Oscar Lewis was born in New York City in 1914, and grew up on a small farm in upstate New York. He received his PhD in anthropology from Columbia University in 1940, and taught at Brooklyn College and Washington University before helping to found the anthropology department at the University of Illinois, where he was a professor from 1948 until his death. From his first visit to Mexico in 1943, Mexican peasants and city dwellers were among his major interests. In addition to The Children of Sanchez, his other studies of Mexican life include Life in a Mexican Village, Five Families, Pedro Martinez, and A Death in the Sanchez Family. He is also the author of La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty鈥擲an Juan and New York, which won the National Book Award, and Living the Revolution: An Oral History of Contemporary Cuba, with his wife, Ruth Maslow Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon. Lewis also published widely in both academic journals and popular periodicals such as Harper鈥檚 Magazine. Some of his best-known articles were collected in Anthropological Essays (1970). The recipient of many distinguished grants and fellowships, including two Guggenheims, Lewis was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died in 1970.
The Children of S谩nchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family = The Children of S谩nchez = The Children of Sanches, Oscar Lewis
This is an intimate account of an actual family from the slums of Mexico City. The story they tell is in their own words. The Children of S谩nchez is the epic story of the S谩nchez family, told entirely by its members (Jesus, the 50-year-old patriarch, and his four adult children) as their lives unfold in the Mexico City slum they call home. Weaving together their extraordinary personal narratives. Once or twice in every generation a scientific work appears which has the immediacy and force of great literature. The Children of Sanchez is such a book.
It brings readers in touch with the lives of its subjects in such a way that the reader is drawn into their world as if he were reading a great novel.
An excellent work..some books affects us deeply..in the way we live nd the way we look at people,life nd poverty..i just loved this book..its the kinda books u feel to ur bones..moving,bitter but true..everyword crumbles ur safe world nd introduces u to a world of misery,pain,hunger,lust nd inconvineince inconvinience...its a story written by a group of people that have never been heard before..the voiceless mass..
Si alguien me preguntara cu谩l ha sido la lectura que m谩s me ha marcado durante este 2020, sin duda dir铆a 鈥楲os hijos de S谩nchez鈥�. 驴Y por qu茅? Bueno, b谩sicamente porque s茅 que es un libro que no podr茅 olvidar durante mucho tiempo.
En principio, quiero aclarar que no se trata de una novela; no hay trama, ni personajes, ni una historia a la cual seguir. Es un libro puramente de no ficci贸n.
Aqu铆 el autor nos introduce a trav茅s de los testimonios contados por los integrantes de una familia hacia la vida que cada uno de ellos ha tenido en particular. 驴Qu茅 tiene esto de interesante? Bueno, que se trata de una familia de clase baja, que viven sumidos en la extrema pobreza, durante los a帽os cincuenta en la ciudad de M茅xico.
El t铆tulo de la obra de 脫scar Lewis es dado por los cuatro hijos del se帽or Jes煤s S谩nchez, quien da inicio y t茅rmino al libro con su propio testimonio, pero cuyo mayor contenido recae en los cuatro antes mencionados: Manuel, Roberto, Consuelo y Marta, quienes tienen cada uno una vida m谩s desgarradora y brutal que el otro, que al leer piensas 鈥渆sto no podr铆a ir peor鈥�, pero 隆sorpresa!, definitivamente puede ir peor.
El libro, dividido en un pr贸logo, tres partes y un ep铆logo, muestra temas como la 鈥榗ultura de la pobreza鈥� (un concepto que el autor define al inicio del libro), el alcoholismo, las pandillas, la delincuencia, la ignorancia y la p茅rdida de la esperanza.
Cada hijo tiene un tema particular que tratar (o varios), pero la vida que m谩s me impact贸 fue la de Consuelo, una mujer que se encuentra en una 茅poca que no era la suya, viviendo en una sociedad muy machista como la que se describe en gran parte del libro. Aqu铆 quiero agregar una de sus reflexiones que m谩s me dejaron pensando cuando la le铆:
鈥淓n la calle no puede caminar una mujer sola sin que cualquier hombre macho se sienta con el 鈥榙erecho鈥� de ejercer su superioridad. Todos los hombres que conozco, mi padre, mis hermanos, mis novios y los compa帽eros de trabajo, se creen siempre en el papel de mandar y ser obedecidos. Nunca voy a congeniar con un hombre dominante e imperioso. No me gusta la autoridad aplastante, no me gusta sentirme inferior. Los hombres son f铆sicamente m谩s fuertes que las mujeres, pero moralmente no. Y detr谩s de toda su superioridad est谩 solo la fuerza. Esta es una raz贸n por la cual no creo en el hombre latino y nunca voy a lograr congeniar con 茅l. Yo he querido ser independiente, hacerme mi camino, encontrar el ambiente adecuado.鈥�
En fin, creo que ya me extend铆 demasiado, y para finalizar, quiero recomendar totalmente este libro, no sin antes decir que lo que se lee aqu铆 en alg煤n punto puede llegar a parecer ficci贸n, pero no dista mucho de la realidad que vivieron tantas personas en el pasado, aquellos que se vieron envueltos en un mundo despiadado y lleno de frustraciones y que algunos todav铆a viven en la actualidad.
P.D. Como dato adicional, este libro fue censurado a partir de su segunda edici贸n en M茅xico, all谩 por el a帽o de 1965 y estuvo prohibido por un periodo de tiempo mientras se llevaba a cabo un juicio, argumentando que su contenido denigraba al pa铆s y a su gente, denuncia hecha por un organismo del gobierno mexicano de ese momento.
El libro en espa帽ol, solo fu茅 editado 2 veces, una en octubre del 64, y la segunda en diciembre de ese a帽o, pero en febrero del 65, la sociedad Mexicana de Geograf铆a y estadistica demand贸 al libro por considerarlo denigrante, la procuradur铆a de la republica determin贸 que no habia delito qu茅 perseguir, sin embargo el fondo de cultura economica, no volvi贸 a editar el libro nunca mas, mi abuela lo ley贸 en los 60's y cuando le mencion茅 el libro me dijo que todavia se acordaba mucho de ese libro, que la habia afectado mucho.
El libro es muy interesante, porque nos permite conocer a la Familia Sanchez desde su perspectiva, Oscar Lewis, entrevisto a esta familia del centro de la ciudad de M茅xico durante muchos a帽os, desde su infancia hasta ya muchos a帽os despues, la familia se compone del Padre Jesus Sanchez, y sus hijos Manuel, Roberto, Consuelo y Marta.
Nos hablan de su vida cotidiana, de sus problemas, de sus relaciones principalmente, pero para m铆 lo importante es el contexto, lo que pasa a su alrededor, su visi贸n de laa vida en general, lo que llama Oscar Lewis en la introducci贸n "La Cultura de los Pobres", voy a citar algunos parrafos de la introducci贸n:
"La Pobreza en las naciones modernas, no solo es un estado de privaci贸n economica, en el sentido de que tiene una estructura, una disposici贸n razonada y mecanismos de defensa sin los cuales, los pobres, dificilmente podrian seguir adelante.
En Resum茅n, es un sistema de vida, notablemente estable y persistente, que ha pasado de generacion en generaci贸n a lo largo de lineas familiares. La cultura de la pobreza tienes sus modalidades propias y consecuencias distintivas de orden social y psicologico para sus miembros. Es un factor dinamico que afecta la participaci贸n en la cultura nacional m谩s amplia y se convierte en una sub-cultura por si misma.
En M茅xico, la cultura de la pobreza incluye por lo menos la tercera parte, ubicada en la parte mas baja de la escala, de la poblaci贸n rural y urbana. Esta poblaci贸n se caracteriza por una tasa de mortalidad relativamente m谩s alta, una expectativa de vida menor, una proporci贸n mayor de individuos en los grupos de edad mas jovenes y, debido al trabajo infantil y femenil, por una proporci贸n mas alta en la fuerza trabajadora. Algunos de esos indices son mas altos en las colonias pobres de la ciudad de M茅xico que en la parte rural.
En la ciudad de M茅xico, por ejemplo, la mayor parte de los pobres tienen un bajo nivel de educaci贸n, y hacen muy poco uso de los bancos, los hospitales, los grandes almacenes, los museos, las galer铆as artisticas y los aeropuertos de la ciudad."
A mi en lo personal me impact贸 la participaci贸n de la policia, que solo generaba desconfianza y problemas a las personas, quienes los veian s贸lo su corrupci贸n, tambien que los sanchez cre铆an en el hospital como el lugar al que se iba a morir, o sus creencias religiosas, que llamandose catolicos solo iban a las fiestas tradicionales o para pedir ayuda, y que comet铆an actos en contra de su religion, aun as铆 era sagrado su peregrinaje a Chalma.
En general es un buen libro, muy interesante, mas especialmente para los mexicanos, que me afect贸, en la forma de ver la pobreza, los problemas de la ciudad de M茅xico, y especialmente la cultura de la pobreza que se sigue manteniendo, y que como dice Oscar Lewis, ser pobre no es solo la falta de dinero, sino vivir en la cultura de la pobreza.
This is not fiction, as some reviewers seem to believe. It is an anthropological case study of what Lewis termed "the culture of poverty" in 1950s Mexico City. So real was it, that Lewis was sued for defamation by the administration--they apparently didn't want people to know the reality of DF's poorest.
I first ran across this book in highschool back in the 1970s, and then a film was made based on the characters, with a soundtrack by Chuck Mangione which was very popular. (I later saw the film, and a "happy ending" was written into it that isn't there, but then that's Hollywood.) I bought a copy and read it several times. The lifestyle of the Sanchez family was very different to my own; the dysfunctional dynamic was not. Lately I decided to re-read it, after reading and .
It's a good study of dysfunctional families, poor or not; someone else is always to blame for your problems. The family members could be drawn from any telenovela: the self-pitying, immature sons, the cold, withdrawn father who sees himself as "meeting his responsibilities" (which doesn't stop him from having several common-law "wives" at the same time and many illegitimate children) but who constantly feeds all his kids on the message, "You're a bum, you're no good, you'll never do anything with your life, you'd be lost without me." Sexual responsibility? Not so much. Marta is the mouthy goodtime girl, her father's favourite because she gives as good as she gets and accepts her lot as long as there's food on the table and clothes on her back--and her independence.
And then there's Consuelo, who tries so hard to better herself, only to find herself blocked at every turn by the machismo of 1950s Mexico. She first wants to be a nun, but is told that they only take girls who can prove their legitimacy...and none of "responsible" Jes煤s Sanchez' many kids are legitimate. From her youth, she is told (by doctors!) that she "needs a man" (ie, all her problems will be solved by having a good screw on a regular basis), she needs to bear a child etc. (Shoot, I was told the same thing in 1984 when I went to a doctor in Spain for migraines. "When you have a baby, it will all go away." Being translated, it means "Bored, idle, needs something to take her mind off herself.") Consuelo eventually hooks up with a common-law husband in a desperate attempt to set up her own home, but miscarries her only pregnancy. Consuelo's awareness of her situation doesn't really help--you could say it makes it worse for her. At one point she says, "Away from them, I realised that they formed a circle, or rather a net in which they were enmeshed together. I was the only one out of it. Being near them only made me feel more alone." I hear you, Consuelo.
This is an excellent study of a dysfunctional family; the same stories are often told from various viewpoints, and the unaware reader might think they were narrating different events. I have to say that this reading was a bit of a trudge, but that's because I have grown and changed as a person since I last read it--and distanced myself from my own highly dysfunctional birth family. This time I was struck by the extremely regionalistic attitudes of the boys Manuel and Roberto--"those guys from Jalisco are quick to use a knife"; at one point Manuel says "hey man, I'm from Tepito, we are thus and so, don't mess with me" and Roberto claims another regional background--and yet both boys are capitolinos born and bred.
The new edition has an Epilogue that tells what happened to each member of the Sanchez family, and how they all turned out. Not surprisingly, Marta made the most of her life, in spite of being single mother to 11 children.
This is a difficult story to read because it follows a family through the cycle of life where the children can't quite rise above the poverty and ignorance of their time and situation. It struck me as the embodiment of why the macho culture of men having mistresses who produce second, third or fourth families to feed hinders the children. It robs them of a better life when their father can't live with them and support them all. A very sad but deeply moving book. It sticks with the reader for years.
El mejor analisis antropologico de la cultura de la pobreza, un libro que debe ser leido por cualquier profesional si se quiere entender las condiciones extremas de la humanidad.
Es un duro golpe ver la miseria en la que se viv铆a en las vecindades del DF en los cincuenta, pero m谩s duro es darse cuenta de que las cosas no han cambiado en setenta a帽os. Las carencias, los dolores y los lamentos siguen siendo los mismos.
Los relatos de cada integrante de la familia S谩nchez son dif铆ciles de leer. Es inevitable sentirse indignado en ocasiones y conmovido en otras tantas. Ver que el pobre en ocasiones se sabe pobre y en otras no le da ni tiempo de saberse nada. Ver c贸mo puede encontrar belleza en peque帽os detalles despu茅s de despertar en un cart贸n en el piso rodeado de ocho personas m谩s; de no saber si tendr谩 dos, una o ninguna comida ese d铆a.
鈥淟a cultura de la pobreza鈥�, un t茅rmino que menciona Lewis y que me parece sumamente interesante, deber铆a escribirse mucho m谩s sobre eso.
Lo 煤nico negativo es que es un libro sumamente largo, en ocasiones las cr贸nicas son simplemente m谩s de lo mismo. Me encantar铆a que existiera su versi贸n setenta a帽os despu茅s.
No existe mexicano que sea incapaz de sentirse relacionado con alguno de los personajes. No existe mexicano incapaz de desconocer su dolor o su origen No existe mexicano incapaz de entender las situaciones No existe mexicano que no sea parte de este libro.
Biography of the Sanchez family of Mexico City between 1940's and 1950's. I read this when I was 16 and a junior in high school and it was an eye opening experience. I learned that 2 or more people experiencing the same event do not view it the same way or react to it the same. I decided to read it again and see what I got this time. This time it made me mad that the 4 children could not see what would change their lives and get them out of the poverty and hard lives they were living. Tradition ruled their lives and lack of education and good, positive parental guidance didn't help! And it made me glad that I was born of goodly parents!!!! Violence, bad language are a part of their stories.
The Children of Sanchez is a book I鈥檇 probably recommend to anyone. It was a riveting, and seemingly honest, glimpse into the lives of a struggling Mexico City family. Each child鈥檚 account takes the reader on long, uncertain detours through the impoverished streets of Mexico City鈥檚 Casa Grande vecindad. They struggle with jealousy, laziness, pride, bad luck, poor choices and of course intense poverty. As each tells their own interpretation of major family events you can see how easily different perspectives and small miscommunications are able to build up and become poisonous. Simply put, their story is frustrating. Each character has their own faults, but it is hard to assign blame to any individual. I鈥檓 not sure who would have done better in their place. Though, if there is any blame to go around, it would lay on the shoulders of their governments and of the strong cultural sense of machismo. The men in this book are infuriatingly difficult and reckless, which probably doesn鈥檛 surprise many as it seems to be a common thread through history.
鈥淚t seems to me that the material in this book has important implications for our thinking and our policy in regard to the underdeveloped countries of the world and particularly Latin America. It highlights the social, economic, and psychological complexities which have to be faced in any effort to transform and eliminate the culture of poverty from the world. It suggests that basic changes in the attitude and value systems of the poor must go hand in hand with improvements in the material conditions of living.鈥�
鈥淗ere, people have too much self-interest. Of course, there are good people too, but in Mexico one does not progress. We have freedom to do and undo as we please and we don鈥檛 exactly die of hunger, but it is like being in a stagnant pond 鈥� there is no way out, one cannot get ahead.鈥�
鈥淲as it bad luck or bad faith that was my undoing? Not a day goes by when I do not have some filthy proposition, nor a powerful reason to accept it. But now nothing matters to me, not morality, nor principles, nor my love for my family. I try to quiet the pain and anxiety I feel in my breast and look with indifference on the four children I have loved so much.鈥�
鈥�....that鈥檚 my ambition; to build that little house, one or two rooms or three so that each child will have a home and so they can live there together. But they don鈥檛 want to help me 鈥� Just a modest place that they can鈥檛 be thrown out of. I鈥檒l put a fence around it and no one will bother them. It will be a protection for them when I fall down and don鈥檛 get up again.鈥�
Llegu茅 a este libro porque en la universidad me lo nombraron muchas veces y cuando tom茅 una especialidad en m茅todos cualitativos tambi茅n lo citaron ampliamente. Es un estudio etnogr谩fico sobre una familia mejicana de los barrios marginales de la Ciudad de M茅xico, no es la m谩s pobre pero s铆 representativa de amplios sectores de la sociedad mexicana que se enfrentan a carencias extremas y que comparten lo que el autor denomina la "cultura de la pobreza". Esto quiere decir formas de relacionarse de la sociedad mexicana que se caracteriza por reproducir flagel0s como la discriminaci贸n , corrupci贸n, violencia machista, desresponsabilizaci贸n por los hijos, descr茅dito de la figura paterna, desconfianza en el connacional, descr茅dito de todo tipo de autoridad, racismo, etc Todos estas males no s贸lo se manifiestan en las familias y en los individuos que la componen sino tambi茅n en las instituciones y autoridades de la sociedad mexicana. Es un ciclo dif铆cil de romper porque las instituciones sociales corrompen al individuo y lo socializan en la cultura de la pobreza y el individuo a su vez las corrompe una vez que llega a forma de esas instituciones. Toda esta cultura de la pobreza como bien lo dice el autor ni siquiera es exclusivo de la pobreza mexicana sino que es compartido por muchos pa铆ses pero especialmente en los pa铆ses latinoamericanos que viven lastrados por la pobreza, la exclusi贸n , la desigualdad , la corrupci贸n o la violencia. Me ha encantado la forma en la que est谩 escrita, parece una novela m谩s que un estudio etnogr谩fico. Realmente llegas a empatizar con los narraciones biogr谩ficas de la familia S谩nchez. Est谩 escrito de tal modo que en ning煤n momento aprecias "la mano" de Lewis, que dicho sea de paso es un autor norteamericano. Esto 煤ltimo fue especialmente problem谩tico en el momento de su publicaci贸n pues la Sociedad Mexicana de Geograf铆a y Estad铆stica intent贸 censurarlo alegando que denigraba la imagen de M茅xico y sus instituciones. Finalmente la obra se public贸 sin censuras, pues m谩s que un objetivo pol铆tico o malintencionado de Lewis, lo que hizo fue etnografiar a trav茅s de los relatos de una familia m茅xicana c贸mo era y es su vida, ni m谩s ni menos, y evidentemente fue chocante la descripci贸n de las condiciones f铆sicas y sociales con las que ten铆a que lidiar y habitar esta familia. Recomiendo este libro, es conmovedor y tragic贸mico al mismo, me he re铆 varias veces.
A unique book in that it was written by an anthropologist who interviewed Mr. Sanchez and four of his children but presented their story as an autobiography.
The reader gets an intimate look of what daily life is like in tenement housing in Mexico City. The culture and societal rules that govern this poor class is eye-opening and educational, for example: the routine physical violence, the propensity of alcoholism and drug abuse, the lack of meaningful relationships and love, the scarcity of role models, the absence of education, and habitually having to go without basic means such as food, make it virtually impossible for anyone to improve their situation. As one of the daughters stated, 鈥淲e have the freedom to do and undo as we please and we don鈥檛 exactly die of hunger, but it is like being in a stagnant pond. There is no way out; one cannot get ahead.鈥�
Sadly this book didn鈥檛 fulfill my expectations鈥� particularly because it is advertised as a jewel of anthropology and the better understanding of the lower class Mexican family. But all I could see in this book was a constant recollection of awful experiences that do reveal the situation experienced by the family. But it definitely missed that anthropological side of studying the causes and effects of living in such conditions.
I don鈥檛 want to be posh and say that I don鈥檛 like to read about macho men and violence against women. But unfortunately for me that is all that I could get from this book. If you want to read a sad story about the constant abuse in a family this might be the book for you. But if you want to study poverty and the effects on families I might suggest some other books that will accomplish such expectations.