Indigenousness without Ethnicity in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico: Natives, Outsiders and Community-Based Identities

This article analyses the relationship between ethnic, indigenous and community-based identities in the communities of Ixtlán and Guelatao in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico. Local identities and sense of belonging to the communities prevail over ethnic identification amongst the inhabitants of these communities. The strengthening of local (community-based) identity has been achieved through an internal social organisation and categorisation of the inhabitants based on their origin as a mechanism of integration, particularly in diverse communities with large numbers of outsiders. Parallel to this, new ways of defining indigenousness, without ethnic claims, are emerging through making reference to the practice of comunalidad and attachment to localities/communities.