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Subject Headings
Library of Congress Subject Headings are used to perform subject
searches in a library catalog. These are the main subject headings which can be used to find
information about the Zapatista movement, but this list is by no means complete. A good strategy for uncovering more books on this topic and on related topics is to perform a subject search, then see what other subjects are cross referenced for books in the found set.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Sources.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Sources -- Bibliography.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Peasant Uprising, 1994-
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Peasant Uprising, 1994- -- Influence.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Peasant Uprising, 1994- -- Mass media and
the uprising.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Peasant Uprising, 1994- -- Propaganda.
- Chiapas (Mexico) -- History -- Peasant Uprising, 1994- -- Sources.
- Mexico --Politics and government --1988-
- Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (Mexico) --History.
- Social movements --Mexico --History --20th century.
- Marcos, subcomandante.
- Human rights --Mexico.
- Civil rights --Mexico.
- Political rights --Mexico.
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Browsing Areas
E-F at the beginning of a Library of Congress Call Number indicates history of America and United States. F1201 - 1392 indicates specifically history of Mexico. F1256 indicates books related to the history of Chiapas. This is the best place to begin browsing. JL1281 indicates Political Science of Mexico. This is also a good place to browse.
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Frequently Mentioned Texts
Zapatista! : reinventing revolution in Mexico. edited by John Holloway and Eloína Peláez. London ; Sterling, VA : Pluto Press, c 1998. Davis -- CALL NUMBER: F1256 .Z27 1998
Considered the definitive book on the 1994 uprising itself, this book provides not only a detailed retelling of the events of the uprising, but also a compelling analysis of the Zapatista philosophy ("Zapatismo is a struggle, not for power, but against power."), and of the powers against which the Zapatistas have pitted themselves ("Their project is summed up in the title of the Intercontinental Meeting which they organized in their territory in July 1996: 'For Humanity against Neoliberalism'.")
The book also provides a fascinating discussion of the language of the EZLN communiques, and of the way in which the Zapatistas are "reinventing revolution," the central theme of the book. Readers should be aware, however, that while excellent, the book is unabashedly partisan in favor of the Zapatistas. About this the editors write:
[T]his book is not a neutral one. Although not uncritical of the Zapatista movement, our attempt to understand it is a partisan attempt.When the Zapatistas occupied San Cristobal and the
other towns of Chiapas on 1 January 1994, they sent flares of hope, dignity and revolutionary enthusiasm into the sombre night sky of the world. If this book succeeds in contributing to and
deepening that hope, dignity and enthusiasm, then it will have succeeded in its aim.
You can read the introduction of this book online at http://aries.gisam.metu.edu.tr/chiapas/intro.html.
Chiapas, And the Women?. Compiled and edited by Rosa Rojas. Mexico D.F.: Editiones La Correa Feminista, Centro de Investigacion y Capacitacion de la Mujer A.C. (c) 1994.
Available online at http://www.eco.utexas.edu:80/Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/begin.html
In the introduction to her book, Rosa Rojas writes, "The answer to the question posed by the title of this book: "What is the role of women in the context of war?" goes beyond the desire and the right to inform. We have produced a book about the situation of women in the war in Chiapas because we believe there is a direct connection between the invisibility of women and the unjust conditions which led to the outbreak of war, and continued within the war itself.
This book provides a fascinating look at the women of the Zapatista movement, including a feminist critique of the struggle and documentation of women's specific concerns with regard to the conflict, their economic situations, and indigenous women's rights and traditions. This book also contains a chapter on Comandante Ramona, the most famous female Zapatista.
Shadows of tender fury : the letters and communiqués of Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. translated by Frank Bardacke, Leslie López and the Watsonville, California, Human Rights Committee; introduction by John Ross ; afterword by Frank Bardacke. New York : Monthly Review Press, c 1995.
Davis -- CALL NUMBER: F1256 .M3613 1995
!Zapatistas!: Documents of the New Mexican Revolution. Autonomedia editors and contributors. Brooklyn, New York: Autonomedia (c) 1994.
Available online at gopher://lanic.utexas.edu/11/la/Mexico/Zapatistas/
!Zapatistas! and Shadows of Tender Fury are both collections of the (in)famous Zapatista communiques.
!Zapatistas! contains the full, English language
text of every communique published (along with
several that were not published, as well as
many interviews, letters, and essays) from
the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN)
from December 31, 1993 through June 12, 1994, while Shadows focuses on the writings of Subcomandante Marcos, the famous spokesman of the EZLN.
This is essentially a primary source approach to the study of the uprising. Reading the actual communiques of the EZLN is the best way to really understand the movement. The language is poetic and easy to read, the imagery is graphic and imaginative, and the subject matter is gripping.
Popular movements and political change in Mexico. edited by Joe Foweraker & Ann L. Craig. Boulder : L. Rienner Publishers, c 1990.
Davis -- CALL NUMBER: JL1281 .P67 1990
This is a good "background book." It provides context for the Zapatista movement, discussing the economic and political climate in Mexico in the early 90's. The best source is chapter 11, entitled "Peasant Strategies and Corporatism in Chiapas." This chapter is especially interesting because it discusses the political and economic climate in Chiapas directly before the Zapatista rebellion, and it discusses the EZLN before they were the EZLN. There is also a wealth of bilbliographic sources in the notes at the end of the chapter, and an index which defines the many acronym-named organizations discussed in the book.
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Handbooks
US State Department Background Notes on Mexico: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/mexico_1098_bgn.html
Background Notes contains basic geographic and statistical information, as well as information about the history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of Mexico. The EZLN is discussed under the heading "political scene." This site is mainly interesting because it gives the perspective of the US state department, which is pretty biased. Notice especially that the analysis in the second paragraph refers to "the massacre of 45 indigenous peasants in Acteal, Chiapas in December 1997" but makes no reference to the fact that this massacre is widely thought to have been carried out by government officials. Also note that although discussion of the assasinations of PRI officials Luis Donaldo Colosio and Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu
is presented in the same paragraph as information about the EZLN, the men convicted of these crimes were not part of the EZLN. In fact, these assasinations are thought to have been sponsored by other PRI political candidates. This method of presentation is either bad organization or misinformation.
Library of Congress Handbook of Latin American Studies: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/
The Handbook is a selective annotated bibliography of scholarly works on Latin America. Edited by the Hispanic Division of
the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities.
Works reviewed include books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers, and reviews are generally informational and qualitative.
When applicable, entries provide a LCCN, and clickable subject headings which will produce a search on various related topics. Though this bibliography is one of the most important indexes of articles about Latin America, it may frustrate novice researchers because many articles are in Spanish, no full text is provided, and journals are generally referred to by abbreviation. (There is a key provided online, but it must be accessed separately, i.e. users cannot click on a journal abbreviation to look it up).
Useful searches to try:
- Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional
- Indigenous Policy--Mexico
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Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements--Mexico
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Indigenous/Non-Indigenous Relations--Mexico
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Social Structure--Mexico
The World Factbook. Washington: Central Intelligence Agency, 1981 - . (Annual): http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/mx.html
The World Factbook is prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency for the use of US Government officials. It is useful as a source of statistics, including life expectancy, fertility, age structure, etc.
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Abstracts and Indexes
DIALOG
DIALOG is a collection of databases, each of which indexes articles from many journals and publications. If you are unsure of how to use DIALOG, consult the reference librarians in Davis or in SILS.
Keywords for searching:
- Zapatista
- EZLN
- Acteal, Chiapas, or other significant place names. (nb. Sometimes Acteal is not mentioned by name, and should be searched by "s chiapas and massacre.")
- Tzotzil, Tzeltal, or other Mayan tribe names
- Any combination of terms which will facilitate your research, e.g. "s Zapatista and women"
- PAIS: International Public Affairs
- DIALOG file 49
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International is a bibliographic index to the public policy literature of business, economics, finance, law, international relations, government, political science, and other social science. it provides references in English to material published worldwide in any of six languages.
PAIS emphasizes factual and statistical information from professional publications in the fields of business, finance, law, education, and social work. Reports on public affairs form the serious general press are also included. Thee is comprehensive coverage of all issues of public policy relating to social, economic, or political problems, including taxation, multinational corporations, banking, labor, insurance, crime, health, international relations, international trade, and specific industries.
This is the best database to search for articles giving a factual account of the 1994 uprising, the responses of the Mexican government and the PRI, American attitudes and involvement in the situation, and specific incidents of violence, such as the massacre at Acteal.
- Social Science Citation Index
- DIALOG file 7
The Social SciSearch¨ database is an international, multidisciplinary index to the literature of the social, behavioral, and related sciences, produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI¨). Social
SciSearch contains all of the records published in the Social Sciences Citation Index.
This is the best database to search for articles giving analysis of the Zapatista movement and the changing political situation in Chiapas. The economics journals are especially helpful.
- Sociological Abstracts
- DIALOG file 37
Sociological Abstracts (SA) covers the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behaviorial sciences. Over 1,600 journals and other serial publications are scanned each year to
provide coverage of original research, reviews, discussions, monographic publications, panel discussions, and case studies. Conference papers and dissertations are also indexed in the file.
Contains a good number of articles relating to the Zapatistas, some with interesting angles (the role of the Catholic Church and liberation theology on the formation of the EZLN, for example). There is a lot of focus on the reasons for the formation of the EZLN, reasons for the uprising, and wider implications of various aspects of the Zapatista movement.
- Historical Abstracts
- DIALOG file 39
Historical Abstracts indexes the world's periodical literature in history and the related social sciences and humanities. The database corresponds to the two companion publications: Historical Abstracts: Part A,
Modern History Abstracts (1450-1914) and Historical Abstracts: Part B, Twentieth Century Abstracts (1914 to the Present), produced by ABC-CLIO. Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world from
1450 to the present, excluding the U.S. and Canada, which are covered by America: History and Life, File 38.
A lot of book reviews, not as many articles as the above mentioned databases, but contains articles on some topics not otherwise mentioned. In this database, a search for "Zapatista" also uncovers articles about the 1910-1920 Mexican revolution, so researchers should take advantage of the "time period" option available with this index. Articles giving factual accounts as well as analysis are included.
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Periodicals
Almost any mainstream paper with international coverage will have some coverage of the EZLN in its archives. The challenge, however, is to find periodicals with ongoing coverage of the situation in Chiapas, now that the EZLN is not in the spotlight, and which also give coverage which is not government censored.
La Jornada
http://unam.netgate.net/jornada/
La Jornada is Mexico's leading independent newspaper, and is probably the best mainstream news source for information about the Zapatistas and the situation in Chiapas. You can search their archives online at http://biblioweb.dgsca.unam.mx/busquedas/jornada.html, but they only go back to 1995, so you cannot get information about the 1994 uprising itself.
The newspaper is only in Spanish.
Z Magazine
http://www.zmag.orgZ Magazine is an excellent source of up to date information about Mexican politics and the Zapatista movement. The Undergraduate Library sometimes carries Z Magazine, but back issues including most of 1994 to the present are available free on the Z Magazine website. Especially look at their list of articles on International relations.
Our "Man in Mexico" and the Chiapas Massacre by James Petras is especially good and provides information about Mexico's economic
situation, with a good analysis of the state's role in the massacre in Acteal, Chiapas.
The Prism
http://metalab.unc.edu/prism/The Prism is a volunteer run newspaper based in Chapel Hill, NC which happens to have several reporters who regularly write articles about Mexico and Chiapas. Many of their back issues are online at http://metalab.unc.edu/prism/.
A particularly good article by Michael Steinberg is called Savage Repression in Mexico: The North Carolina Connection. Also look for any articles by Maria Darlington, who spent many years working in Chiapas and now contributes articles on the subject regularly (unfortunately, many of these articles are not yet online, but the Prism hopes to have all its issues online soon). Look for new issues in news racks around Chapel Hill, or buy a subscription ($20/year) on their website.
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Organizations
EZLN http://www.ezln.org/
This website is a private, nonprofit endeavor and is not an official publication of the Ejército Zapatista.
It is, however, the unofficial homepage of the EZLN, and the domain name, ezln.org, was registered with the permission of the EZLN leadership.
This page is mainly in Spanish, but has some information in English. It is regularly updated with news releases and updates, but those are mainly only in Spanish. Also in Spanish is a great archive of EZLN documents and news articles. The main resource in English is the section at the bottom of the front page, entitled Background: Who or What is the EZLN?, which unfortunately only contains two articles (though both are very good articles).
Really a mirror of another webpage, the EZLN site does contain an English translation of the FZLN (Frente Zapatista de Liberaci—n Nacional) webpage at http://www.ezln.org/fzln/fzln.html. This page contains all the official publications of the FZLN, which is the nascent civil arm of the EZLN.
Consulta EZLN, or Consulta Nacional por el Respeto a los Derechos de los Pueblos Indios y por el Fin de la Guerra de Exterminio:
http://www.laneta.apc.org/consultaEZLN/
This is the authoritative source for information about the "Consulta EZLN," also known as the Consulta Nacional por el Respeto a los Derechos de los Pueblos
Indios y por el Fin de la Guerra de Exterminio, which means "National Consultation for the Respect of the Rights of the Indian Villages and for the end of the War of Extermination. La Consulta is a Zapatista project, intended to gauge national opinion about the Zapatista / Indigenous struggle. This website is mainly in Spanish, but there are some articles in English, and the letter from Subcomandante Marcos to Mumia Abu Jamal (available directly at http://www.laneta.apc.org/consultaEZLN/comunicados/mumiaeng.htm) is informative and moving, and is in English.
To see a copy of the consulta itself, go to http://www.laneta.apc.org/consultaEZLN/comunicados/990415es.htm.
This page also has some great photos from consulta events across Mexico at http://www.laneta.apc.org/consultaEZLN/fotos/fotos.htm.
Enlace Civil: http://www.enlacecivil.org.mx/
Enlace Civil, which means "Civil Link," is a non-governmental organization which conducts quality of life projects in Chiapas, Mexico. Many of the communities with which they work are indigenous Mayan, and are deeply connected with the struggle of the Zapatista movement. This page is in Spanish, but for those who can read Spanish it is an excellent resource of information about the region. They also have a listserv, which is another good source of up-to-the-minute news coming out of Chiapas, though it, too, is in Spanish.
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Internet Sources
Internet resources are doubly important to understanding the Zapatista movement because electronic dissemination of information about the Zapatista movement has often been credited with forcing the Mexican government to negotiate with the EZLN after the 1994 uprising. An especially important paper on this topic was published by University of Texas faculty Harry Cleaver in in the Italian journal RIFF-RAFF (Padova) in Februrary 1994, titled "The Chiapas Uprising and the Future of Class Struggle in the New World Order." The paper is available on the Internet at gopher://mundo.eco.utexas.edu:70/00/fac/hmcleave/Cleaver%20Papers/The%20Chiapas%20Uprising%20Feb94.
Harry Cleaver has also published an excellent list of Zapatista related Internet resources at http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/zapsincyber.html, entitled Zapatistas
in Cyberspace, A Guide to Analysis and Information. This list contains much valuable information about the Zapatista Internet presence. All sources listed are reviewed, many are international in scope, which provides an interesting perspective, but the list is a little out of date. This is, however, the best list available of non-WWW Internet resources, such as gopher, mailing lists, and usenet. There is also a collection of scholarly articles discussing the role of the Internet in the development of international support for the Zapatistas.
There is so much information about the Zapatistas available over the Internet, and so many people have attempted to collect and analyze it, that only excellect collection sites and sites of particular interest will be included here.
Zapatista Net of Autonomy and Liberation http://www.actlab.utexas.edu:80/~zapatistas/guide.html
Home of the above mentioned Zapatistas in Cyberspace, A Guide to Analysis and Information, ZapNet! is "Formed of media and academic specialists interested in the free and lively transformation of information to knowledge." According to their introdution, Zapnet "explores the cutting edge of technology and communications, theory and praxis, transversing the striated arena of cyberspace, mediaspace, community space, and academic space". What that means in English is that this is a group of academics who support the Zapatistas and are interested in using electronic media to provide information and support for their cause. They are in the process of producing a CD-ROM entitled "The Revolution Will Be Digitized", which will be an interactive collection of images, video, sound, and text. Files from the CD-ROM are available via FTP over their website. This website is also a repository for many papers, archives, and other useful documents relating the the Zapatistas, but some of these are hard to find because of the very conceptually abstract design of the webpage, which favors cryptic menu items and cute graphics over descriptive titles. There are also a spattering of broken links throughout the page which can prove frustrating.
They do have some great sound clips available:
Protest Chant
EZLN Chant
EZLN Tune
Marcos Speaks
Zapatista Hymn
Zapatista Women
http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~geneve/zapwomen/
Affiliated with ZapNet!, the site is described as the first site on the Internet dedicated to the history and ongoing struggle of Zapatista women. The site includes a Bibliography of Resources on Zapatista Women at http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~geneve/zapwomen/biblio.html, which is mainly useful for the video it describes and gives contact information for.
It also has an active forum page for the sharing of notes and research, available at http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~geneve/zapwomen/forum/. Please read the introduction to the forum before posting anything. Postings are in Spanish and English, and some are actually fascinating essays about the lives of women insurgents, while some contain valuable bibliographic suggestions.
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