Traditional Foodways in the Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Food Systems, Agriculture, and Rural Life

Abstract

The Chihuahuan Desert provides geographical continuity across the US-Mexico border, allowing traditional foodways, supported by place-based ways of eating, to continue from one side of the border to the other. However, changes to climatic patterns such as extreme heat and water insecurity pose a threat to traditional foodways. This study explores the food-centered life histories of abuelas who migrated to the US and the challenges they face in maintaining the traditional northern Mexican diet, posed by climate change. Attention is given to historical events that have reorganized the borderland landscape, which affects communal water access that supports traditional subsistence activities. 

Author

• Amanda Teresa Palacios, University of Texas at El Paso