La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)

This analysis invites us to scrutinise the Tseltal night from the perspective of its role as an agent of behaviours, thoughts, attitudes, and corporeal habits among these natives of the Mexican Highlands.As the home of sleep, night enables the dreamer to mix with supernatural beings, making accessib...

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Main Authors: Aurore Monod Becquelin, Marie Chosson
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative 2020-07-01
Series:Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/13500
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author Aurore Monod Becquelin
Marie Chosson
author_facet Aurore Monod Becquelin
Marie Chosson
author_sort Aurore Monod Becquelin
collection DOAJ
description This analysis invites us to scrutinise the Tseltal night from the perspective of its role as an agent of behaviours, thoughts, attitudes, and corporeal habits among these natives of the Mexican Highlands.As the home of sleep, night enables the dreamer to mix with supernatural beings, making accessible and visible a dynamic cosmos in which plants, animals, humans and nonhumans interact. However, certain traits that define this night extend beyond the nocturnal part of the nychthemeron in order to emerge on its diurnal side, what we call manifestations of nocturnity. The ontological displacement characteristic of nocturnity makes it possible to place a permanent fear in the unconscious that it will irrupt in people’s lives; this fertile subsoil is perceptible in everyday conversation, in repeated tales, in gestures, and in the avoidance behaviours that reveal it. Based on field data from two communities, Bachajón and Aguacatenango, broadened to other villages located in Los Altos, we show that while the dark component of the definition of the Tsteltal night is viewed as dangerous and likely to be fatal to humans, it is also seen as necessary. It is therefore indispensable to compromise oneself at the threshold of danger and, by dint of everyday efforts, repeated rituals and prayers, obtain the benefits necessary for life by communicating with beings born of that darkness.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2117-3869
language fra
publishDate 2020-07-01
publisher Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative
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series Ateliers d'Anthropologie
spelling doaj-art-00d3704ed6f442e780744f4f2c38217d2025-01-30T13:42:13ZfraLaboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie ComparativeAteliers d'Anthropologie2117-38692020-07-014810.4000/ateliers.13500La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)Aurore Monod BecquelinMarie ChossonThis analysis invites us to scrutinise the Tseltal night from the perspective of its role as an agent of behaviours, thoughts, attitudes, and corporeal habits among these natives of the Mexican Highlands.As the home of sleep, night enables the dreamer to mix with supernatural beings, making accessible and visible a dynamic cosmos in which plants, animals, humans and nonhumans interact. However, certain traits that define this night extend beyond the nocturnal part of the nychthemeron in order to emerge on its diurnal side, what we call manifestations of nocturnity. The ontological displacement characteristic of nocturnity makes it possible to place a permanent fear in the unconscious that it will irrupt in people’s lives; this fertile subsoil is perceptible in everyday conversation, in repeated tales, in gestures, and in the avoidance behaviours that reveal it. Based on field data from two communities, Bachajón and Aguacatenango, broadened to other villages located in Los Altos, we show that while the dark component of the definition of the Tsteltal night is viewed as dangerous and likely to be fatal to humans, it is also seen as necessary. It is therefore indispensable to compromise oneself at the threshold of danger and, by dint of everyday efforts, repeated rituals and prayers, obtain the benefits necessary for life by communicating with beings born of that darkness.https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/13500MexicoChiapasnightdisplacementnocturnityoral traditions
spellingShingle Aurore Monod Becquelin
Marie Chosson
La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
Ateliers d'Anthropologie
Mexico
Chiapas
night
displacement
nocturnity
oral traditions
title La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
title_full La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
title_fullStr La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
title_full_unstemmed La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
title_short La nocturnité au quotidien chez les Indiens tseltal du Chiapas (Mexique)
title_sort la nocturnite au quotidien chez les indiens tseltal du chiapas mexique
topic Mexico
Chiapas
night
displacement
nocturnity
oral traditions
url https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/13500
work_keys_str_mv AT auroremonodbecquelin lanocturniteauquotidienchezlesindienstseltalduchiapasmexique
AT mariechosson lanocturniteauquotidienchezlesindienstseltalduchiapasmexique