3 - THE HOUSE

Summary

Both the house and the corporation are found in the countryside, but from the most distant and marginal zones to the edges of fertile plains near towns the house predominates. The arresting feature of the house is that its activities are modeled on the layout of the dwelling itself.

Rural houses take many forms. Some are constructed of sticks and thatch, others of adobe, wattle and daub (bajareque), tapia, or brick and cement. Shapes also vary; simple ones with a room or two may have a veranda on one or all sides, while more elaborate houses, with four sides and an internal patio, recall the Roman villa. Nearly every material activity can be witnessed inside and around a dwelling: sorting seeds and sharpening knives; drying a harvest of tobacco or coffee; eating, conversing, and tending children. A small garden usually surrounds the house, and frequently one of the major agricultural plots is located nearby. Houses may contain single individuals, married pairs, nuclear families, or larger agglomerations of kin and nonkin. Whatever its size or physical shape, the house itself provides a plan for the economic group.

The principal features of the house model can be quickly summarized. A rural economic group is known as the “house” (la casa). It has a “base” (una base) or “foundation” (un fundamento), which is its wealth. It also has “doors” (puertas), as is signaled by the expressions “from the doors inward” (de puertas para adentro) and “from the doors outward” (de puertas para afuera).