« Forger la patrie » dans la région des Hautes-Terres du Chiapas (1930-1970) : Caciquisme, indigénisme et hégémonie culturelle

Abstract

Mexico has built itself on a national ambition to complete a political independence acquired a century earlier by a logic of “inward” development to ensure the integration of the Mexican nation. Within it, the main obstacle to “forging the fatherland” was the “Indian problem”, which indigenous politicians tried to compensate. In reality, in the name of community modernization, this was a subtle form of the state domination that took place after the Revolution, establishing a solid pact between Indians and the nation. This article reviews the impact of State indigenism in the tsotsil municipality of Chenalhó located in the Highlands region of Chiapas. It was one of the five national laboratories that set up an Indian elite linked to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the second half of the 20th century. The Indian caciquism studied here has transformed interethnic relations and, more broadly, the political organization of the region as a whole.

Keywords

• Highlands
• Chiapas
• Chenalhó
• caciquism
• tsotsil