ME' VINIK. UNA METÁFORA TZOTZIL SOBRE LA SALUBRIDAD DE LA VIDA EN LA MODERNIDAD DE LOS ALTOS DE CHIAPAS.

This paper explores the meaning of me' vinik, a common expression of grief among the Tzotzil in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The pain is associated to other diseases registered in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Traditional Medicine, such as the "latido" (beat). The analysis of me' vinik shows how food practices provide metaphors to describe the difficulties of the everyday life, and specially the problems related to modernity. These metaphors sustain a broad concept of poverty such as material deprivation and inadequate nutrition caused by emotional trauma. Underling the idea of me' vinik there is a reaction to the salubrity of life in a time considered as ach' kuxlejal (the new way of living). This affliction is reinforced as an expression of the rapid and profound changes in the indigenous communities of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]