USES, LIMITS AND FLEXIBILITY OF INDIGENOUS MEMORY IN GUANAJUATO

Abstract

Building on anthropological discussions about memory, as well as my own ethnographic observations of indigenous communities in Guanajuato, Mexico, this essay follows in the footsteps of proposals that social memory cannot be defined only by pragmatic political necessity. Instead, I argue that the role of imagination, fed by local sentiments, symbolisms, and attitudes (moral styles and commitments), is crucial.