Peasant micropower in an agrifood supply system of the Sierra Madre of Chiapas, Mexico

In recent years, rural studies have transitioned from analyzing internal agrarian dynamics within peasant societies to exploring contractual relationships in a vertical manner between agribusiness and peasants with respect to food production and marketing. The present study follows the tradition of classical agrarian research in order to develop an ascendant Foucauldian analysis that is both genealogical (historical) and critical (addressing current effects) of peasant micropower that domestic groups reproduce in their local agrifood supply system in six ejidos of the Sierra Madre region of Chiapas, Mexico. This study used a mixed methodology consisting of a regional ethnography, surveys regarding the peasant economy with 120 domestic groups, interviews with founders of the rural communities and directors of local peasant organizations, factorial statistical and cluster analyses, and visualization of social networks. As a result of the study, we (a) elucidate sociohistorical conditions that have resulted in differentiation among different types of peasants within the micro-region, (b) analyze contemporary social dynamics that have led to polarization between two principal sets of domestic groups based on their means of production, and (c) show how the fact that the majority of domestic groups of the micro-region experience seasonal food scarcity and lack formal employment has led to low rural wages and monopolization of the internal agrifood supply system by those peasants who have greater means of production. We conclude by reflecting on peasant micropower as a phenomenon that can be found in social relations of many agrarian regions around the world, in which the challenge would be to understand its processes of reproduction, analyze effects of this micropower, and propose alternative academic approaches that may contribute to generating public policy and political action to counteract rural inequality.