THE PEASANT STRATEGIES OF THE PITAYA (Stenocereus pruinosus) PRODUCERS OF SANTIAGO CHAZUMBA

Abstract

In the Mixtec, the family is the main strategy of social reproduction, where its members articulate among themselves and form their own strategies. This research seeks to recognize the peasant strategies of the pitaya (Stenocereus pruinosus) producers in the municipality of Santiago Chazumba versus the context of capitalist production relations. The results indicate that peasant strategies have been conditioned by environmental, structural and social factors and hinder the consolidation of peasant-based commercial agriculture in this region. The environmental restriction is the most visible; however, there are other conditions that require the use of qualitative methodologies to recognize that the mixteco has developed biological, succession, educational, economic, and symbolic investment strategies that the family uses at the same time to maintain and reproduce in a neoliberal world, where its logic of reproduction is not the accumulation of capital. The Mixtec family bases its logic on family reproduction, makes use of multifunctionality in both agricultural and livestock production, and rents its workforce. All of the above shows that the mixtec has managed to maintain itself in the capitalist world, where the peasant logic differs from the capitalist system.

Keywords

• family
• peasant strategies
• peasant logic
• pitaya