The history of Doña Zeferina and her family

pp. 31-52

in: Judith Friedlander, Being Indian in Hueyapan, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

Abstract

Although kinship rules and residence patterns favor the paternal side of the family, Doña Zeferina's story is one in which mothers, not fathers, figure prominently. For three generations, her family relied on women who, for a variety of reasons, never lived very long with the fathers of their children. First, her grandmother, then her mother, and finally, Doña Zeferina herself supported their families essentially alone. Of the three women, only her grandmother followed tradition and settled down in her husband's house. But even she ended up having to raise her children without the help of a man. In the following two generations, the women stayed home with their mothers, in the house where they themselves had grown up.