Subject: Re: lists re Mexico (fwd)

From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 11:17:10 -0400 (EDT)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
On Tue, 5 Sep 1995, Daniela Soleri wrote:

> Could anyone suggest any lists that focus on contemporary Mexico,
> especially concerned with traditional agriculture, or natural resources,
> or plant population biology? 
>
> Daniela Soleri
> [email-masked] 
> Arid Lands Resource Sciences Program 
> University of Arizona   

Dear Daniela I was intrigued by the above message since I was about to ask
something similar myself. I would be interested to know the exact nature
of your request. Mine has to do with agricultural systems in Mexico,
particularly as regards 'alternatives' ( and I recognize that for many
people, these are not 'alternatives' as understood in the Western,
industrialized context) to the Green Revolution maize package that were 
developed by the Rockefeller Foundation/Mexican Govt funded Officina de 
Estudios Especiales (which later evolved into CIMMYT). For your 
information, I have some references but would appreciate any others, 
particularly if they contain information concerning species diversity, 
intraspecific diversity, production etc. Here's what I have to hand at 
the moment:

Edgar Anderson 'Plants Man and Life' (it was Anderson, at Missouri, to 
whom Carl Sauer sent seed varieties from Mexico after he became 
interested in crop domestication and cultivation in Mexico).
 
Clawson and Hoy (1979) 'Nealtican, Mexico: A peasant community that rejected 
the 'Green Revolution''. Amer. J. Econ. Soc. 38, 371-87

Vogt, E.Z. (1970) The Zincantecos of Mexico. New York: Holt, Rinehart and 
Winston

Brush et al (1988) Agricultural Development and Maize Divesrity in 
Mexico' Human Ecology 16 (3) 307-28

De Walt (1978) Appropriate Technollogy in Rural Mexico. Technology and 
Culture 19 (1) 32-52

Morales (1984) Chinampas and Integrated Farms: Learning from the Rural 
Traditional Experience in de Castri et al (eds) 'Ecology in Practice, 
Vol. 1 Ecosystem Management, pp. 188-95, Tycooly, Dublin.

Francis and Sanders (1978) Economic Analysis of Bean and Maize Systems: 
Monoculture Versus Associated Cropping, Field Crops Research (1) 319-55.

Bellon-Corales (1991) The ethnoecology of maize production under 
technological change: A case study from Mexico. Human Ecology 11, 47-68

Alcorn and Trujillo (1987) the Agroecology of Corn Production in 
Tlaxcala, Mexico. Human Ecology 15 (2) 189-220.

In additon to the above, Ron Nigh wrote an excellent Ph.D. thesis some
time in the 70s. I don't know if he is still living in San Cristobal,
Chiapas where I met him two years ago. Luis Garcia-Barrios, who at that
time was working at the Centro de Investigaciones Ecologicas de Sureste (I
apologise for my poor written Spanish) in Chiapas, has written a few
articles suggesting that traditional agricultural practices are less
destructive than modern ones, focusing I think on Oaxaca. One of these is
in the 1990 No 11 issue of World Development, another was in Spanish in
Commercio Exterior - I forget the year. He was working at the time on 
a Ph.D. concerning intercropping. Alcorn has written a book of her
work the title of which I forget. I think there are a few articles on
Mexican agriculture in the volume edited by Gleissman (1990 I think) 
entitled simply 'Agroecology' and published by Springer-Verrr... One is 
on forest gardens, another on intercropping maize squash and beans, 
another on Chinampas ( I think). A book edited by Teresa Rojas entitled 
Agricultura en Tierras Mexicanas desde ... hace nuevos tiempos has 
chapters on crop domestication through to modern agricultural situation 
but some of the chapters are more political economy that technical. Also, 
the owrk of E. Hernandez X. is worth checking up on. I don't have his 
refernces to hand, but he was the acknowledged expert on races of maize 
before his death a short while ago.

I've read most, but not all, of the above so hope there are not too many 
problems regarding their relevance. I'd welcome any additions. Perhaps 
Daniela or I could post a complete biblio at the end if that's considered 
useful. Thanks in advance for any help.
Dominic Hogg, University of Cambridge.