Abstract

MORRIS, Nathaniel. “Forging the Motherland?” Revolutionary State Policies and the Decline of Inter-Communal Ties Amongst the Coras of the Sierra del Nayar. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2018, vol.39, n.156, pp.13-48. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v39i156.316.

Between the 16th century and the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, strong ritual bonds existed among the Cora communities of the Sierra del Nayar that facilitated their working together politically and militarily in the name of shared goals, such as preserving their cultural and territorial autonomy. However, during the first half of the 20th century, the rise to power of local Carrancista warlords, the Mexican state’s promotion of divisive indigenist, agrarian and pro-colonization policies, and the growth of the regional mestizo population, spurred the emergence of factional conflicts inside individual Cora communities, as well as wider territorial conflicts among them. These developments led to widespread violence and the decline of inter-communal Cora ritual practices, which in turn shattered Cora conceptions of an ethnic Cora homeland that existed beyond the level of the local community.

Keywords : Territoriality; Ritual; Revolution; Indigenism; the Coras.