Cultural Heritage, Migration, and Land Use Transformation in San José Chiltepec, Oaxaca

Gema Lugo-Espinosa, Marco Aurelio Acevedo-Ortiz (), Teodulfo Aquino-Bolaños, Yolanda Donají Ortiz-Hernández (), Fernando Elí Ortiz-Hernández, Rafael Pérez-Pacheco and Juana Yolanda López-Cruz
Additional contact information
Gema Lugo-Espinosa: Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT)-Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico
Marco Aurelio Acevedo-Ortiz: Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT)-Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico
Teodulfo Aquino-Bolaños: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico
Yolanda Donají Ortiz-Hernández: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico
Fernando Elí Ortiz-Hernández: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, ESIME Culhuacán, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México 04440, Mexico
Rafael Pérez-Pacheco: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico
Juana Yolanda López-Cruz: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán 71230, Mexico

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-25

Abstract: Indigenous communities worldwide face increasing challenges from modernization, migration, and economic pressures, which threaten their traditional agricultural systems and cultural heritage. These dynamics often lead to shifts in land use, the erosion of ancestral knowledge, and the weakening of cultural identity. Understanding how these communities adapt to such changes is crucial for sustainable development. This research examines how indigenous communities, particularly San José Chiltepec in Oaxaca, balance the preservation of cultural heritage with adapting to evolving agricultural practices and land use transformations. It emphasizes the critical role of indigenous knowledge in sustainable land management and the importance of cultural identity amidst socio-economic pressures. A mixed-methods approach was employed, integrating geostatistical data, spatial analysis, and qualitative insights from municipal development plans and community-based observations. This provided a detailed understanding of how local conditions and external forces shape land use and conservation. The findings reveal that, while irrigated agriculture and pasturelands have declined, the community has shown resilience through the preservation of seasonal farming and the expansion of secondary vegetation. San José Chiltepec serves as a model for how indigenous communities can maintain cultural and environmental heritage while adapting to modern economic challenges.

Keywords: indigenous communities; cultural heritage; land use transformation; sustainable land management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/10/1658/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/10/1658/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:1658-:d:1496990

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().