Ethnoecology of the interchange of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms in Phurépecha markets of Mexico: economic motives of biotic resources management

Abstract

BackgroundInteractions between societies and nature are regulated by complex systems of beliefs, symbolism, customs, and worldviews (kosmos), ecological knowledge (corpus), and management strategies and practices (praxis), which are constructed as product of experiences and communication of people throughout time. These aspects influence social relations, life strategies, and cultural identity, and all of them in turn influence and are influenced by local and regional patterns of interchange. In this study, we analyze the interchange of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms in traditional markets of the Phurépecha region of Mexico. Particularly, the social relations constructed around the interchange of these products; how knowledge, cultural values, and ecological factors influence and are influenced by interchange; and how all these factors influence the type and intensity of biotic resources management.MethodsWe studied three main traditional markets of the Phurépecha region of Michoacán, Mexico, through 140 visits to markets and 60 semi-structured interviews to sellers of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms. In nearly 2 years, we carried out 80 visits and 30 interviews in the “Barter Market”, 20 visits and 15 interviews in the “Phurépecha Tiánguis”, and 40 visits and 15 interviews to the “Municipal Market”. We documented information about the spaces of interchange that form the markets, the types of interchange occurring there, the cultural and economic values of the resources studied, the environmental units that are sources of such resources, the activities associated to resources harvesting and, particularly, the management techniques practiced to ensure or increase their availability. We analyzed the relations between the amounts of products interchanged, considered as pressures on the resources; the perception of their abundance or scarcity, considered as the magnitude of risk in relation to the pressures referred to; and the management types as response to pressures and risk.ResultsWe recorded 38 species of wild and weedy plants and 15 mushroom species interchanged in the markets. We characterized the spaces of interchange, the interchange types, and social relations among numerous Phurépecha communities which maintain the main features of pre-Columbian markets. The products analyzed are differentially valued according to their role in people’s life, particularly food, medicine, rituals, and ornamental purposes. The highest cultural values were identified in multi-purpose plant and mushroom resources and, outstandingly, in ornamental and ritual plants. In markets, women are the main actors and connectors of the regional households’ activities of use and management of local resources and ecosystems. The interrelationships between worldviews, knowledge, and practices are visible through the interchange of the products analyzed, including the types of environments comprised in communitarian territories, agricultural calendars, and feasts. Those plants and mushrooms are highly valued but relatively scarce acc...

Orquídeas silvestres comercializadas en un mercado tradicional de Chiapas, México

“…En Mesoamérica, estos mercados tienen origen precolombino y se caracterizan por la interacción de diferentes grupos étnicos y por ser intermitentes, comúnmente existe un día de "tianguis", palabra que deriva del náhuatl y se refiere a un mercado tradicional que se instala en un lugar público un día a la semana (Arellanes et al 2013). Actualmente interactúan con los mercados modernos (Shackleton 2001, Arellanes et al 2013, Farfán-Heredia et al 2018. Los mercados tradicionales generan ingresos substanciales a la economía familiar de los vendedores (Bye & Linares 1983, Reuter 2009, Vodouhê et al 2009 y son lugares importantes para la socialización (Linares & Bye 2016).…”

Management of Wild Edible Fungi in the Meseta Purépecha Region, Michoacán, México

“…Fungi distribution in nine types of vegetation: Conserved pine, disturbed pine, conserved oak-pine, oak-juvenile pine, tejocotal (Crataegus mexicana) scrub, adult cedar, juvenile pine, adult pine, trunks, milpa (maize, beans, and pumpkin polyculture), and slope. [38] Ethnoecology of the interchange of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms in Phurépecha markets of Mexico: Economic motives of biotic resources management.…”

“…The most culturally significant species that are sold in markets of Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico and the reasons behind these given values using frequency and order of the mentioned indexes. Among the existing studies on edible wild mushroom species in the Purépecha region, those by Mapes and Caballero [6], Larios-Trujillo et al [21], Díaz-Barriga [25], Carlos-Santos [30],Torres-Gómez [31], García-Chávez and Chávez Ramírez [32], León-Jaimes [35], Zamora-Equihua [36], , Gómez-Reyes [37], , and Farfán-Heredia et al [38] are among the most relevant. These studies documented the richness of fungi in the area and called for continuing further extensive ethnomycological studies (Table 1).…”

Cultural, economic, and ecological factors influencing management of wild plants and mushrooms interchanged in Purépecha markets of Mexico

“…These settings reflect the life strategies, and the forms in which the cultural groups interact with their local and regional biodiversity and territories, their traditional ecological knowledge, and management practices [ 1 – 8 ]. In traditional markets, people interchange products using equivalence criteria according to their values, meanings, and prestige, which are necessary for reproducing life and provide cultural identity [ 1 , 3 – 15 ]. Products interchanged in traditional markets are commonly valued based on their attributes in the cultural contexts.…”

“…When rates of obtaining resources overpass the resilience of both resources and ecosystems, such rates may determine strong risk for the maintenance of resources and/or ecosystems [ 16 , 23 ]. Such conditions of risk may in turn determine uncertainty in the availability of the resources but may also enhance people to put in practice some management techniques, to ensure the resources availability [ 2 , 3 , 20 – 22 , 24 , 25 ]. In general, the studies analyzing these relations indicate that the higher the risk, the higher the management intensity and complexity.…”