different vision of modernity? As we are now aware of the nature and the purpose
of the creation of a new model, it is now important to analyze the way in which it
should be designed, where it should be applied, and what are the social and ethical
conditions necessary for its implementation in the short and medium term.
16.5 The Via UAQ: An Alternative Modernity is Possible
(Conclusions)
Based on a review and analysis of intervention experiences in the Mexican
countryside, as well as of the ideologies that have given rise thereto, and the types
of social relationships that they have established, and considering the importance
of and the contributions made by both science and local knowledge, as a first step
we propose a methodology of work that involves a reassessment of the knowledge
and practices of indigenous people and peasants. With this step we seek to reverse
the historical processes that have led this population to think that it is ignorant, and
it is our aim that the indigenous people and peasants recognize that they are also
owners and generators of knowledge; i.e., that they have something to contribute,
in this case, regarding agri-food in their environment.
9
Thus, the first step is a diagnostic phase that includes actions related to the
above, and, at the same time, the formation of a multidisciplinary team (biologists,
anthropologists, geographers, rural sociologists, agronomists, engineers, and
veterinarians). This team would be able to describe in situ both the biophysical
conditions of nature and the cultural and spatial conditions necessary for the use
and management of the same, as regards food-oriented activities, and the work of
the team would be performed in constant dialog with the local population. This
diagnosis is intended to generate a baseline that allows for a detailed and
comprehensive reading, for the understanding of the processes of production and
conservation, while also unifying relevant scientific and traditional knowledge.
At this early stage of diagnosis, it is also important to understand the various
experiences that local population is facing or has faced, in order to comprehend its
disposition and its expectations regarding a process of intervention.
9 In an interesting study, Elena Lazos reports that the debacle of the Mexican countryside,
mainly associated with a lack of effort and knowledge in the peasant sector or the existence of
small properties, was due to factors more structural in nature, including: ‘‘(a) the disintegration of
their territories and social institutions for the regulation of land and nature; (b) cronyism in the
relationship between large agriculture companies and development policies; (c) economic
inequality caused by free trade; (d) competitive disadvantages due to price fixing; (e) the control
over earnings by agro-industrial corporations; (f) major failures of development projects that
swept away the original ecosystems’’ (Lazos 2011, p. 257). All this leads us to think that, in order
to build a process that is comprehensive and relevant to social relations, these structural causes
must be taken into account in the construction of alternatives thereto, and they must not be
reproduced in ways that are even more complex and difficult.
472
A. Vázquez-Estrada and A. Terven-Salinas
of the creation of a new model, it is now important to analyze the way in which it
should be designed, where it should be applied, and what are the social and ethical
conditions necessary for its implementation in the short and medium term.
16.5 The Via UAQ: An Alternative Modernity is Possible
(Conclusions)
Based on a review and analysis of intervention experiences in the Mexican
countryside, as well as of the ideologies that have given rise thereto, and the types
of social relationships that they have established, and considering the importance
of and the contributions made by both science and local knowledge, as a first step
we propose a methodology of work that involves a reassessment of the knowledge
and practices of indigenous people and peasants. With this step we seek to reverse
the historical processes that have led this population to think that it is ignorant, and
it is our aim that the indigenous people and peasants recognize that they are also
owners and generators of knowledge; i.e., that they have something to contribute,
in this case, regarding agri-food in their environment.
9
Thus, the first step is a diagnostic phase that includes actions related to the
above, and, at the same time, the formation of a multidisciplinary team (biologists,
anthropologists, geographers, rural sociologists, agronomists, engineers, and
veterinarians). This team would be able to describe in situ both the biophysical
conditions of nature and the cultural and spatial conditions necessary for the use
and management of the same, as regards food-oriented activities, and the work of
the team would be performed in constant dialog with the local population. This
diagnosis is intended to generate a baseline that allows for a detailed and
comprehensive reading, for the understanding of the processes of production and
conservation, while also unifying relevant scientific and traditional knowledge.
At this early stage of diagnosis, it is also important to understand the various
experiences that local population is facing or has faced, in order to comprehend its
disposition and its expectations regarding a process of intervention.
9 In an interesting study, Elena Lazos reports that the debacle of the Mexican countryside,
mainly associated with a lack of effort and knowledge in the peasant sector or the existence of
small properties, was due to factors more structural in nature, including: ‘‘(a) the disintegration of
their territories and social institutions for the regulation of land and nature; (b) cronyism in the
relationship between large agriculture companies and development policies; (c) economic
inequality caused by free trade; (d) competitive disadvantages due to price fixing; (e) the control
over earnings by agro-industrial corporations; (f) major failures of development projects that
swept away the original ecosystems’’ (Lazos 2011, p. 257). All this leads us to think that, in order
to build a process that is comprehensive and relevant to social relations, these structural causes
must be taken into account in the construction of alternatives thereto, and they must not be
reproduced in ways that are even more complex and difficult.
472
A. Vázquez-Estrada and A. Terven-Salinas