Obedecer o dejarse llevar. participación y colaboración infantil en la vida cotidiana de un pueblo ñähñu

Abstract

This article describes and analyses how children from a Ñähñu community (Otomis from Mezquital Valley, Hidalgo, Mexico) take part in various activities at home, during community celebrations and school. The focus is on their particular way of responding to and obeying orders and indications as to how behave that they receive from their parents, other adults and older children. Their way of obeying can be understood as collaborative behavior that is closely related to the sociocultural context in which children participate with others in everyday life as responsible members of their community. Rather than following orders or submitting to authority, the children’s obedience is better understood as “flowing” with the activity at hand, a kind of situated practice common to many Mexican indigenous communities.