LAS PENSILES: recovery of its historical memory

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FUNDARQMX* (Universal Promotion for the Architectural Diffusion of Mexico), carried out in 2013 the project Las Pensiles ¡Orale que es mi barrio! Consisting of carrying out various activities such as talks, urban-architectural tours and a cultural festival in order for people in general -but especially young people- to feel appreciation for the neighborhood and its history. Within this framework, a true interest of the community was detected in recording and disseminating the knowledge and experiences of the elderly who have lived through the great changes in the area.

Thanks to the 2014 call for PACMYC (Support Program for Municipal and Community Cultures); Fundamental support was obtained for the realization of this book whose objective is to "recover the historical memory of the Pensiles", a group of 11 colonies where approximately 40,000 people live.

The project rescues the oral chronicle, based on interviews with some of the residents who have been living in Las Pensiles for the longest years. People from the community who have witnessed the changes in their area of origin and who tell those details that have not been written in formal historical publications.

A human book, where we confirm that each person's life is worth telling and for the reader it is an honor to be able to read it. Fragments that allow us to reconstruct the collective memory of a historical site where there are important heritage buildings such as the Pensil Mexicano, the Parish of Tacuba, the Convent and the San Joaquín River, the Spanish, German, American, Jewish and French Cemeteries, as well as La Perulera, among other social and cultural aspects that are particular to this area where before there were brickyards and pulquerias. A place that seeks to strengthen its identity and roots above all in new generations.