Palimpsest Territory

Places of Conflict and Memory in Chenalhó, Mexico

Abstract

This article examines how territory has been constructed in the municipality of San Pedro Chenalhó, inhabited by Tsotsil Indigenous peoples in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It analyzes historical processes of territorialization since the colonial period, shaped by relations of domination—both colonial and state-driven— and by power realignments emerging from religious and political cleavages, as well as from the war imposed by the federal government against Indigenous peoples in resistance. Based on bibliographic and ethnographic research conducted at the headquarters of the Civil Organization Las Abejas de Acteal, the study explores how the memory of war is inscribed in space and, in turn, how space shapes the subjects.