The Indigenous Wixárika community, from Western México, commonly known as the “Huichol,” continues to practice ancestral traditions despite the numerous families who have left their motherland to re-establish communities in urban areas in the state of Nayarit, México. As a direct result of these moves, Wixárika families have adopted mestizo ways of living, in regards to education and modes of production. This thesis explores how they implement forms of resistance in urban communities, allowing them to continue practicing Wixárika rituals and ceremonies. Drawing from my ethnographic fieldwork, I illustrate how Wixárika women transform their urban space to cultural knowledge. I include a discussion on how women use physical labor to transmit cultural identity in urban areas in practices that include preparation of corn-based meals and art production such as beading or weaving. In addition, the use of poetics in traditional Wixárika names provides the metaphors to link children and youth to cultural identity. This thesis serves as a case study to illustrate how Indigenous women empower children by providing the skills to continue the practice community-based knowledge.

This doctoral dissertation provides data from ethnographic fieldwork among Wix�rika in the city of Tepic, Mexico and neighboring towns to demonstrate how Tat�i Niwetsika (“Our Mother Corn”) prescribes the health of Wix�rika families. Maize ceremonies are a crucial aspect of maintaining well-being. Families cleanse, cultivate, and harvest the land through the cycle of Our Mother Corn in their efforts of maintaining good health. Families often discuss health and well-being in relation to cultivation practices. During the cultivation of Our Mother Corn, the labor of men and women contributes to the overall reproduction of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). In each ceremony, the family learns from Corn their responsibilities during cultivation. Our Mother Corn provides individuals with the vitality to maintain the physical and metaphysical balance of the holistic body. By examining the ontological relationship between Wix�rika families and Our Mother Corn, this research shows how healing within Wix�rika families encompasses more than just the body of a human person. Through active participatory observations, audio and video documentation, interviews, and surveys, I demonstrate how Wix�rika ways of healing comprise a holistic approach to cure physical and metaphysical bodies in which Our Mother Corn is a central figure in the well-being of the community. Thus, the ontological relationship between Wix�rika families with Our Mother Corn nurtures inter-species connections to homelands and all ancestors in Wix�rika ways of knowing.