas
• Indigenous farmers spoke native language, not Spanish = disadvantage for jobs
• Cheap housing in misery belts Náhuatl – Mixteco - Maya
• Mexicans left rural area to work in maquiladoras (manufacturing operations) along Mexico’s northern border. Maquiladoras
With NAFTA the maquiladoras, which played an important role in the growth of Mexico’s exports since 1979, found themselves uniquely situated to play a larger role in vertical specialization. These firms are mostly located on Mexico’s northern border and import inputs from the United States, process them, and reexport them back to the United States. Maquiladoras specialize in the manufacture of electronics, auto parts, and apparel and, with the signing of NAFTA, the manufacturing sector of exports grew attracting additional laborers to the urban areas.
How do we define poverty?
There is no common definition among countries. Generally we define poverty as a state of material deprivation.
• 18.2% of the population in Mexico is below the poverty line based on food‐based poverty • Looking at CIA world fact data in 2008 ‐ asset based poverty amounted to more than 47% in Mexico
Source: Mexico – CIA – The World Factbook
Concept Connector
• Factors affecting migration to misery belts
• The graphic organizer is to help you organize your thoughts and understandings regarding population movement in Mexico from rural areas to urban ones.
Religious Economic
Political
Day 5
Migrating to Mexico’s Misery Belts
From the eyes of a journalist
Final Performance Assessment: Newspaper Article
From the Eyes of a Journalist
Day 5–7 Objectives: Students will:
(1) understand the elements of a newspaper article,
(2) draft a newspaper article in Word, and
(3) organize and synthesize information regarding relocation of Mexicans to the misery belt in a newspaper article
Elements of a Newspaper & Article
Directions: Circle and label these elements in the sample newspaper . Work with a partner for clarification.
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Name of newspaper, volume, issue, date
Headline: the title of the article; expresses the main idea of the story using direct and dramatic action verbs and nouns
Secondary story headline
Byline: Often listed after the title, gives the name of the person writing the story and his or her title
Lead sentence: the first sentence in the article, it gives the most important information to “hook” the reader’s attention
Body: the main part of the article, it contains the five Ws: Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Three or four important details about the story
Summary or final detail
Unbiased writing – article is factual without writer’s opinion
Picture with caption
From the Eyes of a Journalist
You are a journalist and must write an article for the New York Times on a recent event. Event: There has been a mass migration of families from a surrounding rural area of Mexico City, Tuxtla Gutierrez or San Juan Cristóbal de las Casas. You are a reporter/journalist and you must write a 400–500‐
word newspaper article analyzing who, what, where, when and why. The article must incorporate all elements of a newspaper article, as well as what you learned on population patterns, movement and underlying reasons. Grading rubrics will be applied. Day 6 and 7
Computer Laboratory
• We’re going to the lab to do more research and “write” a draft newspaper article in Word.
Peer Editing
• Edit your own and then Peer Editing – Final draft to be exchanged with partner
• Handout Peer Editing Rubrics – Review and spend the period editing your partners article
Newsroom Deadline Day 9
• Final day: to the library again to publish final revised article