Las comunidades en la visión de los antropólogos: disquisiciones y lineamientos de análisis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to characterize the anthropological view of communities, while proposing a set of guidelines for their analysis. For this, the fundamental aspects of the long anthropological trajectory in community studies are reviewed. At the same time, the own ethnographic experience in indigenous and rural communities in two distant regions, Argentine Norpatagonia and Western Mexico, is used. Ethnographic findings support the relevance of analyzing communities as a complex phenomenon, in terms of process and as a system of relationships. In this approach, community configurations are considered as a result of historical processes but also as projects of future. In conclusion, despite its heterogeneity, dynamism and complexity, the hallmark of the anthropological vision of communities lies essentially in its empirical commitment. Only from its peculiarity can anthropology decisively influence the great current debates about communities.