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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



trade area, a good many Tzintzuntzeiios should 

 be able to earn an adequate living making and 

 selling pottery with improved techniques. A 

 great many others, however, would be thrown 

 out of work. 



Modernization of agricultural techniques 

 would not reduce employment to the same ex- 

 tent as in pottery making. In the first place, 

 it is much harder to say what ought to be done. 

 Here again, an outside specialist must be called 

 in, the soil and agricultural expert, to examine 

 the soils, study erosion, consider crops, and 

 make recommendations. Undoubtedly signifi- 

 cant improvements can be made. But the small 

 size of fields, the precarious hillside perch of 

 many, and the absolute lack of large areas pre- 

 cludes any large-scale mechanization. The ox 

 doubtless will compete with the tractor for a 

 long time to come. Hence, rather than to stimu- 

 late a fundamental change in the organization 

 of work, as in the case of pottery making, the 

 problem is one of giving each farmer the op- 

 portunity to avail himself of the most advanced 

 techniques adaptable to the local topography. 

 Because of the absolute lack of land, disposses- 

 ed potters cannot turn to farming. 



The future of fishing is uncertain. Because 

 of the few Tzintzuntzenos so engaged, it is not 

 a matter of much concern to the village itself. 

 When combined with agriculture, a good fisher- 

 man usually is able to make the suggested min- 

 imum per capita figure for his family. 



The future of the rescaton, the ambulant 

 trader, also is uncertain. The system of distri- 

 bution is slow and inefficient, and in a mech- 

 anized age of trucks and trains, unnecessary. 

 Cooperative efforts on the part of the rescatones 

 ■ — perhaps the purchase of a truck, allocation 

 of market areas and days — undoubtedly would 

 make possible accomplishment with fewer per- 

 sons of the work now being done, with a corre- 

 sponding increase in the well-being of those so 

 favored. 



All of these nssumptions lead to the most dif- 

 ficult of all questions: what becomes of the 

 people who cannot be fitted into a revised eco- 

 nomic scheme? Obviously, a higher standard 

 of living;, for all Mexicans as well as the Tzin- 

 tzuntzeiios, can come only from a more efficient 

 utilization of the labor of each individual. 

 Growth of cities due to increased industrializa- 

 tion might for a time remove surplus popula- 



tion from the country; perhaps eventually a 

 raised standard of living would produce a 

 lowered birth rate, the significance of which is 

 apparent. 



The only thing that is certain about the solu- 

 tion of the problems of Tzintzuntzan — and of 

 a thousand other similar pueblos — is that her 

 problems are those of the Mexican nation, and 

 the nation's problems are those of Tzintzuntzan. 

 Mexico, in spite of a great homogeneity of non- 

 Indian culture, has been handicapped for cen- 

 turies by lack of adequate communication and 

 transportation. Cultural homogeneity has not 

 meant community of interests, and superimpos- 

 ed upon the intense patriotism, the pride and 

 loyalty to the Mexican nation which characterizes 

 all Mexicans, there has been a fierce attachment 

 to the local region almost incomprehensible in 

 the United States. Above all one is a Mexican 

 — Soy Puro Mexicano, the song goes — but one 

 is also a Jarocho, a Tapatio, a Oaxaqueiio or a 

 Michoacano, and one shouts with unrepressed 

 enthusiasm "1 am from Michoacan" or sings 

 "Ay Jalisco, don't give up!" Often the identi- 

 fication with the patria was, by necessity, only a 

 theoretical identification: one gladly would die 

 for Mexico (and countless thousands have) if 

 the need and opportunity presented itself. But 

 the practical community of interests was con- 

 fined to the local groups, and the remainder of 

 the country was only half-known and less un- 

 derstood. The problems of one part of the 

 country were not those of another. 



Only in recent years, and particularly with 

 the development of a magnificent highway 

 building program, have most Mexicans begun 

 to realize that in the most complete sense of 

 the word they are citizens of "one country," 

 and that the problems of other sections and other 

 social classes are very much their own. The 

 true greatness of the Mexican nation will be 

 realized only when a much more thoroughly 

 integrated economic and social system is a 

 reality, when the assimilative process through 

 which Tzintzuntzan has passed has been extend- 

 ed to the most remote Indian groups. Then, all 

 peoples will identify themselves first with the 

 nation and secondly with the local group, and 

 true opportunity to participate in and help mold 

 the national identity will be a cultural goal to 

 which all can aspire. 



This does not mean that regional characteris- 



