Abstract

ORTELLI, Paola  and  GOMEZ LOPEZ, Marcos. Perspectives regarding good living in a Tsotsil municipality in the Chiapas Highlands. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.19, pp.142-170. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2015.19.48.

This article presents results from a piece of research framed within a project entitled «Questioning Development: Towards Practices of Good Living». Based on the case of the tsotsil municipality of San Andrés Larráinzar, it compares the discourse of youth and the elderly regarding lekil kuxlejal (good living/buen vivir). It highlights the perspective of tsotsil elders, who reaffirm the importance of the traditional ladder of responsibilities (cargo system) for continuity of the people’s lives, as well as the ethical-educational function the elders perform for the tsotsil youth in this municipality. Presenting preliminary results from a PhD piece of research in process, it sets forth explanatory hypotheses regarding the association between good living/buen vivir and the traditional ladder of responsibilities.

Keywords : good living/buen vivir; cargo system.