Zapotec Science: Farming and Food in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca

Chapter 8. Agriculture Unbound: Cultivating the Ground between Science Traditions

          Cultivating the Ground between Science Traditions ACTION IS URGENT. In the affluent industrialized countries, where food is plentiful and obesity is common, there is a frequent tendency to forget that today  million people go hungry . . . In  years it is estimated that the earth will have . billion inhabitants. If they are to be adequately fed, the world food production must more than double . . . By providing plants that are resistant to disease and pests, like Bt maize, gene technology can make an important contribution to ensuring the food supply for the growing world population. Novartis, ‘‘Maize Is Maize’’ () Outside the United States, you’ll find  percent of the world’s population . Inside, you’ll find the means to feed them.  commercial, Archer Daniels Midland corporation Those who emphasize the dismal side of development may be underestimating the ingenuity and vitality of indigenous economic systems when given the opportunity to develop within their own logic of subsistence needs. June Nash, ‘‘The Challenge of Trade Liberalization’’ () The Rincón Zapotec have incorporated new crops and techniques into their farming and dietary repertoires to improve upon a strong base of agricultural knowledge and practice. Through this process they have created a system which is neither static nor ‘‘underdeveloped,’’ but rather  Agriculture Unbound  modern, flexible, and dynamic. Indeed, the current arrangement of maize, bean, sugarcane, and coffee production in Talea might even be described as ‘‘postindustrial’’ to the extent that it emerged in its present form after the abandonment of silver mines early in the twentieth century. The ancestors of many of today’s Taleans mined for nearly  years and probably came to understand how world markets worked from experience, since local mining was affected by radical fluctuations in global prices throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Chance ). They became specialists in managing global economic change—they were ‘‘flexible workers’’ able to extract ore from a mine one year and to plant maize, beans, and sugarcane the next. It appears that Talean campesinos never lost their subsistence base; even when linked to world markets through cochineal, cotton , gold, and coffee production, they supported themselves by growing their own food. For the Spanish colonists residing in the area, this effectively served as a subsidy—the villagers had to feed themselves and care for their families and communities while they supplied tribute to the colonizers ; for the Rincón Zapotec, the arrangement ensured a level of economic autonomy and independence from the Spanish. Talea is an interesting case because it was apparently founded after the Conquest on a relatively small amount of land acquired from neighboring villages.These special historical circumstances probably motivated villagers to experiment with new agricultural techniques early on. For example , coffee production is likely to have emerged as a solution to the problem of scarce land, since it allowed farmers to buy the equivalent of several hectares of maize in exchange for cash derived from a single hectare of coffee. Part of this change might also be attributed to the village’s diverse population (including miners drawn to the Rincón from outside the region), who may have brought with them creative solutions to practical problems and an overall attitude of acceptance toward new approaches. Since coffee was introduced in Talea, the village has changed more rapidly than any other in the Rincón. Over time campesinos in Talea adopted a number of weights, measures, and implements, some from the prehispanic period and some from the colonial era, which are still in use today. Most are based on the dimensions of the user’s body. This system affords campesinos a distinct advantage, since implements fashioned in this way are ergonomically designed; they correspond to the user’s body, ensuring a custom fit. This makes rigorous farming work less punishing. Campesinos also creatively make extensive use of what we might call ‘‘scrap’’ materials, which might be thought of as Zapotec Science  an economic strategy for using mass-produced goods (often made of special materials that would be impossible to produce locally, such as plastic) at a nominal cost and sometimes at no cost at all. The production of such implements and artifacts might be described as a form of craftwork, if we define craft items as handmade goods used by the craftsperson or made for people in face-to-face contact with the producer. Maize is the foundation of the alimentary base in...