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Making milpa, making life in La Mera Selva: A testimony of how Tzeltal peasants perform maize cultivation practices in the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico Tania Carolina Camacho Villa Thesis committee Thesis supervisor Prof. dr. L. E. Visser Professor of Rural Development Sociology Wageningen University Thesis co-supervisors Dr. ir. G. M. Verschoor Assistant professor, Rural Development Sociology Group Wageningen University Dr. ir. C.J.M. Almekinders Assistant professor, Technology and Agrarian Development Group Wageningen University Other members Prof. dr. T.W.M. Kuyper, Wageningen University Prof. dr. R.T.J. Buve, Leiden University Dr. J. A. Cuevas Sánchez, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Mexico Dr. ir. G. van der Haar, Wageningen University This research was conducted under the auspices of the Graduate School of Social Sciences (WASS). Making milpa, making life in La Mera Selva: A testimony of how Tzeltal peasants perform maize cultivation practices in the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico Tania Carolina Camacho Villa Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. dr. M. J. Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Thursday 15 December 2011 at 11 a.m. in the Aula Tania Carolina Camacho Villa Making milpa, making life in la Mera Selva: A testimony of how Tzeltal peasants perform maize cultivation practices in the Lacandon Jungle, Mexico. Thesis Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2011) ISBN: 978-90-8585-977-2 ! As a peasant apprentice I learned how With one hand you cultivate maize And with the other you cultivate life Jokol lagual ! TABLE OF CONTENTS page Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1. Making milpa, making life 1 1.2. Maize, milpa and Tzeltal peasants 3 1.2.1. Maize, a companion of human beings 3 1.2.2. The milpa of indigenous people 4 1.2.3. The Tzeltal peasants of La Mera Selva 7 1.3. About what characterizes this thesis 10 1.3.1 The trans-disciplinary academic approach of RDS and TAO 10 1.3.2 The life-witnessing scientific approach 11 1.3.3. The action-focused methodological approach 12 1.3.4. The performance of milpa and life 14 1.4. About other elements that distinguish this thesis 16 1.4.1. Definition of shared concerns 17 1.4.2. Style of creative effort 18 1.4.3. The chapters of this thesis 19 Chapter 2. The journey of a research process 2.1. You make your way as you go 21 2.2. Starting to walk the path 21 2.2.1. “It´s a matter of getting to know each other” 22 2.2.2. We learn from our mistakes 26 2.3. Walking the paths of La Mera Selva 32 2.3.1 “Maize was infected with AIDS” 32 2.3.2 The Meeting at El Chorro 34 2.3.3. “So how did you manage to get to la Mera Selva if you live so far away” 36 2.3.4. “The helicopters came down in San Manuel and evicted Jacinta” 38 2.3.5. The ixim festivities and the ritual of the visit of the springs 42 2.4. Covering the final stretch of a research process 44 2.4.1. Pondering over experiences on Dutch dikes 45 2.4.2. The selection of a particular thesis 47 2.4.3. Polishing this thesis with the performance concept and the juggling metaphor 50 2.5. A journey that turned into juggling performance to make 52 milpa Chapter 3. The preparation of land threatened by evictions 3.1. Introduction 56 3.2. The conflict in La Mera Selva 56 3.2.1. Times of emergence of the land ownership conflict 57 3.3. Slashing, cutting and mulching 58 3.4. Reflexions about the slash-and-mulch in Salvador Allende 62 3.5. Jacinta´s eviction 64 3.5.1. The first 36 hours in Salvador Allende 64 3.5.2. The days in Ocosingo 66 3.5.3. Visit to Trinitaria 68 3.5.4. Jacinta´s testimony 69 3.5.5. The meetings in Ocosingo 71 3.5.6. Moving away from the displaced and the meetings 73 3.6. The choice between slash-and-burn and slash-and-mulch 75 3.6.1. The agronomic reasons for the choice between variants 76 3.6.2. Slash-and-mulch as an alternative to slash-and-burn 79 3.6.3. Burning and the elements that make it politically incorrect 80 3.6.4. The political correctness of slash-and-mulch 84 3.6.5. Burning as an excuse for evictions and slash-and-mulch as a strategy to escape from it 86 3.7. Sebastian´s permanent k´altik as a solution? 88 Chapter 4. Juggling the sowing 4.1. Introduction 91 4.2. The environmental circumstance that defines the sowing seasons 92 4.2.1. Rainfall 92 4.2.2. Cold and warm temperatures 93 4.2.3. Ixim growing stages 93 4.2.4. The sowing season, the coincidence of ixim with rainfall and 95 temperature 4.2.5. Cabañuelas and other strategies to define the sowing 96 4.3. Technological circumstances determine the time to sow 98 4.3.1. Times for the other sequential cultivation practices of ixim 99 4.3.2. Times for the combined practices of two cultivation cycles 100 4.3.3. Times to work the k´altik 100 4.3.4. Times of activities in other management areas 102 4.3.5. Adjusting the times of technological circumstance: the case of Juan 104 4.4. Social circumstances that define the moment to sow 105 4.4.1. Agreeing with Juan on the moment for sowing 105 4.4.2. Agreeing with the community of Salvador Allende on the moment to sow 109 4.4.3. Sowing moment, agreements with particular social circumstances 116 4.5. Sowing dates: juggling coincidences, adjustments and agreements 118 4.6. Finally the days of sowing arrived 119 Chapter 5. Delegated or postponed weedings and bendings 5.1. Introduction 123 5.2. June 2007, month of changes in plans 124 5.2.1. Negotiating the days for weeding 124 5.2.2. Doña Mica´s longstanding illness 124 5.2.3. Change of plans 126 5.2.4. The weeding of the k´altik in San Martín and Lázaro´s plea 126 5.2.5. Delegating the weeding of the k´altik in Salvador Allende 128 5.2.6. Waiting for the airplane 129 5.2.7. Feelings that surfaced during the wait for the airplane 130 5.2.8. Serum from the Amador Hernández clinic 131 5.2.9. Airline services to La Mera Selva 132 5.2.10. Doña Mica´s departure with the Comitán plane 135 5.3. September, month of breezes after the storm and the strong winds 136 5.3.1 The strong winds that toppled the ixim plants 136 5.3.2. The consequences of the evictions 137 5.3.3. The bending in San Martín 139 5.4. October, and the events that led to entrust bending to others 142 5.4.1. Seeing Doña Mica and Don Chebo at the San Carlos hospital 142 5.4.2. The visit to the neighbor state of Tabasco 144 5.4.3. Assigning the bending of the k´altik in Salvador Allende 150 5.4.4. The late bending of Don Chebo´s k´altik 151 5.5. Conclusion 153 Chapter 6. The different dimensions of the harvest 6.1. Introduction 155 6.2. The steps that constitute the physical dimension of harvesting 156 6.3. Different reflections on harvesting 157 6.3.1. How much did we harvest? 157 6.3.2. Considering “everything that happened” 160 6.3.3. “All we can do is make the k´altik” 166 6.4. The evocative dimension of harvesting 170 6.4.1. Tortillas and pozol 170 6.4.2. The different ixim types 172 6.4.3. Stories about maize as a life companion 176 6.4.4. The petition and thanksgiving ritual in Salvador Allende 178 6.4.5. The ixim festivities 180 6.5. Conclusion 185 Chapter 7. Conclusion 7.1. The performance of making milpa and life 187 7.2. The situation of Tzeltal peasants and their milpa 189 7.3. What distinguishes this book 193 Bibliography 199 Appendixes 211 Summary 223 Resumen 227 Acknowledgement 231 Curriculum vitae 233 Training and supervision plan 234 LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES, PICTURES AND APPENDIXES page LIST OF TABLES 3.1. Characteristics of the fields in Rancho San Martín and Rancho 63 Salvador Allende 4.1. Different monthly rainfall and heat forecasts for 2007 97 4.2. Calendar of practices for the temporal cultivation cycle of maize 99 4.3. Calendar of practices for the two maize cultivation cycles 100 4.4. Calendar for other crops cultivated with maize on the milpa 101 4.5. Calendar of activities for the various management areas 103 6.1. Calculations of yields obtained in San Martín and Salvador Allende in 2007 158 6.2. Answers in relation with number of zontes harvested and 159 consumed in a year 6.3. Maize yields compared 160 LIST OF FIGURES 4.1. Development stages of the maize plant in Tzeltal and English 94 4.2 Climate data from the Weather Station in San Quintín, Chiapas 1961-1990 95 4.3. Juan and Pancha’s social network called upon in 2007 to make k´altik in San Martín 107 4.4. The extended families living in Rancho Salvador Allende 111 6.1.
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