Conclusion

Exploring the various territories where the jaguar roams, from Uruguay to Guatemala, and from Mexico to Brazil, this chapter provides a brief sample of the many figurations of that feline as an important mythical animal in literature. The Amerindian notions of tonalismo, nagualismo, and perspectivism implicitly and explicitly illuminate aspects of these literary works and their figurations of the jaguar, a privileged animal in the Americas, providing us with alternative understandings of human-nature relations and the very notion of “human nature.” As these insights teach us, the way we in the West perceive human nature may only be skin deep – beyond the surface of animal skin, we discover souls not unlike our own. Ultimately, I contend that, by integrating notions from Amerindian theories on the self and nature, these texts create new and alternative ideations about our humanity in relation to other beings. This framework has the power to shape attitudes toward the environment and contribute a unique Latin American perspective to a growing global dialogue on ecopoetics.