The Language of Water: Interspecies Dialogue in a Context of Crisis

• Autor: Barcia Sánchez, Fernando
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2026
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/31880
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/Kawsaypacha/article/view/31880
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Water; Crisis; Owners; Tsotsil; Ontology; Silence; Ecological connectivity; Altos de Chiapas, Mexico; Agua; Dueños; Ontología; Silencio; Conectividad ecológica; Altos de Chiapas, México

In the Tsotsil communities of the Los Altos region of Chiapas (Mexico), water sources, springs, and wells set in motion a whole series of relationships between humans and non-humans (spirits, owners, etc.) intertwined in a common agency that makes it possible for crops to grow successfully and disease to stay away from communities. In short, it makes life good. For approximately five years, a series of crises (the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, drug trafficking in the region, and the proliferation of garbage dumps) have altered the conditions necessary to maintain these relationships, resulting in silence on the part of non-humans. In this text, we will analyze how water sources bring about dialogue between humans and non-humans, how this dialogue is affected by the crises shaking the region, and finally, how Tsotsil communities are tackling the task of rebuilding the dialogue between water, humans, and non-humans.