Copyright

Kathleen Ann Myers

Published On

2024-03-05

Page Range

pp. 70–95

Language

  • English

Print Length

26 pages

2. Teacher of Tradition

Pepe Millán and Family (Zahara de la Sierra, Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema, Cádiz)

  • Kathleen Ann Myers (author)
Chapter of: A Country of Shepherds: Cultural Stories of a Changing Mediterranean Landscape(pp. 70–95)
In this chapter, we meet the ganadero Pepe Millán, who first took up shepherding in the 1960s out of economic necessity and is now a landowner and teacher. His story showcases how an integrated landscape, people, and animals can lead to a successful livelihood, even in a region not well suited to agriculture. The chapter explores the complexities of moving different livestock, as well as the difficulty in securing bank loans for a livestock farmer with no guaranteed income or equity. The author depicts the importance and impact of teaching in ensuring the knowledge of shepherds is passed down to younger generations and in raising awareness of the environmental and nutritional impact of land use, animals, and food sources. The chapter also includes insight into Pepe’s daughter, Rita’s, cheesemaking business, and the harshness of growing up a shepherd’s daughter.

Contributors

Kathleen Ann Myers

(author)
Professor of Spanish and History at Indiana University Bloomington

Kathleen Ann Myers is Professor of Spanish and History at Indiana University-Bloomington. She received her doctorate in Hispanic Studies from Brown University. She has published widely on a variety of topics, including books about women writers in colonial Mexico (Liverpool 1993, Indiana University Press 1999, Oxford 2003) and the Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas (Texas University Press 2007). Her recent studies include books on cultural geographies and coloniality in contemporary Mexico (University of Arizona Press 2015, University of Toronto 2024). This research has been generously funded by a variety of organizations, including Indiana University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Spanish Ministry for Education and Culture, the Centro de Estudios de Ciencias Sociales (Mexico), the American Philosophical Association, the Huntington Library, and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas of Spain (CSIC).