Double Personality: The Relationship between Human and Animal Tono in Chautengo, Guerrero, Mexico in 2005

Abstract

AbstractAfter reading the research of Mexican anthropologists concerning the possible retention of traditional indigenous African beliefs in contemporary Mexican communities of African descent, I interviewed women of the region who migrated to Atlanta, Georgia about their spiritual beliefs and practices. I was surprised by the similarities in their reports to those recorded by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, who worked in Mexico over 60 years ago. I traveled to the town of Chautengo in coastal Guerrero state in 2005 to talk with women about their beliefs, especially those that relate to the existence of a relationship between humans and animal‐tonos. The human–animal‐tono relationship exemplifies a belief in an intimate relationship between humans and totem animals. The well‐being of the human partner depends upon the well‐being of the animal. Keeping the human–animal relationship balanced is key in the conceptualization of illness and informs related healing practices. I present an interview with a woman from Chautengo with an interpretation that exemplifies the persistence of ideas related to human–animal relationships that are possibly informed by traditional indigenous African cosmologies, brought by enslaved Africans over 500 years ago, and have been archetypally preserved in isolated communities along the Pacific coast of Mexico.