I conducted 82 semi-structured interviews with a range of actors (3 of which were small focus groups involving 3 people each), all of which were audio recorded, with the interviewees’ consent. Interviews range from 20 minutes to over 2 hours, with the
average time being about an hour. I attempted to get representation from different social, generational and geographic perspectives (teachers, administrators, policy actors, parents,
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students, linguists and members of activist or development organizations), although my sample contains many more participants of young adult age, due to my active
participation at the university, the willingness of this age group to meet with me, and my keen interest in this generation. Many of the people interviewed could be identified through multiple roles or geographic affinities, for example as a teacher, a parent, and a resident of a certain community. The following tables and map provide an overview of social roles represented by interviewees (table 3.1), and their geographic affiliations (table 3.2 and figure 3.1). In table 3 the tallies do not match the number of people interviewed, as most people have more than one social role, and a few have more than one geographic affiliation, for example a public teacher who is from Union Hidalgo, but teaches in La Ventosa, and is also a parent. Table 4 indicates the number of people interviewed per location in relation to the population of that location (population data from INEGI 2010 census,Census de población y vivienda 2010, www.inegi.org.mx). Figure 3 provides similar information in visual format, showing the location of prominent towns in the Isthmus and the number of people interviewed per town (map adapted from Google maps; see section 4.2 for additional maps and geographic information).
Table 3. The social roles of interviewees
Social role Number of interviewees
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University teacher or coordinator 10
University student 28
Member of cultural organization 14
Non-formal teacher 14
Non-formal student/ workshop participant 21
Linguist 5
Writer/ musician 13
Parent 25
Political official 3
Table 4. The number of interviewees and total population of locations
Location Number of interviewees Population Juchitán 26 74,825 La Ventosa 14 4,884 Xadani 2 1,042 Union Hidalgo 6 13,970 Espinal 5 8,310 La Mata 1 813 Ixtaltepec 1 7,203 Comitancillo 1 3,944 Sto. Domingo Ingenio 1 5,895 Tehuantepec 9 42,082
San Blas Atempa 5 11,959
Salina Cruz 6 76,596
Mexico (other) 12 112,336,538
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Figure 3. Map of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, indicating the number of people interviewed in each location
I offered interviewees the opportunity to receive a copy of the recording and comment on anything they might want removed. Several accepted the offer of a copy, but none requested any changes. I also asked if interviewees would prefer to be confidential or have their names used. In the case of a few officials and school directors the interview was more or less my first real communication with the individual, while in the majority of cases the interview occurred subsequent to meeting them as a participant in an education event, asking if they would be willing to participate in an interview, and following up with them. Interviews were conducted in both public and private places,
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dependent on the choice of the interviewee. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, with some metalinguistic use of Diidxazá.
I chose to conduct semi-structured interviews in order to allow for interviewees' interests and preoccupations to surface, while more or less touching on the issues that I wanted to explore. I used three slightly different interview protocols for students,
teachers, and other actors (table 5). These protocols served as a rough guide, but I did not necessarily address the questions in order nor to the same degree with all participants. Each interview was influenced by the availability and willingness to talk of the
interviewee, and their interest in talking about certain subjects. Some interviewees stayed close to the question prompts in their responses, while others took the discussion in different directions. As mentioned above, my identity as an outsider with a positive stance towards local language use clearly influenced the interviews. In my analysis I take into account the co-constructed nature of these interviews, where and how they took place, and my role as interviewer in co-creating the discourses that emerge from each interview (Briggs, 1986; Talmy, 2010).
Table 5. Interview protocols
Educators Students Others
– ¿Objetivos generales de esta programa?
– General objectives of this program?
– ¿Hay objetivos lingüísticos
(oral/escrito; niveles; capacidades) en esta escuela/ programa (todos los idiomas)?
– Are there linguistic objectives (oral/ written; levels; capacities) in this school (or program)?
– ¿Cómo usa usted el idioma zapoteco?
– How do you use Zapotec?
– ¿Qué le motiva a estudiar el zapoteco?
– What motivates you to study Zapotec?
– ¿Qué son sus objetivos
generales?¿ y lingüísticos (oral/escrito; niveles; capacidades)?
– ¿Cómo usa Usted el idioma zapoteco? ¿Qué usos vea usted?
– How do you use Zapotec? What uses do you see?
– ¿Qué influencias y cambios
ha visto en el uso de zapoteco?
– What influences and changes have you seen in the use of Zapotec?
81 – ¿Hay uso o presencia de
zapoteco en la escuela (o programa)?
– Is there presence or use of Zapotec in the school (or program)?
Cuando? Cómo? Usted? Programa?
– ¿Qué recursos hay?
– What resources exist?
– ¿Qué funciona bien? Qué podría ser mejor?
– What works well? What could be better?
– ¿Preocupaciones (generales y sobre desarrollo de
capacidades lingüísticas)?
– What are your concerns (in general, and about developing language capacities in particular)?
– ¿Qué materias cuestan a los alumnos? Qué les gustan?
– What topics are difficult for students? What topics do they like?
– ¿Qué piensa del uso de zapoteco para leer y escribir?
– What do you think about the use of Zapotec in reading and writing?
– ¿Qué influencias y cambios
ha visto en la escuela (o programa)?
– What influences and changes have you seen in the school (or program)?
– Favor describe sus
experiencias de escolarización – Please describe your
experiences of schooling
– ¿Cómo imagines va a ser el uso de zapoteco en 20 años? ¿Cómo querría que sea?
– How do imagine the use of Zapotec will be in 20 years? How would you like it to be?
– ¿Quién o qué está apoyando o fomentando al uso de
– What are your general objectives? And linguistic objectives (oral/ written; levels; capacities)?
– ¿Qué recursos hay? ¿Cuales usa?
– What resources exist? Which do you use?
– ¿Qué le cuesta en el proceso de aprendizaje? Qué le gusta?
– What's difficult for you in the learning process? What do you like?
– ¿Sus ideas o acciones para lograr objetivos (generales y objetivos lingüísticos)?
– What are your strategies to meet objectives (general objectives and language objectives)?
– ¿Qué piensa del uso de zapoteco para leer y escribir?
– What do you think about the use of Zapotec in reading and writing?
– ¿Qué dice la gente cuando aprende que esté estudiando zapoteco?
– What do people say when they learn that you're studying Zapotec?
– ¿Qué recomendaciones tiene para otras personas que están interesados en estudiar el zapoteco?
– What advice do you have for other people who are interested in studying Zapotec?
– Favor describe sus
experiencias de escolarización – Please describe your
experiences of schooling
– ¿Qué influencias y cambios
ha visto en el uso de zapoteco?
– What influences and changes have you seen in the use of Zapotec?
– ¿Cómo imagines va a ser el uso de zapoteco en 20 años?
uso de zapoteco en 20 años? ¿Cómo querría que sea?
– What do you think use of zapotec will be like in 20 years? What would you like it to be?
– ¿Quién o qué está apoyando o fomentando al uso de zapoteco en la sociedad? Quién o qué está en contra?
– Who or what is supporting or encouraging use of Zapotec in society? Who or what is against it?
– Favor describe sus
experiencias de escolarización – Please describe your
experiences of schooling
– ¿Qué son sus objetivos lingüísticos personales/ para su trabajo/ para (sus) hijos?
– What are your personal linguistic objectives/
objectives for (your) children?
– ¿Qué tanto importancia tiene las capacidades linguisticas en
el campo laboral, para lograr un trabajo?
– What importance do language abilities have in the labor market, to get a job?
– ¿Si querría ver cambios, tiene
ideas o acciones para lograrlos?
– If you would like to see changes, do you have ideas or actions for achieving them?
– ¿Qué piensa del uso de zapoteco para leer y escribir?
– What do you think about the use of Zapotec in reading and writing?
– ¿Cómo definiría 'zapoteco'? ¿Qué representa para usted 'el zapoteco'?
– How would you define Zapotec? What does Zapotec represent to you?
– ¿Hay algo más que querría comentar, o algo que no he preguntado que es importante
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zapoteco en la sociedad? Quién o qué está en contra?
– Who or what is supporting the use of Zapotec in society? Who or what is against it?
– ¿Qué tanto importancia tiene las capacidades linguisticas en
el campo laboral, para lograr un trabajo?
– What importance to linguistic capacities have in the labor market, to get a job?
– ¿Sus ideas o acciones para lograr objetivos (generales y objetivos lingüísticos) en la programa?
– What are your ideas or actions to meet objectives (general objectives and language objectives) in the school or program?
– ¿Cómo definiría 'zapoteco'? ¿Qué representa para usted 'el zapoteco'?
– How would you define Zapotec? What does Zapotec represent to you?
– ¿Hay algo más que querría comentar, o algo que no he preguntado que es importante para usted?
– Is there anything else that you want to mention, or anything that I didn't ask that's important for you?
¿Cómo querría que sea?
– What do you think use of zapotec will be like in 20 years? What would you like it to be?
– ¿Quién o que está apoyando o fomentando al uso de zapoteco en la sociedad? Quién/qué está en contra?
– Who or what is supporting or encouraging use of zapotec in society? Who or what is against it?
– ¿Qué tanto importancia tiene las capacidades lingüísticas en
el campo laboral, para lograr un trabajo?
– What importance do language abilities have in the labor market, to get a job?
– ¿Si querría ver cambios, tiene ideas o acciones posibles para lograrlos?
– If you would like to see changes-- ideas or actions for achieving them?
– ¿Cómo definiría 'zapoteco'? ¿Qué representa para usted 'el zapoteco'?
– How would you define Zapotec? What does Zapotec represent to you?
– ¿Hay algo más que querría comentar, o algo que no he preguntado que es importante para usted?
– Is there anything else that you want to mention, or anything that I didn't ask that's important for you?
para usted?
– Is there anything else that you want to mention, or anything that I didn't ask that's important for you?
There were some changes to the questions during the first 5 months of the study as I noticed gaps in the issues I was covering, or chose to explore issues that previous interviewees brought up. The question about reading and writing practices was added in late August 2013, as I wanted to gain more explicit perspectives on the written use of the
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language since I was observing a lot of literacy teaching. The questions about the job market and projections of IZ use in 20 years were added in December 2013, as I attempted to probe beyond the politically correct and largely positive comments I was getting in relation to language attitudes and use, and to collect more data relevant to my research question on socio-political processes. At the same time I stopped using a question where I asked interviewees to interpret a saying in Diidxazá which I had hoped might evoke interesting metalinguistic commentary, but generally did not.
I collected two small samples of survey responses (17 and 10 respondents respectively) to obtain the perspectives of groups who I was not able to interview. One survey was conducted on-line and distributed to people who noted their email address when participating in a two-day conference, and was focused on their experience at the conference. The other survey was conducted through paper, distributed to a group of students who were studying Diidxazá in a cultural center, and followed the questions in the protocol for students. Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to visit this class, but I had interviewed the teacher of the class and he expressed an interest in participating further in my study by collecting responses from his students. This survey data expands the sample of participants, and complements the more nuanced data of interviews.