The Journal of Latin American and Cribbean Anthropology – Volumen 17, no.1 : Marzo 2012
This article aims to open an ethnographic window to look at the new cross-border realities experienced by thousands of indigenous people from Latin America. To examine the complexities and political potential of transnational and translocal identities, it will consider one case study: the Mam from Chiapas, a Maya people from Mexico’s South-eastern territory. The Mam people have undergone several migratory waves and border crossings in search of survival alternatives. This historical experience of continuous mobility across national, regional, and religious borders has influenced their conceptions of community not necessarily by moving beyond territory because, as this article will show, the references to place are always present in their narratives of identity. But we can say that they are holding on to notions of place within a complex yet tangible sense of ‘here’ and ‘there’.