Axolotl soup: Hydrocoloniality, contested foodscapes, and plural values of nature

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which memories of food speak of environmental change in a lacustrine foodscape. We focus on the case of Xochimilco in southern Mexico City, given its environmental, historical, and cultural importance. By surveying Xochimilca foodscapes, in which axolotl was once central, we address questions of hydrocolonialism and bring these debates into conversation with the recent relational turn of sustainability studies – particularly those regarding plural values and ontologies of nature – and with theoretics emerging from lacustrine communities. This transdisciplinary exploration brings together food geographies with current debates on sustainability science, decolonial theory, the blue humanities, and environmental history through creative participative methods, drawing upon the insights of scholars, activists, producers, and cooks working and living in the Xochimilco canals. Una versión en español de este artículo está disponible en los materiales suplementarios.