Raramuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico.

Spheres of Relations, Lines of Interaction: Subtle Ecologies of the Rarámuri Landscape in Northern Mexico

“…This is especially true for children who are considered the most vulnerable members of society. The following are general dangers for anyone, but affect children more because they have less developed 'soul-strength' and are less able to defend themselves (see Merrill 1988 for details of Rara ´muri souls). From a Rara ´muri perspective there are many spirit beings that share local landscapes.…”

Response to Merrill and Heras Quezada's comments

“…Whether or not I am right in sensing a gradual shift in Merrill and Heras Quezada's position toward accepting my interpretive analysis, I welcome this new and unusual opportunity to debate publicly with them and hope they will continue to recognize and engage more fully with the work of other fieldworkers in the Sierra Tarahumara. I note, for example, that my own ethnographic analysis of Tarahumara personhood and ethnicity has been independently corroborated by an ethnographer working on the western side of the Sierra Tarahumara (see Levi 1991Levi , 1992Levi , 1993, yet none of his work was referenced by my interlocutors in this exchange. Abu-Lughod, Lila 1990 The Romance of Resistance: Tracing Transformations of Power through Bedouin Women.…”

Plant communication among the Ralámuli people: Dreams, songs, iconography, and the interconnected fabric

“…Women have four big souls (because they are life‐givers), and men have three. There are different opinions as to whether one is the main soul and the rest take care of specific parts of the body or whether all are equally important and located in the chest and/or brain area, while the smaller are spread in the rest of the body (María Luisa, January 2014; Merrill, 1988: 88). If the souls remain outside the body and are unable to come back, the person will fall ill and eventually die.…”

“…Furthermore, thinking is also connected to the soul; in fact, as Merrill points out, the souls actually do the thinking (1988, 95). As mentioned above, nátali (thinking/remembering ancestral ways) is fundamental for the Ralámuli because, as Pintado explains, nátali is consciousness and what allows the individual to interact in all the different levels or parallel realities in the world, that is, with its environment, with its community, with the cosmos (2012, 26).…”

“…Although there is not necessarily a relationship between being an authority and a healer, I do believe that the Ralámuli in both settlements are aware of her "being special" and recognize her wisdom and commitment to her people. 23 See Bonfiglioli (2005); Deimel (1997); Lumholtz (1894Lumholtz ( , 1902; Merrill (1988). 24 It is worth mentioning that when I was inquiring about jíkuli, it took a long time before María Luisa and her family actually agreed to share their experiences and knowledge with me.…”