Intersecting perspectives on Mexican maize landscapes (original) (raw)

2021, Revue d’ethnoécologie

In this issue, we present a wide range of texts about the diversity of maize in Mexico in relation to peasant agricultural practices. The scientific debates on this theme form part of a line of reflection about the conservation of biodiversity that the Revue d'ethnoécologie has been featuring and fostering for some time. The authors of the present issue share the same research object, maize, which they examine on various scales and from a wide variety of observation points (direct experiences, national analyses, local studies): why and for whom should we conserve agricultural biodiversity (Bahuchet et al. 2000, Rodríguez 2011, Swart et al. 2018)? How can an object such as this one, which is in constant evolution, be studied and measured? (Aguirre Salcedo & Ceccon 2020, Nicholls et al. 2020, Iermanó et al. 2020) How can practices and phenomena that conserve this diversity, but at the same time transform it, be analyzed (Dumez 2010, Cunha Ávila et al. 2017)? The importance relevance of certain analytical categories, and the connections between biodiversity and cultural diversity (Virtanen 2019, Roué 2006), are also at the heart of these texts. In Mexico, these questions have aroused interest in the fields of anthropology and ecology. But they have also been studied by agronomists involved in research programs in support of peasant agriculture. Intersecting perspectives on Mexican maize landscapes Revue d'ethnoécologie, Supplément 2 | 2021