Chapter 16
When Modernity is Not Enough: Towards
the Construction of a Glocal Model
of Agri-Food Production
Alejandro Vázquez-Estrada and Adriana Terven-Salinas
Abstract Based on a review and a reflection upon development policies and
programs for the production of food in Mexico, this chapter proposes a model that
identifies the problematic dichotomies created by modernity between the local and
the global, and the traditional and the modern; the unification of which, for rural
change, is presented as a possible utopia capable of combining local practices and
knowledge with innovations from other traditions of thought such as the scientific
tradition. To this end, we propose that the resolution of the issue begin with a
‘‘dialog of knowledges’’ that would allow for integration and synergy, and also
work as a strategy for the construction of alternative development scenarios. We
call this model the Via UAQ.
Contents
16.1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 456
16.2 (R)Evolutions in the Countryside ................................................................................ 457
16.3 Poverty and Nature: The Crisis of the Mexican Countryside .................................... 462
16.4 Towards the Construction of a Model of Glocal Intervention ................................... 467
16.5 The Via UAQ: An Alternative Modernity is Possible (Conclusions)........................ 472
References................................................................................................................................ 475
‘‘Glocal’’ is a term that suggests equal, dialectical, and reflective attention to the ‘‘localization
of the global and the globalization of the local’’ (Escobar 2004, p. 129). This concept was
developed by Arif Dirlik (2000) in order to demonstrate the implications of globalization on
local processes and vice versa.
A. Vázquez-Estrada Á A. Terven-Salinas (&)
School of Phylosophy, Autonomous University of Queretaro,
16 de septiembre # 57, Centro Histórico, 76000 Querétaro, Qro, Mexico
e-mail: adrianaterven@yahoo.com.mx
R. Guevara-Gonzalez and I. Torres-Pacheco (eds.), Biosystems Engineering:
Biofactories for Food Production in the Century XXI, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03880-3_16,
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
455
When Modernity is Not Enough: Towards
the Construction of a Glocal Model
of Agri-Food Production
Alejandro Vázquez-Estrada and Adriana Terven-Salinas
Abstract Based on a review and a reflection upon development policies and
programs for the production of food in Mexico, this chapter proposes a model that
identifies the problematic dichotomies created by modernity between the local and
the global, and the traditional and the modern; the unification of which, for rural
change, is presented as a possible utopia capable of combining local practices and
knowledge with innovations from other traditions of thought such as the scientific
tradition. To this end, we propose that the resolution of the issue begin with a
‘‘dialog of knowledges’’ that would allow for integration and synergy, and also
work as a strategy for the construction of alternative development scenarios. We
call this model the Via UAQ.
Contents
16.1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 456
16.2 (R)Evolutions in the Countryside ................................................................................ 457
16.3 Poverty and Nature: The Crisis of the Mexican Countryside .................................... 462
16.4 Towards the Construction of a Model of Glocal Intervention ................................... 467
16.5 The Via UAQ: An Alternative Modernity is Possible (Conclusions)........................ 472
References................................................................................................................................ 475
‘‘Glocal’’ is a term that suggests equal, dialectical, and reflective attention to the ‘‘localization
of the global and the globalization of the local’’ (Escobar 2004, p. 129). This concept was
developed by Arif Dirlik (2000) in order to demonstrate the implications of globalization on
local processes and vice versa.
A. Vázquez-Estrada Á A. Terven-Salinas (&)
School of Phylosophy, Autonomous University of Queretaro,
16 de septiembre # 57, Centro Histórico, 76000 Querétaro, Qro, Mexico
e-mail: adrianaterven@yahoo.com.mx
R. Guevara-Gonzalez and I. Torres-Pacheco (eds.), Biosystems Engineering:
Biofactories for Food Production in the Century XXI, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03880-3_16,
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
455