Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSYCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 523 



ogy are despised by the Mohave, and that this contempt seems to be 

 more than a mere reaction formation, because the white man's ways 

 are distinctly incompatible with Mohave ideology and are composed 

 essentially of elements which the Mohave apprehend as ego alien. If 

 the Mohave Indians could express their views in psychoanalytic terms, 

 they would probably affirm that the wliite man's ideology has its roots 

 in, and supports, pregenital urges. Now, the Mohave technique of 

 handling whites is almost identical with their way of handling pre- 

 genital impulses : They despise and ignore them as best they can, and 

 consider them unworthy even of open hostility. They are quite aware 

 of pregenital impulses (Devereux, 1947 a), just as they are aware of 

 wliites, but repudiate both as being unworthy of notice by adults. 

 When infants display behavior which is pregenital (i.e., when they 

 are stingy, envious, etc.), the Mohave attempt to persuade them to 

 behave like decent adults, but do not punish them (pt. 7, pp. 331-356) . 

 When adults behave in an objectionable manner, the Mohave first 

 seek to encourage decent behavior, and, if they fail, tend to ignore the 

 offender and the offense as long as possible. As for whites, the Mohave 

 seem to feel that their behavior is beneath contempt, and therefore also 

 beneath notice. 



Summing up, white people and their ideology are apprehended by 

 the Mohave as part of the id, rather than as part of the ego ideal. 

 Since the Mohave do not expect anything good from whites, they are 

 seldom disappointed, and therefore feel no strong urge to punish 

 whites for their improper behavior. On the other hand they definitely 

 expect at least some decency from a fellow Mohave, and even from 

 enemy Indians — witness their contempt for the Maricopa, who re- 

 fused to play fair and allied themselves with mounted Pima Indians 

 arm^ed with rifles (Kroeber, 1925 b). Thus, the Mohave do not behave 

 aggressively toward whites any more than toward snakes or vermin, 

 since none of these beings is felt to be capable of decent conduct. If, 

 however, an individual white proves to be a decent person, the Mohave 

 readily accept him as a human being, and expect him to conform to 

 Mohave standards of decency (Devereux, 1948 a) . Hence, the highest 

 praise a JNIohave can bestow on a white is the statement that "He is 

 really a Mohave and not a white man at all." 



Both the first scheme and the more complete second interpretation 

 oblige one to view Mohave alcohol addiction as a symptom. The 

 similarity between the two theories ends there, however. The initial 

 scheme sought to explain primarily the marginal and rare phenom- 

 enon of aggression, whereas the more elaborate second scheme tried 

 to interpret primarily the problem of the conspicuous rarity of 

 drunken aggression. In the initial scheme the intrapsychic com- 

 promise presupposed an at least partial gratification of id impulses, 



492655—61 34 



