Abstract

DAPUEZ, Andrés. Promesas rituales y compromisos de libre mercado: Regímenes de futuro en un pueblo de Yucatán. Cuicuilco [online]. 2011, vol.18, n.51, pp.181-202. ISSN 0185-1659.

In this paper I study expectancies, projections and performative effects of two sets of transfers. The first one relates to the cargo system prestations. The second, to the Direct Supportfor Agriculture Program's (Procampo) cash tranfers. Givers of both represent them as necessary fora prosperous future. In both cases, donors refer metaphorically to them, in English, Spanish and Yucatec Maya, as actions to "support" the agricultural production for a better future. The aim of these prestations is not only expressed discursively. A teleological structure underpins political, ritual and economic practices in three modalities: the Mayan Catholicism of the Yucatec village I analyse, the secular-catholic ideology of the Mexican State and the secular-protestant ideology of the International Organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank which support these cash transfers. The main objective of this paper is to abstract the regimes of futurity these prestations imply and to analyze these exchange practices.

Keywords : gift; future; development; rite; agriculture.