The sihkrutara, in the narrative and in the memory of the Miskitu people

Abstract

The sihkrutara evokes the way the Miskitu people on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua revitalize and redefine their past in the framework of their ancient culture, as they assume it, promote it, share it and transmit it from one generation to another. With this look, sihkrutara is a story that is analyzed based on the perspective proposed by Maurice Halbwachs, whose main argument is that there is no memory other than social. The position of Halbwachs is that sihkrutara represents the story that elders and the entire community do not want to forget and thus, keep it alive in their memories; it is one of those stories in which no authenticity is discussed, it is known because the Miskitu people themselves builds it, reconstructs it, remembers it and shares it so that it can be understood and not be forgotten. Beginning with a methodology of textual and narrative analysis, this paper presents the signals carried out by the sihkrutara story, in the way that the Miskitu people remembers their dead and preserve a memory linked to social, cultural and collective processes from the interweaving of the real story.