321
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. Lucatello et al. (eds.), Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate
Change in the Global South, Springer Climate,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_18
Chapter 18
Social Cohesion and Environmental
Governance Among the Comcaac
of Northern Mexico
N. Martínez-Tagüeña and R. F. Rentería-Valencia
Abstract The Comcaac have inhabited the central coast of the Sonoran Desert in
Northern Mexico since time immemorial. Acknowledging the value of their continuous presence and the adaptations it has generated, scholars have documented for
decades the intricacies of their environmental knowledge—a complex corpus of
socio-ecological relations in constant refinement and transformation. Yet, a crucial
point missing within these efforts is the recognition of the ways in which the colonial encounter and the eventual incorporation of this indigenous people into a market economy in the twentieth century drastically re-organized the ways knowledge
and power flux locally—an acknowledgement that consequently challenges scholarly understandings of traditional knowledge as extemporal. As old system of reciprocity and collective accountability transformed under new forms of social
organization, the individualistic inclinations that characterize the Comcaac society
were drastically exacerbated by capitalist logics, producing in turn new forms of
power and governance that stand at odds with previous social logics and balances.
The present chapter sheds light into the existing tensions that define Comcaac livelihoods in order to better understand the social creation and transformation of environmental knowledge while reflecting upon the vulnerability and resilience that
characterizes the different governance systems of the Global South dryland regions.
Keywords Social cohesion · Governance · Capitalism · Indigenous peoples ·
Sonoran Desert
N. Martínez-Tagüeña (*)
Cátedra CONACYT, Consortium for Research, Innovation and Development of Drylands,
Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosi,
San Luis Potosí, Mexico
e-mail: natalia.martinez@ipicyt.edu.mx
R. F. Rentería-Valencia
Anthropology and Museum Studies in Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. Lucatello et al. (eds.), Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate
Change in the Global South, Springer Climate,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22464-6_18
Chapter 18
Social Cohesion and Environmental
Governance Among the Comcaac
of Northern Mexico
N. Martínez-Tagüeña and R. F. Rentería-Valencia
Abstract The Comcaac have inhabited the central coast of the Sonoran Desert in
Northern Mexico since time immemorial. Acknowledging the value of their continuous presence and the adaptations it has generated, scholars have documented for
decades the intricacies of their environmental knowledge—a complex corpus of
socio-ecological relations in constant refinement and transformation. Yet, a crucial
point missing within these efforts is the recognition of the ways in which the colonial encounter and the eventual incorporation of this indigenous people into a market economy in the twentieth century drastically re-organized the ways knowledge
and power flux locally—an acknowledgement that consequently challenges scholarly understandings of traditional knowledge as extemporal. As old system of reciprocity and collective accountability transformed under new forms of social
organization, the individualistic inclinations that characterize the Comcaac society
were drastically exacerbated by capitalist logics, producing in turn new forms of
power and governance that stand at odds with previous social logics and balances.
The present chapter sheds light into the existing tensions that define Comcaac livelihoods in order to better understand the social creation and transformation of environmental knowledge while reflecting upon the vulnerability and resilience that
characterizes the different governance systems of the Global South dryland regions.
Keywords Social cohesion · Governance · Capitalism · Indigenous peoples ·
Sonoran Desert
N. Martínez-Tagüeña (*)
Cátedra CONACYT, Consortium for Research, Innovation and Development of Drylands,
Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, San Luis Potosi,
San Luis Potosí, Mexico
e-mail: natalia.martinez@ipicyt.edu.mx
R. F. Rentería-Valencia
Anthropology and Museum Studies in Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA