What is now Mexico City was once covered in canals and artificial islands built upon the shallow lake beds of the Valley of Mexico. Known as chinampas, these amphibious territories developed by the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan allowed for the cultivation of several annual crops. This resilient pre-Hispanic landscape has survived for hundreds of years, and patches of it remain in use in southern modern-day Mexico City. Volkow and Astorga de Ita will discuss the history of chinampas and the relevance of this aquatic landscape, the ecological importance of the wetland, and everyday life in the chinampas and canals. They will also address the contested nature of this site and examine cases of resistance that have emerged in response to environmental degradation, ineffective public policies, rapid urban growth, changes in land use, mass tourism, and gentrification.
Lucía Pérez Volkow is a biologist who studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and received her master’s in environmental science at the State University of New York. She currently works at Colaboratory Kitchen, a transdisciplinary project based in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Chiapas that builds sustainable and just food systems.
Diego Astorga de Ita holds a PhD in human geography from Durham University. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing in the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research. He also works with the Colaboratory Kitchen collective in the borough of Xochimilco in Mexico City researching ways food, landscapes, memory, and sustainability intertwine.