Ethnometeorology and the climate crisis. Weather forecasting in the Nahua community of San Isidro Buensuceso, Tlaxcala, Mexico

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the importance of a transdisciplinary dialogue between official science and local knowledge in the face of the current socio-climatic crisis. Ethnographic research in the community of San Isidro Buensuceso, Mexico, has revealed the centrality of the Nahua ethnometeorological complex, which is rooted in the pre-Hispanic cosmovision and is outlined as a key tool for reading and understanding the ongoing climate change. Two ways of predicting weather were considered here: short-term forecasting through observation of clouds, stars and animal behavior, and long-term prediction through the method of cabañuelas. A dialogue between these forms of local knowledge and official knowledge emerges as a way forward for a better understanding of climate change on a local scale and to facilitate the search for ways to mitigate and adapt to the current crisis.