Decolonial ethnography and critical interculturality in Rarámuri communities in the state of Chihuahua.

Abstract

A decolonial ethnography was conducted in different Rarámuri communities of the Sierra Tarahumara. It involved the active collaboration of community leaders and Rarámuri elders. The Spanish- Rarámuri translation was carried out with the support of Rarámuri teachers, and the research is grounded in the researcher's situated reflexivity regarding the coloniality of knowledge. Through participant observation, open-ended interviews, and the documentation of rituals, dances, and community practices, educational, symbolic, and spiritual processes were recorded. The results reveal a strong Rarámuri epistemic justice, where knowledge is embodied in dance, care, memory, and reciprocity with nature and the divine. Education takes place in sacred territories and everyday practices, not in classrooms, configuring a relational ontology that challenges Western rationality.