[Aztlan] Why is the U.S. military sponsoring fieldwork in indigenous villages in Oaxaca?

[Michael Smith]

Some academic geographers from the University of Kansas are conducting field research on indigenous landholdings in the Mixteca, with funding from the U.S. military. The program is called "México Indígena," and it is part of a broader military-funded endeavor (called "the Bowman Expeditions") of mapping and data gathering in rural areas around the world. For a discussion, see the recent post, "Human Terrain in Oaxaca" on the Savage Minds blog:

http://savageminds.org/2009/06/05/human-terrain-in-oaxaca/

There are links at the bottom of that post to the home site of the Bowman Expeditions and to some works critical of the project. A number of indigenous activities are strongly critical of this work.

Mike

 

Michael E. Smith, Professor

School of Human Evolution & Social Change

Arizona State University

www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9

http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com

http://calixtlahuaca.blogspot.com