Paper short abstract:

Grassroots organizers in semi-urban Mexico work for food sovereignty and health sovereignty. Sustainable approaches to food and health become the focus on their community workshops, but their message is also part of a larger political movement.

Paper long abstract:

Global changes encompass the political, ecological, economic, and cultural exchanges of resources and ideas. In Mexico, the impacts of global changes are felt at local levels in all manners: politically, environmentally, economically, and culturally. The Food Sovereignty movement is a grassroots effort that aims to restructure the Mexican food system such that the local economy and traditional foods and natural environment can all be sustained (or, in some cases, revitalized). One critical component of achieving this goal is supporting local producers in agricultural practices that are less dependent on industrial inputs and international markets. The Food Sovereignty model can be used to approach the health needs of communities in Mexico, also. The local Health Sovereignty movement challenges capitalist-based systems of health promotion and maintenance. Health Sovereigntists in Autlán, Jalisco, seek to empower themselves, their families, and community members, with access to the resources, knowledge, and skills necessary to live healthy lives through prevention and curing. Ethnographic research based on participant-observation, interviews, and material analysis of the engagement with the philosophies embodied by anti-globalization, Food Sovereignty, Health Sovereignty, or other related efforts, is used to contextualize the ways that communities in the region of Autlán, Jalisco, are coping with global changes.