Resumen

GOMEZ GALLEGOS, Ma. de los Ángeles. Percepciones de cuatro adultos y auto-percepciones de jóvenes originarios del Valle del Mezquital: Contrastes y paradojas. Cultura representaciones soc [online]. 2011, vol.6, n.11, pp.185-215. ISSN 2007-8110.

This article describes the sharp contrast in the self image that Hñähñü youths from the Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo express about themselves, when compared to the perceptions of four adults with whom they have had long-standing contact: three school principals and a local priest. The adults speak of the youths as suffering from serious problems of family disintegration and deserted communities. They point to negative personal attributes displayed in their interactions with others, and consider them to be weak, as evidenced by their inability to solve everyday problems because of their deficiencies. These adults perceive the youths as simply lacking the necessary personal characteristics to be able to make any significant achievements. The youths, for their part, present a very different self image that they have built from their life experience, a self image characterized by strongly held aspirations of personal betterment and academic success. They have identified ways in which they can change the adverse conditions which they have had to confront in their lives. They make reference to family values and identify themselves as members of their families and as belonging to communities with which they have established enduring and significant relations.

Palabras llave : hñahñü youths; perceptions; self image; families relationships; migration; family desintegration; cultural stigmatization.

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