Behind the Mexican Mountains

by Zingg, Robert M.; Campbell, Howard; Peterson, John Allen; Carmichael, David L.; Campbell, Howard

• ISBN13: 9780292798083
• ISBN10: 0292798083
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

"This is one of the more fascinating travel works I have read on Mexico, and I have read many. It provides an important addition to the scanty literature on the Tarahumara and enriches the material available on this important group. I would also think this book would be fascinating to the general reader." --Joseph W. Whitecotton, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma In 1930, anthropologists Robert Zingg and Wendell Bennett spent nine months among the Tarahumara of Chihuahua, Mexico, one of the least acculturated indigenous societies in North America. Their fieldwork resulted in The Tarahumara: An Indian Tribe of Northern Mexico (1935), a classic ethnography still familiar to anthropologists. In addition to this formal work, Zingg also penned a personal, unvarnished travelogue of his sojourn among the Tarahumara. Unpublished in his lifetime, Behind the Mexican Mountains is now available in print for the first time. This colorful account provides a compelling description of the landscape, people, traditions, language, and archaeology of the Tarahumara region. Abandoning the scientific detachment of the observer, Zingg frankly records his reactions to the people and their customs as he vividly evokes the daily experience of doing fieldwork. In the introduction, Howard Campbell examines Zingg's writing in light of current critiques of anthropology as literature. He makes a strong case that although earlier anthropological writing reveals unacceptable cultural biases, it also demonstrates the ongoing importance and vitality of field research.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Howard Campbell
Railroads, Revolutions, and Schoolteachers	3	(9)
Mexicans, Mines, and American Capitalists	12	(17)
Personalities Emerge from Wooden Indians	29	(20)
Tarahumara Men and Women at Home and at Work	49	(14)
Tarahumara Children and Adults at Play	63	(13)
Curing, Races, and Death Customs among the Tarahumaras	76	(20)
More Drinking Bouts in the Celebrations of ``Catholic'' Christmas	96	(11)
Officials, Government, and Politics among the Tarahumaras	107	(13)
Liquor, Guns, and Religion in the Mexican Picture	120	(12)
The Mexican Powers: Religious, Civil, and Military	132	(25)
Ready-Made Archaeology, Trips, and Talks	157	(14)
Ancient and Modern Cave-Dwellers in the Gorges	171	(17)
The Catholic Mission	188	(14)
Spring, Holy Week, and Archaeology	202	(18)
Pagan Ceremonies and Peyote	220	(19)
The ``Genuine'' and ``Spurious'' Values of Tarahumara Culture	239	(15)
The Philistine Spirit of Tarahumara Culture	254	(7)
Adios Tarahumaras and Campfire Stories of Villa	261	(16)
Miners, Mennonites, Militarism, and the Spirit of Mexico	277	(15)
Notes to Zingg Text	292	(7)
Index	299