This sites provides a general description of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, a brief summary of research I've conducted in Oaxaca since 1986, and an overview of my teaching responsibilities at CSULB.  At the bottom you'll find links to more information about Oaxaca and some of its visitors.  Enjoy.

Climate and Location: Oaxaca borders four other Mexican  states:  Puebla to the northwest  Guerrero to the west Veracruz to the northeast Chiapas to the east.   The climate is temperate.  Rainy season is normally June-August.  Click here  for the current temperature and weekly forecast.

Demographics: The state's eight distinct regions are host tofifteen ethnic groups.  Among Oaxaca's 3,000,000+ residents, more than 1,000,000 speak one of the 15 distinct languages, of which include  Zapoteco, Mixteco, Mixe, Huave, Mazateco, and Chinanteco have the most speakers.

Research:

My research in Oaxaca over the past 15 years has focused primarily on aspects of educational attainment and employment for women born in any of the state's thousands of rural communities.  Women women, especially those over the age of 45, are consistently the population with the lowest rates of formal education and literacy in the state.  Yet increasingly, women are studying at post-primary, junior high and high school levels, and for baccalaureate, post-graduate and professional degrees.
 
 

This scene from a mural in the Governor's Palace in Oaxaca City commemorates expansion of schools into rural areas following the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, and the on-going efforts of promotoraswho teach literacy in their communities.

In 1994, I begin to examine the lifestyles of rural to urban migrant women women who worked as household workers, known locally as sirvientas.Though hard to see, the adjacent photo shows a sirvient walking past a doorway advertising "Se Solicita Sirvienta" (Houshold worker wanted), a typical sight, despite the fact that I found that the majority of household workers I contacted found their jobs through personal contacts rather than these announcements.

During the summer 2000, I began collecting data regarding the growing use of the Internet in Oaxaca City.  Preliminary results of this study were presented at the 2000 American Anthropological Association annual meetings in the poster "Internet Advertising and Marketing of Oaxaca Culture" co-authored by Dave Bradley and Sandra Kennedy.  "Entrepreneurs, E-mail, and Economic Growth: Tourism and the World Wide Web in Oaxaca City, Mexico" about this project was presented at the 2001 Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meetings in  Mérida, Yucatan.

SEDETUR(Secretaría de Desarollo de Turísmo del Estado de Oaxaca), Oaxaca's Ministry of Tourism, describes a host of Oaxaca's tourist attractions.  The Guelaguetza, a dance recital (that is so much more) held the last two Mondays of July, is probably the best known of these.

Find out about current events in Oaxaca by checking out today's headlines in Oaxaca's newspapers: El Imparcial
and  Noticias de Oaxaca.

National news is available fromLa Jornada.

The Interactive Web Community and Oaxaca Live also provide up to do information about events Oaxaqueños.

Read about the Casa de la Mujer's "Guadalupe Musalem" Scholarship fund for indigenous Oaxacan students.

Read about Winston's adventures in Oaxaca, and take a whirlwind trip through theYucatan Peninsula.

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