Community sustainability and its interplay with the internal normative system in Santiago Comaltepec, Oaxaca

Abstract

This work seeks to create a space for dialogue from a transdisciplinary perspective that establishes Community Sustainability as the relationship that intertwines community participation and the worldview of communities governed by their own organization, within the specific context of the Chinantec ethnic group, in this case, the municipality of Santiago Comaltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

This reflection stems from doctoral research completed in 2023, which sparked questions to investigate and dialogues to bring to the table regarding long-held concepts that do not necessarily encompass all the elements that constitute Indigenous communities. The general objective of the research was to analyze whether a relationship existed between the structure, organization, and development of the Internal Normative System, the worldview, and the sustainability practices with which the natural resources of Santiago Comaltepec are managed. An ethnographic research approach was used.

Therefore, it is concluded that the decisions and actions established in writing through its regulations, as well as the openness to joint work between authorities and community members within the territory of the municipality, are directly linked to the Chinantec worldview of its inhabitants; this knowledge is transmitted from the congregation of the communal nucleus, reinforced by the legality of its community organization. Once the research was completed, new concerns arose which we have addressed in a postdoctoral research project that we are currently working on and which we present as a proposal at the end