The Edge of Enchantment: Sovereignty and Ceremony in Huatulco, Mexico

Every spring along Oaxaca's Southern Sea, pilgrims visit El Pedimento, one of the many encantos known to the people of the region. Native speakers of Chontal, Zapotec, Mixtec, Chatino, and Huave arrive on foot, in taxis, and on trucks, to leave petitions and offerings at thie place of answered prayers. Almost every town in coastal Oaxaca has its encanto, a physical space where a fissure leads to an unknown, metaphysical world. In the past, conquests and disasters led to the eradication of a few encantos. Today, development and emigration threaten these enchanted places.

In rich, evocative text and brilliant photographs, The Edge of Enchantment addresses the history and culture of the Native people of Mexico's Huatulco region, those living in the area and others who have migrated north. This extraordinary book, the result of years of passionate research, intimately describes the land as the lifeline of these people and asks what transpires when their sovereignty is threatened.