The People of México Indígena
The MI research team includs a multinational group of geographers with complementary expertise. The main collaboration is between the University of Kansas (KU) and the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (UASLP).
Core Research Team
KU Professors Peter Herlihy and Jerry Dobson and UASLP Professor Miguel Aguilar Robledo worked closely to develop the bases for the field and lab research, forging a link that includes the sharing of computer equipment and office space, the exchange of ideas through seminars and conferences, and most significantly, the dedicated involvement and collaborative training of students and faculty. UASLP M.A. student Aida Ramos Viera and Ph.D. student Carlos Bonilla Jimenez did their theses on the project, while UASLP undergraduate students Gerardo López Roque, Martha Elena Ramírez Espinosa, and Marco Antonio Martínez Costilla spearheaded the fieldwork. Geographer Derek A. Smith from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Canada was a key addition to the research team, adding critical field experience in participatory mapping, as well as in-depth technical understanding of GIS. KU Ph.D. students John H. Kelly and Andrew Hilburn added more of the same.
Collaborating Professors
CCSyH anthropologists Anuschka van´t Hooft and Miguel Nicolás Caretta provided important guidance and help administering the UASLP students working with us in the Huasteca. Caretta, UASLP Professor Peter Kroefges, and California State University-Chico Professor Scott Brady contributed to the Oaxaca field research in 2007.
Collaborating Students
UASLP undergraduate students Jacinto Jiménez Morales, José Hugo Sánchez Banda, Estrella Nayeli Garc�a Hern�ndez, Lobo, Dolores, and Yazm�n were important participants in the field research, as was Goucher College student Geoff Leonard. Kansas State University Ph.D student Vicki Tinnon Brock was an important team member during the first field season, when KU Ph.D. student Mauricio Herrera helped out.
Field Coordinators
Our participatory mapping methodology required an organizational and personnel structure linking the KU and CCSyH offices with the indigenous communities in the Huasteca and Oaxaca study areas. In the Huasteca, a Teenek speaker, Alejandra Marcos Bautista (selected by the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas) was hired to oversee the field research and “local investigators,” who were selected by their respective communities to be trained to do the geographic research. In Oaxaca, Angel Santos, a local resident who works with the Ecoturixtlán village enterprise, is providing the same leadership, advice, and fieldwork coordination duties.
Local Investigators
Local investigators in the Huasteca included Juan Carlos Navarro from Chimalaco, Sr. Amado Hernández from Tazaquil, Sr. Darío Hernández Reyes from Cuatlamayán, Sr. Baldomero Hernández Medina from Las Armas, Sr. Agustín Lázaro Reyes Santa Cruz, Sr. Ignacio Ramírez Morales from Tancuime, Sr. Timoteo Hernández Hernández from La Lima, Sr. Simón Hernández from La Pila, and Sr. León Hernández Bautista from El Chuchupe. In Oaxaca, local investigators are Bonifacio Hernández Montañoand Emigdio Gregorio Hernández from Tiltepec, and Rigoberto Cruz Hernández and Ramón Ramos Jeronimo from Yagila.
Technical Assistants
UASLP's Luis Olvera and Judith Corpus helped out with specific computer support needs. CCSyH administrator Daniel A. Rodríguez made complexities of this multi-national and multi-budgeted project easy to manage, as did KU staff.
