Exit, voice, and loyalty in emerging rural processes in contemporaryMexico

Abstract

This article presents and analyzes the redefinition of currency uses proposed by two collective
initiatives located in rural regions of Mexico: the first involves the issuance of Túmin currency
by a collective in the Espinal community of Veracruz; the other, originating in the San Francisco
Pichátaro community in the Purépecha region of Michoacán, has achieved recognition by a fourth
level of government in that state. Both cases are analyzed from the perspective of Exit, Voice, and
Loyalty, by Albert Hirschman (1977). These collective actions follow the path of loyalty to the
community, manifested in the organization of voice, which is oriented toward leaving the place or
position granted to indigenous peoples by the capitalist state. The gradation of exit presented within
the framework of the dominant social bloc is limited; however, it is plausible to think that the
redefinition of currency uses by indigenous peoples it represents one more act in the repertoire of
actions created as alternatives to capitalist development.