In this essay, we describe some of the collective reflections and analyses that emerged as a result of a comparative project initiated with a UC MEXUS-CONACYT Collaborative Grant, awarded funds to two research teams, one in the United States and one in Mexico. The aim of the project was to develop a common theoretical framework for understanding the complex relationship between movements for indigenous rights, state reform, and juridical structures. A principal goal of this framework was to allow for a comparison of the experience of indigenous groups in regions of Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States, including transnational indigenous migrants between these countries. We focused on the ways in which indigenous people are struggling for political and cultural rights, local autonomy, and effective justice practices in the context of changes being wrought by processes of economic, political, legal, and cultural globalization. We were particularly interested in analyzing how men and women might be living these struggles differently and how gender norms and dynamics might be shifting as a result of organizational experiences or migratory processes.

The Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Anthropology 

(2009) with Shannon Speed, Maylei Blackwell, Aída Hernández, Teresa Sierra, Morna Macleod, Renya Ramírez and Juan Herrera, “Remapping Gender, Justice, and Rights in the Indigenous Americas: Towards a Comparative Analysis and Collaborative Methodology,” Journal of Latin American Anthropology, Vol.14 (2): 300-331.