Access to Justice in Indigenous Communities in Mexico

This project, led by Dr. Erika Arenas (Sociology) and Dr. Emiko Saldivar (Anthropology) will develop an instrument to collect new data for the generation of indicators about access to justice in indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. In collaboration with a local non-profit indigenous organization, “Centro Profesional Indígena de Asesoría, Defensa y Traducción, A.C.” (CEPIADET), and a group of UCSB students, this research team will collect qualitative data, through in-depth interviews with indigenous authorities and from files documenting specific cases solved by these authorities. The team will then develop an instrument to collate this data to generate useful indicators to investigate the access to justice by indigenous people in the legal system in Oaxaca. This will enable the research team to create a pilot study on how indigenous communities resolve conflicts. Students will attend specially designed courses at UCSB, helping to develop the research project before conducting research in Oaxaca in June 2025. The collaboration between CEPIADET with expert scholars in Social Demography and Survey Research will provide the basis to establish a Laboratory for Statistical Literacy and Racial Equity as part of UCSB educational curriculum.