MAZAHUA INDIGENOUS CHILDREN AND THE FAMILY'S ORGANIZATION OF WORK

This article explores children’s participation in the social organization of work characteristic of Indigenous Mazahua communities in central Mexico. Attention is focused on the family organization of domestic and agricultural labor because it articulates so many of the other family activities engaged in throughout the year that integrate all family members. In this way of organizing everyday activities, children’s work is important and contributes to family and community life. Mazahua people take into account various factors as they carry out their different work activities, such as economic considerations, those relating to the meaning associated with their work, collective life, etc. With their participation in family work activities children are fully integrated in the family/community organization. They learn to be technically proficient and at the same time learn the social significance that is implied by their “helping out” and being “responsible;” in this way their work is useful and vital, and their learning long lasting. This article is written in Spanish