Intercultural ties of mestizo and rarámuri women in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico

Abstract

For centuries, structures of oppression of various kinds have been combined in the territory of the Sierra Tarahumara. Faced with the geographical and biocultural wealth, injustices and violence haunt the Tarahumara territory and the bodies of the women of the different cultures that have inhabit it for long-standing. There are multiple factors that, historically, have intertwined, resulting in a worrying violation of the collective rights of the original peoples and of the women who inhabit the territory. In the current stage of capitalist accumulation, indigenous communities are plagued by insecurity and drug-trafficking violence, as well as by the stalking of tourism, mining, and extractivist large companies. Despite this, Rarámuri and mestizo women manage to organize themselves, weave and interweave other ways of resistance against the gloomy fate that seems to impose itself inexorably. In this context, the Ane'ma Network, Intercultural Fabric, emerges as a propitious space to feel, think, say and make the territories-land and bodies-territories. In this article, we are interested in problematize the context of the emergence of the Network, based on theoretical readings in dialogue with field notes, and investigate the forms of organization and participation that these women have begun to weave collectively and interculturally.