Rethinking The Meaning Of

Resistance And Change

Anthropology Of The Body (Gpo 601)

Guillermo Najera Lobo

A01722738
16/11/23

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 Abstract

This essay is about the relations between bodily experience and societal issues especially
poverty in Mexico as perceived within the frameworks of intersectionality and decolonialism. In
his evaluation of economic disparities, he analyzes how different types of poverty affect
indigenous people, women, and migrants among others. Supported by statistics highlighting the
extent of poverty in Mexico, the essay connects these issues to key anthropological concepts:
cultural constructions of the body, split Cartesian subject, corporemata and corporeality
practices, bio-politics and bio-power, and postcolonialism. An inclusive approach and
recommending nancial inclusion, challenging conventional narratives, and ensuring effective
social security system as depicted by the essay. This approach converges with intersectionality and
decoloniality in seeing a diverse Mexico where the poor get back their dignity and rights.

Presentation And Analysis

One of the issues that I see present in my communities and affect the interaction between
bodily experiences and social problems is Mexicos economic inequalities. Poverty has many
meanings because it involves people’s material conditions, health as well as their psychological
status, their social and cultural life, their personal opinions, and also their rights. Mexico is a
former colonial state that has had a lot of issues of social justice and human development. The
perspective I have in this essay is mad up by two main ideas: intersectionality and
decolonialism. The intersectionality approach refers to all the possible ways through which
people are subjected to discrimination and oppression based on gender, race, class, ethnicity,
sexuality, age, disability and other social characteristics. Colonialism on the other hand is its
effects such as western ways of knowing, power and representation that still remain with us today,
and decolonialism is the movement that seeks to challenge these ways of western thinking.
(Fernández‐Sánchez, 2020) (Daftary, 2018) (Azzarito, 2023)

Poverty in Mexico can be considered from various angles, in the context of

intersectionality and decolonialism, by seeing how different groups of people experience poverty
differently. In uenced by their positions in the socio-political context. Some vulnerable and
excluded persons who experience multiples forms of violence, exclusion, and exploitation include
indigenous people, women, and other migrants in Mexico. I really think that it is possible to
analyze the poverty issue of intersectionality and decolonization by challenging those dominant
arguments that justify and make more poverty that are neoliberalism, racism, sexism, and others.
This problem is what tends to silencethe voices, cultures and knowledge of the poor while a

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uniform western idea of development and progress. (Fernández‐Sánchez, 2020) (Daftary, 2018)
(Azzarito, 2023)

Some hard facts and statistics that illustrate the problem of poverty in Mexico are the following:
- According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy
(CONEVAL), in 2018, 41.9% of the population (52.4 million people) lived in poverty, and 7.4%
(9.3 million people) lived in extreme poverty. (Statista, 2023)
- In 2018, 71.9% of the indigenous population (10.1 million people) lived in poverty, and 28.6%
(4 million people) lived in extreme poverty. (Statista, 2023)
- According to the World Bank, in 2018, the Gini coef cient of Mexico was 0.45, which
indicates a high level of income inequality. (Statista, 2023)
- According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in 2019, Mexico ranked
76th out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), with a score of 0.779, which
is below the average of Latin America and the Caribbean (0.783). (Project, 2020)
- In 2019, Mexico ranked 122nd out of 162 countries in the Gender Inequality Index (GII),
with a score of 0.382, which tells is the difference between men and women in health,
education, labor market, and political participation. (Project, 2020)
- Citizens with lighter skin reported bringing in, on average, $220 a month. Darker-skinned
citizens earned 41.5 percent less, just $137 a month. (Zizumbo-Colunga, 2017)

This topic can be related to some ve concepts learned in my class: cultural

construction(s) of the body, the divided Cartesian subject, corporealities and corporeal practices,
bio-politics and bio-power, and postcolonialism. These concepts show how we can appreciate
how poverty is seen upon the body and how the body becomes politicized in Mexico. It is
important to know the cultural construction of the body because it in uences the relationship
between features such as skin color, hair texture, facial characteristics, height, weight, and health
status in relation to poverty resulting into tagging, categorizing, labeling and discriminating
people. To link self-perception, poor self-esteem, and suppressed self-expression amongst poor to
the body and mind dualistic and hierarchical views, int his we can rely on the Cartesian
subject. This provides a way of looking at how poverty affects work, play, movement,
consumption, sexuality, reproduction, and other things. It also looks at these experiences as they
are passing through the corporealities and corporeal practices. It is through this
exploration that we seek to look into how life governance results in the emergence of poverty
which is treated as a tool with state and other actors intervening in the biological and social
aspects of the body. These bio-politics relate to health, education, nutrition, sanitation, and
security and thus affect the quantity and quality of life. Postcolonialism is a something

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through which one is able to analyze the body as a legacy of colonial oppression and we see
exploitation that continues well into the age of globalization, neo-liberalism, and
multiculturalism. The view enables interrogation of contemporary power structures that sustain
and reinforce inequality in the body’s management, as well as its interpretation. (Adair, 1992)
(Watson, 1998) (Navarro, 2020) (Krozer & Gómez, 2023)

Proposal

To address the problem of poverty in Mexico, especially among the marginalized and
oppressed groups, I propose a inclusive strategy that is composed by the following things:

Giving more nancial access and inclusion of the poor, especially in rural areas and
among indigenous people, women, urban and rural migrants. Some programs have shown what
can be done through conditional cash transfers, microcredits, nancial education, and digital
payments in Mexico. Such thing would also enable the poor to increase their incomes, savings,
and assets, and health, education, and nutrition. (World Bank Group, 2021)

Secondly I think challenging the stories of the colonists and neoliberals who devalue,
erase, and discount the poor’s voices, cultures, and knowledge and at the same time promoting
social and cultural diversity and recognition. Supporting participationof the poor in decision
processes, promoting their voice and education, and instead of looking at it bad, celebrating
Mexico’s diversities. With this, the poor can have back their dignity, rights, belonging, and
contribution. (Alliance, N.D)

Another solution to this problem is a good social protection systems that gives them
universal access to quality public services like health, education, housing, water and sanitation
and social security. The solution starts with the government and can involve expanding scal
spending and funding, as well as a good coordination and integration across sectors and tiers of
the government. The poor are likely to minimize and even mitigate their vulnerability and risks
through these actions. (Ahmed, 2022)

With this strategy, I feel like Mexico will be able to achieve an inclusive and sustainable
development with consideration to the diversity and dignity of all of its people. The strategy is
congruous with the conceptual frameworks of intersectionality and decoloniality which
understand poverty as multidimensional and complex phenomenon that is deeply rooted in the
exploitative structure of the society.

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 Cultural Product

https://Guillermoculturalproduct.My.Canva.Site/Facts
This is a half white, half-brown, a character in order to draw attention to the harsh reality
that brown people go through in Mexico. More than just a drawing, this visual speaks out on a
serious matter. In Mexico there is big disparity in earnings depending on one’s skin color. This
artwork works like a wake-up call reminding the world that innocent people are suffering due to
this injustice. It aims to involve everyone in the discussion. I am making it clear that the situation
where brown people get paid lower than their white counterparts is completely wrong and unfair.
This is the fact: “Wealth, we found, similarly correlates to skin color. The average Mexican
household income in the LAPOP study was about US$193 a month. Citizens with lighter skin
reported bringing in more than that – on average, $220 a month. Darker-skinned citizens, on the
other hand, earned just $137 – 41.5 percent less than their white compatriots.” (Zizumbo-
Colunga, 2017)

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 Bibliography:

Statista. (2023, November 20). Poverty and inequality in Mexico - statistics & facts. https://
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Project, B. (2020, July 3). Poverty in Mexico – 10 Facts you should know. The Borgen Project.
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Fernández‐Sánchez, H. (2020). Transnational migration and Mexican women who remain

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Watson, R. A. (1998, August 5). Cartesianism | De nition, Philosophy, Beliefs, Examples, &
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Krozer, A., & Gómez, A. C. U. (2023). Not in the eye of the beholder: Racialization, whiteness,
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Gini Coef cient by Country 2023. (n.d.). https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/

gini-coef cient-by-country

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Zizumbo-Colunga, D. (2017). Study reveals racial inequality in Mexico, disproving its ‘race-blind’
rhetoric. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/study-reveals-racial-inequality-in-
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World Bank Group. (2021, April 12). Expanding Financial Access for Mexico’s Poor and
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mexico-poverty-reduction

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