| Despite significant decreases in Mexico's poverty rates in the past decades, the proportion of indigenous peoples living in poverty remained virtually the same. In response to this widening of the ethnic poverty gap, this dissertation aims to provide a better understanding of the dynamic aspects of poverty within indigenous communities. The analysis explores how some indigenous communities and households moved out of poverty in the period 1995--2005, despite stagnating poverty rates for the group as a whole. Data was collected in 12 villages in Oaxaca and Yucatan, using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings suggest that poverty exits are linked to decisions and mechanisms that facilitate geographic and occupational mobility. In Yucatan, successful trajectories are based primarily on non-agricultural employment in nearby urban areas, while in Oaxaca it is migration to the US which drives changes in wellbeing. In both regions, poverty escapes were typically accompanied by small-scale entrepreneurship or a more diversified agricultural production. Other factors that emerged strongly from the narratives of successful households include social networks, which lower the costs of migration and provide connections to new employment, as well as education, which also facilitates occupational mobility The lack of schooling is a common characteristic of households unable to move ahead. In addition, the study reveals some less common correlates of upward mobility. Certain psychological assets linked to attitudes and aspirations were perceived as crucial to the trajectories of many upwardly mobile families. Likewise, changes in household composition, that is, increases in the share of income earners, matter. While typically related to the transition of children from dependents to young adults, increases in the share of income earners can also come about through shifts in traditional gender roles and new economic opportunities for women. The role of women was particularly pronounced in Yucatan, where changes in the regional economy have brought new employment opportunities for women in tourism and export-oriented industries. Finally, the findings suggest that households' inability to manage risk and cope with adverse shocks hampers upward mobility and leaves successful households vulnerable to falls back into poverty. |
