The Wixarika Nation: A Vision Toward the Future

With the right that freedom of expression gives me and the communal statute as a member has given me, I give myself the opportunity to write a personal opinion about the future of the Indigenous Community of San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán and its Annex of Tuxpán, the community that has given me a space in which to live, where to develop myself and that in gratitude I would like to express my sentiments for the space and for Our Mother Earth, Ta Tei Yurienaka.

In order to be able to make an opinion about the community I first have to say that I do not know the full origin of this community, but I have been researching about it, which has made me less ignorant about the matter. The research in this case is not quantitative, as is marked by Western science. This native community as with any other of our pluricultural Mexico, reveals its history in its customs, dress, beliefs, world vision, theology, praxis and even in its culinary habits. But all of this has deteriorated with time. Western culture has deprecated ancestral knowledge, and in some cases only relics of what this ethnic group has been, in this case we can speak about nutrition. The consumption habits of the community have changed and inclined themselves toward the diet imposed by capitalism, making people dependent, and benefitting the food industry controlled by a few companies. These are moments of change; we must plan for the future we want, especially the youth. They are the future of the community.

And why is a student from a prestigious university writing an essay about his vision, when he can be reviewing notes, hanging with friends, resting or even being lazy? I do this because I worry about the current situation of the community, which in my view has not improved in my memory and because it is one of the missions I have proposed to myself: development, health, quality of life, education, housing and transcendence.