Sustaining cultural and biological diversity in rapidly changing communities: the revitalization of the Voladores ritual in northern Veracruz (Mexico)

Elena Ianni (), Evodia Silva Rivera and Davide Geneletti

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2014, vol. 16, issue 6, 1197-1208

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the protection of cultural and biological diversity, and their interconnectedness. It highlights the importance of understanding the dynamic and complex strategies that cultures are developing to protect their biocultural diversity in the face of the ongoing cultural, economic, and social reductionist transformations occurring worldwide. We analyze Totonac society in the present time, and provide evidence on how cultural revitalization processes are emerging from the grass roots, by focusing on the ceremony of the Voladores, a pre-Hispanic ritual performed by several indigenous groups in Mesoamerica. The preoccupation of Totonac communities to safeguard this millenary tradition fostered a process of dialogue, reinforced local institutions, and catalyzed the development of strategies to preserve a tree species and its habitat. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Biodiversity conservation; Radical ecosystem approach; Post-normal principles; Innovation; Totonac communities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-014-9520-2

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