Abstract

ROMAN, Raúl H. Contreras. The humble dreams: a concrete future in an indigenous region of Mexico. Etnográfica [online]. 2024, vol.28, n.1, pp.225-242.  Epub Apr 18, 2024. ISSN 0873-6561.  https://doi.org/10.4000/etnografica.15409.

This article explores “humble dreams” as a local model of an imagined future, emerging from diverse and historically situated conversations that build common sense and enable people to imagine other possible lives and engage with them in the present. Based on this idea, an experience of social change is explored in the Mezquital Valley, a Mexican indigenous population that, during the 20thcentury, was described by anthropology as the poorest and socioculturally most backward indigenous region of Mexico. The author focuses on a concrete expression of those “humble dreams”: the construction of the cement house, that was installed early on as the main aspiration for the workers who left the region to earn a living. The construction of the cement house allowed and allows temporary learnings related to the link between present and future, as well as forms of belonging to the communities that enable those who “andan lejos” to continue being part of their communities.

Keywords : humble dreams; migration; house; cement; social change; future.

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