Abstract

HERNANDEZ-MONTES, Arturo. Proposal to Identify Symbolism and Values in Consumers of Traditional Mexican Cheese: the Case of Chapingo Cheese. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2018, vol.15, n.3, pp.399-412. ISSN 1870-5472.

Methodologies were used to identify the structure of the values of a community and the existence of communality in the symbolism of a food; the Chapingo Cheese was the object of study. A survey was applied (n=187) to students of the agroindustrial community to identify the structure of their values; the data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling analysis and factorial analysis. In another online survey with students (n=137) and professors (n=24), the symbolism of the Chapingo Cheese was assessed. The representative values of the community corresponded to the category of benevolence and those belonging to the category of conformity and tradition were of less importance and of low frequency. The words related to the symbolism of identity of the Chapingo Cheese were 3.9 % and 2.3 % for professors and students, respectively. In addition, the categories for the different meanings of cheese for the professors were not different (p>0.05). The samples from the agroindustrial community showed a low presence of the values of tradition and a minuscule identity communality in the symbolism of Chapingo Cheese.

Keywords : communality; identity; Intangible Cultural Heritage.