The body as territory and dress code in the women from Nueva Jerusalén, Turicato, Michoacán, México

Abstract

Nueva Jerusalén is a religious community located at the hotland region (Tierra Caliente) of Michoacán. In order to inhabit the Ermita territory one must adapt to a series of guidelines established by the religious leaders since its foundation in 1973. Women have an important role, since they care for private spaces and they are entrusted with the mission of displaying a favorable image in public spaces. Women who reside in Nueva Jerusalén energize spaces and communicate messages both in and out of the community through their body-territory. The purpose of this text is to describe the subjugation of the body-territory of the women from Nueva Jerusalén in their everyday life, from the reinforcement of a dress code to physical suffering. In order to achieve this purpose, it’s necessary to draw from a hypothetical-deductive methodology in a qualitative research, basically, it’s about describing the cultural spaces which women transit. The narrated descriptions emerge from experiences in field work with ethnographic techniques. The approaches to the community occurred in various moments: from April 3rd to 12th of 2017; from January to March of 2018; from March 25th to April 1st; and, from April 10th to 14th of 2018. In addition to ethnographic techniques, this text contains elements of Cultural Geography and Semiotics. In this text it is shown that, while subjugation of the female body exists, there is also agency capability from women manifesting through their wills and wishes.