Entre Yoris y Guarijíos II - English Version

This is the second of a three-part bilingual excerpt taken from the autumn 2014 issue of Journal of the Southwest, a special issue featuring a translation of the book, Entre Yoris y Guarijíos: Crónicas sobre El Quehacer Antropológico, written by Dr. María Teresa Valdivia Dounce. Dr. Valdivia is a researcher and professor in the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In the late 1970s, Valdivia traveled with a team of medical doctors, agronomists, and social workers, all in the employ of Mexico’s Instituto Nacional Indigenista, to improve the living conditions of the Guarijío Indigenous people of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Valdivia’s book is both an autobiographical account of her efforts to help the Guarijíos in their land struggle with non-Indigenous ranchers and farmers (“Yoris”), and a thoughtful reflection on fieldwork in anthropology. Reading the Spanish-language version is Dr. Jéssica Retis, a professor of journalism at the University of Arizona.