Paper short abstract:

In their ceremonies, Indigenous dancers wear leg rattles made of cocoons of a giant moth that was once endemic to the region, but is now on the verge of extinction. Caused by environmental degradation due to unsustainable human activities, the shortage of cocoons calls for inventive strategies.

Paper long abstract:

Toxins are widely used by agribusinesses in northwestern Mexico to combat insect pests, but they also kill non-target species such as saturniids—and are responsible for the rising number of new cases of leukemia, particularly among children. There is no question that the region’s ecosystem is severely out of balance. But while moths develop circumventory strategies such as migrating to avoid detrimental living conditions, human beings seem less adaptive. Drug-trafficking related violence in the region further aggravates the already precarious living conditions of the Indigenous (Yoreme) and other marginalized peoples.

Yoreme cultural life is still embedded in an ecological worldview that clashes with the economic reality of an export-oriented agricultural industry that sustains their livelihood as agricultural day workers. In their ceremonies, dancers wear leg rattles made of cocoons of a giant moth that was once endemic to the region, but is now on the verge of extinction. The materiality of this unique “sound maker” is of prime importance to the culture bearers because it is entangled epistemologically, ontologically, and cosmologically with the animate and inanimate environment of their living space. However, the shortage of cocoons in recent years has forced ceremonial dancers to be inventive: plastic water hoses and aluminum cans are used as substitution for the cocoons. Although Indigenous peoples’ capacity to re-elaborate and reformulate their own cultural practices has proven to be a compelling strategy for ethno-cultural survival, some Yoreme doubt that the ceremonies can go on without the insect-made sound makers.