Pueblos y gente de sal.

Identidad y cultura en la producción de sal en la Mixteca poblana

Abstract

The salt region located in the Mixteca region of Puebla is made up of six communities belonging to four municipalities: Chila de la Sal and Ocotlán in Chila de la Sal; Tlaxcuapan in Piaxtla; Xicotlán in the municipality of the same name; and Texcala and Zapotitlán Salinas in this same municipality. Although these communities have been producing the mineral for approximately two thousand years, according to archaeological data, they are not officially listed as a salt-producing region. Today, these producers, all of them communal farmers or ejidatarios, are conditioned to the intermediation of hoarders to place their product in regional markets, in addition to facing a series of problems related to market restrictions, lack of support and migration. Faced with this scenario, the salt producers have developed organizational strategies that range from environmental conservation to the creation of cooperatives.

This paper describes some of these organizational processes and the importance of the salt activity and landscape in the Mixteca region, which represents a cultural heritage to the extent that territory and human activity have combined over the centuries to form a culture and a particular identity that defines and provides the region and its inhabitants.