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.
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