Communality as a tool: A spiral metaphor II

Abstract

“Communality” is both world and narrative. As a world, it is simply lived: it is everyday experience in the Sierra Juárez and other regions of Oaxaca, shared joy and suffering, and it needs no naming or explaining. As narrative, it is reflection from that world and can be, among other things, a bridge between the communal and economic society—an instrument that fosters encounter, allowing us to recognize what is our own but also what is other, and the possibility of mutual recognition. That, at least, is how I interpret the work of the late Floriberto Díaz and of Jaime Martínez Luna, who separately created the perspective of “communality.” In their world, communality is a word; in their narrative, a term (Esteva, 2015). Here I propose a form for this narrative: a spiral.