Le chant de l’Usumacinta: paysage et mémoire

Abstract

The process of globalization homogenizes the inequality and violence of the capitalist market on a global level while setting in motion a localizing process that invites to explore its critical potential. In what follows, our intention is to make an account of the micro-local transformations linked to the Usumacinta River, border between Mexico and Guatemala and one of the most important rivers of the planet. The objective of the following lines is the recovery of the mythical religious local imaginary of the inhabitants settled along the Usumacinta and the preservation of their memory through poetry, which, in an ethno-ethical geographical approach, subverts the overwhelming havocs of development, linked to the chaotic and excessive exploitation of nature and life.