Seris beings of the sea and the desert... from conversation to conservation in Hant comcaac, Sonora, Mexico

Abstract

The Comcaac people located in Sonora, on the Gulf of California Coast, have coexisted with beings from the desert and the sea for centuries, until a few decades ago, they lived as nomads in their territory. These relationships have been modified through transformations in the life of the Comcaac nation, now more sedentary and integrated to the Mexican government, fishing, sport hunting networks and informal economies. They also change as diverse actors have begun to interact in the territory and with the Comcaac people. Today, scientists, mainly from the United States and Mexico (although sometimes you might find a lost Colombian), visit the Comcaac territory to research its people and ecosystems, and this interaction is transforming the ways in which humans and non-humans are entangling their actions and feelings. From conVerSation, the main form of interaction between the beings that inhabit the territory, we move on to conSerVation, a new form of relating to each other in nature. Neither of the two is exempt from power relations, but they are ontologies in conflict that reconfigure the ways of being in the world.