Project Mexico
Adolfo Solis
Born in Mexico
Indiana resident
Ball State University student
CASA de Portland
Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians, who eke out a bare existence in caves high in the Western Sierra Madre mountains, lost 400 people this winter to hunger and bitter cold. But the startling death toll hardly caused a tear to be shed among this hardy race.
Mexico's Tarahumara Indians
The Tarahumara have had plenty of visitors, most of them unwelcome. First came Spanish soldiers 500 years ago, then missionaries and miners and recently lumber companies. Here in the heart of Tarahumara lands in the northern state of Chihuahua. For the Tarahumara, winter deaths are a natural phenomenon often overshadowed by other, harsher threats.
“This race, which ought to be degenerate, has for 400 years resisted every force that has come to attack it: civilization, inbreeding, war, winter, animals, storms and the forest,” wrote French anthropologist Antonin Artaud in the 1930s in words that still hold true.
Tarahumara Family
The Tarahumara are a group of semi-nomadic people who live an isolated life in the mountains of northern Mexico. They call themselves Rarámuri — “those of light feet” — and most live without electricity, heaters, gas stoves, and with very little conversation. They till crops, tend goats. They live a quiet, traditional but tough life that has been largely un-impacted by modern life.
Malnutrition among Tarahumara children reaches its peak during the second year of life (12-23 months old), affecting boys more than girls. This information may be useful for planning and targeting nutrition intervention programs for this underprivileged indigenous group
Working
Experts agree high birth rates, closely knit community structures and a relatively balanced diet are behind the Tarahumaras’ resilience. With no clans or lineages, and descent and inheritance equal on both sides of the family, the Tarahumaras are a highly democratic group. Communities make consensus decisions on everything from land disputes to local sports rules.
The figures are surprising considering the winter deaths and the population drain on the Tarahumara as the young are lured away to the bright lights of cities. Some abandon the harsh way of life and integrate into Mexican communities. Others, broken by repeated crop failures, end up begging on the streets of Chihuahua City, the state capital.
Closed
“They deliberately chose to stay apart from the outside world and consequently suffer the price of high infant mortality and also low life expectancy,” anthropologist Breen Murray said. “But it helps them survive as a race.”
It is not only the Tarahumaras’ culture that survives. Population statistics indicate their numbers are relatively healthy too. Pedro Perez Mata, director of Chihuahua state’s Tarahumara Coordinating Commission, said no accurate census exists but he estimates that 60,000 to 65,000 Tarahumaras currently live in the Western Sierra Madre mountains. That compares with estimates 10 years ago of around 50,000.
Cave Home
ReLIEF
We are a group of people to help improve education to those who need it most. Together we will unite private sector, communities, and Mexican government
More Resources:
- www.indigenouspeople.net/tarasurv.htm
- www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?pid=S0036-36342000000100004&script=sci_abstract
- www.synergos.org/bridgingleadership/casestudies/fechac.pdf
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzCZ_4ztDwM&feature=related
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2WUalNdT30&feature=related
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1h-aBo5Y7o&feature=related
Adolfo Solis
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