Drawing on her research of the Mixtec Indians' migration from the southwest of Mexico to Baja California, the author shows that sometimes the push for indigenous labels is more a process of external oppression than it is of minority empowerment. This book is useful to scholars working in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and ethnic studies.

Meanwhile, many Mixtecs reject their ethnic label precisely because being "Indian" means being a commercial agriculture low-wage worker or an urban informal street vendor-an identity that interferes with their goals of social mobility and economic integration. Bringing a critical new perspective to the complex intersection among government and scholarly agendas, economic development, global identity politics, and the aspirations of local migrants, this provocative book is essential reading for scholars working in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and ethnic studies.

Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
2 Mixtec Communities at the Mexican Border. 3 The Making of Vulnerabilities: Indigenous Day Laborers in Mexico's Neoliberal Agriculture
4 "We Are Against the Government, Although We Are the Government." State Institutions and Indigenous Migrants in Baja California in the 1990s
5 Representations of Indigenous Women Street Vendors in Tijuana
6 Race, Maternalism, and Community Development
7 Conclusion: Cultural Difference and Democracy
Notes
Bibliography
Index.