Sunday 20 January 2013

GLOBALIZATION (CULTURE)


Globalization and Culture Change

 

Transformation of culture, or cultural change, to the dynamic process whereby the living cultures of the world are changing and adapting to external or internal forces. This process is occurring within Western culture as well as non-Western and indigenous cultures and cultures of the world. Forces which contribute to the cultural change described in this article include: colonization, globalization, advances in communication, transport and infrastructure improvements, and military expansion.

Many of the themes discussed in the context of transformation of cultures and cultural change have particular urgency for the world's indigenous peoples. Indigenous systems of collective economic production and distribution do not conform to capitalism's emphasis on individual accumulation. This phenomenon is not new, although processes of globalization have increased the scale and frequency of such conflicts of perspective. The contradictions between indigenous and capitalist modes of production, and the tensions generated by their intersection, have deep historical roots in the process of colonization. In many cases, the two worldviews are indeed antithetical. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, an Igorot activist from the Philippines, summarizes the difference when she writes that "industrialized culture regards our values as unscientific obstacles to modernization and thus worthy of ridicule, suppression, and denigration. The industrial world also views our political, social, and land-tenure traditions as dangerous: our collective identities; our communal ownership of forests, waters, and lands; our usufruct system of community sharing, and our consensus decision-making are all antithetical to the capitalist hallmarks of individualism and private property." Many indigenous peoples view "resources" in a very different way from that of global industry's commodity-centered calculus. A leader of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade, Secwepemc author Arthur Manuel writes: "Mainstream economists tend to value development strategies solely in terms of their wealth generation potential for industry and governments. So resources are viewed in strictly monetary terms. But indigenous peoples consider the value of land and resources in far broader, more integrated terms, including cultural, social, spiritual and environmental values, and their sustainability. Among indigenous peoples, decisions about caring for resources and the environment are usually made as part of a collective process, where the community takes into account a full spectrum of values and benefits other than short-term economic gains"Around the world many indigenous groups have over centuries or millennia successfully sustained economies in one particular place and ecosystem. The co-adaptation of people with other elements of their ecological systems has meant that the integrity and functioning of these systems has been sustained even as the communities' culture developed and changed historically. These economic arrangements are viewed as one component of a cultural understandings that include sacred interactions with the world. Indigenous economies can thus be seen to be sustainable to the extent to which the holders of culture interact in a culturally appropriate way with the world around them, including those elements of the world known to modern scientists as "natural resources". In many areas indigenous people have sustained communities for centuries, and the ecological systems of which they are a component have maintained relative richness and resilience to natural perturbations such as drought or fires. The ecosystems that have been remained predominantly under control and care of indigenous peoples thus tend to be characterized by high biodiversity, abundant renewable resources, and relatively unexploited nonrenewable resources. For many indigenous groups, the advent of globalization threatens the sustainability of their economies by making their land and knowledge valuable targets as commodities in a globalized economy.

Environmental stresses and impacts on cultures

Cultures around the world are undergoing change due to environmental stresses, such as climate change. Globalization and increased consumerism are increasing environmental stress by contributing to deforestation. In addition to deforestation, other stresses such as introduction of foreign species, pollution, and urban sprawl.

Indigenous resistance

In many cases, however, indigenous people have not passively acceded to the penetration of extractive capitalism into their communities. The following section thus not only reviews how globalization impacts indigenous people, but also describes how indigenous communities resist or negotiate to defend their territories and cultural integrity.

Economic policy, when set on a global scale, can undermine the political gains that indigenous peoples may have made within the legal systems of nation states. Victor Menotti of the International Forum on Globalization has written of how World Trade Organization(WTO) authority is diminishing the sovereignty of nation states over their land, water, genetic material, and public services. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), for example, favors the privatization of systems (such as those for water distribution) that serve the general public but without an equitable provision of services that is often at odds with maximization of profits. Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) imposed as a condition of loans from global finance agencies such as the World Bank also often mandate privatization. The effects on indigenous peoples and other poor people can be devastating. World Bank-mandated SAP privatization of coal mining in the Indian state of Orissa in the 1990s, for example, resulted in contamination of rivers, increased rates of fluoride poisoning, infections, and cancer, displacement of towns, and power rates that increased by 500%. The World Bank and IMF have also made water privatization a prior condition for granting loans and debt reductions. Structural adjustment programs also weaken national-level environmental and labor laws that indigenous communities may have relied on in previous struggles to maintain control over territory and resources.

Other new international trade rules also negatively impact indigenous peoples. For example, Article I of GATT prohibits national governments from restricting imported goods specifically from any single other WTO member nation. This article thus makes it impossible for national governments to restrict imports from other WTO countries with questionable human rights, labor, or environmental records and thus disallows a potential safeguard for the rights of indigenous peoples. Article III of the GATT, together with its corollary Articles V and XI, requires governments to treat all imports "no less favorably" than locally produced goods and bans restrictions on imports. Victor Menotti writes of how this feature of GATT "prevents any government from favoring or protecting it own local industries, or farmers or cultures that might otherwise by overwhelmed by globe-spanning corporations bringing vast amounts of cheap imports that make local or indigenous economies non-viable". Similar "free trade" policies under NAFTA have already been demonstrated to undercut the livelihoods of small-scale Mexican corn farmers, many of whom are indigenous, who are unable to compete with cheap, mass-produced grain from the US.

Technological impacts

Technological innovations can enhance, displace or devalue human existence and culture. Advances in medical technology have contributed to demographic changes, including increased longevity and decreasing fertility. For example, although China has slowed its population increases through a one-child per family policy, the median age of its people will soar in the next 35 years. In some Third World countries, kidneys, eyes and skin are sold in a flourishing market for body parts There is also rising concern amongst many indigenous people groups over the interrelated issues of genetic patenting and biopiracy. For example, a Guaymi woman was diagnosed with leukemia in 1991. Whilst in hospital in the city of Panama she had blood samples taken and without her knowledge or free, prior, and informed consent. The cell-line enclosed in these samples was stored, "immortalized", patented, and put up for sale at a price of $136 US dollars. The scientists involved in this process claimed to have "invented" this woman's cell-line. Their rationale for taking the samples and processing them for patenting was that these samples held "commercial promise" in the scientific world for the discovery of potential medical breakthroughs and that the government encourages the patenting of anything which may have a link to such a discovery. The main contention in the debate apart from ethical dilemmas over genetic research is the fact that the woman from whom the samples were taken was never consulted about the process, so in effect, the whole process was done without her knowing it was going on or understanding what was happening to her.[24] This presents an additional dilemma alongside the issue of genetic manipulation: freedom of information. There is also the implication of "why her", "why an indigenous Guaymi woman and not a Euro-American". This type of technological case-in-point presents as a more recent dilemma for indigenous groups because commonly, such failure to properly inform insofar as the impact of either scientific research endeavours or corporate-style development schemes are concerned has historically tended to coincide with policies and paradigms of practice which have their basis in racial discrimination.

On the more positive side, certain technological innovations such as computers, the Internet, and miscellaneous sound and visual recording media have been welcomed and embraced by indigenous peoples as a means of communicating to wider society their concerns about the dilemmas not only faced by them but by the whole world in view of the extent of socioeconomic, cultural and political transformations that have continued to evolve and impact global diversity in far-reaching and often unpredictable ways.

Sociocultural globalization



 

Shakira, a Colombian multilingual singer-songwriter, playing outside her home country.

Culture


Cultural globalization has increased cross-cultural contacts but may be accompanied by a decrease in the uniqueness of once-isolated communities: sushi is available in Germany as well as Japan, but Euro-Disney outdraws the city of Paris, potentially reducing demand for "authentic" French pastry. Globalisation's contribution to the alienation of individuals from their traditions may be modest compared to the impact of modernity itself, as alleged by existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Globalization has expanded recreational opportunities by spreading pop culture, particularly via the Internet and satellite television.



 

A McDonald's in Osaka, Japan illustrates the McDonaldization of global society

Religious movements were among the earliest cultural forces to globalize, spread by force, migration, evangelists, imperialists and traders. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and more recently sects such as Mormonism have taken root and influenced endemic cultures in places far from their origins.

Conversi claimed in 2010 that globalization was predominantly driven by the outward flow of culture and economic activity from the United States and was better understood as Americanization, or Westernization. For example, the two most successful global food/beverage outlets are American companies, McDonald's and Starbucks, are often cited as examples of globalization, with over 32,000[91] and 18,000 locations operating worldwide, respectively as of 2008.

The term globalization implies transformation. Cultural practices including traditional music can be lost and/or turned into a fusion of traditions. Globalization can trigger a state of emergency for the preservation of musical heritage. Archivists must attempt to collect, record or transcribe repertoire before melodies are assimilated or modified. Local musicians struggle for authenticity and to preserve local musical traditions. Globalization can lead performers to discard traditional instruments. Fusion genres can become interesting fields of analysis.

Globalization gave support to the World Music phenomenon by allowing locally-recorded to reach western audiences searching for new ideas and sounds. For example, Western musicians have adopted many innovations that originated in other cultures.

The term was originally intended for ethnic-specific music, though globalization is expanding its scope; it now often includes hybrid sub-genres such as World fusion, Global fusion, Ethnic fusion and Worldbeat.



 

A Coca-Cola stall outside the Grand Gateway 66 shopping mall in Xujiahui, Shanghai

Music flowed outward from the west as well. Anglo-American pop music spread across the world through MTV. Dependency Theory explained that the world was an integrated, international system. Musically, this translated into the loss of local musical identity.

Bourdieu claimed that the perception of consumption can be seen as self-identification and the formation of identity. Musically, this translates into each being having his own musical identity based on likes and tastes. These likes and tastes are greatly influenced by culture as this is the most basic cause for a person's wants and behavior. The concept of one's own culture is now in a period of change due to globalization. Also, globalization has increased the interdependency of political, personal, cultural and economic factors.

A 2005 UNESCO report showed that cultural exchange is becoming more frequent from Eastern Asia but Western countries are still the main exporters of cultural goods. In 2002, China was the third largest exporter of cultural goods, after the UK and US. Between 1994 and 2002, both North America's and the European Union's shares of cultural exports declined, while Asia's cultural exports grew to surpass North America. Related factors are the fact that Asia's population and area are several times that of North America. Americanization related to a period of high political American clout and of significant growth of America's shops, markets and object being brought into other countries. So globalization, a much more diversified phenomenon, relates to a multilateral political world and to the increase of objects, markets and so on into each other's countries. The Indian experience particularly reveals the plurality of the impact of cultural globalization.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Migration



Migration

 

Modern International Migration Tendencies: Migration Dynamics


 
 
 
International migration became a constant feature of human history. People have always moved in order to search for better living standards or to escape poverty, economic instability, political repression, human rights abuses or environmental degradations (Martin, 2001).
The purpose of that short overview of international migration is not simply to show that migration is not a new phenomenon. It is to analyze immigration statistics and present conclusions confirming or negating the hypothesis on the acceleration of migration.

The number of people movement has been changing for the last four centuries. Among events which had crucial influence on migration’s dynamics following should be mentioned: European expansion in the 16th century, the forced transportations of slaves in the 18th century, mass migration from Europe to the United States of America at the beginning of the 19th century and the II World War outbreak (Castles, 2009; Koser 2007). Some authors claim that international migration before 1945, especially mass migration to United States in the 19th century was as big as migration nowadays. It is true, but we have to bear in mind that international migration to the United States was of a transnational character, while the migrants’ flows after 1945 have become more diverse and complex and what is the most important, the flows are to affect every country on Earth (Klein Solomon, 2005).
It is important to explain where the above-mentioned diversity and complexity of migration come from. Migrant’s flows before 1945 divided the world into the traditional countries of immigration and the countries of emigration. Since the second half of the 20th century that dichotomy started to erode. European workers left countries in the southern part of the continent such as Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece and migrated to countries located in the north and west of Europe, to Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden (Martin and Miller, 1980). Importing migrant workers from Middle East and North Africa was the answer to lack of labor force in Italy, Spain and Portugal(Massey, 2005). That process had profound consequences for migration phenomenon – for the first time traditional countries of emigration became also transit countries and countries of immigration. Migrant workers were brought to a new land as so called guestworkers - workers who would return to their country of origin when their contracts expired (Martin, 1991). However, when the economic conditions that forced the migrants’ requirement disappeared, gastarbeiterer refused to return home. Most of them not only preferred to stay in the receiving country, they also began to demand entry of their family members. (Martin and Miller, 1980).
Alike the countries in Southern Europe, also states located in the Middle East and so called ¨Asian Tigers¨ (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) wrestled with lack of labor force, imported work migrants and as a consequence experienced the same transformation in migratory patterns ( Birks and Sinclaire, 1980; Hugo, 1995).

The newest research on international migration number shows that the number of people living their country of origin to live abroad has grown sharply in the last three decades.
According to United Nations definition of migrant, it is a person who stays outside their country of origin for at least one year. The result of United Nations Population Division (UNPD) research shows that in 2010 over than 200 million people, or 3 per cent of the world’s population, lived outside the country of their birth for more than 365 days.


 
 
 

Source: UNDESA 2004, *UNDESA 2009

The analysis of numbers included in a table above shows that it is 15 million migrants more than five years ago, 39 millions of them more than ten years ago, 59 million more than twenty years ago and over 100 million more than thirty years ago. Today, approximately one out of 35 persons in the world is a migrant (Klein Solomon, 2005). It means that the number of people who stay outside their usual country of residence for at least one year more than doubled in just 30 years. It is import ant to bear in mind, however, that the numbers presented above also includes people who never moved, e.g. through the break-down of the Soviet Union, where inhabitants of former Soviet states became independent and counted independently .



Currently the largest number of migrants are migrating to the United States (9.2 million between 2000 and 2009), to Europe (7.5 million between 2000 and 2009) and Asia (7.5 million between 2000 and 2009) (UNDESA, 2009).

 

Source: UNDESA, 2009

Nevertheless, taking under consideration past 29 years from 1980 till 2009, the majority of migrants chose Europe as their country of destination.


Source: UNDESA, 2009

About 20% of world’s international migrants live in United States. The countries with the largest number of migrants are also Russian Federation, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, United Kingdom, Spain, India and Ukraine (International Migration 2009, United Nations Population Devision).


Source: UNDESA, 2009

There are many reasons to expect that the number of migrants is certain to increase in the foreseeable future. It can happen as a result of political and cultural changes. We should have in mind strong economic conditions in developed countries, widening income gap between developed and still developing countries, creation of new free trade areas as well as economical and political instability in many countries located in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia (Page and Plaza, 2005; Juss S.S., 2006). A big role of communication and transportation revolution should be emphasized. The revolution in transport refers to increasing numbers of options in international travel and the fact the passengers costs are still decreasing (Koser K., 2007).The revolution in electronic communication (e.g. internet, electronic bulletin boards, satellite television, cell phones), in turn, facilitates getting information on work and accommodation opportunities in other countries and is used in creating a migratory network linking a country of origin with a country of destination bringing about changes in both.




 



 



 

 

 

 

                                                                   

 

 


 

The table shows the 10 states which receive the highest total remittances.

Rank
State
Remittances ($ millions), 2005
1
Michoacán
2,595
2
Guanajuato
1,715
3
Jalisco
1,693
4
State of México
1,675
5
Puebla
1,174
6
Veracruz
1,155
7
Federal District
1,452
8
Oaxaca
1,002
9
Guerrero
957
10
Hidalgo
718

 

The data show very clearly that all the states receiving high total amounts of remittances are in the southern half of Mexico.

 

Monday 7 January 2013

Cultural Diversity in The World and Mexico


Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, as in the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural decay. For example, before Hawaii was conquered, the culturally diverse Hawaiian culture existed in the world, and contributed to the world's cultural diversity. Now Hawaii has been westernized; the vast majority of its culture has been replaced with Western or American culture. The phrase cultural diversity can also refer to having different cultures respect each other's differences. The phrase cultural diversity is also sometimes used to mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole. The culturally destructive action of globalization is often said to have a negative effect on the world's cultural diversity.

With the onset of globalization, traditional nation-states have been placed under enormous pressures. Today, with the development of technology, information and capital are transcending geographical boundaries and reshaping the relationships between the marketplace, states and citizens. In particular, the growth of the mass media industry has largely impacted on individuals and societies across the globe. Although beneficial in some ways, this increased accessibility has the capacity to negatively affect a society's individuality. With information being so easily distributed throughout the world, cultural meanings, values and tastes run the risk of becoming homogenized. As a result, the strength of identity of individuals and societies may begin to weaken.[1] [2]

Some individuals, particularly those with strong religious beliefs, maintain that it is in the best interests of individuals and of humanity as a whole that all people adhere to a specific model for society or specific aspects of such a model. For example, evangelical missionary organisations such as the New Tribes Mission actively work to support social changes that some observers would consider detrimental to cultural diversity by seeking out remote tribal societies to convert them to Christianity;[4]

Nowadays, communication between different countries becomes more and more frequent. And more and more students choose to study overseas for experiencing culture diversity. Their goal is to broaden their horizons and develop themselves from learning overseas.

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by UNESCO in 2001 is a legal instrument that recognizes cultural diversity as "common heritage of humanity" and considers its safeguarding to be a concrete and ethical imperative inseparable from respect for human dignity.

Beyond the Declaration of Principles adopted in 2003 at the Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the information Society (WSIS), the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in October 2005, is also regarded as a legally binding instrument that recognizes

There are several international organizations that work towards protecting threatened societies and cultures, including Survival International and UNESCO. The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, adopted by 185 Member States in 2001, represents the first international standard-setting instrument aimed at preserving and promoting cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.[2] Indeed, the notion of "cultural diversity" has been echoed by more neutral organizations, particularly within the UNESCO.

 

World population has physical and cultural characteristics that make them different from others. According to UNO  culture is the group of characteristics that distinguish a society  in  material, spiritual, intelectual  and emotional aspects and are shown in art , beliefs and traditions.

These group of  cultural characteristics are what make one population different from other and are called CULTURAL DIVERSITY. Even within a same country, there could be cultural diversity: in food, music, clothes, craftwork, celebrations, festivals etc. that in group are called folklore.

Cultural contributions of different groups of people transform the geographical space, originating cultural regions in the world that are distinguished by their language, religion, economic and political organisation that give them identity.

Globalization has effects in the cultural diversity  in one hand it makes it richer for being in contact with other cultures but in the other it imposses  life styles from other nations that tend to uniform us. Mass media  now a days allows us to know more about cultural diversity which is good to maintain peace around the world.

An ethnic group is conformed by people that shares  a historical, cultural  linguistic and religious identity, as well as life styles which are reflected in  their festivities, ways of talking, dressing, their music an.d the way they live. Today there are more than 2000 ethnic groups in the world.

Asia: Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Hindu, Iranian, Arab  and Malaysian.

Europe : Slavs, German, Celts, Basques and Latin.

North America: great variety of ethnic groups because of migration. Most people are Europeans that colonized the continent but there are also indigenous groups like the Algonquin, Inuit (Eskimos), Sioux-Hokan , and others.

Africa: Great diversity of ethic groups: Berebere, Tuareg, Zulu, Hausa, Xhosa, Bantu and Somali.

Latin America: Mestizos are predominant because of colonization from Spain and Portugal. There are numerous ethnic groups with well defined cultural characteristics for example Tarahumara, Mayan, Mixtec, Yaqui, Quechua, Araucan, Aimara and Guarani.

Oceania: Maori, Polynesian, Melanesyan, Papua, etc.

Australia: Population is from European orgigin but there is a native minority.

More Used languages around the World




Language
Native speakers
(in millions)
[1]
% of world population
Mainly spoken in
Notes
935 (955)
14.1%
Part of Chinese
387 (407)
5.85%
It has some degree of mutual intelligiblility with Portuguese, see: Comparison of Spanish and Portuguese
365 (359)
5.52%
295 (311)
4.46%
Includes approx. 100 million speakers of other Hindi languages. Mutually intelligible with Urdu
280 (293)
4.23%
The Arabic language contains many different dialects. Most are mutually intelligible. See Varieties of Arabic
204 (216)
3.08%
It has some degree of mutual inteligibility with Spanish, see: Comparison of Spanish and Portuguese
202 (206)
3.05%
160 (154)
2.42%
Mutually intelligible with Ukrainian and Belarusian
127 (126)
1.92%
96 (102)
1.44%
92 (89)
1.39%
82
1.25%
Java (Indonesia)
80
1.20%
Shanghai (China)
Part of Chinese
77
1.16%
76
1.15%
76
1.14%
76
1.14%
74
1.12%
73
1.10%
Maharashtra (India)

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A global culture is emerging in this world, one that seems to be connecting us all under one major order. I believe that the causes are as follows: the dramatic increase in technological advances, great leaps in communications; which have lead to a commercialized culture, and dominating Imperial governments that have taken over land under there power and political structure. These causes have all lead to a unifying and homogenizing of a global culture in our world today.

Extreme advances have been scene in human history and have followed in a micro scoping like effect from agricultural man 10,000yrs ago, to anthropological man 700yrs ago, to scientific revolutions 300yrs ago, on into extreme achievements in modern technologies, 100yrs on into our present day. This micro scoping of human development has also given birth to abilities, on our part, of mass communication. In 1452 Gutenberg invents the printing press, allowing one person to share his/her ideas with a great multitude of people, there by allowing major cultural changes to occur. Some events that followed were the Lutheran reformation, a major social change in itself, and also the gathering of vast libraries of human recording at a very major scale seen throughout the ages. In 1876 the telephone was invented and an even higher level of communication was born, now allowing people at very far distances to carry on a conversation like they were face to face. The invention that took our civilization to a new level of communication, however, was the television in 1923. Now people all over the globe could share, in the intake of an idea or set of ideas produced by a show, there by influencing the way viewers thought and acted. This broadcasting of ideas is highly commercialized and consumer driven, unifying the thoughts and actions of viewers everywhere. It is easy to see in this Mtv influenced McDonalds eating generation how a set of stars or corporations can easily persuade viewers to act and think the way they want them to. It seems to me that television all shares this underlying code, driving our popular culture to all act and think the same. I hate when I go to a friend’s house for a visit and walk into a group of people watching TV. The entire conversation is motivated and influenced by the spectacles and activities we are watching. I often wish I was alive before TV was invented to see how different social interaction was at a house hold. I believe our culture then, had a much different flavor then ours today. Now days it is so easy to for a parent or friend to turn on the tube in order to dodge or get out of a social interaction between parent and child or friend and neighbor. But now an even greater form of communication has been born. Our  generation has seen the birth of the internet installed in 1973; a vast field of information has now been laid at our fingertips. This service allows millions of users to share and use information simultaneously, unifying the world even more. In minutes I can get on the net and log on to a website, while, simultaneously someone in Russia could be on the same site, indulging in the same information that I am taking in. This mass form of communication is one of the greatest contributors to this global melting of cultures. Mass communication has delivered us into a unified structure of thought, that will inevitability give birth to a single global culture, but who will be the premise looked at for a template of growth for everyone to follow?

Multiculturalism (or ethnic diversity) relates to communities containing multiple cultures. The term is used in two broad ways, either descriptively or normatively.[1] As a descriptive term, it usually refers to the simple fact of cultural diversity: it is generally applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, sometime at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighbourhoods, cities, or nations. As a normative term, it refers to ideologies or policies that promote this diversity or its institutionalisation; in this sense, multiculturalism is a society “at ease with the rich tapestry of human life and the desire amongst people to express their own identity in the manner they see fit.” Such ideologies or policies vary widely, including country to country,ranging from the advocacy of equal respect to the various cultures in a society, to a policy of promoting the maintenance of cultural diversity, to policies in which people of various ethnic and religious groups are addressed by the authorities as defined by the group they belong to. However, two main different and seemingly inconsistent strategies have developed through different Government policies and strategies:The first focuses on interaction and communication between different cultures. Interactions of cultures provide opportunities for the cultural differences to communicate and interact to create multiculturalism. (Such approaches are also often known as interculturalism.) The second centers on diversity and cultural uniqueness. Cultural isolation can protect the uniqueness of the local culture of a nation or area and also contribute to global cultural diversity. A common aspect of many policies following the second approach is that they avoid presenting any specific ethnic, religious, or cultural community values as central.

Multiculturalism is often contrasted with the concepts of assimilationism and has been described as a "salad bowl" or "cultural mosaic" rather than a "melting pot".]

Most people realize that the national language of Mexico is Spanish and that Mexico is the world’s largest Spanish speaking country. In fact, its population, now numbering 105 million, represents about one-third of all the 330 million or so Spanish speakers in the world. Spanish is the majority language in nineteen other countries besides Mexico, and is the world’s third most spoken language, after English and Chinese.

Far fewer people realize that, in addition to Spanish, another 62 indigenous languages are also spoken in Mexico. This makes Mexico one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, in terms of the number of languages spoken, behind Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and India, but well ahead of China, Brazil and just about anywhere else.



The major indigenous groups in Mexico

Some estimates put the number of different Indian languages in use at the time of the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century as high as 170. This number had dwindled to about 100 by 1900, and has continued to decline to the present day. The latest estimates are that at least 62 distinct languages (and 100 dialects) are still spoken somewhere in the country.

The largest indigenous groups are those speaking Nahuatl (2,563,000; dispersed locations, and therefore not shown on the map), Maya (1,490,000), Zapotec (785,000) and Mixtec (764,000), followed by those using Otomí (566,000), Tzeltal (547,000) and Tzotzil (514,000). Other well known groups include the 204,000 having Purépecha (or Tarasco) as their first language and the 122,000 speaking Tarahumara.

At the other end of the spectrum, only about 130 people still speak Lacandón and only 80 use Kiliwa. Only 60 people still use Aguacateco in Mexico and only 50 speak Techtiteco (or simply Teco), though both languages are spoken by several thousand Indians in neighboring Guatemala.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget that many Mexicans not only speak Spanish and/or an indigenous language, but also manage pretty well in English, French, Japanese and many others!

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect – click here for the original article

Indigenous languages and cultures are analyzed in chapters 10 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

 

LINK INFO INDIGENOUS GROUPS PROJECTS


 

Larger states (in area and/or population) would surely be more likely to have more Magic Town candidates. However, it is clear from comparing the maps of Magic Towns and population density (above) that the number of Magic Towns does not appear to be related to either the area of states, or to their population density. 

The major indigenous groups in Mexico

Indigenous groups are relevant because they tend to live in relatively remote areas of great natural beauty, such as the Copper Canyon region or the Huasteca, and they also exhibit many distinctive cultural traits, giving them a head-start in the race to demonstrate their attractiveness for tourism. Again, though, there is little common ground between the map of indigenous groups and the map of Magic Towns. In particular, the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Campeche all seem to have fewer Magic Towns than might be expected.

Indigenous Groups by state in Mexico

State
Indigenous Groups
Baja California
Cochimí, cucapá, kiliwa, kumiai y paipai
Campeche
Maya
Coahuila
Kikapú
Chiapas
Cakchiquel, chol, jacalteco, kanjobal, lacandón, mame, mochó, tojolabal, tzeltal (tseltal) , tzotzil (tsotsil) y zoque
Chihuahua
Guarijío, pima, tarahumara y tepehuán
Distrito Federal*
Maya, mazahua, mazateco, mixe, mixteco, náhuatl, otomí, purépecha, tlapaneco, totonaco y zapoteco
Durango
Tepehuán
Guanajuato
Chichimeca jonaz
Guerrero
Amuzgo, mixteco, náhuatl y tlapaneco
Hidalgo
Náhuatl y otomí
Jalisco
Huichol
México
Mazahua, náhuatl y otomí
Michoacán
Mazahua, otomí y purépecha
Morelos
Náhuatl
Nayarit
Cora y huichol
Oaxaca
Amuzgo, chatino, chinanteco, chocho, chontal, cuicateco, huave, ixcateco, mazateco, mixe, mixteco, triqui y zapoteco
Puebla
Chocho, mixteco, náhuatl y totonaca
Querétaro
Otomí y pame
Quintana Roo
Maya
San Luis Potosí
Huasteco, náhuatl y pame
Sinaloa
Mayo
Sonora
Mayo, pápago, pima, seri y yaqui
Tabasco
Chontal y chol
Veracruz
Náhuatl, tepehua, popoluca y totonaca
Yucatán
Maya

These are the main indigenous groups established in each state. --- Note: Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Colima, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas do not have significant indigenous population. It should also be noted that in various states are several indigenous groups.

 

 

 

 

 

Sate for each Indigenous Group in Mexico

Indigenous Group
State
Amuzgo
Guerrero y Oaxaca
Chatino
Oaxaca
Cakchiquel
Chiapas
Chichimeca jonaz
Guanajuato
Chinanteco
Oaxaca
Chocho
Oaxaca y Puebla
Chol
Chiapas y Tabasco
Chontal
Oaxaca y Tabasco
Cochimí
Baja California
Cora
Nayarit
Cucapá
Baja California
Cuicateco
Oaxaca
Guarijío
Chihuahua
Huasteco
San Luis Potosí
Huave
Oaxaca
Huichol
Jalisco y Nayarit
Ixcateco
Oaxaca
Jacalteco
Chiapas
Kanjobal
Chiapas
Kikapú
Coahuila
Kiliwa
Baja California
Kumiai
Baja California
Lacandón
Chiapas
Mame
Chiapas
Matlatzinca
México
Maya
Campeche, Quintana Roo y Yucatán
Mayo
Sinaloa y Sonora
Mazahua
México y Michoacán
Mazateco
Oaxaca
Mixe
Oaxaca
Mixteco
Guerrero, Oaxaca y Puebla
Mochó
Chiapas
Motozintleco
Chiapas
Náhuatl*
Distrito Federal, Guerrero, Hidalgo, México, Morelos, San Luis Potosí, Puebla y Veracruz
Otomí
México y Michoacán
Paipai
Baja California
Pame
San Luis Potosí y Querétaro
Pima
Sonora
Pápago
Sonora
Popoluca
Veracruz
Purépecha
Michoacán
Seri
Sonora
Tarahumara
Chihuahua
Tepehua
Veracruz
Tepehuán
Chihuahua y Durango
Tlapaneco
Guerrero
Tojolabal
Chiapas
Totonaca
Puebla y Veracruz
Triqui
Oaxaca
Tzelta l (tseltal)
Chiapas
Tzotzil (tsotsil)
Chiapas
Yaqui
Sonora
Zapoteco
Oaxaca
Zoque
Chiapas

* It is the indigenous language with more speakers in the country.