Abstract

GUTIERREZ ALFONZO, Carlos. The Chiapas-Guatemala Border as an Object of Anthropological Study: The Eighties in the Twentieth Century. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2017, vol.12, n.24, pp.163-182. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2017.24.282.

This research note looks into the definitions of the notion of border prevailing in social science texts. These definitions were analyzed in relation to the Chiapas-Guatemala border, which it studies since the 1980s, when it emerged as an area of research in the field of anthropology. A number of texts from the initial years were selected in order to identify the first theoretical-methodological formulations with which this region was studied. This line of research enabled the confirmation that the researchers in fact took liberties at the moment of defining the theoretic terms of their research. Two regions of study were selected: Soconusco and the Lacandón rainforest, which border the Guatemalan counties of San Marcos and Petén. These counties were gradually becoming points of attraction for those who were interested in getting to know that border.

Keywords : border; nation-State; anthropology; Chiapas; Guatemala.