Take Care of Yourself or Leave Yourself? Body, Heritage and Migration. Changes and Permanence in Feminine Care Practices and Cultural Traditions in The Migratory Context in Michoacan, Mexico

Abstract

In this work we reflect on care practices and their relationship with female identity. We start from the assumption that, in principle, women take care of patrimonies - inheritances and goods passed down from generation to generation: language, home, family, traditions, children. Secondly, we propose that body care is a central element of feminine care practices, which leads to an understanding of the body as heritage. We maintain that the care of the body and heritage has as its main function to maintain social order in the community and that it is internalized as a fundamental element of the duty to be feminine. The work is based on a selection of narratives that were compiled over several seasons of ethnographic fieldwork, in projects related to family and migration, that touch on the issue of female care practices in localities in Michoacán, Mexico. We find that in the idea of ​​care, it is not seen for the own well-being of women or for their health, but rather the notion of care is aimed at caring others’, caring for others and caring from others.