Hongos psilocibios como patrimonio biocultural y su potencial para el desarrollo local en la Sierra Mazateca de Oaxaca

Psilocybin mushrooms have been central to traditional indigenous medicine in Mexico for centuries, yet their illegal status prevents conservation, research, and use of this biocultural resource. Drawing on bioculturality and local development frameworks, this article uses documentary and ethnographic research in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca. The Mazateca community recognizes the mushrooms' endogenous potential and supports their tourist use, but lacks cooperative capacities needed for regional conservation and development strategies. The authors suggest that promoting visionary plants through biocultural conservation and responsible tourism could help alleviate poverty in indigenous regions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Despite the fundamental role played by psilocybin mushrooms in traditional indigenous medicine in Mexico since time immemorial, their institutional neglect and their illegal status make it impossible to deploy conservation, research and exploitation schemes for this endogenous biocultural resource. Starting from the conceptual paradigm of bioculturality and from the socio-territorial approach of local development, this article presents a discussion on the potential of psilocybin mushrooms to become a biocultural heritage in Mexico and to favor local development in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca. The article is methodologically based on a documentary and ethnographic research to highlight the biocultural value and therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms in order to propose their institutional and scientific recognition at the national level. The results indicate that the Mazateca community recognizes the endogenous potential of psilocybin mushrooms and favors their tourist use. However, the absence of community capacities for cohesive cooperation inhibits the articulation of regional conservation and development strategies. The final reflection proposes that the dynamization of visionary plants through biocultural conservation schemes and responsible tourism use can contribute to poverty alleviation in indigenous regions.