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

This article describes contemporary landscape management practices in a Rarámuri community in northern Mexico. Learning from Rarámuri concepts and teachings, I investigate Rarámuri landscapes from a relational rather than instrumental perspective. In particular I introduce the concept of subtle ecologies, explored in this article with the heuristic devices of spheres of relations (the effects of collective human action), and lines of interaction (trajectories of intersections between people and plants over lifetimes). I highlight the central ecological importance of children's traditional roles as caretakers of the livestock that make maize farming tenable in this arid environment, as well as widespread practices such as tending, transplanting and tolerating plants in ‘wild’ and semi-domestic spaces; live-harvesting from junipers, oaks and pines; burning and caretaking of the land; and protection/avoidance of certain plants for pragmatic/spiritual reasons. An ethnographic approach foregrounds the often overlooked subtle ecologies of everyday experience, and contributes to a more complete accounting of indigenous landscape and resource management.