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Arellano’s work also paid homage to the state’s “manito culture,” Fonseca said. The term is a shorten version from the Spanish word “hermanito,” which means little brother in English. “It was a derogatory term aimed at people working in the field but was later adopted as a sign of solidarity,” she said.

In addition, he was known for his work drawing attention to the acequia — the communal irrigation canal introduced to New Mexico by Spanish explorers and later celebrated by those wishing to keep Hispanic and indigenous traditions alive in the state. Earlier this month, he published his last book, “Enduring Acequias: Wisdom of the Land, Knowledge of the Water,” but had to cancel a recent reading because of declining health.

Although he tried to bring attention to northern New Mexico culture, poet and University of New Mexico Chicano Studies professor Levi Romero said he did not give sole credit to Spain as others tried.

“He understood we had many lineages, from the Moors to the Arabs to the indigenous,” Romero said.

Romero said Arellano was a great influence on his work and always reminded him to include the voices of those often ignored.

Arellano also translated into English the 1513 work “Obra de Agricultura” by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, a Spanish-language book about agriculture, and he later wrote columns about food and water rights.

In his later years, Arellano was a popular figure on social media, often engaging with activists and writers around the country.

That gave him an excuse to see the world without ever moving from northern New Mexico, an area he loved, his wife, Elena Arellano, said.

“I’d try to tell him, ‘let’s go move to Phoenix or somewhere else when I retire,’ ” she said. “And he’d say no. He never would be taken away from here.”

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Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontrera