Paper Short Abstract:

This presentation analyzes the experiences and imaginations of the “child guides” who offer “heritage visits” to travelers in Mexico. While the more or less official status of these children varies depending on the extent to which the visits are supervised by adults, and the various institutional arrangements already in place, the leeway they have in constructing the visits – in terms of form, content and meaning – is considerable. In the course of their visits, child guides develop narratives based on their experiences and imaginations of the various non-human beings (plants, stones, rivers, sculptures, images, animals, deities, etc.) that populate the sites. Based on a selection of ethnographic case studies, the aim of this presentation is to describe and understand the ways in which children’s epistemologies and heritage are co-constructed, and to explore the ways of seeing, interpreting, and ultimately inhabiting the world revealed by these children's “heritage visits”.

Paper Abstract:

Giving to see, tell, and inhabit the world differently. “Heritage Visits” and the Epistemologies of Child Guides in Mexico.

This presentation analyzes the experiences and imaginations of the “child guides” who offer “heritage visits” to travelers in Mexico. While the more or less official status of these children varies depending on the extent to which the visits are supervised by adults, and the various institutional arrangements already in place, the leeway they have in constructing the visits – in terms of form, content and meaning – is considerable. In the course of their visits, child guides develop narratives based on their experiences and imaginations of the various non-human beings (plants, stones, rivers, sculptures, images, animals, deities, etc.) that populate the sites. Based on a selection of ethnographic case studies, the aim of this presentation is to describe and understand the ways in which children’s epistemologies and heritage are co-constructed, and to explore the ways of seeing, interpreting, and ultimately inhabiting the world revealed by these children's “heritage visits”.