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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



Mestizo Patzcuaro with its conscious idealiza- 

 tion of a Colonial past. (Patzcuaro has not 

 been studied but apparently the social structure 

 is fairly rigidly fixed in terms of the families 

 whose signatures occur on last Colonial charter 

 of the town with relatively little modification 

 by present economic or occupational conditions.) 



As indicated in the introduction, the study of 

 Cheran thus far has been conducted in a single 

 time dimension. Ultimately, considerable light 

 can be shed on the present culture by relating 

 it to its historical background. Tarascan 

 culture seems not to have been static in pre- 

 European times and to have changed greatly 

 both during and after the Colonial period. 

 Materials are probably sufficiently abundant to 

 permit study of change in enough detail to give 

 some knowledge of processes. Of particular 

 interest would be a study of contemporary cul- 

 ture in the light of the utopian ideas of Quiroga, 

 ideas that to a considerable degree seem to have 

 been translated into a functioning system. 



Many problems related to the individual in 

 Cheran need further attention. The role of 

 women in Cheran could not be adequately 

 studied for reasons already explained ; it would 

 not be too much to say that the present study 

 gives merely the masculine culture of Cheran. 

 Such problems as the significance of witchcraft 

 and its relation to personality structure and 

 emigration should be fruitful. The pattern of 

 growth and development and child rearing 

 undoubtedly has bearing on this point. Simi- 

 larly rewarding should be a deeper investigation 

 of the curious contradiction between the normal 

 concealment or denial of wealth and its ostenta- 

 tious display in connection with the wedding 

 ceremonies. The characteristics of Cheran 

 culture and Cheran personalities which seem to 

 make it possible for individuals to adapt readily 

 to the outside world, spend years in the heart 

 of industrialized civilization, yet be reabsorbed 

 wholly into the local situation on their return 

 should offer fruitful problems for investigation. 

 Likewise the influence of the returning emigrant 

 on present conditions in Cheran should be more 

 thoroughly understood. 



Most of the foregoing suggestions for study 

 involve the role of the individual and the rela- 

 tionship between the individual and culture. 

 To this field of investigation also are related 



many of the practical administrative problems 

 connected with Cheran. In the last analysis, 

 the success of programs on behalf of the Indian 

 undertaken by governmental agencies boils 

 down to the problem of getting individuals to 

 accept change. 



In the field of practical administration, it 

 should be evident that best results will be 

 obtained if the area of culture recognized by 

 Cheran residents as los costumbres is not dis- 

 turbed. Officially expressed administrative 

 aims lie primarily in the fields of economics, 

 technology, education, and political life. Ex- 

 tensive modifications seem possible in these 

 fields without tampering with the costumbres. 



The most effective administrative measures, 

 if it be conceded that the costumbres be not 

 disturbed, seem to call for reducing the general 

 objectives of governmental programs into 

 specific objectives for the community of Cheran. 

 Greater effectiveness seems likely to result if 

 such objectives be very concrete, strictly 

 limited initially, and held as consistently as 

 possible. What is needed would appear to be a 

 determination of what the desirable and 

 practical objectives are in improving such 

 things as farming techniques, introducing 

 manufacturing techniques, and modifying hous- 

 ing. If the national objective of greater in- 

 dustrialization is to be realized, a clear 

 corollary program should be developed to 

 determine what types of industrial products 

 Cheran residents are to be stimulated to desire. 

 Mechanisms to protect the group initially from 

 exploitation, both as buyers and sellers, might 

 be desirable. In the educational field, decisions 

 must be made and maintained over a reasonable 

 time as to the purpose of Cheran education. 

 Fundamentally, the problem is whether the 

 people of Cheran are to be educated to live in 

 Cheran or whether they are to be educated to 

 leave Cheran. In the political field, it must be 

 determined whether Cheran is to be self- 

 governing and is to participate freely in a 

 larger national democratic life. If the decision 

 is affirmative, administrators must realize that 

 the best school of democracy is practice in 

 democracy and that the cure for errors is not 

 less but more democracy. 



Only when these and similar objectives are 

 concretely framed and the necessary decisions 



