ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the personal accounts of three women who participated in urban movements (UMs) in Mexico City—Ursula, Dona Jovita, and Pilar—to describe how colonas have navigated the conflicts and violence associated with grassroots organizing. It characterizes the contested terrain of the domestic and public spheres that resulted from women's participation in UMs. The reason why poor women, and the poor in general, participate in UMs is perhaps straightforward: they are seeking a way to satisfy basic needs such as housing, water, and economic subsistence. A number of researchers of UMs have pointed to lo cotidiano (the everyday) as a means of generating alternative modes of development. Initially, research on UMs in Latin America emphasized the structural factors behind the political marginalization of the poor and the lack of services and housing. This research describes in detail the land tenure conflicts and urban service issues that conditioned the emergence of UMs.
