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Preface
Don Reducindo accompanied me on many walks to his fields or fields of other producers. He
is a stocky, broad-shouldered man who enjoys talking with a particular vivid style, fond of
using gestures as he speaks. I loved the beautiful mountain landscape, he did not. Hillsides are
hard to work and yields are low. He took plenty of time to tell me about village life,
agriculture, the past, and his personal feelings. Likewise, his wife Victoria was always ready
to help or be interrogated. In their house maize, beans or tule on the mud floor were invariably
put aside, and fowl, pigs, and children chased away to offer us their only chair or a bag of
maize to sit on in order to carry on hours and hours of conversation. Victoria prepared the
most tasty tortillas, tamales and home roasted coffee whenever we visited her. She was very
keen on recalling family networks, household compositions, and historical facts. Both had
strong opinions, they did not hesitate to relate their personal histories, were open for
discussion and prepared to explore different explanations. They had a good feeling for gossip
and the impulse to keep abreast of everything happening in the village, and they were
optimistic about life and the future of humanity, although pessimistic about the principles of
those in power. Victoria and Reducindo are natural storytellers and became very good friends.
In contrast to many scientists they took a more open and critical attitude towards exploring the
interweaving of personal perceptions of natural events, land struggles, agricultural practices,
political power, crop choice, family ties, prices, and so on. It was normal for them to talk
about the influence of the moon one minute, while the next recalling past conflicts about land.
Combining such apparently different factors is often necessary to understand why producers
do what they do. I hope that I do justice to their ideas and lives when I fit such talks in a single
analysis which tries to unravel the socio-economic causes of environmental deterioration in
mountain agriculture in Honduras.
Many other people of the village where we lived showed their hospitality and trust, and
shared their life histories with us in similar ways. It is not possible to name them all but by
thanking Reducindo and Victoria I hope to express my appreciation for all of them equally,
each in a specific way. One person, however, needs to be mentioned by name; Hector Julio
Dubón was not only a good friend but he also did an outstanding job as a self-trained research
assistant. He was one of the people in the village who made me understand that analytical
capacities have little to do with academic degrees.
I particularly wish to thank those who were there from the beginning, Esther Roquas and
my friends from the CLS: Roland Brouwer, Jos Mooij, Peter Mollinga, and Marina Endeveld.
Esther accompanied and guided me through the different places and stages and if I lost the
route her intellectual support always brought me back to the right track. She put more love,
care, and practical help into this project than I can ever return. Without the CLS team there
would never have been a research proposal. Furthermore, organizing the Agrarian Questions
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