Abstract

ADONON VIVEROS, Akuavi. Estado, derecho y multiculturalismo: Un enfoque de antropología jurídica en México. Nueva antropol [online]. 2009, vol.22, n.71, pp.51-72. ISSN 0185-0636.

The social regulation of a great number of populations or minorities evolving within the framework of a dominant state structure presents a problematic that binds together reflections on the State, on the law and on multiculturalism. This article examines the complex dynamics of hegemonic impositions and identity resistances. The social and institutional referents of different worlds appear to be intertwined in a surprising coexistence in the actual practices of the actors. Avoiding a vision that gives preeminence to the principles of the right of the State and seeking to bring the actors to a strict application of the law, the analysis focuses on the legal porosity which stems from the convergence of the institutional imposition of State order, the permanence of a negotiated order informing the indigenous notions of justice, and the indigenous peoples' creativity to ensure the regulation of their social life. This theoretical framework allows us to highlight the endogenous character of dispute resolution in two Mayan communities in the Highlands of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. The analysis of legal argumentation and of court decisions illustrates this game between permanence, impositions and reinventions.

Keywords : multiculturalism; law; identity; minority; hegemony.