Acheson, James M. (1990) The Management of Common Property in a Mexican Indian Pueblo

Conference: Presented at "Designing Sustainability on the Commons," the first annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, Duke University, Durham, NC, September 27-30, 1990.

Abstract: "This paper describes the communally owned and managed land in Cuanajo, a Purepeche speaking pueblo in Michoacan, Mexico. Cuanajo had no haciendas and thus has no ejidos. Most of the land in the Pueblos is privately owned. However, some grazing land int he highlands is owned by the pueblo and grazing rights are allocated to some members of the community annually. In addition, some woodlands, which are technically privately owned, are treated as if they are community property. This paper describes the recent history of this 'communal property' the ways in which community members gain access to these resources, and the controls the community maintains over them."