History

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.

En 1982, un escritor francés, Jean-Paul Ribes, viajó a México para escribir un artículo para la revista Actuel1 sobre el chamanismo y los psicotrópicos, tomando a los wixaritari (huicholes) como ejemplo de uno de los últimos pueblos chamánicos vivos. Por entonces, mi padre, Juan Negrín Fetter, figuraba como uno de los principales estudiantes de la cultura y el arte wixárika, por lo cual le llegaban solicitudes por parte de académicos, funcionarios y psiconautas con la esperanza de que él les pudiera facilitar un vínculo con las comunidades wixaritari. Mi padre apenas llevaba unos diez años trabajando con artistas wixaritari en Jalisco y Nayarit, pero en ese lapso de tiempo había logrado crear amistades íntimas con varias familias, asesoró brevemente al Instituto Nacional Indigenista y había unido su interés por el arte con la defensoría territorial de los wixaritari ante la deforestación y otras amenazas contra la autonomía de este pueblo originario. 

Article written by Mexican anthropologist, Antonio Reyes, about the concepts surrounding sacred places from the perspective of the O'dam/Audam/Tepehuan people.

The community of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlan declared they will boycott this year's elections if the government doesn't return their ancestral lands to them. The Wixarika people of San Sebastian Teponahuaxtlan and Tuxpan, installed checkpoints around their communities to stop any candidate, politician or electoral authority to come into their territory until the Mexican government returns them the Huajimic ancestral lands that were seized by ranchers in 1952.

The Huichol were distinguished as xurute, according to a geographical map published in 1579, in the Atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (reproduced in various sources: Rojas, Neurath). The term vizurita is used by Father Tello, in his Crónica Miscelánea, written in 1652. The first reference to the huicholes as guisoles appears in a briefing to the bishop Ruiz Colmenares (between 1640 and 1650). Father Antonio Arias y Saavedra used the terms xamucas and huitzolmes in his chronicle (1673), the first ethnological work on the Indians of this area of the Sierra Madre, according to historian Gutiérrez Contreras.

Co-authored text for an anthology on the experiences of Indigenous university students in Mexico and Brazil. The text was coordinated by Diana Negrín da Silva and written with Lisbeth Kupuli Bonilla (Wixárika), Ana García (Ñuu savi), Antonio Hayuaneme García (Wixárika), Isaura García (Ñuu savi), Tukarima Carrillo (Wixárika), Tutupika Carrillo (Wixárika), and Maximino Muñoz (Wixárika). It was published by E-Files in Rio de Janeiro in the year 2017 and the anthology was edited by Assis da Costa Oliveira and Lucia Helena Rangel.

Download and read full chapter here.

The following article explores the interaction between the commercial uses of indigenous visual culture, philanthropy and profit in products that use features of Wixárika culture (also known as Huichol). I argue that the commercialization of Huichol goods is achieved through symbols that demarcate and commercialize otherness through visual languages that appeal to a global consumer public. In particular, I analyze how the boom in products inspired by Wixárika culture has intersected with the defense of Wirikuta, the sacred Wixárika pilgrimage route located in the state of San Luis Potosí, which has been the object of controversy due to several mining projects.

El presente documento hace pública la opinión de los miembros de la Mesa Técnica Ambiental del Frente en Defensa de Wirikuta Tamatsima Wahaa y de un grupo de cientificos e investigadores asesores con gran trayectoria nacional e internacional, respecto a la posibilidad de que el lugar sagrado de Wirikuta sea declarada una Reserva Biósfera,publicado por el gobierno federal mexicano a través de la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP),