Changes and spatial dynamics in an ejido in central Jalisco

Abstract

On January 6, 1992, a law initiative substantially amend­ing Article 27 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, with significant consequences for Mex­ican agriculture, was approved. For the purpose of an­alyzing the past and present of these amendments and their effect on the internal organization of ejido proper­ty, a documentary fieldwork was carried out in order to gather statistical, historical and cartographic informa­tion on the ejido and the locality of La Cañada, in Jalisco. The originality of the study is that changes in the assess­ment of land use after such amendments are analyzed, and this has led to a growing individualization and gen­erated new rationalities regarding the use of resources, common long ago within Mexican rural localities. The conclusion is that the amendments to Article 27 have fa­cilitated the trading of ejido lands, although it cannot be said that these amendments are a direct cause for this occurring.