Paper short abstract:

Based on in-depth empirical studies undertaken among rural populations of the Altiplano of Guatemala, the proposed paper aims at contributing to produce knowledge about the construction, transmission, and even recovery, of agroecological know-how that is resilient to climatic risks.

Paper long abstract:

Torn between, on the one hand, a desire to struggle for its peasant and Latin-American identity, and, on the other, the productivist mechanisms of economic development, Central America is a fragile region. Its economy relies mainly on intensive agricultural activity intended for export. Nevertheless, faced with the neo-liberal system's stranglehold on the Mesoamerican peasant world, various vectors of resistance are taking form with regard to the intensive model. In such a context, there is a need to question the situation of agroecology in the region. Supported by committed intellectuals and many non-profit organizations, the civil society plays a major role in disseminating it.

The case study in Guatemala will lead us to focus on the particular question of valorizing traditional agricultural techniques in teaching the subject of agroecology. Agroecology relies on agroecological principles and on indigenous practices and knowledge (local, traditional). It represents an alloy between practices with distinct origins.

The tools for transmission of these new agricultural practices are the levers of individual and social transformation. Moreover, beyond a one-way transmission from teacher to learner, the re-mobilization of traditional local skills transmitted by earlier generations upsets classical Western teaching. This presentation will thus deal with what is an issue for agroecology: the hybrid character of agroecological knowledge which is neither restricted to an academic milieu, nor uniquely the fruit of ancestral agricultural skills. Lastly, it will emphasize the importance of anthropology's role within the agroecological approach and particularly in the valorization and conservation of traditional local skills for managing resources.