Abstract

CARDENAS GARCIA, Nicolás. A simple and Harmonious Work Life: Representations and Identity in the Sonoran Countryside (1926). Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2018, vol.39, n.155, pp.237-276. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v39i155.386.

The aim of this article is to analyze the representations posited by certain municipal public servants and teachers in Sonora in a series of texts that appeared in 1926. While we cannot claim that their discourses express the generalized opinions of all residents of towns and cities in that state, the consensus that emerges suggests that the writers did share some concrete representations of ideas, attitudes, opinions, ambitions and beliefs that were clearly institutionalized. In smaller localities, that symbolic world appears to have been deeply-rooted in the past and traditions, though it is possible at the same time to detect traces of Porfirian cultural-ideological hegemony. Following Ricoeur, we cannot forget that such representations were anchored in a struggle for cultural dominance at two levels: local and national. Seen in this light, it is necessary to re-think the relationship of the cultures of the principle social groups in Sonora with the secular patriotic project promoted by the Mexican Revolution.

Keywords : culture of Sonora; identity in Sonora; history of Sonora; collective memory.