This article discusses the potential of coupling participatory action research (PAR) with agroecological principles to address food insecurity in indigenous communities. It argues that combining these two approaches can lead to culturally and environmentally appropriate, context-oriented strategies to empower community members and strengthen community food sovereignty and food security. This article draws on a recent study of Mayan communities in the Yucatán State, Mexico, and demonstrates the strengths of an agroecologically focused PAR approach in addressing local challenges faced by rural communities in their struggle to become food sovereign and secure, but its weakness when it comes to influencing policy overarching structures threatening community food sovereignty.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.