What does agroecology mean for peasant and indigenous producers working with development NGOs and social movements in Mexico?

创建一个能够养活不断增长的全球人口、抵御气候变化和创造可持续农村生计的粮食系统的必要性日益明显。农业生态学经常被认为是解决这一挑战的一种方法。越来越多的有影响力的组织，从社会运动和农民组织，到非政府组织和政府间发展机构，包括联合国粮食和农业组织，都在倡导这一倡议。然而，对农业生态学的解释各不相同。该术语最初是一门将生态学应用于农业的科学学科，现在可以指环境可持续的农业实践，有利于小规模农民的农村发展模式，或者改变全球工业食品体系的方法。这种分歧引发了学术辩论，并导致了对农业生态学的意义和变革潜力的两极分化意见。一些学者称赞其产生可持续粮食系统和改善农村社区生活的潜力(Altieri等人，2012；Rosset&Martinez-Torres，2018)，而另一些学者则高度怀疑并批评其将“农民方式”理想化(Bernstein，2013)。正如人类学家强调的那样，重要的是要了解社会、文化和政治现实如何影响发展模式的实施(Mosse，2013；Li，2007)。然而，关于农业生态的讨论往往是理论上的，很少有人知道这一概念是如何在实地由不同的行为者参与、谈判和应用的。对此，本研究将采用定性的方法，即参与者观察和半结构化访谈，对墨西哥特拉斯卡拉的农村社区进行人种学研究。我将通过墨西哥农业协会(El Movimiento Agroecológico)(MAM)和农民组织Grupo Vicente Guerrero(GVG)招募参与者，MAM是一个由民间、私营和学术机构组成的联盟，长期以来，他们一直在墨西哥特拉斯卡拉传播农业生态学。我将参加和观察这些组织的活动(例如，农业劳动、讲习班、社区访问和政治会议)，以加强我与参与者的关系，探讨如何制定和传播农业生态方法，并比较和对比不同行为者提供的机会和限制。半结构化访谈将允许对这些数据进行三角测量和深入探索。这些方法将阐明农业生态的细微差别和复杂性，并突出不同行为者谈判和竞争的方式。墨西哥的特拉斯卡拉地区长期以来在制定有影响力的农村发展政策和做法方面发挥了重要作用，并拥有丰富的采用农业生态学的组织网络。因此，它提供了一个重要机会，让我们了解农业生态学如何在不同行为者解释和应用时作为农村发展的工具发挥作用。随着农业生态学成为全球发展政策的核心组成部分，深入了解农业生态学在不同背景下的作用方式至关重要。这项研究将揭示可能影响农业生态学实施的紧张和复杂情况，从而使农村发展非政府组织、国家政策制定者和政府间组织能够在实地现实的基础上就这一专题开展有意义的工作。这项研究将推动关于农业生态学的两极分化和主要是理论上的辩论，并将对粮食系统和农村发展的学术做出重要贡献，探索在气候变化和全球粮食危机的背景下整合生态方法的可能性和挑战。

The need to create a food system capable of feeding a growing global population, withstanding climate change and creating sustainable rural livelihoods, is becoming increasingly apparent. Agroecology is often cited as a solution to this challenge. It is advocated by growing numbers of influential organisations, from social movements and peasant organisations, to NGOs and intergovernmental development agencies, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Interpretations of agroecology vary however. Initially established as a scientific discipline applying ecology to agriculture, the term can now refer to an environmentally sustainable agricultural practice, a rural development model benefiting small-scale farmers, or a method for transforming the global, industrial food system.Such divergences have stimulated academic debate and led to polarised opinions over agroecology's meaning and transformative potential. Some scholars celebrate its potential to generate a sustainable food system and improve the lives of rural communities (Altieri et al., 2012; Rosset & Martinez-Torres, 2018) whilst others are highly sceptical and criticise its idealization of the 'peasant way' (Bernstein, 2013). As anthropologists have stressed, it is important to understand how social, cultural and political realities affect the implementation of development models (Mosse, 2013; Li, 2007). However, discussions on agroecology are often theoretical, with little known about how the concept is engaged with, negotiated and applied by different actors on the ground.In response, this research will engage in ethnographic study of rural communities in Tlaxcala, Mexico, using qualitative methods, namely participant-observation and semi-structured interviews. I will recruit participants through El Movimiento Agroecológico Mexicano (MAM), a coalition of civil sector, private and academic bodies, and the peasant organisation Grupo Vicente Guerrero (GVG), who have long disseminated agroecology in Tlaxcala, Mexico. I will participate in and observe these organisations' activities (for example, agricultural labour, workshops, community visits and political meetings) in order to enhance my relationship with participants, to explore how agroecological approaches are formulated and disseminated, and to compare and contrast the opportunities and constraints presented by different actors. Semi-structured interviews will allow triangulation and in-depth exploration of this data. These methods will elucidate the nuances and complexities of agroecology and highlight the ways in which it is negotiated and contested by different actors.The Tlaxcala region of Mexico has long played an important role in generating influential rural development policies and practices and has a rich network of organisations adopting agroecology. It therefore offers an important opportunity to understand the ways in which agroecology functions as a tool for rural development when interpreted and applied by different actors. As agroecology becomes a core component of development policy worldwide, insight into the ways in which agroecology functions in different contexts is essential. This research will reveal the tensions and complications that might affect the implementation of agroecology, and will thus allow rural development NGOs, national policy makers and intergovernmental organisations to generate meaningful work on the topic based on realities on the ground. This research will advance polarized and largely theoretical debates on agroecology and will make an important contribution to scholarship on food systems and rural development, exploring the possibilities and challenges of integrating an ecological approach in the context of climate change and the global food crisis.