Abstract

BALSANELLI, Alice. The disposal of human and animal remains: A discussion concerning the Lacandon ontological notions. LiminaR [online]. 2022, vol.20, n.2, e910.  Epub Oct 31, 2022. ISSN 2007-8900.  https://doi.org/10.29043/liminar.v20i2.910.

The essay examines the notion of personhood among Northern Lacandon people in Chiapas, Mexico. The Lacandon believe that everything that exists is endowed with a soul (pixan); therefore, all creatures inhabiting the jungle, including animals, are regarded in essence as people (winik). Thus, in a system where everything is intrinsically “human”, the Lacandon resort to different physicalities to classify otherness and define themselves as an ethnic group. We illustrate the ontological conceptions of the Lacandon through the analysis of the burial treatment given to the different winik. We show that concepts such as “personhood”, “humanity,” and “animality” are relative and culturally variable.

Keywords : Lacandon Maya; personhood; soul; otherness; mortuary rites; human remains.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )