Conservation policies, scientific research and the production of Lake Pátzcuaro's naturecultures in Postrevolutionary México (1920–1940)
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The lake Pátzcuaro region
Lake Pátzcuaro is a high altitude lake located in central west México in Michoacán, lying at 2035 m asl (Fig. 1). Lake Pátzcuaro is also one of the lake basins where pre Columbian civilizations flourished. For most of the sixteenth century, the town of Pátzcuaro was the seat of colonial power in Michoacán. Today, it is one of the regions inhabited by the indigenous group of the P'urhépecha, formerly known as Tarascos.
Due to this rich and complex cultural history, during the postrevolutionary
Nature and nation
Although today Lake Pátzcuaro's indigenous culture is a recognised national symbol, this has not always been the case.2 Before the Mexican Revolution, indigenous cultures were not considered part of the living heritage of all the inhabitants of the country. The revolution came to transform this situation, integrating the indigenous into the new model of the Mexican nation, which, on the one
Revolutionary natures
The importance of natural resource management within the postrevolutionary agenda arises from the character of the Mexican Revolution, often described as fundamentally agrarian. The revolution's most pressing demand was the restitution of lands to campesino and indigenous communities, who had been dispossessed of their agricultural lands and forests by landowners and foreign investors. Because of this, all the important revolutionary declarations considered issues of access and control of the
Protecting the forest, protecting the lake
The emphasis of the Forestry Department conservation programme on the protection of forests rested on the idea that in a mountainous country like México, protecting forests meant preventing the adverse effects of erosion, protecting soils, bodies of water and fishery resources. The consequences of erosion were perceived both in environmental and aesthetic terms since it was affecting the scenic beauty of lakes and their condition as habitat. Measures to protect and restore these areas included
The nature of indigenous fishing practices
In addition to protecting forests, the protection of lake basins also involved establishing greater control over fisheries. To this end, the Forestry Department organized the First Sports Fishing and Hunting Convention held in May 1935, seeking the opinion and support of sportsmen in establishing new regulations. During the convention, the Forestry Department asked the participants to teach rural people to appreciate nature, as well as ‘good’ hunting and fishing practices, placing them in a
Improving nature: the propagation of exotic and indigenous FISH species
In addition to regulating fishing, the Forestry Department also sought to protect inland fisheries through restocking and fish farming to ensure long term fishing yields and increase fishing productivity. This was seen as a positive action for the development of fishing and to prevent fish stocks from depleting. Furthermore, due to its biological and cultural importance, the Forestry Department also attempted to protect and propagate the endemic whitefish from Lake Pátzcuaro through its
International collaborations
The development of a conservation agenda in México was by no means exclusively a national affair, limited to Mexican nationals or without influence from other countries. Though constantly framing the protection of forests in national terms, Quevedo also situated the Forestry Department's work as contributing to a ‘worldwide conservation movement’. Conservation policy was also influenced by international developments on this issue, looking at the examples of countries like France, the U.S. and
Scientific conservation and the creation of hybrid naturecultures
In 1939, the Forestry Department was reverted to being a division of the Ministry of Agriculture. Despite its short existence, the research carried out under the direction of the Forestry Department profoundly shaped Lake Pátzcuaro, both materially and discursively. Scientific research on the causes of the whitefish situation established a series of interrelated ideas about Lake Pátzcuaro's situation: 1) the whitefish population was decreasing, 2) the black bass was not to blame for its
The Pátzcuaro limnological research station
The research carried out under the direction of the Forestry Department could be considered the first stage in the development of scientific research in the area. Research evolved from the data collection carried out occasionally by forestry officials to the research project that involved the Japanese experts and culminated in the foundation of the Pátzcuaro Limnological Research Station, inaugurating a new stage in that development. The initial interest of the Forestry Department on the
Conclusions
This paper has examined the role of scientific research and conservation practices in the production of Lake Pátzcuaro's naturecultures and the relationship between this process and nation-state building. Throughout the text, I have argued that the construction of México and the Mexican was not limited to what we often think of as culture but also involved nature. Science and conservation practices played a key role in this process through nature's material and symbolic shaping. In this way,
Acknowledgements
The project from which this article is derived was supported by a Doctoral Award from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia in Mexico. I am also grateful to the staff of the different archives that I visited in Mexico for their help accessing archival documents. Thanks must also go to David Matless and Sarah Metcalfe for their comments on previous drafts of this article and their continued guidance.