Food sovereignty and environmental risk in the social construction of rural territory in San Juan Ixtenco, Tlaxcala

Abstract

The rural territories, like any territory in Mexico and the world, are constantly reconfiguring their social space. In San Juan Ixtenco, in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, these changes result from socio-cultural and political processes influenced by guidelines from international organizations, federal policies, as well as the actions of local social actors. On the other hand, the culture and organization of social actors constitute community processes that lead to their social cohesion and the preservation of culture. Food sovereignty is a process of these, which is based on the customs and traditions of peasant culture, and which innovates when new forms of community participation are built. In this vision, the perception of environmental risk by the communities also affects the reconfiguration of the rural territory of Ixtenco. In this town of Otomi origin, the social actors establish their links with the national and global society through food sovereignty and their perception of environmental risk. The cultivation of corn and the manufacture of tortillas made by hand are processes that allow the social construction of food sovereignty and an ecological defense of their territory. Keywords: rural territories, food sovereignty, peasants, communitary sovereignty, environmental communitarianism