Concretos deseos de (in)movilidad. Migraciones indígenas y arquitectura de remesas entre lo comunal y lo transnacional

Abstract

The indigenous communities of Guatemala have historically been presented as societies of rural origin, whose form of political and social organization is based on the maintenance of community or communal ties. However, for several decades, these societies have been part of massive migratory processes that have made them active participants in one of the structural dimensions of the globalization process: transnationalism. This article aims to analyze the transformation of an indigenous community, Todos Santos (Guatemala), from the perspective of the new ways of reinventing the communal space through the local architecture that is being intervened by migrants with access to remittances. The recreation of the imaginary of the global through houses and constructions that represent the odyssey of migration is analyzed as part of the strategies that indigenous communities generate to negotiate with the global phenomena of which they are active parts. This analysis invites us to reflect on the communal and transnational links of the indigenous groups, which are reflected in the specific forms taken by the spaces they inhabit.

Keywords

• communalism
• guatemala
• indigenous population
• local community
• popular architecture
• remittances
• return mig ration
• transnationalism