Territories of Water and Sand. The configuration of the Huave territory between time and space in San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

The Huave town of San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca, is located on the sand bar in the Tehuantepec isthmus's lagoon area. Diverse categories were identified using a horizontal methodology approach and grounded theory. One of them is the territory, which, from its lagoon geography, gave rise to a tangible and intangible fabric between time and space through the relationships between water, sand, winds, and stars, creating a cosmo-existence and conviviality that persists today, manifesting itself in living through fishing, partying, and housing. These are particular situations of this culture that, through the natural entities, transform the territory and allow the naming of ancestral landscapes of the poetic sublime. This way of living between water and sand is the materialization of a culture's territorialization processes, particularly the huave/ikoots.