The books of a community: the cultural relevance of ethnoliterature in Tonalá, Jalisco.

Abstract

This article aims to explore the topic of ethnoliterature in the municipality of Tonalá, Jalisco, in order to highlight the significance of these types of written productions for the community, as well as the narrative, historical, and cultural richness they encompass. The main authors underpinning this research are Chávez Montalván and Zambrano Loor, with their proposal of children’s literature as a creative process for approaching cultural identity; Friedemann, who recognizes the migration of oral tradition into ethnoliterature; and Vargas Ortiz de Zevallos, whose research focuses on cultural identity within primary education. The books produced in Tonalá and analyzed in this study reveal elements that contribute to the cultural identity of the municipality. These texts are written by various generations of Tonalá natives who have come to know their homeland through their ancestors and have lived in the municipality since childhood. The study concludes that the benefits of writing and publishing these kinds of ethnic texts include keeping the identity of the municipality alive through written preservation; creating a literary archive that narrates the history of the community, its lifestyle, past and present, and serving as a reference for future generations; providing didactic tools for teaching reading and writing; and establishing a precedent for the narrative richness of legends, tales, myths, events, and chronicles that influence the collective memory of the people of Tonalá.