"I Owe You Nothing". Witchcraft and ritual therapies in contemporary otomì society

Abstract

This paper proposes a reflection on the logics and rhetorics surrounding and supporting the therapeutic rituals performed by the Otomì of the eastern Sierra Madre (Mexico). In particular, we want to reason about the role played by witchcraft practices in relation to ritual therapy, not only as its logical prius, but as an integral part of it. In this context, it is possible to distinguish between forms of violence understood as prevarication and, as such, condemned, and forms of "reactive" or "defensive" violence that are widely tolerated. Such considerations open the field to a reflection on local forms of understanding power relations and domination, which highlights the productive aspect of social and interpersonal conflict (production of new symbols of power, social relations, forms of subjectivity). The proposal is thus to emphasize the social dimension of ritual therapeutic practice, understood as a site of negotiation and production of meanings, that is, as a space of action and restructuring of subjectivity.