Yetu’ – Nanik – Satajtoj Retrospective and Anticipatory Memory and Storytelling among Young People in the Guatemalan Diaspora in Southern Mexico

Gembus, Malte. 2022. Yetu’ – Nanik – Satajtoj Retrospective and Anticipatory Memory and Storytelling among Young People in the Guatemalan Diaspora in Southern Mexico. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

[img]
Preview
Text (Yetu’ – Nanik – Satajtoj Retrospective and Anticipatory Memory and Storytelling among Young People in the Guatemalan Diaspora in Southern Mexico)
ANT_thesis_GembusM_2022.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (8MB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

My thesis is concerned with young people in the Guatemalan diaspora in Southern Mexico and the ways in which they actively participate in the social making of their hometown in past, present, and future. My young interlocutors find themselves in an interesting position between two layers and temporalities of migration; their parents and grandparents who came to Chiapas as refugees in the 1980’s as well as older siblings and peers who frequently migrate to the US. The young people are key actors in the process of negotiating narratives from the past as well as notions of futurity for themselves and their community. During my fieldwork I engaged with young people and the wider community of La Gloria as a teacher, educator, and youth / community worker. A youth group resulted from the process and the topics of space, memory and storytelling are explored through different creative projects that the group and I worked on (oral history, photography, theatre).

This thesis contributes to the study of memory specifically by showing how postmemory (as defined by Hirsch 2008) interlinks with futurity. I hope to show that young people are active in the making of space and memory in La Gloria, two aspects which profoundly impact their aspirations for the future.

Item Type:

Thesis (Doctoral)

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00031760

Keywords:

memory, youth, migration, Guatemala, Mexico

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Anthropology

Date:

30 April 2022

Item ID:

31760

Date Deposited:

05 May 2022 15:55

Last Modified:

07 Sep 2022 17:19

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31760

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)