Violence, Climate Change, and Economic Insecurity: Understanding Rural Food Insecurity and Migration in Mexico Through the Lens of Interconnected Challenges

This study analyzes food security in a rural area of Mexico which has seen a significant outflux of migrants both to urban centers in Mexico as well as abroad, and where violence, climate change, and economic challenges have been contributing factors in propelling emigration. Empirically, the objectives of this proposed study are as follows: First, to understand how different factors in rural life which have independently been shown to be push factors for migration are related to each other, and to rural food insecurity. Building off of this, the study aims to understand how food insecurity is experienced in daily life through a confluence of factors related to income, environmental conditions, perceptions of insecurity, and normative ideas and aspirations. The study thus asks: In areas with high rates of rural to urban migration in Mexico, how do violence and climate change related events (droughts, floods) shape access to land, livelihoods, and social networks? How do these factors appear in local narratives related to food insecurity, on the one hand, and migration, on the other? This study is ethnographic in nature and focus on the village of Cerro Alto, located in the municipality of Teloloapan, Guerrero. The ethnographic methodology consists of the following elements: 1) Participant observation in different dimensions of village life, with an eye to understanding local food beliefs, aspirations, constraints, and strategies; 2) Semi-structured interviews with residents on migration trajectories of kin, with a special attention to how questions of economic difficulty, violence, and food insecurity inform decisions to migrate; 3) Life history interviews with select residents in order to understand how local foodways and strategies have changed over time, and how these intersect with other structural conditions; 4) Photovoice with local residents on the challenges of daily life in the village.