Practi-torio comunidad y buen vivir: en la búsqueda de alternativas al desarrollo en el sur de Jalisco, México

Abstract

Objective: Explain how a system of economic exchange and community education has been formed, together with inhabitants of rural communities in southern Jalisco. This system aims to become an alternative to western individualistic development. Methodology: the practitorio works under the methodology of revaluation participative action research and the farmer-to-farmer methodology for the exchange of knowledge and productive experiences. Results: The practitorio has four main areas: agro-ecological production, product trade with the use of practices from alternative economies, exchange of rural knowledge, as well as dissemination of rural experiences through different media. Limitations: Problems of access to some communities, the resistance of some people regarding the precepts that guide the practice, contradictions between what is said and what is done due to socio-cultural conditions, as well as scarcity of financial and human resources have made it difficult for the practitiorio to be more widely accepted in the region. Conclusions: We recognize that the adoption of practices tending to good living in the south of Jalisco will be slow and long-term, since it involves a substantial cultural change that, logically, is gradual. Therefore, it is necessary to intensify activities in the communities, where the inhabitants themselves get involved in their definition, organization and execution.