Reconnecting the City and the Countryside with Food and Agriculture in the Era of Globalization and Neoliberalism: Nopal, Mexico City, and Milpa Alta
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RECONNECTING THE CITY AND THE COUNTRYSIDE WITH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION AND NEOLIBERALISM: NOPAL, MEXICO CITY, AND MILPA ALTA TANIA HERNÁNDEZ CERVANTES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO March 2017 ©Tania Hernández Cervantes, 2017. Abstract My dissertation explores how geographically proximate sites of food production (largely semi- rural) and food consumption (largely urban), connect, and what makes the connections persist, disappear, and/or re-emerge. It specifically examines the food linkages between Mexico City and a nearby agricultural region, Milpa Alta, through a commodity supply chain analysis of nopal, a native food, from the 1990s to the present. My study makes the following key contributions: Theoretically, I propose an integration of the metabolic rift theory and agroecology that facilitates analysis of complex rural-urban relationships framed in neoliberal capitalism and in a context of intense interaction of peasants with globalized city’s dynamics. Methodologically, I suggest a refinement in the commodity chain methodology so as to include analysis of space and place from the use-value perspective. This approach facilitates analysis of on-farm practices that build upon an ecological indigenous and peasant farming legacy to produce a food that carries strong cultural and historical meaning locally but that was barely known and commercialized outside Mexico until recently. Empirically, my results reveal that because of exposure to the neoliberal and globalized mega-city, nopal producers increasingly rely upon the human health benefits, and ecological and cultural values embedded in nopal, to both reconstitute their relationship with the local market and create global market connections. This empirical analysis expands on knowledge of the emergence of native foods in the world market as a result of global consumption trends based on health and ecological values and how that may compromise or foster the reproduction of the wealth of local agroecosystems of native foods. This research is at the intersection of the study of the city and the country and expands debates in scholarship at the intersection of agroecology, peasant studies, and food regimes. ii Para el amor de mi vida, Manuel Romero, por acompañarme en este vuelo. [To the love of my live, Manuel Romero, for accompanying me in this journey] A mis padres, Ana Cervantes y Francisco Hernandez, dedico este vuelo. [I dedicate this journey to my parents, Ana Cervantes and Francisco Hernandez] iii Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge all the people and institutions, mainly from Mexico and Canada, who contributed directly and indirectly to the completion of this research by providing me with intellectual, material, physical, and emotional support, as well as mentorship. This research is the result of our collective effort. A very special acknowledgement to the nopal producers of Milpa Alta of Mexico City who taught me about a food I used to eat almost everyday in Mexico City but knew little of how and where it was grown, or who grew it. Their knowledge, stories, and experiences contested every single “traditional” idea about southern peasants, rural spaces and places, and farming styles. They gave me the time their nopal plants needed, even though I was not the first researcher coming to their fields from a far away university to inquire. They receive us all hoping that the results of our research contribute to keeping their land and farming lifestyles alive, so I hope I did my part. A heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Rod MacRae, for his commitment to take me to the end of this PhD journey and his insightful support of every risk I wanted to take throughout the development of this research. Thank you for your friendship. I want to also thank my committee members, Antonio Serratos, Anna Zalik, and Lauren Baker for their genuine interest in my research and detailed reading and commentary on it. My doctoral studies were supported by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT) and the Tri-Agency (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship that granted me the Vanier Scholarship. The advice of and conversations with Patrick Bond, Liette Gilbert, and Ellie P. Perkins at the beginning of my PhD were essential to confidently develop a critical and interdisciplinary research inquiry. My friend and mentor, Marcos Chavez, provided me insightful conversations during the fieldwork. I thank him for his friendship and mentorship throughout my life. My work has been enriched with the comments from friends and colleagues and readings of my work at different phases. Special mention goes to David Myhre, Amy Coplen, Kasim Tirmizey, Tanya Chung Tiam Fook, Matthew Feagan, Ben Brisbois, Marta Berbes, and Sonja Killloran-McKibbin. iv My family provided me a profound and endless source of inspiration and emotional support throughout my PhD. My mother, Ana Cervantes, an environmentalist, feminist, and tireless justice seeker, inspired me and supported me to continue even in the most difficult circumstances during the last writing phase of this dissertation. My father, Francisco Hernandez, encouraged me to pursue a PhD since I was 17 years old and raised me with the belief that there is no frontier a woman cannot cross. My sister and brother, Aleida and Edgar Hernandez Cervantes, were always willing to engage in political, intellectual and emotional conversations. I thank all my friends in Toronto and Mexico who have provided me with solidarity, love, and strength along the way in these years, but special thanks to Luz Maria Vazquez for being there in every important moment. My little girl, Abril Aitana Romero was born when I started writing the dissertation and became a source of motivation to deeply believe in what I do and what I am. Finally, I would like to thank Manuel Romero Mier, whose work I learned from. You taught me every day how food connects human and non-human natures. Thank you for sharing the stories of the food you transform with your labour, energy, and love. Thank you for your patience and loving support and your incredible faith in this research and in me. v Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ ix List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... xi List of Boxes ............................................................................................................................ xii Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Food, a Common Rural-Urban Problem .......................................................................... 1 1.2 A Context for the Agri-Food Rural-Urban Relationship in Mexico ................................. 3 1.3 Arriving at the Central Research Question ....................................................................... 4 1.4 Landing in Mexico City and Milpa Alta: The Site of Research ....................................... 4 1.5 Nopal: The Link ................................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Choosing the Explanatory Frameworks for the Rural-Urban Relationship ...................... 7 1.7 Going Through the Linkages: Commodity Chain as the Method ................................... 12 1.8 A Note on the Thesis Organization ................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2: Defining the Urban-Rural Contours and Boundaries 2.1 Introduction: Location .................................................................................................... 16 2.2 The Rural Limits of Milpa Alta ...................................................................................... 17 2.3 Seeking Milpa Alta within Rural-Type Categories ........................................................ 37 2.4. Seeking Milpa Alta within Urban-Type Categories: Mexico City, DF, Metropolitan Zone, Global City ........................................................................................................... 41 2.5 Milpa Alta: Between Rural-Urban and Society-Nature Antagonisms ............................ 48 Chapter 3: Disruption of Rural-Urban Relationships: Towards an Integration of Metabolic Rift Theory and Agroecology for Envisioning Ways of Mending the Rural-Urban Linkage 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 50 Part I. Disruption of Rural-Urban Relationships: World Market and Implications for Local Ecologies ......................................................................................................................... 51 3.2 Tracing the Genealogy