Abstract

CRUZ SALAZAR, Tania. The Ethnoyouth Category. An Analyis on Sociocultural Change Among Tsotsiles, Tseltales and Choles. LiminaR [online]. 2017, vol.15, n.1, pp.53-67. ISSN 2007-8900.  https://doi.org/10.2536/liminar.v15i1.494.

In this paper I study how indigenous youth reconfigure and create themselves in relation to a new generational understanding of their ethnicity, which is distant from traditional norms identified and represented by “the custom” as practiced in the community. My reflections are based on testimonies which show the ethnic conditions of a new generation of youths, with a different worldview from that of their grandparents and parents, having other values, emotions and life expectations. I used an ethnographic method in which I conducted interviews and informal conversations, made participant observation, and did bibliographic research during seven years. My research brought to light many parallels in youth experience, leading to my coining of the term “Ethnoyouth” to describe commonalities among Tsotsil, Tseltal and Chol groups with whom I worked.

Keywords : youth; indigenous people; cultural change; generational change.