Abstract

PANIAGUA MIJANGOS, Jorge. Change and Continuity of the Social Space in San Cristóbal de Las Casas: From the Neighborhood as a Territory to the Imagined Space. Entrediversidades rev. cienc. soc. humanid. [online]. 2022, vol.9, n.1, pp.6-45.  Epub Mar 15, 2023. ISSN 2007-7610.  https://doi.org/10.31644/ed.v9.n1.2022.a01.

It is analyzed the cultural and social-spatial change in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico, which would lead to displace the neighborhood territory for an imagined space or ritual network as a benchmark of identity. The methodology, that supports the historic travel of the neighborhood, it is supported in key concepts of the geography as a geographic space, territory, deterritorialization, and as an author’s purpose to understand the current nature of the Neighborhood, the notion of imagined space. The spatial perspective recovers some archaeological, historic, and linguistic sources, as well as a cartography of unprecedented satellite maps and, mainly, the ethnographic analysis as an assembled and explanatory element. It is shown how the invasion of the geographic space (a vast green area in the past) and the deterritorialization where the Neighborhood was taken to, had its origin in phenomenon such as the poorly planned tourism and the massive migration from the country to the city. But maybe, the main finding consists of evidencing the validity of the neighborhood space, not in terms from the past as a territory, but as a sense of belonging shared through a ritual network.

Keywords : neighborhood; social-spatial change; territory; deterritorialization; ritual space.