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

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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.

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Acknowledgments

Elena Ianni acknowledges the financial support of the Provincia Autonoma di Trento through the HUMANITY Project, Marie Curie action, COFUND-GA-2008-226070. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano, 77, 38100, Trento, Italy

    Elena Ianni & Davide Geneletti

  2. Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales (CITRO), University of Veracruz, Casco de la Ex-Hacienda Lucas Martín, Priv. De Araucarias S/N, Col. Periodistas, C.P. 91019, Xalapa, Mexico

    Evodia Silva Rivera

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  1. Elena Ianni
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  2. Evodia Silva Rivera
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  3. Davide Geneletti
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Correspondence to Elena Ianni.

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Ianni, E., Silva Rivera, E. & Geneletti, D. Sustaining cultural and biological diversity in rapidly changing communities: the revitalization of the Voladores ritual in northern Veracruz (Mexico). Environ Dev Sustain 16, 1197–1208 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-014-9520-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-014-9520-2

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