Oaxaca Institute of Technology

Transcription

Emma Fawcett: I did an undergraduate honors thesis through the political science department and what I researched was the teacher's union movement in the state of Oaxaca, which is in southwestern Mexico. The union local there is called Section 22 and they're known for their militancy and their mobilizations and my thesis sought to understand the impacts that their mobilizations have on the education system on the state of Oaxaca. Every year the teacher's union stages a statewide mobilization every May, and what they do is they establish an encampment in Oaxaca city, which is the capital of the state, and they create what's called a Plantone, so they essentially shut down the main square, they construct tents and other sleeping areas, they basically build a mini city right within the city square itself and they use this as kind of a base camp for their other marches and protests and speeches that are going on. May 2008, they had kind of a roda of teachers from around the state who would take over the encampment in two week slots to continue the protest. The teachers in the state of Oaxaca are fighting for a variety of different things. Primarily, and this is what they've received their greatest critiques about, is that their focus is on salary increases, though they also have other concerns. They speak out about the lack of time and money invested in advancing indigenous education. The state of Oaxaca is the poorest state of Mexico and it also has the largest indigenous population which poses special challenges to education. They've also in the past, advanced other reforms, continuing decentralization, textbook reforms, curriculum changes, instituting school breakfasts, so their agenda is fairly broad. In May of 2008, I did a two week field trip to the region. Prior to my trip I made some contacts with some other US academics and also local researchers who work doing work on these issues and who were engaged both with section 22 and also with other indigenous organizations like the APPO in the state. So, while I was there I was able to set up some meetings and interviews with different researchers and community organizations. I was also there for national teacher's day and the establishment of the Plantones. I was able to actually see the teachers constructing their tents and hanging their tarps across the historic buildings in the colonial square, so I was able to observe all of that, listen to the speeches, the marches, speak to protesters and also to members of the local community and to see what they thought of this annual mobilization. Professor Kaufman supervised my thesis in the Political Science Department. Professor Kaufamn's speciality is Latin American politics, so I knew I kind of preselected my topic and had an interest in the Mexican teacher's union, so I knew he would make an ideal advisor for doing this research. I'd also taken his Change in Latin America course several semesters prior, so I knew about his expertise in the region. I've certainly really enjoyed working with Professor Kaumfan. I kind of like to work independently, but he has always been available, you know, for clarification and for answering questions and I've certainly found you know, meeting with him during office hours very helpful in terms of orienting where my thesis was going and you know, kind of broadening my horizons in terms of different research, different angles I could take on things. I certainly think the experience of doing research as an undergrad prepared me to do further research during my Masters and beyond. I'll be working on my Masters thesis fairly soon and I think the experience of doing a literature review and finding contacts and traveling abroad to do field research and then working to you know, write your thesis and revise and consult with professors and other academics. I think it has been a very kind of valuable experience to me going forward as I'm sure I will be doing more research in the future. (music playing)