Social Memory and Territory in Disputes on Lands in an Indigenous Community. An Approach from a Politicized Oral Tradition

David Figueroa Serrano
davdatura@hotmail.com
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Abstract:

Conflict on land between nahuan and mestizo people in Michoacan has been a constant since the 19th century. In this context, nahuan regions have supported the continuity of certain perceptions about the environment and the difference from the oral tradition which is involved in interethnic and power dynamics. This text aims to go beyond the common vision of oral tradition as cosmogonic reminiscences; above all, it is intended to show some ways nahuan people, from the region of Pomaro, Michoacan, have produced social memories as a response to the different conflicts they have entangled themselves throughout history. That way, oral tradition attains another set of features given by politicization, resignifying reality and the relations to alterity, involving varied resources and social actors.

Keywords: social memory, territory, politicized oral tradition, indigenous people, conflict.