FOREWORD 

 Bv Julian H. Steward 



The Institute of Social Anthropology was 

 created within the Smithsonian Institution to 

 carry out cooperative research and teaching in 

 the field of social anthropology as part of the 

 broad program of Cultural and Scientific Co- 

 operation under the State Department's Inter- 

 departmental Committee. 



One of the most important cooperative pro- 

 grams of the Institute of Social Anthropology 

 is with the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia 

 del Institute Nacional de Antropologia e 

 Historia of Mexico. The field research of this 

 program will be directed toward a study of the 

 Tarascans of Michoacan, a large group of 

 Indians whose culture is of great interest to 

 science and whose role in national life is of 

 great importance to contemporary Mexico. In 

 undertaking this work, it is the good fortune of 

 the Institute of Social Anthropology to help 

 further a program already extensively carrietl 

 out by the University of California in coopera- 

 tion with the Departamento de Antropologia 

 de la Escuela de Ciencias Biologicas del Insti- 

 tute Politecnico Nacional, now the Escuela 

 Nacional de Antropologia del Institute Nacional 

 de Antropologia e Historia, and the Departa- 

 mento Autonomo de Asuntos Indigenas. The 

 present monograph is a community study of 

 Cheran, a Tarascan village, made by Dr. Beals 

 in collaboration with the Mexican institutions. 



This study is a basic document for under- 

 standing native American communities from 

 the point of view both of their individuality 

 and of their gradual assimilation to national 

 life through economic and ideological accultura- 

 tion. Although Cheran, like many other towns 

 of the Tarascan area, is thought of and thinks 

 of itself as Indian, it is difficult to identify any- 

 thing that is aboriginal besides its language 

 and racial type. Cheran's domesticated animals, 

 many of its crops, its patterns of cultivation, 



5965C9 — 46 2 



and its general technologies and material cul- 

 ture are almost exclusively European. It is 

 presumably European in its individual land 

 ownership and inheritance, though the assump- 

 tion that aboriginal America had collective land 

 ownership needs further proof. Wholly Euro- 

 pean is its cash system, involving even a 

 monetary standard of values, loans made for 

 interest, and the purchase from elsewhere of 

 most goods other than the local agricultural 

 and forest products. It might be expected that 

 these European economic patterns would have 

 repercussions in other aspects of the culture; 

 actually, the degree of Hispanicization of reli- 

 gious and social life is astonishing. Religion 

 is strictly Catholic, witchcraft is European in 

 type, and even the carers with their herbs and 

 applications betray virtually nothing that is 

 clearly aboriginal. Cheran's large, compact 

 community of 5,000 persons is seemingly in the 

 Spanish rather than Indian settlement pattern 

 (a problem to be solved by archeology), and it 

 may have been facilitated partly by the use of 

 pack animals for transportation. The social 

 configurations are likewise Spanish: the family, 

 with a large circle of relatives by blood and 

 marriage; the innumerable godparents; the 

 mayordomias (festivals for the saints) ; the 

 elaborate wedding ceremonies; and the dances, 

 music, games, and other recreations. 



With virtually all aspects of Cheran culture 

 that can be formally categorized clearly Spanish 

 in origin, why is Cheran considered Indian? 

 Cheran's strong attachment to the locality, to 

 the local group, and to traditional culture 

 characterizes many other "Indian" communities 

 in Mexico, Central America, and the Andes. 

 The essential characteristic of an "Indian" 

 would seem to be his failure to integrate emo- 

 tionally and actively with national life rather 

 than a demonstrable aboriginal content in his 

 culture. The culture that he preserves in com- 



