The World of Reciprocity: Forms of Social Capital among the Indigenous Totonacs of the Sierra Norte de Puebla

Diosey Ramon Lugo-Morin (), Ivan Gerardo Deance Bravo y Troncoso, Luis Roberto Canto Valdez, Jorge Luis Mendoza Valladares and Jose Santiago Francisco
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Diosey Ramon Lugo-Morin: Department of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Postgraduate Program in Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, Intercultural University of Puebla State, Huehuetla 73475, Puebla, Mexico
Ivan Gerardo Deance Bravo y Troncoso: Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Intercultural University of Puebla State, Huehuetla 73475, Puebla, Mexico
Luis Roberto Canto Valdez: Department of Natural Sciences, Intercultural University of Puebla State, Huehuetla 73475, Puebla, Mexico
Jorge Luis Mendoza Valladares: Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Intercultural University of Puebla State, Huehuetla 73475, Puebla, Mexico
Jose Santiago Francisco: Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Intercultural University of Puebla State, Huehuetla 73475, Puebla, Mexico

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: The aim was to explore social capital in the Totonac ethnic group with the idea of identifying its sources and proposing how social capital is perceived and understood from a different centre of knowledge than the Western one. Methodologically, the study was based on a qualitative approach using the following research techniques: semi-structured interview and ethnographic work from a participant observation perspective. The results allowed us to observe, at least in the Totonac culture, changes in the way of understanding and practicing some relationships, including reciprocity, which in the study were approached from two analytical axes, namely, from the interpersonal relationships of the Totonacs and from the relationships with nature. We can conclude that from the Totonac culture, the perception and operation of social capital responds to a different logic. We can confirm this from the experiences narrated by the Totonac group of the Sierra Norte de Puebla, who from their cosmovision possess a social dynamic where reciprocity unfolds in their different social practices and acquires meaning from their roots, nuanced through their own cultural expressions and manifestations. Finally, a research agenda is proposed to explore social capital in the rest of the native cultures.

Keywords: social capital; Totonac; Sierra Norte de Puebla; original peoples; indigenous (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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