México Profundo : Reclaiming a Civilization

by Batalla, Guillermo Bonfil; Dennis, Philip A.; Dennis, Philip A.

• ISBN13: 9780292708440
• ISBN10: 0292708440
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780292791855
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

This translation of a major work in Mexican anthropology argues that Mesoamerican civilization is an ongoing and undeniable force in contemporary Mexican life. For Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, the remaining Indian communities, the "de-Indianized" rural mestizo communities, and vast sectors of the poor urban population constitute the Meacute;xico profundo . Their lives and ways of understanding the world continue to be rooted in Mesoamerican civilization. An ancient agricultural complex provides their food supply, and work is understood as a way of maintaining a harmonious relationship with the natural world. Health is related to human conduct, and community service is often part of each individual' life obligation. Time is circular, and humans fulfill their own cycle in relation to other cycles of the universe. Since the Conquest, Bonfil argues, the peoples of the Meacute;xico profundo have been dominated by an "imaginary Meacute;xico" imposed by the West. It is imaginary not because it does not exist, but because it denies the cultural reality lived daily by most Mexicans. Within the Meacute;xico profundo there exists an enormous body of accumulated knowledge, as well as successful patterns for living together and adapting to the natural world. To face the future successfully, argues Bonfil, Mexico must build on these strengths of Mesoamerican civilization, "one of the few original civilizations that humanity has created throughout all its history."

Table of Contents

Translator's Foreword

Preface to the Second Edition

Introduction

A Civilization Denied

A Land of Millenarian Civilization

The Indian Recognized

De-Indianizing That Which Is Indian

How We Came to Be Where We Are

The Problem of National Culture

The Colonial Order

Forging a Nation

Our (Revolutionized) Modern Times

The Paths of Indian Survival

The National Program and the Civilizational Project

The Nation We Have Today

Civilization and Alternatives

References Cited

Bibliographic Appendix

Index

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