Global processes and local identity among Mayan coffee growers in Chiapas, Mexico

This case study of the organic farmers' cooperative Indigenas de la Sierra Madre de Motozintla (ISMAM) explores the construction of identity as a dialogic process in which external elements are appropriated to permit resistance and creative adaptation to global processes. Building on indigenous Mam respect for nature, ISMAM forges a corporate image that responds to symbolic demands of the alternative marketplace and a self-image reaffirming traditional values in a modern context.