Prior consultation as a tool for multiculturalism in migratory contexts: Evidence from Nuevo León, Mexico

Abstract

Indigenous migration from rural to urban areas in Latin America has historical roots, however over recent years these flows have accelerated due to conflicts over the extraction of natural resources within the ancestral territories of indigenous peoples and the search for employment. In this context, local governments of areas which are not home to an autochthonous indigenous population find themselves in an unexpected situation of ethnic diversity which requires a multicultural response. Such is the case of Nuevo León, an industrial State in Mexico’s North East, which has received intense flows of indigenous
migrants since the 1990s, to the extent that in 2015 more than 400,000 residents self-identified as indigenous. Based on fieldwork carried out between 2015 and 2017, this article analyses prior consultation –which is usually associated with conflict in indigenous territories– as a tool for multiculturalism in the face of migratory flows of indigenous people to urban centers. The study suggests that, even when the consultations carried out do not meet the standards of international law or the basic precepts of citizen participation, they can offer a symbolic space in which to bring different actors together and work
towards intercultural dialogue.