Anthropology and Cooperatives From the Community Paradigm to the Ephemeral Association in Chiapas, Mexico Gabriela Vargas-Cetina Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mexico Abstract ■ This article, inspired by June Nash’s provocative vision of postmodern times in Chiapas, looks at how anthropologists have traced the changing nature of grassroots organizations to suggest that we need to see cooperatives and other local organizations in a new way, as ephemeral associations. Through the example of how the cooperative imaginary has informed different development programs in Mexico’s recent history, from the early cooperative movement in the 19th century to the 21st century, it explores the idea that the institutional arrangements of the recent past have given way to a state of constant flux. A new volatility is at the heart of both the organizations and their surrounding environ- ment, so that local organizations now have to re-invent themselves constantly, to keep up with global and local changes. Through a case study of weavers’ cooperatives in Chiapas, the article points at their internal flexibility and fragility in the current climate of little support for the projects and activities of rural producers and the urban poor. Keywords ■ anthropology ■ Chiapas ■ cooperatives ■ grassroots organizations ■ Mexico The ideals of the cooperative movement, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, still hold great appeal for members of grassroots organiz- ations around the world. The notion that an organization can be fully run by its members, with equal participation in investment, gains and losses, is at the center of the cooperative imaginary. Today, grassroots organizations often call themselves ‘cooperatives’, even when they are structured and operate following very different principles from those supporting classical cooperatives. While most rural producers who hold lands or other property under collective arrangements or market their products through a collec- tively owned or collectively operated outlet have never heard of Henri Saint-Simon, Robert Owen or Charles Fourier, they nevertheless under- stand that cooperation transcends individual output and market possibili- ties. In any case, ‘cooperatives’, including those that see themselves as part of the international cooperative movement, have proven malleable enough to adapt in shape and operation to local culture and the larger institutional context. Cooperatives, in different forms, shapes and arrangements, have taken hold of planners’ imagination, and also of the hopes and wishes of Article Vol 25(3) 229–251 [DOI:10.1177/0308275X05055210] Copyright 2005 © SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com