Losing Ground

This chapter considers Mexico's indigenous territorial jurisdiction of the nucleo agrario, or “agrarian nucleus.” Mexico's national constitution recognized the rights of indigenous peoples to their own self-determination, and although Article 27, Section VII indicates that the law will protect the land integrity of indigenous groups, it does not afford them any special territorial recognition. The Bowman Expedition Mexico Indigena focused on the impact of the land reform on indigenous lands, with case studies and field research in the Huasteca region of eastern San Luis Potoso State reported here. Territories are, geographically speaking, large and small areas of the earth's surface that are marked by certain properties, some with visible borders but mostly without. “Villagization” usually refers to the coerced or encouraged resettlement of people into villages by governments or, occasionally, by non-governmental authorities.