Digital scholarship
Digital scholarship
Digital scholarship is not supplementary to my ethnographic research but a methodological extension of it. These digital projects make ethnographic knowledge accessible to researchers, practitioners, and community knowledge holders while attending carefully to the ethics of circulation.
Digital scholarship
Digital projects
Milpa Assemblages
A digital ethnographic atlas of multispecies life, agricultural knowledge, and foodways in highland Mexico, extending the dissertation into a collaborative, publicly accessible reference.
Dictionary of Milpa Agroecosystems
A collaborative reference volume documenting the ecological, cultural, and linguistic diversity of the milpa agroecosystem, conceived as an edited reference with a planned digital edition.
Digital scholarship
Interactive species profiles
Profiles for three species central to the milpa agroecosystem, combining scientific identification, local terminology, ecological relationships, culinary practices, and ethnographic interpretation.
Local terminology
Chapulin (Nahuatl: chapolini); langosta (regional).
Ecological relationships
Grasshoppers that inhabit milpa agroecosystems, feeding on maize leaves and other crops. Their population dynamics are closely tied to the ecological health of the milpa and the seasonal cycles of cultivation.
Culinary practices
Toasted on a comal with garlic, lime, and salt. Used in tacos, tlayudas, and mole. A seasonal delicacy with deep pre-Hispanic roots.
Ethnographic interpretation
The classification of chapulines as pests or food is a political and cultural act. In campesino practice, they are both a challenge to the harvest and a valued food source, embodying the ambivalence of multispecies relationships in the milpa.
Digital scholarship
Interactive ethnographic mapping
Connecting research sites with landscapes, species, cultivation practices, and relevant publications. The interactive map links each field site to the ecological relationships, agricultural practices, and publications associated with it.
Digital scholarship
Multispecies field notes
Carefully selected ethnographic observations organized by species, research theme, or location. These notes are drawn from fieldwork in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley and are shared with the informed consent of community members.
Chapulines in the milpa
On a late afternoon in the milpa, the chapulines move through the maize stalks with a sound like dry paper. A campesino farmer explains that some years they are few, other years many, and that the difference is not a matter of pesticide but of rain, soil, and the health of the polyculture. He does not call them a plague. He calls them food.
Quelites and the politics of classification
A woman harvests quintonil from between the maize rows, pinching the tender tips with practiced fingers. When asked if these are weeds, she laughs. Weeds, she says, are what you do not eat. Everything here is food if you know how to look.
Cuitlacoche harvest
The maize ear is swollen, distorted, its kernels replaced by a mass of dark, moist tissue. A farmer peels back the husk and smiles. This is not a disease, he says, this is a gift. He will harvest it young, before the spores mature, and tonight it will fill a quesadilla.
Digital scholarship
Biocultural terminology
A multilingual glossary documenting local agricultural and ecological categories, with attention to linguistic attribution and collaborative knowledge production. Terms are drawn from Nahuatl, Spanish, and regional variants used in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley.
| Term | Language | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Milpa | Nahuatl (milli + pa) | A polycultural agricultural system combining maize, beans, squash, and other crops in a single cultivated field. |
| Quelite | Nahuatl (quilitl) | Edible herb or green that grows in and around milpa plots. Includes quintonil, papalo, verdolaga, and others. |
| Chapulin | Nahuatl (chapolini) | Grasshopper. A common food source in central Mexico, toasted on a comal with lime and salt. |
| Cuitlacoche | Nahuatl (cuitlacochin) | Corn smut (Ustilago maydis). A fungal growth on maize ears, harvested as a culinary delicacy. |
| Comal | Nahuatl (comalli) | Clay or metal griddle used for toasting, cooking tortillas, and roasting foods. |
| Criollo | Spanish | Native or locally adapted variety, as in maiz criollo (native maize). |
| Milpero | Spanish | A person who cultivates a milpa. Also refers to the seasonal cycle of milpa cultivation. |
| Tlayuda | Nahuatl | A large, thin, crisp tortilla, often used as a base for toppings in Oaxacan cuisine. |
Digital scholarship
Research ethics and collaboration
Public accessibility should not be confused with unrestricted circulation of community knowledge or sensitive ethnographic materials. The following principles guide the sharing of digital scholarship.
Image permissions
All photographs shared on this site were taken with the informed consent of the individuals and communities depicted. Community members reviewed and approved the use of their images before publication. Where consent was not obtained or was withdrawn, images are not displayed.
Fieldwork documentation
Ethnographic materials, including field notes, interviews, and observations, are documented with attention to the privacy and dignity of community members. Identifying details are withheld or anonymized where appropriate. Materials are shared selectively, in consultation with community knowledge holders.
Sensitive geographic information
Specific locations of culturally significant sites, sacred places, and sensitive ecological resources are not shared publicly. Maps indicate general research regions rather than precise coordinates. This practice protects community interests and prevents the exploitation of local knowledge.
Conditions for sharing
Ethnographic materials are shared in collaboration with community knowledge holders and with attention to the context and purpose of each use. Materials are not licensed for unrestricted reuse. Researchers interested in accessing additional materials should contact the author to discuss appropriate terms of collaboration.