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Endogenous knowledge and practice regarding the environment in a Nahua community in Mexico

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  • Paul Hersch-Martínez
  • Lilián González-Chévez
  • Andrés Alvarez

Abstract

We expose some representations and practices related to the natural environment among Nahua peasants in a village located at the western boundary of Puebla and Guerrero states, in Mexico. Information was obtained by individual interviews and focal groups' work, following an open guide with ecological items considered as rooted in Mesoamerican cultures. The use of some local, vegetal resources, and the local perception of changes, mainly in the water availability, is documented. Survival strategies involve ancestral representations and material products, and entail a high grade of pragmatism. “Natural environment” is framed in a local culture that involves relational and sacred dimensions, usually omitted in other approaches. Hence, for the Temalac peasants, there is no dissection, at an operative level, between “natural facts” (for instance, water availability) and personal or social ones, being these often considered as determinant for the quality and accessibility of resources and weather conditions. We discuss the challenge for these elements posed by a growing migration rate and an increasing external influence. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Hersch-Martínez & Lilián González-Chévez & Andrés Alvarez, 2004. "Endogenous knowledge and practice regarding the environment in a Nahua community in Mexico," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 21(2), pages 127-137, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:21:y:2004:i:2:p:127-137
    DOI: 10.1023/B:AHUM.0000029404.34942.d1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Desai, Bharat, 1992. "Threats to the world eco-system: A role for the social scientists," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 589-596, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael K McCall & Noah Chutz & Margaret Skutsch, 2016. "Moving from Measuring, Reporting, Verification (MRV) of Forest Carbon to Community Mapping, Measuring, Monitoring (MMM): Perspectives from Mexico," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Leonardo Beltrán-Rodríguez & Juan Ignacio Valdez-Hernández & Alfredo Saynes-Vásquez & José Blancas & José Antonio Sierra-Huelsz & Sol Cristians & Andrea Martínez-Ballesté & Angélica Romero-Manzanares , 2021. "Sustaining Medicinal Barks: Survival and Bark Regeneration of Amphipterygium adstringens (Anacardiaceae), a Tropical Tree under Experimental Debarking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.

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