150 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 6 



this distinction was set up to see if there were a 

 significant difference between the two ethnic 

 groups. Table 21 B reduces these figures to per- 

 centages of the total number of individuals in 

 each category. 



It appears that Tarascans travel about as much 

 as Mestizos, although the sample in each age- 

 group 4s so small as to be worth very little. Wo- 

 men travel much less than men, and on a per- 

 centage basis, with the exception of Morelia, 

 from a quarter to a half as many have been 

 to the places listed. Unfortunately, it is impos- 

 sible to check frequency of these visits, but here 

 the men would, of course, show up even more 

 strongly. Oldsters, though the sample is again 

 small, have traveled as widely as younger peo- 

 ple. It is natural that the bus should predomi- 

 nate over the train as a means of travel, since it 

 passes through the town, while the nearest train 

 is 16 km. away in Patzcuaro. After Patzcuaro 

 and Quiroga, not listed, Morelia (50 km.) is 

 the most widley visited town, followed by Ta- 

 cambaro (65 km.), Uruapan (90 km.), Mexico 

 City (365 km.), Guadalajara (336 km.), and 

 the United States. 



It is, of course, impossible to tell in great 

 detail what people do when away from home 

 to amuse or educate themselves. Commerce and 

 religion are two of the most important activities, 

 depending on the purpose of the trip. Like 



traveling on a train or a bus, going to a movie 

 represents an attempt, unconscious in all proba- 

 bility, to break away from the old traditional 

 patterns of life. Having seen a movie is a fact 

 which lends itself to statistical treatment, and 

 consequently, in the census each individual was 

 asked whether he had gone or not. Presumably 

 persons with interest enough to see a movie are 

 those with a more curious spirit than those who 

 have not. Table 22 represents the results, again 

 by age classes, sex, and linguistic affiliation. 

 Quite logically, a higher proportion of those 

 between the ages of 16 and 55 have gone to 

 movies than the older and younger ones. The 

 older persons did their traveling, in part at 

 least, at a time when movies were less common, 

 while the younger ones have not yet had as much 

 opportunity as those a few years older. It is 

 possible, too, that a higher percentage of older 

 persons have a less lively curiosity. Unlike the 

 evidence for traveling, it appears that Taras- 

 cans are less likely to enter a movie than Mes- 

 tizos. Men are twice as apt to go as women, 

 doubtless a corollary to the fact that they travel 

 much more and have more opportunities. Still, 

 since the nearest movie is Patzcuaro, to which 

 women go about as often as men, this reason 

 alone is not sufficient. A more general conserv- 

 atism on the part of women is doubtless an 

 important factor. 



THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY 



The smooth functioning of the productive en- 

 terprises of Tzintzuntzan rests ultimately, and 

 in many cases directly, on the domestic organ- 

 ization of each household. Work specialization 

 is essentially limited to the family unit, as con- 

 trasted to industrially more advanced societies 

 characterized by a more complex economic or- 

 ganization. Remove a quarter, or a half, of the 

 families from Tzintzuntzan, selecting them at 

 random, and the basic activities and productive 

 enterprises of those remaining would continue 

 unaffected. Fewer potters, fewer farmers, and 

 fewer fishermen would result in little change in 

 the work patterns of the remaining people. But 

 remove one or more adult or adolescent members 

 from the average family and the work efficiency 

 of the group suffers a serious blow. Such 

 changes, occasioned by marriage, separation, or 



death, cause a realinement in varying degree in 

 the relationships of a number of people. A 

 father, losing his wife, will close up his home 

 and move in with a married son. An eldest son 

 marries and leaves his father's home; unless 

 younger sons are growing up to take his place, 

 rescaton trips may be restricted or eliminated, 

 or income earned as a hired laborer no longer 

 accrues to the family coffers. The family unit 

 is, ideally, an integrated whole in which the 

 duties of each individual are clearly defined, 

 and in which the relationships change slowly 

 with the passage of time, except when interrupt- 

 ed by an upheaval of the type just mentioned. 



The basic problems connected with the do- 

 mestic economy of a household are much the 

 same for all the homes of the village. They 

 include the way in which work is divided among 



