Maguey
Footnotes:
[1] Kirsten J. Johnson, “‘Do As The Land Bids.’ A Study Of Otomi Resource-Use On The Eve Of Irrigation” (ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Clark University, 1977).
[2] Ella Schmidt, “Whose Culture? Globalism, Localism, and the Expansion of Tradition: The Case of the Hñähñu of Hidalgo, Mexico and Clearwater, Florida,” Globalizations 4, no. 1 (March 1, 2007): 101–14, https://doi.org/10.1080/14747730701245657.
“Magueyes are the plants of the Otomi. They give everything: food, shelter, fire, clothing, money. That is why people plant them everywhere.” [1] So said an Otomi farmer from the village of Deni in the 1970s before the arrival of wastewater irrigation. The maguey represents the semiarid landscapes of the Mezquital that have been coerced through wastewater irrigation to produce paradoxically lush fields of maize and alfalfa. The magueys are also an important cultural cornerstone for many indigenous groups throughout Mexico. The plant is widely associated with the production of pulque from the plant’s fermented sap. Presently, in the wake of increased farmer outmigration, some indigenous women are returning to traditional cottage industries such as weaving with maguey fiber. Such efforts seek to “redress local gender inequalities and ecological degradation imposed by centuries of oppression and marginalization.” [2]
Footnotes:
[1] Kirsten J. Johnson, “‘Do As The Land Bids.’ A Study Of Otomi Resource-Use On The Eve Of Irrigation” (ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Clark University, 1977).
[2] Ella Schmidt, “Whose Culture? Globalism, Localism, and the Expansion of Tradition: The Case of the Hñähñu of Hidalgo, Mexico and Clearwater, Florida,” Globalizations 4, no. 1 (March 1, 2007): 101–14, https://doi.org/10.1080/14747730701245657.
