History

Biographical interview about anthropologist, Jay C. Fikes, who has dedicated his career and scholarship to Indigenous history and culture of the Americas--with a particular focus on Wixarika culture. This is part I of the interview.

This paper reviews the various territorial configurations that the Wixarika deal with in their everyday life, the historical processes that have led them towards deterritorialization and the strategies with which they have responded by means of creating new communal territories that are articulated through ritual tradition. The cosmogonic and communal territory is at stake within these configurations, processes, and strategies. The paper dialogues with Paul Liffman’s work, the anthropologist who claims that the existence of Wixarika tributary state systems originated in the exchange of sacrificial offerings between ceremonial centers.

On September 22, 2021, six young Wixarika men between the ages of 16 and 32 were “disappeared” from a road that runs along the sinuous border between the western Mexican states of Jalisco and Zacatecas. Relatives and friends confirm that the young men had gone to carry out a traditional deer hunt. Within days, four of the six bodies were found bearing the marks of torture that are all too common in a country that acts as a hub for organized crime serving its northern neighbor’s notorious appetite for drugs.

The Sierra Madre Occidental in northwestern Mexico boasts vast forests that are home to Indigenous communities such as the Wixárika people (or Huichols). Across the largest forest reserves in Jalisco, just three communities are spread across an area of more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres), equivalent to one-fifth the size of El Salvador. But this natural wealth is not reflected in the residents’ living conditions. Now, several stakeholders are coming together to help change this narrative.

Fernando Benítez (1912-2000) was a journalist, anthropologist, writer, editor, historian, and a distinguished professor at the Faculty of Political Science, where one of the auditoriums bears his name. His work has been little studied in the 21st century. Benítez is considered the "father of cultural journalism" in Mexico.

This paper discusses the results obtained from the inventory of ethnographic and biological heritage associated with the Huichol Route by the Sacred Sites to Huiricuta, Mexico (Tatehuari Huajuyé), which served as reference to document and support its inclusion in the World Heritage List of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Organization of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, for its acronym in English). This framework was considered to contextualize its intrinsic attributes of universal value and the environmental degradation challenges it currently faces, so as to ensure its reversion and effective protection. The itinerary consists of a number of intertwined paths traveled by Huichol pilgrims, or wixaritari, from their respective community and family temples (located in the Sierra Madre Occidental, at the confluence of the States of Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango and Zacatecas), to the vicinity of Sierra de Catorce, in the semi-arid region of the potosino highlands. It runs through a heterogeneous relief with alternating mountain ranges, valleys, ravines and plateaus that alternate from the Pacific Ocean coast to the highlands. From an anthropological perspective, this route is the most important and representative remnant of the broad network of exchange routes that connected and enriched culturally the ancient peoples of America during thousands of years; in addition, it stands out for its high hierarchy in the huichol ritual cycle, its frequency of use, and its educational and socio-cultural role. In the ecological context, the environment along the Route includes a sequence of vegetation types and habitats of special relevance due to their contribution to biodiversity, which are home to extremely valuable flora and fauna, as rated in technical and legal protection documents, both national and international. Field information was obtained through more than 20 ad-hoc expeditions and field trips organized over the past two decades with the permission, support and participation of the Huichol traditional authorities of Santa Catarina Cuexcomatitlan (Tuapurie) community , amongothers. This information was classified according to subject (anthropological, cultural, geographical, biological and legal), and was tailored to produce original documentary and multidisciplinary support entered into a geographical information system. The analysis of this information leads to the proposed nomination in the category of Associative Cultural Landscape, which highlights the exceptional dynamism of the relationships between culture and nature. The selection and delimitation of its integrative units considered, on the one hand, cultural attributes, based primarily on the anthropological significance of the landscapes, the location of the sacred sites and their hierarchy within the ritual cycle; and, on the other, the biological features in terms of the presence, distribution and the degree of preservation of habitats and species of interest for conservation. This was supplemented with information related to uses of the territory, threats, ethnobotanical uses, imagery, etc. The consideration of part or all of the attributes included enabled to justify each of the criteria of exceptional universal value selected, to support the proposal in accordance with the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

Wixaritari communities of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán (Wuaut + a), have detained first and second level government officials from Jalisco State in the town of Mesa del Tirador, in protest of the lack of answers to their demands—in particular, the issue of land restitution in Huajimic, in the neighboring state of Nayarit. The state government officially denies that the officials are being ‘forcibly’ detained. Sources from the state executive and from the community, confirmed to MILENIO JALISCO that there are several secretaries who are being held after attending a meeting the community called with them to discuss and resolve various problems relating to education, health, road infrastructure and poverty. Officials have been warned by the communal leaders that as a means of pressuring the officials to resolve these issues—but above all, due to the federal government’s neglect of the issue of land restitution—they will remain in Mesa del Tirador.