Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance by Victoria Blanco
“Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance” provides a window into the world of the Rarámuri, an Indigenous group in present-day Chihuahua, Mexico.
Author Victoria Blanco spent years researching and living among a Rarámuri community, adapting ethnographic and sociologic practices to write about the 21st century Rarámuri experience. It is a rich story of the struggle against displacement and assimilation, and the fight to retain one’s cultural identity.
“Out of the Sierra” begins with a story of cosmology to set the framework for us to understand Rarámuri culture and values from their founding stories. Blanco introduces us to the Gutiérrez family, whom we follow as they find joy in the early days of marriage and parenthood.
However, that joy turns to fear as the family braves droughts, threats of starvation and drug cartels. Many of their community members leave the Sierra Madre Occidental and head to El Oasis, a compound of identical government subsidized houses on the outskirts of Chihuahua city. Here the story shifts to a clash in cultural values and the struggle against assimilation and oppression.
Part ethnography and part memoir, “Out of the Sierra” reads like compelling fiction. Blanco crafts an intimate portrait of the Gutiérrez family that depicts what other families like theirs face.
This book should appeal to readers of fiction and non-fiction, memoirs and stories of Indigenous peoples, as well as those interested in sociology and anthropology. Visit wcls.org to find “Out of the Sierra” and other similarly themed stories.
“Out of the Sierra” is the September selection for the Books and Bites book group. The group will meet at 1 p.m. Friday, September 19 at the Blaine Public Library for a time of community and lively conversation.
Jonathan Jakobitz is an avid reader and branch manager of Blaine Public Library.
(Originally published in The Northern Light, Wednesday, September 3, 2025.)