We Are the Guardians of the Selva; Conservation, Indigenous
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
WE ARE THE GUARDIANS OF THE SELVA; CONSERVATION, INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, AND COMMON PROPERTY IN THE SELVA LACANDONA, MEXICO by STEPHANIE R. PALADINO (Under the direction of Overton Brent Berlin) ABSTRACT In recent decades, conservation sciences have focused more on the preservation of ecosystem processes and biodiversity than on the preservation of particular species or locations. This shift to a broader-scale, landscape perspective brings many challenges to achieving conservation across local and regional scales. These include how ecosystem perspectives can be integrated with the other frameworks and knowledge that different human populations, local and remote, have in relation to the landscapes in question; the negotiation of this integration in ways that are equitable; and the paucity of models for meshing livelihood, equity, and conservation that support this integration on a long-term basis. The collective management of large ecosystems by indigenous populations has come to be seen as one such model, gaining considerable attention because it promised to address a variety of indigenous self-determination, ecosystems conservation, and sustainable development objectives. This study explores the case of the Comunidad Lacandona, a large, indigenous communal property territory in in the Selva Lacandona, Chiapas, Mexico, part of which was declared the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in 1978. The indigenous owners of the Comunidad include Maya groups that migrated to the rain forest mid-20th century from nearby parts of the state, as well as one group internationally ii known for its rain forest-compatible ecological practices. Drawing on historical, political ecological, and ethnoecological perspectives, the study looks at how this encounter of indigenous communities and protected area has worked out over nearly three decades, using one community, Nueva Palestina, as a focus. For members of this community, a historically insecure and disadvantageous political economic environment has helped cause patterns of expansive land use and efforts to find new ways of working, while current institutional investments focus on other goals. In this void, collective tenure and ownership of much of Reserve land has been used in recent years as a political means to try to leverage resources to meet these aims, rather than as a way of managing resources collectively or to achieve ecosystem conservation. There are few frameworks present to help mesh resident livelihood and conservation goals, as residents focus largely on household and small group economic endeavors. INDEX WORDS: Protected areas, commons management, ecosystem management, indigenous knowledge, rain forest conservation, Selva Lacandona, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, political ecology WE ARE THE GUARDIANS OF THE SELVA; CONSERVATION, INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, AND COMMON PROPERTY IN THE SELVA LACANDONA, MEXICO by STEPHANIE R. PALADINO B.A. Antioch College, 1977 M.A. The American University, 1989 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ANTHROPOLOGY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2005 ii © 2005 Stephanie R. Paladino All Rights Reserved iii WE ARE THE GUARDIANS OF THE SELVA; CONSERVATION, INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, AND COMMON PROPERTY IN THE SELVA LACANDONA, MEXICO by STEPHANIE R. PALADINO Major Professor: Overton Brent Berlin Committee: J. Peter Brosius C. Ronald Carroll Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2005 iv DEDICATION To all those who have an urge to make, create, or give something back. And to those who give it a shot. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As is always the case with undertakings like this, so many people have been essential, whether they have known it or not, to its ever being blessed by the light of the day. To all of the people I name below, and to those whom I have inadvertently left out but whose presence or participation was just as important, I owe eternal gratitude and probably many favors. There are, however, special acknowledgements I would like to make of two people, each of whom, in different ways, made special contributions. To Brent Berlin, my major professor, for having the faith in his curious and aging student to come through; and to Abelardo Teratol Sánchez, who assisted me with the research in Nueva Palestina, for having the faith and courage to join his fate, for a time, to that of the curious gringa researcher who showed up in his town. To many others, who helped me in so many ways, I am in debt: Ron Carroll; Pete Brosius; Margie Floyd; Lisa Johnson; Alex Brewis; Juana Gnecco; Emuel Aldridge; and Charlotte Blume. Rocio Rodiles Hernández; Carmen Legorreta Díaz; Tim Trench; Conrado Márquez; Carlos Tejeda Cruz; and Juana Cruz Morales. Dr. Mario Ishiki Ishihara; Isabel Vazquez Lara; Miguel Martinez Ico; Henry Castañeda Ocaña; and Carmelino Sántiz. Catalina Meza; Jeanne Simonelli; Patty Kelley; Ritsuko Abe; Juan Castillo; Carmelita; Helda Morales; Bruce Ferguson; Fausto and Lucy Bolom. Abraham Mena; Benito Salvatierra; Miguel Angel Castillo; Doña Olga; and Carlos Fernandez Ugalde. Alejandro López Portillo Odetta Cervantes; Maria de Lourdes Avila; Arturo Urbina; and Karina Reyna Pérez. vi Catalina Meza; Jeanne Simonelli; Patty Kelley; Ritsuko Abe; Juan Castillo; Carmelita; Helda Morales; Bruce Ferguson; Fausto and Lucy Bolom. Ignacio March Mifsut; Ruth Jimenez; Ricardo Hernández;. Feliciano Domínguez; José Nava. Pablo Muench Navarro; Rodolfo Díaz Saarvides; Pablo Alcázar Castello; Juan Manuel L.; Fernando Brauer; Porfirio Camacho; Felipe Villagrán. The Teratol family. Bertha and María Bolom, and Nicolas Bolom Vasquez. Samuel Cruz Guzmán. The family of Sebastain Cruz Espinoza. The family of Juana Gómez Gutiérrez. The family of Modesto Hernández Encino. Manuel Arcos Jimenez and family. Agustín Arias Cruz, María Gómez Encino, and her mother. Pedro Díaz Solís and his family. The family of Carmelino Flores Montejo. Gerardo Cruz Díaz and his wife Enriqueta. Manuel Gómez Sánchez. Juan Jimenez Sánchez. And many other individuals and families in Nueva Palestina who shared with me so generously thoughts, food, ideas, experience, and life. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1 I. Purpose of the study..............................................................................................1 II. Background..........................................................................................................9 III. Research questions and methods.......................................................................36 2 SETTING THE STAGE: SHIFTS IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY.....................47 I. Introduction.........................................................................................................47 II. Land ownership in Mexico: some background.................................................48 III. The Lacandon region before the mid-1900s .....................................................53 IV. Shifts in the political economy..........................................................................68 3 EXODUS: MIGRATION TO THE SELVA AND THE BIRTH OF A NEW ECONOMY/ECOLOGY ........................................................................................78 I. Introduction.........................................................................................................78 II. Exodus ................................................................................................................78 III. Internal dynamics: Flows, fission and fusion, and exchange relations ............88 IV. Adapting ecological practice............................................................................94 viii V. New relations to the land and to each other: Organization, community, and identity...............................................................................................................99 VI. Summary........................................................................................................108 4 COMMON PROPERTY: RESPONSES OF THE CAÑADAS SETTLEMENTS ..112 I. Introduction.......................................................................................................112 II. The creation of the Comunidad Lacandona.....................................................113 III. Responses of the Cañadas settlements ...........................................................131 IV. Summary........................................................................................................139 5 COMMON PROPERTY: RESPONSES OF THE EASTERN SETTLEMENTS ...143 I. Introduction.......................................................................................................143 II. Incorporation into the Comunidad...................................................................144 III. Implications for the Comunidad.....................................................................164 IV. Implications for Nueva Palestina ...................................................................171