Envíos Ultramarinos de Plantas y Animales Entre España y sus Colonias en El Siglo XVIII

Spain and its colonies maintained a constant exchange of materials, ideas, correspondence, plants, and animals during the eighteenth century, for the supply of the Crown and natural history collections. The realization of ultramarine shipments implied long chains of events and people. We found letters with no classification or digitalization at the General Archive of the Indies, concerning these shipments in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. We used them to examine various difficulties for plant and animal exchanges during these intercontinental voyages. We have organized the information considering key places: 1) Spain, 2)ultramarine traverse, 3)the colonies, and 4)back to Spain. We have found stories on how to transport live animals and plants through the ocean, problems in communications and transport, differences in documentation quality, improvement of taxidermy, and packing and preparation techniques, among others. These situations occurred in a colonial extractivist context that, if analyzed through a contemporary lens, allows to reflect on concepts like gender equity, social justice, and decolonialism.A expansão da atividade pecuária no Brasil resignificou as relações entre natureza, sociedade e animais não humanos através de projetos e relações de poder na apropriação de espaços naturais. Dentre estes mecanismos de apropriação, ressalta-se, no mundo agrário, a composição social baseada em questões patriarcais e aristocráticas relacionadas à concentração da terra, renda e acesso à tecnologia produtiva, que também hierarquizaram as estruturas de modernização de espaços em um mesmo território regional. Assim, a historicidade da utilização dos campos no Estado de Santa Catarina, permite analisar como determinados biomas foram inscritos em projetos políticos, econômicos e ambientais que estabelecem diferentes relações entre a sociedade local e a natureza, bem como diferentes configurações de espaço e identidade ao longo do tempo e de acordo com a difusão de tecnologias e genética animal que integrou o sul do Brasil ao complexo colonial mercantil pelo Rio da Prata e Oceano Atlântico.A expansão da atividade pecuária no Brasil resignificou as relações entre natureza, sociedade e animais não humanos através de projetos e relações de poder na apropriação de espaços naturais. Dentre estes mecanismos de apropriação, ressalta-se, no mundo agrário, a composição social baseada em questões patriarcais e aristocráticas relacionadas à concentração da terra, renda e acesso à tecnologia produtiva, que também hierarquizaram as estruturas de modernização de espaços em um mesmo território regional. Assim, a historicidade da utilização dos campos no Estado de Santa Catarina, permite analisar como determinados biomas foram inscritos em projetos políticos, econômicos e ambientais que estabelecem diferentes relações entre a sociedade local e a natureza, bem como diferentes configurações de espaço e identidade ao longo do tempo e de acordo com a difusão de tecnologias e genética animal que integrou o sul do Brasil ao complexo colonial mercantil pelo Rio da Prata e Oceano Atlântico

Narrativas sobre el lugar. Habitar una vivienda de interés social en la periferia urbana.

This paper analyzes the experience of inhabiting a housing estate located in the peri-urban area of Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. While we acknowledge the complexity behind the study of inhabiting practices we focus on the analysis of three dimensions: the first one is associated with dwellers and how they use their experiences to value their current dwellings in relation to their previous places of residence. The second dimension is related to the analysis of living in a housing estate and the impacts of these experiences on the everyday lives of dwellers. The third dimension offers an analysis of the relationships among neighbors and the use of public spaces on the part of dwellers. This is conducted through interviews, field visits, participant observation and a questionnaire. The goal of this research is to understand how the inhabitants of a given place recreate — through narrative descriptions— the everyday experiences of inhabiting a housing estate in the peri-urban area of a medium-sized city.El presente artículo busca analizar la experiencia de habitar en un fraccionamiento de la periferia urbana de Morelia, Michoacán, México. Si bien reconocemos la complejidad de estudiar el habitar cotidiano aquí nos delimitamos al análisis de tres dimensiones, la primera se refiere a cómo los habitantes a partir de sus propias narrativas valoran su vivienda y fraccionamiento actuales en relación a sus experiencias de habitar su vivienda y su fraccionamiento anteriores, la segunda se refiere al análisis del impacto que tiene en la vida cotidiana de los habitantes el vivir en una vivienda de interés social emplazada en un fraccionamiento de la periferia de la ciudad, y la tercera, al análisis de las relaciones vecinales y al uso que los habitantes le dan al espacio público del fraccionamiento. Lo anterior se analiza a través de entrevistas, recorridos de observación, observación participante y la aplicación de un cuestionario, con ello se busca entender la manera en que los habitantes del lugar recrean narrativamente la experiencia de habitar cotidianamente una vivienda de interés social en un fraccionamiento de la periferia urbana de una ciudad de tamaño medio

Unraveling complex relations between forest-cover change and conflicts through spatial and relational analyses

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Despite the increasing prevalence of forest-cover change and conflicts, most studies have been unable to unravel the complex relations between the two processes. We attribute this failure to methodological limitations. We put forward an alternative approach that combines different datasets (remote sensing, GIS, local narratives, official censuses, newspaper articles), methods (spatial and relational analyses), and scales (subregions, economic sectors, land-based activities) to create a robust explanation of the relations between different intensities of forest-cover change and conflict in the Meseta Purépecha region, central Mexico. This is an important forest region, inhabited by indigenous and mestizo peasants; it has a worldwide reputation for community forestry and is also the epicenter of international avocado production. Forest-cover change is intense and there are recurrent episodes of conflict. We clustered communities in three subregions according to their patterns of forest-cover change. We analyzed the spatial patterns of forest-cover change and conflicts and we characterized the structure and function of the different economic sectors to unravel the nonlinear, interdependent (and sometimes contradictory) relations among these processes. We found that avocado production has differentially shaped the composition and working of society within each subregion, leading to three diverging patterns. Avocado production has provoked conflicts over landownership and over illegal logging in nearby areas. In some areas, a low incidence of conflicts over forest clearance might be explained by high profits, coercion, and violence. We suggest that, by combining spatial and relational analyses, we can integrate and check the congruence of nonequivalent representations from quantitative sources and observant participation at different scales and explain the heterogeneity that processes display across space. Our methodological approach can thus improve our understanding of similar and other complex and uncertain environmental problems elsewhere, especially when accurate or appropriate data are missing

Mazapil, Zacatecas, México: un ejemplo de estructura agroganadera colonial (1568-1810)

La historia del Real Minero de San Gregorio de Mazapil a lo largo del período colonial manifiesta una continuidad de muy larga duración basada en una estructura agrominera que define los rasgos peculiares de cómo y de qué forma ha venido construyéndose el pasado de este lugar. El extremo rezago económico y social que hoy en día padece el territorio del antiguo real de minas constituye el reflejo y consecuencia de una profunda historia que encuentra en la relación entre el ser humano y la tierra un elemento de arraigo identitario más fuerte e incisivo del que generalmente se atribuye a la actividad minera durante la Colonia en las provincias norteñas de la Nueva España

Goldcorp y la reciprocidad negativa en el paisaje minero de Mezcala, Guerrero

El artículo muestra cómo la corporación transnacional Goldcorp Inc., en su interés por beneficiarse del minado de oro a cielo abierto en las tierras colectivas de tres comunidades campesinas mexicanas, establece vínculos con la sociedad local fundados en el principio de reciprocidad negativa, definida como el intento por obtener algo impunemente sin dar nada a cambio . Se ilustran los mecanismos que la corporación usa para lograr el control de la fuente de oro, la captura política de las comunidades y la imposición de un régimen microrregional de dominación fundado en la coacción. Se ilustran también las reacciones sociales locales a la reciprocidad negativa, traducida en movilizaciones y bloqueos, que a partir de la actualización de discursos locales de justicia proponen una renegociación moral de la relación entre corporación y sociedad local

Conflicto y Territorio en la Región Sierra Norte de Puebla, México. Mecanismos de Desposesión y Resistencia

Resumen El resurgimiento del sector minero en México ha ocurrido acompañado de un creciente número de conflictos asociados. En esta tendencia, la región Sierra Norte del estado de Puebla se ha insertado a partir del año 2011. Tan sólo en el periodo 2011-2015, han surgido tres proyectos de exploración minera y un proyecto minero-energético, planteados por empresas de capital privado. Simultáneamente, y complejizando el problema, se sumó un proyecto gubernamental que implicaba la reubicación poblacional. Este nuevo panorama, donde la minería llega a tener alto potencial para reconfigurar territorios, se ha documentado ya sobre el argumento de acumulación de capital minero por desposesión. En este caso particular, nosotros observamos los conflictos como respuesta a la violencia subjetiva, sistémica y simbólica que entraña el proceso de desposesión territorial. Sin embargo, la Sierra Norte permite observar dos escenarios: (1) donde las corporaciones logran constreñir eficazmente las acciones de los opositores, sujetándolos a la desposesión, o (2) donde las resistencias locales son capaces de contener los proyectos. En este caso particular la regionalización de la protesta es un proceso particular que emerge como mecanismo mismo de resistencia. Abstract The mining sector in Mexico has undergone a significant resurgence, triggering increased numbers of associated conflicts. This trend has characterized conflict in the Sierra Norte region of the state of Puebla since 2011. Between 2011 and 2015, three mining exploration projects and mining energy project by private corporations have been initiated in the region, as well as a government population-relocation project. The situation in which mining becomes an activity with significant potential to reconfigure territories has been described as the accumulation of mining capital by dispossession. In the case of the Sierra Norte de Puebla, we observe that the conflicts are emerging as a response to the systemic, subjective, and symbolic violence employed in the process of territorial dispossession. Such conflicts in this region tend two follow two divergent trajectories: (1) corporations are able to constrain opposition to their activities and dispossess the inhabitants of their territory, or (2) local resistance is sufficient to halt or constrain the projects. In this case, the regionalization of protest is emerging as a mechanism of resistance

Unraveling complex relations between forest-cover change and conflicts through spatial and relational analyses

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Despite the increasing prevalence of forest-cover change and conflicts, most studies have been unable to unravel the complex relations between the two processes. We attribute this failure to methodological limitations. We put forward an alternative approach that combines different datasets (remote sensing, GIS, local narratives, official censuses, newspaper articles), methods (spatial and relational analyses), and scales (subregions, economic sectors, land-based activities) to create a robust explanation of the relations between different intensities of forest-cover change and conflict in the Meseta Purépecha region, central Mexico. This is an important forest region, inhabited by indigenous and mestizo peasants; it has a worldwide reputation for community forestry and is also the epicenter of international avocado production. Forest-cover change is intense and there are recurrent episodes of conflict. We clustered communities in three subregions according to their patterns of forest-cover change. We analyzed the spatial patterns of forest-cover change and conflicts and we characterized the structure and function of the different economic sectors to unravel the nonlinear, interdependent (and sometimes contradictory) relations among these processes. We found that avocado production has differentially shaped the composition and working of society within each subregion, leading to three diverging patterns. Avocado production has provoked conflicts over landownership and over illegal logging in nearby areas. In some areas, a low incidence of conflicts over forest clearance might be explained by high profits, coercion, and violence. We suggest that, by combining spatial and relational analyses, we can integrate and check the congruence of nonequivalent representations from quantitative sources and observant participation at different scales and explain the heterogeneity that processes display across space. Our methodological approach can thus improve our understanding of similar and other complex and uncertain environmental problems elsewhere, especially when accurate or appropriate data are missing

Ecología política de la minería en América Latina : aspectos socioeconómicos, legales y ambientales de la mega minería

La evaluación que ofrece este volumen permite dar cuenta si no de todos los casos de mega-minería existentes de la región sí de la lógica que esos comparten y que están bien identificados por los autores. Desde una lectura interdisciplinaria, se revisa el papel que tiene Latinoamérica como reserva estratégica minera al tiempo que se indagan algunos casos contemporáneos conflictivos y sus implicaciones con México, Centroamérica y algunos países del Cono Sur. Asimismo se bosquejan ciertos planteamientos de prospectiva; se valoran casos de resistencias sociales y se discuten algunas herramientas jurídico-legales que pueden y deberían acompañar toda lucha social de resistencia, en particular aquellas relacionadas con la defensa de los derechos humanos