In the shadow of the nopal: territorial folds and plant agency in the Altos de Morelos, Mexico

abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore ethnographically the more than human worlds present in the nopal monoculture in Altos de Morelos, Mexico, as well as the differential impact that this plant has on people’s lives. Taking into account the plant turn in posthumanist political ecology and the notion of plant agency, this paper seeks to contribute to the critique of monocultures as ecologically impoverished environments and as an imposition on people’s lives. On the other hand, it is intended to shed light on the way in which the nopal is ontologically positioned through a plant policy that fosters the emergence of territorial domains of conflict, negotiation and friction. The ontological characterization of the prickly pear cactus that is sought to be underpinned does not derive exclusively from human attributions around the plant, but rather, based on the notion of fold, it is sought to understand the material semiotic frameworks in which said monoculture unfolds its relationships in different niches of the northeastern region of Morelos. The axis of the work is found in deciphering the oxymoron that underlies the shadow of the nopal.

keywords
Monoculture; multisensory; vegetal agency; assemblages