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HumanOrganization,

Vol.

70, No. 4, 2011

Copyright €> 2011 by the Society for Applied Anthropology

0018-7259/11

/040323-21

2.10/1

Malinowsk i Award Lecture

2011

The

Role

of

nthropology with the hanges

and

hallenges of the st entury in

exico nd the

World

S alomon Nahmad S itto n

Translated

by

Martha Rees

Anthropology inMexico has always been applied, and this often puts anthropologists, indigenous peoples, and anthropological

principals in direct conflict with state policy and the national project. This paper summarizes the history of anthropology and

applied anthropology inMexico, using mycareer in theNational Indigcnist Institute (INI) and the Indigenous Education Office

(DGEI) of the Education Secretariat (SEP). It illustrates the risks and challenges anthropologists face when they side with

indigenous peoples in favor of their individual and collective self-determination and autonomy.

Key words: applied anthropology, indigenous peoples, development, Mexico

Introduct ion

I amhonoredby this recognitionfrom the Society forAp

plied Anthropology, named after Bronislaw Malinowski

(1938;

Malinowski,

de la Fuente, and Drucker-Brown

1982),one

of

the greatest applied anthropologists

of

the 20th

century. InMexico, Malinowski workedwith my professor,

Julio de la Fuente (2005), who I would like to recognize

here

since

he

men tored m e a nd sh ow ed m e

how

to

use

anthropology to fight for the native peoples of Mexico and

Latin America.

I am overwhelmed in the presence of so many distin

guished colleaguesandfriendswho, over theyears, encour

aged and supported me. I especially want to mention Ted

Downing, Martha Rees, Tom Weaver, Phil Dennis. Carlos

Velez, Claudio Esteva Frabregat, Rodolfo Stavehagen, (the

late) Margarita Nolasco, (the late) Guillermo Bonfil, Leonel

Duran,SusanaDrucker, James Greenberg, (the late) Sandy

Davis, (the late) Johnny Murra, (the late), and Eric Wolf,

Salomon Nahmad Sitton holdsthetitleofProfesor-Investigadorat the

CIESAS Centro de

Investigaciones

y Estudios Superiores en

Antrop-

ologia Social Pacifico Sur in Oaxaca Mexico. Thisis based on the

Malinowski award

speechpresented

attheannual meetingof

the

Society

for AppliedAnthropology, Seattle, Washington, April I 2011.

this

text havebeenaddedhistorical notes, vocabulary, andacronyms. The

author thanks Martha Rees for hercareful

translation

of the original

Spanishpresentation whichfollows the translation.

VOL.

70. NO. 4, WINTER 2011

as well as the Mexican and United States community who

have used the social sciences to build a peaceful future that

maintains and reproduces cultural diversity for all peoples.

I was mentored by many wonderful professors—Roberto

Weitlaner (1977; Weitlaner and Hoppe 1964); Juan Comas

(1964);

Gonzalo Aguirre

Beltran (1973, 1982); Alfonso

Caso, Silvio Zavala, and Moises Gonzalez Navarro (1973);

John Murra 1972 ; Eric

Wolf

1975 ; and

Angel

Palerm

(1986, 2006). They led the way to a theory and practice

of social and cultural change with justice, dignity, equity,

and full, autonomous participation and self-determination

for the nat ive peoples

of

our countries. I also want to

recognize professors and researchers at the University of

Yucatan—Gabriela Vargas-Cetina, Steffan Igor Ayora-

Diaz, and Francisco Fernandez Repetto—who, together

with my colleagues from CIESAS (the Social Anthropol

ogy Research and Advanced Study Center) , headed by

Virginia Garcia, promoted my candidacy for this award. I

thank Allan Burns, since it is during his presidency of the

SfAA, that I was awarded this important prize, as well as

the warm words ofmy colleague Margarita Dalton and the

support of my colleagues in Oaxaca, Miguel Bartolome,

Alicia Barabas, and Marcos Winter. I especially want to

thank my beloved wife, Ximena Aveilaneda, for her support

during the good times and bad and in all my professional

act ivit ies. I am grateful to my sons Daniel , David, Yuri,

and Alejandro and my granddaughters Anita, Natalia, and

Nina for

joining

us tonight.

32 3



Figure 1.

Ximena

Avellaneda

and Salomon

Nahmad

Background

My fieldwork experiences enabled me to see profound

contradictions in the Mexican assimilationist indigcnist

project that grew out of the nation-building stage of post-

revolutionary Mexico (1910). Many development projects

conflict with and contradict other national policies, which

often dooms them to failure. Anthropologists often find

themselves in direct conflict with powerful regional and

national in terests .

Theover 12million indigenouspeoples ofMexicohave

been thecenter ofmy ethnographical and ethnological work

ever since I began as a social work student in Tonanzintla

and Chipilo, Puebla in 1956 (Nahmad 1956).They taught

me about the incredible importance

of

their collective rights

in the face of the intense exploitation, exclusion, and racism

that they have experienced throughout that long night of

colonialism and neocolonialism: they have never stopped

struggling to be recognized as peoples and to be included in

the national project but without success.

Applied anthropology aims for the full individual

and

collective, social, and cultural rights of the people we work

324

with, just like everyone else. Anthropological research has

drawn attention to the very discrimination and racism that it

works to eliminate. This commitment puts anthropologists at

risk, as I—and surely many of my colleagues who are here

tonight—can attest. That is why I want to remember some

o f t hese event s here.

Applied

Anthropology

in Mexico

In 1948. the Institute)

National Indigenista

(National In

digcnist Institute or INI) began as an autonomous government

agency with its own budget and administration. Its principles

were influenced by the work ofManuel Gamio (1979): Othon

de Mendizabal (1946): Alfredo Barrera Vasquez (1980);

Moises Saenz (1982); and Alfonso Caso, Silvio Zavala,

and Moises

Gonzalez

Navarro (1973). Caso

was

the first

director, followed by Aguirre Beltran. a physician trained

in anthropology by Melville Herskovits. Anthropological

principals have long influenced the selection of tasks for the

Centra

Coordinadores Indigenistas

(IndigenistCoordinating

Centers

or

CCI).

The INl 's initial goal was to improve the standard of

living in indigenous communities and to break down internal

colonialism by building roads, schools, health clinics, and

community centers and by improving animal and agricultural

production. Coordinating centers were opened in indigenous

regions throughout the country to train anthropologists, ad

ministrators, and the indigenous themselves.

Anthropologists working in the INI were bound by the

national ideology of integration. They were called on to

manage development projects that functioned to articulate

indigenous groups into the nation and reinforced their po

sition in the dependent capitalist project. Aguirre Beltran

(1982. 1967. 1979) used acculturation theory, fol lowing

Herskovitz (1938). to justify the Mexican national project.

Neither acculturation theory nor the ENAH's integration-

ist line could conceive of ethnicity as its own, autonomous

project. Our role as social scientistswas to promote the state

project, not that

of

ethnic groups. Once again, external ideas,

inthis case, from United States cultural anthropology, were

treated as gospel.

Anthropology was institutionalized as public policy in

the

Instituto National deAntropologiae Historia

(National

Anthropology and History Institute or INAH), the Escuela

National deAntropologia

(National Anthropology School or

ENAH)—where its intellectuals were trained (Montemayor

1971), in the INI (now CDI—Comision

National para el

Desarrol/o de los Pueblos Indigenas

and in the subsecre-

lariats of Indigenous Education and Popular Cultures of the

Education Secretar iat. The Creole elites who controlled

th e

government wanted anthropologists to modify local struc

tures without realizing that this would necessarily lead to

changes in national structures and the related geopolitical

order. Social and ideological change could not take place

without concomitant change in dominant economic, social,

and political power structure.

IUMAN ORGANIZATION



In the late 1950s. I was Roberto Weitlaner's research

assistant in the INAH. He had always opposed the official

indigenist

policy. He respected Alfonso Caso, buthedidn't

agreewith theMexican

model

of assimilation and integra

tion. Hehad lived among a number of ethnic groups, and he

lovedand respected them—he spokeOtomi andwasstudy

ingChinantec. His position brought me up

sharply

against

Alfonso Caso's indigenist philosophy.

Then in 1961, I started working in the INI after my

research in Ciudad Sahagun (Nahmad 1961).Alfonso Caso

had offeredme a job when I went with a group of students

to ask him to pay our registration fees for the International

CongressofAmericanists(ICA) (see INI 1962).RicardoPo-

zasencouraged me to accept, saying that therewere excellent

peopleworking there and that it would be an important step

inmy professional career.

I accepted the entry-level position of anthropological

researcher and was given a research project in the Montana

deGuerrero (highlands ofGuerrero). While the project was

being organized, Julio de la Fuente introduced me to the INI.

He was a serious and profoundly critical man who thought

Alfonso Caso's model of dealing with the indigenous was

elitist and paternalistic. (However, Caso, a lawyer and well-

known archaeologist and politician, was one of Mexico's

intellectual sacred cows.)

One day, Julio de la Fuente invited me to his modest

apartment inthe Colonia Juarez inMexico City and told me

thatCasowasgoing togive a speech for the

Dayofthe

Indian.

Hegavemesome notes and askedmeto write the speech.This

was myfirsttest on indigenist policies. As I readde la Fuente,

I learned about the complexity of interethnic relations and

howanthropologyconfrontedthe politicalsystem.The basic

work at that time was ProcesodeAculturacion by Gonzalo

Aguirre Beltran (1982)—former rectorof the University of

Veracruzand a federal deputy for thePartidoRevolucionario

Institutional (InstitutionalRevolutionaryPartyor PRI), the

then state party. Thanks to de la Fuente, I learned about the

conflicts between the people of San Cristobal de las Casas,

Chiapas, and the aristocratic caciques (political bosses),

who,

inalliance withthe stategovernment, hada

monopoly

on alcohol sales. He showedme a secret report about alco

holism that he had written and that has only recently

been

published— Monopolio delAguardientey elAlcoholismo en

losAltos de Chiapas (de la FuenteChicosein2009).

Research in th e

Mixe

Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran returned to the INI in 1963,

and that iswhenI got tomeet him and ask him for helpwith

myresearch on the Mixe.Onmy limited per diem, I went to

Mitla,Oaxaca,and started my surveyof theMixe.Juventino

Sanchez,

ayoungMixe

from

SantaMaria

Huitepec,

went

with

me as guide and informant. He was a thoughtful intellectual

andactivist from theregion whohadmigrated to

Mexico

City

andjoined the Partido Popular Socialista(PopularSocialist

Party or PPS). He was a close friend of Alejandro Gascon

VOL. 70, NO. 4,

WINTER

2011

Mercado (Secretary of the PPS), who had recommended

him to me. Alejandro was the private secretary to Vicente

LombardoToledano, socialist politicalphilosopherfor(Gen.

Lazaro Cardenas(president of Mexico, 1934-1940, famous

for his nationalization of natural resources), founder of the

Confederation de Trabajadores de

Mexico (Confederation

of Mexican Workers or CTM)—the largest confederation

of

unions inMexico, and direct kin with Alfonso Caso—his

wife, Maria Lombardo, was Vicente's sister. A large number

of socially conscious mid-level officials were moved into

the

INI on

Vicente

Lombardo's recommendation.

So, with

Juventino Sanchez and Jaime Olivera—a muleteer and Za -

potecmerchant fromMitla, I went to each municipalityand

many Mixe communities.

Juventino

and Jaime—members

of tw o distinct Oaxacan

ethnicgroups—became closefriends. Wediscussedthe prob

lems of the Mixe and Zapotec peoples for hours, and what

emergedfrom thiswas the idea

of

Soviet-stylenationalminori

ties. This conflictedwith the Mixe Project, a proposal bytwo

local political bosses, Daniel Martinez and Luis Rodriguez,

to create an autonomous alliance ofMixe municipalities and

communit ies

in th e

state o f Oaxaca. Internal confrontations

anddivisionsbetween twodominant geopoliticalcentersof the

region, Ayutla and Zacatepec (that had displacedTotontepec),

kept this plan from ever coming to fruition.

The thoughts, needs, and demands

of

indigenous Mixe

leadersand their inclusioninthe regionaldevelopmentproject

were seen as a sign

of

their greater openness to the outside

world.Theeconomic aspects ofour research described the re

lationbetweenMixemarketsandZapotectravelingmerchants

and intennediaries in the concentration and accumulation of

coffee—themain internationalcommodity. Structurally,they

were integrated into the world capitalist system as primary

producers in a neocolonial structure, a reinforced and con

solidatedversion of the colonial system.

My conversat ions with Juventino were frui tful and

stimulating.Weanalyzed the characteristicsof his society,

itsarticulationwith capitalist society, aswell as topicssuch

as social class—which, for him, was basic. This conversation

would not have been possible inthe central officesof the INI,

whose theory was clearly defined by Alfonso Caso. Back

inMexicoCity, while writing my report, I discussed these

issueswithJuliode la Fuente—theonlyone therewho could

carry on an academic discussion. Weanalyzed indigenous

migrants as participants, observers, and analysts of their

own reality. He maintained that educated and acculturated

members of ethnic groups were no longer indigenous and

that there was no such thing as a majority ethnic identity. On

the other hand, community identity, he said, did exist, using

the example of Yalalag, a Zapotec regional center in the

northern sierra. Our discussions were rich, but these ideas

did not come out in my report, which as Julio suggested,

became my BA thesis. I presented my report to Aguirre

Beltran. who accepted it immediately. Caso was also aware

of my research activity and also had a positive reaction.

However, in

1963,

the INI

was

focused on

the

construction

32 5



of our new central office building in Mexico City, so the

demandsof theMixewere never analyzedor discussed. Since

therewas no budget, opening a new coordinating center in

the regionwas delayed.

Ihadnever been involved inpolitics, norwas I a member

of a politicalparty.My interest in anthropologyarose from

my initialstudies in social work, and I thought I would find

fulfillment inserving thedispossessed classes inmycountry.

I had lived inOrizaba, Veracruz, as the child

of

an immigrant

merchant from Syria. I had lived a bicultural, bilingual life.

This, plus the fact that because ofmyJewish ethnicity I didn't

belong to the Catholic majority, made me sensitive to the

Nahua indigenoushabitus inOrizaba, a Creole, Hispanic city.

My schoolmates in primary school were mostly indigenous,

with lastnames thatwere as difficult to pronounce asmy own.

These facts made me aware o f difference and discrimination.

Later,thanks to mycollaborationwith Eric Fromm (1977) and

MichaelMaccoby (1970) on the psychology ofworking class

mothers inMexicoCity,I understood even more, and because

of this, I decided to work for and with minority indigenous

groups. I found many problems and conflicts inmy work.

One important event illustrates INI employees' corrup

tion and collusion with local and state power groups over

funds designated for indigenous communities. The Catmis

sugar mill and the Santa Rosa Hacienda in Yucatan had

been abandoned by their owners, the Medina Alonso, who

refused to turn it over to neighboring communities so they

couldwork the land. These large landholders were

compa-

dres

(co-godparents) with former PresidentMiguelAleman.

They were also the feared leaders of the National Union of

Sugarcane Producers. Indigenous and mestizo workers in

the two plants demanded the expropriation and concession

of theselandsin accordance withagrarian

law,

buttheirpeti

tions were rejected.

We

assigned the lawyerof the INIcoordinating center

to support theirpetition beforethestateand federal agrarian

offices. Oncethe requestseemedlikelyto succeed.Governor

Luis Torres

Mesias

calledonmetostopsupporting andtoget

the indigenous to droptheirpetition,whichwe refusedto do.

In retaliation, they arrested two communityelders hmen

in

Maya),

who hadto paya bond of 25,000 pesos ( 2,040) in

order to get out. Weconsulted with our INI executive board,

and they approveda loan to the community

from

the Coor

dinatingCenter's linefor supportof indigenous communities

to pay the bond. Dr. Caso supported my position.Once the

bond was granted, however, the secretary treasurer of the

CCI, the landowners, and the state government got so furi

ousthat relations between the INIand the state government

werestrained. In response, thestate ofYucatan developed a

planfor landownersto export vegetablesto theUnitedStates

and, through the PLANCHAC (PLAN DEDESARROLLO

CHAC

PARA YUCATAN ,

to developfruit exports. Seeing

howserious thingshadgotten,Alfonso Caso decided to come

toMeridaand, in a quiet mealwith the governor,negotiated

the expropriation of part of the lands in favor of the com

munities, as long as I left Yucatan.

326

Cattle

and Lumber Interests vs

Indios

The same thing happened while I was director of the

Cora-Huichol and of the Purepecha (Tarasco)coordinating

centers. I was convinced that the indigenous had to organize

pressure groups andtraintheyoungergeneration. Ihadmany

discussions with Huichol leader, Pedro de Haro, who clearly

andobjectivelydescribedhis life-longstruggle to defendhis

people, stories about his years injail in

Tepic,

and his pro

posedorganization of Huichol cattlemento confrontTehua-

ris (mestizo) cattle organizations. The Governor of Jalisco,

Francisco Medina Ascencio, defended cat tle interests

who

invaded Huichol lands, while the Governor

of

neighboring

Nayarit, ontheotherhand,supportedthe ideaof an indigenous

organizationto defend their rights against external aggression

(Nahmad 1996).

When I was director of the Tarasco coordinating center

in Cheran, Michoacan, I

could

see

how weak Caso's

com

munity development policy was because he applied it to a

single community—Turicuaro, Michoacan—and presented

it to the delegates

of

the 5th Interamerican Indigenous Con

gress in P&tzcuaro in 1968. So, I decided to redirect funds

to a project that had regional and structural implications: the

comunerosofTanacowanted a sawmill controlled by private

interests in

Patzcuaro. Th is c au s ed

a violent

confrontation

in the INI and in the region when the Purepecha (Tarasco),

used thei r

ow n

funds from

th e

ondo ational

de

omento

Ejidal (National Fund of Ejidal Development) to buy and

take over lumbering their own forests and the sawmill. Their

youth started managing themarketing, distribution, andsale

of lumberin thenationalmarket. This causeda huge uproar.

In response, lumber contractors leaned on their connections

with federalforestry authorities,Michoacanpoliticians,and

some even used the figure

of

General Cardenas (President

of

Mexicofrom 1934-1940and formergovernorofMichoacan,

famousfornationalizingMexicanindustries)in theirattempt

to hold on to their privileges.

The indigenous later came to be subsumed under the

rubric, marginalized peoples. In 1976, under President

Jose Lopez Portillo, Education Secretary Porfirio Mufloz

Ledo supported naming an anthropologist to head up a

change in indigenist policies, but the president-decided

instead to merge the INI under a general program aimed

at marginal peoples, including ethnic groups, called

Coor

dination

General

delPlanNationaldeZonas Deprimidas

y Grupos Marginados

(National Plan Coordinator for

Depressed Zones and Marginal Groups or COPLAMAR)

under Ignacio Ovalle (former President Luis Echeverria's

private secretary and later, Secretary

of

Budget and Pro

grams). In his inaugural address, Lopez Portillo begged

the forgiveness ofmarginal peoples for having abandoned

them. At the same time, anthropologists were passing

around an article by Lopez Portillo that reflects the ideol

ogy of many in the government.

La incapacidad del indio

(Indian Incapability) describes his theory

of

indigenous

ethnic groups ofMexico:

HUMAN

ORGANIZATION



Indianculturewas crippledfrombirth, it lackedprecisely

thatwhich

is

most delicate

in all cultures.

The

Indian intel

lectualcannotappeal to...reason, but hasto act as priest,

as witchdoctor.... Indian languages are as mixed up and

complicated as their pantheon. They are mixed...with

surprising and imprecisesyntax. They are the...product

of incompletemental concepts.... But such an advanced,

ifcrippled,culture isdark andcruel in itsorigins,andthis

deeply affected its followers.... The sad thing about the

Indian

doesn' tcome

from

three centuries oflberian

domi

nation. Itis the natural product ofmillennia of famine and

darkness that turned death and suffering into destiny....

[PJoverty[and] miseryhave characterized it ever since it

firststeppedontoAmericansoil.The Indian is resignedto

atavism.... [Mjany generations must pass before...racial

memories get erased from their minds; so new languages

can be

introduced

as

native

to their

brains,

so t ha t the

dark clouds of horror that make up their hunger, their

own complicated culture, and the conquest, would clear

up and dissipate. The Indian has a lot to forget inorder to

learn.... Unthinking indianists ...try to resuscitate dead

languages... [that are] totally inappropriate forcurrent con

ditions, [they] only manage to postpone the moment when

the Indian, liberated from the...unconscious

memories

of

a painful past,.. .assumes an active role inthe new culture

that attempts to incorporate

him....

Wewill help the Indio

forget the old, the pain, the death, and learn the new.. ..

Our acts will, therefore, have this noble, unselfish,goal,...

that will...pay off the debt we carry from our conqueror

and colonial ancestors. (Lopez Portillo 1944:159-162).

These paragraphs represent the contradictions inMexi

can society with respect to national minorities. In recent

years, the political discourse has recognized the concept of

plurality, but conditions have not changed. Mexico moved

from basic racism to saving marginal peoples bywiping

out indigenous languages and imposing Spanish. COPLA-

MAR had a generous budget, but it mainly increased the

ranks of the bureaucracy. An emergent indigenous organi

zation, the

ConsejoNational Pueblos Indigenas

(National

Indigenous Peoples Council) was manipulated and cor

rupted. Francisco Salas (Ovalle's private secretary) com

mented, In order to keep the Indians calm and ordered, we

have to grease their palms with money and treat them like

lap dogs. Negotiations between anthropologists and the

executivewingwere notsuccessful inchanging this policy.

As the assistant director

of

the INI, I continued to attempt

to change the course of the indigenist project, drawing up

action plans and bringing theoretical principals in linewith

practical applications. However, COPLAMAR neutralized

indigenousdemands and tied them intoa system of control

and manipulation. While confrontations with Ovalle

were

nuanced by the official discourse of participation, and, in

some programs, indigenous workers ran programs

of

ethnic

and linguistic pluralism. Then, in 1977,1was promotedout

of the INI to be General Director of Indigenous Education

inthe SEP,which kept me from interfering in the power

of

the indigenous coordinating centers of the INI and isolated

me from indigenous leaders. I was replaced in the INI by

Francisco Rojas, a lawyer and business administrator who

hadworked for Philips Corporation. Indigenous policywas

VOL. 70. NO. 4,

WINTER

2011

immediately reversed: administrators took over and the

general director became a figurehead who promoted his

own political career.

Inspiteof myfriendship at thattimewithIgnacioOvalle,

contradictions in both institutions (INI and SEP-Indigenous

Education)flourished. In spite

of

this, we took upthe task of

strengtheningthe cadresof bilingualteachersand substituted

bilingual

andbicultural education fortheSpanish-only

policy.

We

confronted

the

out-dated

schemes ofVasconcelos, a revo

lutionaryphilosopherof public education,and unioncontrol

of bilingual teachers.Wesupportedthe trainingof indigenous

ethnolinguists andbilingual teachers. Wepublished textbooks

and manuals in indigenous languages without the Instituto

Linguistica de Verano (Summer Institute of Linguistics or

SIL), a Christian literacy organization. We cancelled our

agreement with the SIL and made itour goal to create quality

indigenous education.

In their political campaigns. Presidents Lopez Portillo

(1974-1980) and Miguel de laMadrid (1980-1988) delivered

demagogic discourses when they visited indigenous com

munities, saying that the INI was going to recognize them as

national minorities and indigenous nations, give them more

autonomy, allow them to actively participate in indigenous

agencies, and give them self-management. The Government

Secretariat, through sociologist Hugo CastroAranda (private

secretary to the Secretary), asked the INI to draw up a new

geopolitical plan. Itwas all hot air.Those who tried to comply

with these promises to the indigenous were thrown injail.

An example of this constant struggle is that of the Ya-

qui peoples

of

Sonora. the owners of one of the most fertile

regions of Mexico, traversed by the Yaqui River, one of the

largest rivers inMexico, whose waters turn the desert into an

oasis.

Their invaluable lands have been

th e

cause

o f

furious

attacks against this embattled people, including war with

the Mexican army and with surrounding populations. Today

there arealmost20,000YaquiinMexicoandanother 5,000 in

the

United

States.

Mexico has t ri ed more than once

to

break

them up and wipe them out with bloody wars—the last of

which was in 1929,which is why some

Yaqui

took refuge

among the Papago (O'odam) ofArizona. Today they live in

both countries. Peace with the Mexican government was not

declared until 1939, through a presidential agreement that

recognized their rights to land on the right bank of theYaqui

river and to 50 percent of its flowing and dammed waters.

They were also granted self-government.

However, the new landholding bourgeoisie kept control

of 500,000 hectares of irrigated land. The Yaquis were only

given 20,000 hectares

of

land,whichwas managed bythe fed

eral Banco Rural.They have gotten less than halfof the water

to which they have rights. Their petitions have consistently

been rejected. In response, the Yaqui have shut themselves

in: the government of the eight Yaqui pueblos is closed to the

dominant society, they do not accept outsiders meddling in

municipal affairs, and they will not negotiate with the state,

only with the federal government. Even so, their agreements

with the federal

government have no t

been

fulfilled.

327



At the end of 1982,1was named director of the INI. My

careerpath until then was based on using anthropological

perspectives

andcriteriato change theasymmetrical relations

betweenindigenouspeoplesand thenationalstate. Inthe INI,

I decided to step up the rate of change in indigenouspolicy

from assimilation to self-development and ethnic autonomy,

called ethno-development by anthropologists in my genera

tion. I thought that a project with the Yaqui (studied by our

colleague Edward Spicer [1970, 19890, 2002]) would be a

good place to begin the transformation from indigenist pater

nalism and protectionism to grassroots autonomy. In 1983,1

attempted to turn over control

of

the INI's Yaqui indigenous

coordinating center to them. Yoreme, or Yaqui, authorities

and their young intellectuals, drew up, after three months of

internal discussion, their own

IntegratedDevelopmentPlan

of the

Yaqui Tribe Yaqui

1983

agreed upon by all their

communities. On June 1, 1983, we took this document to the

President ofMexico, Miguel de laMadrid, for him to execute

so the Yaqui people could enter into an equal relationship

with Mexican society. He agreed to their demands, but four

months later, I fell victim to repression and was thrown in

jail for this. I was arrested bymore than 100federaljudicial

policefromINTERPOLand given a summary sentence.My

attempt to change the INI's direction resulted in political

repression. They charged me with criminal action and held

meinjail forfivemonths. TheMexicangovernment hasstill

not complied with its own agreement, signed by President

LazaroCardenas, promisesmade over 70 years ago.

Yaqui response has been to res ist and await future

developments. Their historical memory is not diluted by

paternalism. Theyresisteconomicinequality, the penetration

of capitalism, renting their irrigated and pasture land, the

saleoffish fromtheir cooperative,andclearing theirforests.

The Yaqui ofArizona and Mexico are allied in networks of

exchange

and

mutual

support.

Young

college-educated

Yaqui

are rewriting their history andproposing a Utopian plan for

groupunification ofall the indigenous peoplesofArizonaand

Sonora.Acommondemandis the recoveryof theirterritorial

landand natural resources. Yaqui demandsfor political and

economic

autonomy,

andevensuccession, area clearsignof

what Darcy Ribeiro (1984) called the future ethnic wars

of

Latin America.

Relations

between mestizos andCreoles yori)

andtheYaqui yoremes) aretenseand

hostile.

TheYaqui have

sucha strongsenseof ethnocentric loyalty thatanyone with

strong ties outside the community may be expelled, which

isonereason thedominant elites have reacted insuch anag

gressive, racist manner.

Myarrestcausedan indignantresponse from the indig

enousof Mexico,my colleagues,as well as myprotectors in

the prison. I was a political prisoner. The General Procura

tor (AttorneyGeneral),the District attorneys, and thejudge

contradicted eachother. It was a politicaltrap, I was toldby

prison authorities from whom I got preferential treatment.

This caused a crisis in Mexican anthropology. International

scientific communities and development agencies supported

me. The indigenous supported and protected me personally.

328

Thereweredemonstrations rejectingthe statepositionandin

support ofme,

including taking

overthe INI, which increased

pressure on the president and resulted in a series of secret

negotiations. Inthe end,Iwasfined 100,000 pesos( 8,165),

in 1984,for damage to the national heritage.

The

Church

is

another

institution

that

ha s aimed a t c on

trol of indigenouspeoples ever since the conquest in 1521.

The Church has attempted to control indigenous religiosity.

Under the guise of liberation theology, they have become

increasingly sophisticated in the continuous campaign of

so-called

religious enculturation orspiritual

conquest. This

is just another way of assimilating indigenous peoples into

a Greco-Roman ideology that aims to eliminate indigenous

religious ideologies—past or present—including their com

munity ideology.

I always respected the wixarika or huichol religion,

which brought me into direct conflict, when I was.Director

of the Cora-Huichol Coordinating Center (1968-1971), with

the Franciscan Bishop who was evangelizing the Huichol,

the Cora, and the Tepehuano.As part of their religious prac

tice, the Huichol bathe the images

of

Jesus and the Virgin

of Guadalupe in deer or bull blood. The resident nuns were

horrified and took the images away and put innew ones. So,

t he Huicho l cam e to talk to m e a nd asked

me

t o int ervene

with the church so that they could get their saints back. If

not, they threatened to burn the mission down and kick all

the nuns out. A Franciscan priest, Father Loera, who had

studied anthropology in the United States, agreed that the

nuns had no cause to interfere in the life of the community,

but the Bishop was opposed. Loera, who built the Huichol

museuminGuadalajara,managed to return thesculptures to

the Huicholes and avoided a bigger conflict. But I got into

big trouble over this. The governor complained, and guess

what? I was thrown out of Nayarit.

Another important aspect of the assimilationist policy

is imposition of the ideals of western democracy—political

parties and elections—on the systems of community and

municipalcargos (unpaidcommunityservice) in indigenous

regions. The goal, at the national and state levels, is to make

the communityand its collective forms

of

governance dis

appear and exchange them for participation by individual

vote—indirectoppositionto thecollectivepolitical identities

of Mexico's indigenouscommunities. Myexperience in the

Mixe region of Oaxaca in 1963 motivated me to take their

proposal for a Leyde usosy costumbres (Uses and Customs

Law) (to respect community forms of organization and as

sembly) to the Mexican Senate and some state governors. In

Oaxaca, this system operates in more than 400 indigenous

municipalities—theygovern themselves through the system

of cargos. not political parties, which poses a threat to those

very parties, who struggle to eliminate this community form

of organization.

Colleagues inmygeneration, includingmygreat friend,

Guillermo Bonfil (1987, 1996), redefined Alfonso Caso's

(ideologue and first director of INI) indio. Bonfil's is

the most representative

of

the change in social relations in

HUMAN ORGANIZATION



Mexican society. Hesaid, Withinthe system as a

whole,

the

colonized is single and plural {Indian and Indians), form

ing a

single

category that

homogenizes

dominated

peoples.

Internally, it disaggregates them into multiple local units

that weaken their ancient loyalties [and converts them into]

parochialidentity (Bonfil 1996).Bonfil (1972:110)goeson

to say.

Indio

is a supraethnic category that has no specilic

content interms ofthegroups that it refersto,butrather refers

to the specific relation between them and the other sectors

of

the global social system of which the indios form a part.

The category of indio denotes the condition of colonized

and necessarily references the colonial relation. These new

definitions

ar e

reflected

in

th e

statements o f

international

institutions, such as the International Labor Organization,

the United Nations ,

an d

th e

World Bank—all

of

which have

been influenced by applied anthropology.

The World Bank

(2011)

states

that

because of the

varied and changing contexts in which Indigenous Peoples

live and because there is no universally accepted defini

tion of Indigenous Peoples, this policy does not define the

term....but rather... a modern understanding

of

this term

based on a variety of characteristics—self-identification at

the individual level and accepted by the community as their

member; historical continuity with precolonial or presettler

societies; a strong link to territories and surrounding natural

resources; a distinct social, economic, or political system; a

distinct language, culture, and belief's; individuals that form

non-dominant groups of society; and those that resolve to

maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and

systems as distinctive peoples and communities.

Inthe indigenous community, tradition is the other face

of modernity, even though the clash between these two has

brought

changesintastes, language, and formsof organization

in some communities. On the one hand, traditional systems

contradict many elements of modern capitalist economies.

On the other hand, modern capitalist systems interfere with

communitylife.Tounderstand and accept contemporary in

digenousreality,developmentprojects in indigenousregions

must

t ake the

e thnic dimension into account.

The History of the Native Peoples in Mexico

Mexican neoliberal capitalist society is dependent on

the dominant macroeconomics, and at the start of the 21st

century, continues trying to forge one homogeneous, single

ethnicgroup intoa nationalculturalproject. Tome, this isnot

feasiblebecause there isa hugecontradiction betweennational

society and the diverse cultures that make it up. There is no

way to

resolve this contradiction

until the

nation resolves

thesebasicstructural contradictionswithconstitutional change

and geopolitical restructuring. Research that addresses these

contradictions began in 1910with the work ofManuel Gamio

(Nahmadand Weaver 1990 . Indigenist policywas basedon

anthropological knowledge, and that iswhyanthropology has

playeda keyrole innationalpoliticsforalmost 100 years,ever

since Gamio turned the archaeological site ofTeotihuacan into

VOL. 70. NO . 4.

WINTER 2011

Figure 2. Negotiations with the Seri, 1974

a national heritage center, an applied anthropology project that

proposed breaking up the power relations between the state

and the original peoples

of

Mexico and building an intereth-

nic, symmetrical, and egalitarian society. Anthropologists

and everyone else who commits their specialized knowledge

to changing the asymmetrical relations between state institu

tions and indigenous peoples are allies in this struggle. Ever

sinceMalinowski, Durkheim,andGamio, anthropologicaland

social science research hascontributed to improving the living

conditions and social relations of human beings.

All state, private sector, church (Christian, Catholic, or

evangelical),and NGOactionsshare the assimilationistproj

ect, even though indigenous peoples do not fully participate

in the national project, and not just because of their position

as colonized, subjugated, anddiscriminatedpeoples, butalso

because they are the subjects of this exclusionary project.

Indigenism inMexicowas able, over thecourseof 100years.

to overcome some of these conditions and to pave the way

for some

of

the changes achieved. However, the structure

of

asymmetrical neocolonial relations has not changed. Today,

indigenous peoples are the most marginal and the poorest

people in Mexico, Latin America, and the world.

Appliedsocial researchrevealsthe effectsof global poli

cies, for example at the meetings of the Society forApplied

Anthropology, which aims at expanding its influence inorder

to bring about change. The recently approved (2007) United

NationsDeclaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is

an example

of

a huge achievement.

Today, indigenous peoples have lost control over and ac

c es s t o much of their

own natural

resources and

even

to

their

ow n w or k force. This

ha s

c aused t he t ra n sf e r

o fmuch

o f

their

production and labor to the market—precisely the reason that

the global phenomena of generalized and extreme povertyex

ists. The loss

of

the best land, soil erosion, loss of irrigation,

over-exploitation of forestry reserves, and the conversion

of fertile land to the production of goods for national and

international

marke ts have

caused malnutr i tion and the

loss

of systems of self-sufficiency that have existed for hundreds

9



ofyears.The indigenousregionsofMexicohave becomethe

poorestof the poor. Eventhough the data do not distinguish

between indigenouspeoples and others, it is easy to see that

the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Yucatan,

etc.—the states with the highest percentages of indigenous

peoples—are the poorest. Rural indigenous zones are the

poorest; indigenous communities have the highest rates of

povertyand the lowest levels of public and private invest

ment. The World Bank and the Interamerican Development

Bankhave begunspecial projects to help slow thedeteriora

tion of subsistence agriculture in thousands of indigenous

households. However,many peoplemigrate with the hope of

being able to get a job. This aggravates urban problems, not

just inMexico, but also inmany cities in the United States.

Indigenous Peoples and their Human and

Cultural Rights:

Ethnic Diversity and th e

Nation State

According to liberal political philosophy, the citizen is

a private, not a community, actor. This is not the case

of

the

native peoples ofMexico. Minority rights must coexist with

humanrightsand notbe limitedby theprinciples of individual

liberty,democracy,and socialjustice. This philosophy is the

basis of a system of cultural and ethnic diversity that creates

a human society that is intercultural and socially inclusive.

Aside from the common rights

of

all cit izens, we need a

differentiated citizenship, according to which the state is

obliged to adopt special measures to articulate the differ

ences between ethnic groups. This policy could be stated as

symmetrical interethnicrelations. As I understand it, there

arethree forms of differentiated rightswith respect to ethnic

groupmembership:(1) rights to self-governmentor autonomy

(thedelegationof powersto theoriginalpeoples,the national

minorities through some kind

of

federalism), (2)multiethnic

rights (financial supportand legalprotection for certainprac

ticesassociatedwithspecific ethnicgroupsor

native

peoples ,

and(3) special rights to guarantee representation in national

chambersfor nativepeoples or ethnicgroups.

Human evolution is a general process

of

development

and social transformation. Every human society changes,

and in its own

way.

Their characteristics makeup universal

humanity, with the specificities and cultures

of

each, but

eachhas to permit the developmentof all of its culturaland

linguisticparts. This society of the future, seen from a lineal,

homogeneous social evolutionistperspective, culminatesin

thedisappearanceofethnicandculturalplurality, falling into

the same error as neoliberal capitalism. That is why I think

that the anthropological theory

of

multilinear evolution isthe

answerto the demands of peoples and ethnicgroups inour

nation(s). In thissense,the long-termhistoricalprojectof hu

manunitycannotbeto buildoneflat anduniformsociety,but

a dynamicandmultifacetedsociety,with different faces and

waysof being and living. Respect for this plurality and this

multilineal evolution (Steward 1955) should be our solution

to the social groups that make up humanity.

330

Mexico's national project is not isolated, but it is inserted

intotheprojects of other nations of the globe, but its diversity

cannot, in spite of violence and repression, be eradicated.

Human experience in other regions of the planet shows us

that ethnicgroups continuetheir struggleto reconquertheir

ownspacesof territorial and politicalautonomy. That iswhy

integration and the construction of national identity have to

include original peoples and ethnic groups, not annihilate

them, which would only cause serious disturbances and

misalignments in the social structureof the countryandthe

world.

We

also think that those countries

that

offer ethnic

groups the possibility of multilineal development will be

able to count on their support. Those who oppose this and

proposeassimilation, destruction, andannihilation (ethnocide

orgenocide)ofculturalpluralitywillbemetbyresistance and

rebellion. This is how, I think, that the

Utopian

project of the

originalpeoples of each country will come closer to fruition.

Itwill not be easy to build a multiethnic nation with mul

tiple evolutionary lines. Initially, restructuring and national

reconstruction, is complicated. Once there is geopolitical

and administrative change with economic equality and the

abolition of exploitation, the basic wound that ethnic groups

feel, the construction of a real society can begin; one that

is more objective, more human, and more in line with the

context of the peoples who make up nations such asMexico.

Itwill not look like a homogeneous state, like we pretend to

have today, but made up of parts, including the more than 60

Mexican indigenous peoples who have resisted colonialism

and neocolonial aggression in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Without considering group, and not just individual,

rights, wewill not achieve justice. Amorejust global society

will have to respect andrecognizethe dignity that alloriginal

andminority peoples deserve, especially the native peoples

of nations built around them, because, inthe case ofMexico,

we will not understand our history if we do not include the

participation and contributions that all ethnic groups have

made through the different historical periods—colonial,

independence, revolution, and modern Mexico. We must

recognize and practice plurality in the design of our politi

cal and social systems, in education, administration, justice,

economic development, and wealth distribution, in social

security,and indominant cultures in order to build a society

on

real

foundations,

no t

on neoliberal

or neodemocratic

Utopias alien to the makeup of its peoples. Our goal in the

21st century should be to wipe out open and hidden forms of

colonialism. We cannot continue ou r colonial an d neocolonial

systems with active or passive identities alienated from their

cultural environment. I think that projects of incorporation,

assimilation, integration, or homogenization are, at bottom,

ethnocentric and racist policies that intend to maintain the

status quo of exploitation, domination, and submitting the

original peoples and ethnic minorities.

The indigenous peoples ofMexico have contributed their

intelligence, resources, and their work to the construction of

modern society

and

have contributed their culture to show

the world the real Mexico. They struggle to achieve a deco-

HUMAN

ORGANIZATION



localization thatgives them a place in national society and

fullyrecognizes theirrightto culturaland linguisticplurality.

This requires autonomy

andparticipation inthe

economic

and

politicaldevelopmentof the nation. At the beginningof the

21st century,Mexico faces one of the biggest crises of her

history:the search fora newnationalproject that canresolve

thecontradictions between a society identified aswestern and,

atthe same time, built on a profoundMesoamerican civiliza

tion. This new project should be imagined and designed to

include indigenous peoples and cultural diversity in general.

The failure of previous polities should show us how to build

the future, by recognizing and ratifying the rights histori

cally removed from these peoples, by accepting ethnic and

linguistic plurality and rebuilding the national geopolitical

structure based on this multiethnic and multicultural reality,

by modifying the judicial s tructure based on these, and by

redistributing national income among all the peoples who

make it up.

Anthropological Ethics and the Defense of

Native

Peoples in

Mexico

Anthropology rejects the idea

of

a fixed and eternal hu

mannature.Appliedsocialanthropology isbasically a critical

science of cultural models. There is no human society that

does not seek a better life.Anthropology is profoundly tied

to humanist ethics and. with that, to universal philosophy.

In writing these words, my early experience was a critical

analysis of theethicsof myownexistencebasedon psycho

analysis,dueto myearly socialwork studieswith Eric Fromm

1957 , and later, ethnology and

anthropology.

Anthropology,

as the science of humankind, is part of the ethical human

ist tradition in which knowledge is used to establish norms

and valuesthat help keep the peace and establish equality

between all peoples and cultures. With this central tenet,

anthropology, as I understand it, attempts to explain

human

diversity—individual, social, and cultural—and from this

to achieve humangrowth and developmentof humans.The

minimum ethical position is freedom of speech and a voice

for all stakeholders in decisions related to social

programs.

Thisistherolethatapplied anthropology should playinre

search—formulating criteria basedonjustice andsolidarity,

respect for theautonomy of everyhuman as a person, every

family asa basic unitof

society,

ofeachcommunity orpueblo

or

ethnic

group. Thisbasicethictreatsallhuman beings aswe

treatourselves. Thisminimumprinciplerecognizes all

human

beings

asvalidpartners andisexpressed by recognizing the

rightsof stakeholders. It becomes a practice of deliberative

democracy, a form of dialogue for radical and participative

democracy.

Mostofall,becauseweare speakingoftransforming the

culturesof violence,of war,of exploitation, of marginal iza-

tion and exclusion by othercultures, the goal of anthropo

logical action is to achieve peace among the peoples of the

world.The firststep ismutual recognitionbetweenallhumans

andgroups,basedon autonomy, justice, andsolidarity. This

VOL. 70. NO. 4, WINTER 2011

is how we honor our commitment to our

own

communities,

languages, cultures, and belief systems.

The idea of an ethic of applied anthropology should be

based on the argument that human beings, even when they

act as a group, or in conflict situations, can act and behave

humanlywhen they are influenced by so-called rationality,

empathy, andnonviolentphilosophy. Thehistoryof relations

between politics and anthropology, from this point of view,

is the history of the ongoing attempt to moralize politics by

creating situations and institutions that limit and reduce the

use

of

violence as a resource and that favor using dialogue,

equitable social commitment, and the peaceful solution to

conflicts.

Three important developments in this direction are: (I )

the increase inthe numberofdemocratically organized nation-

states, even though with varying success, in which political

struggle is conducted through dialogue, and not suppression;

(2) the creation of the United Nations as a governing body

based on fundamental human rights; and (3) the practice,

on a large scale, ofmethods of nonviolent struggle, derived

from those used by the working classes in the struggle with

capital and from those practiced by Gandhi, Martin Luther

King, Nelson Mandela, and many more in the struggle for

independence or for basic human rights.

Finally, we see today the negative consequences of the

us e

of violence to

settle

conflicts between

states

and ethnic

groups. Theuseofviolence, includingthe most serious of this

century inAfghanistan and Bolivia, for example, counteract

anthropological workanddemocraticmovementstoempower

peopleanddevelop projects that permit strengthening human

coexistence through nonviolent, democratic methods.

The call for papers for this 71st annual meeting of the

SocietyforAppliedAnthropologysetsoutthechallengesthat

anthropologists and social researchers face in their search for

alternatives inbuildingthe futureby pointingoutthechanges

that humanity needs.Weshould continue to seek newmethods

and concepts to solve problems in societies such as Mexico,

as I have indicated in this presentation.My experiencehas

shownthatwehavetoseektheseanswersfrom the

indigenous

peoples of Mexico and the rest of the world.As they achieve

full autonomy,wewill have fewer conflictsand beable to live

a humaneand diverse life. Thiswill be our most important

contributionas applied anthropologists to humanity.

EI papel de la antropologia en los cambios

y retos del siglo

XXI

en

Mexico

y el

mundo

globalizado

Re s umen

La antropologia social mexicana siempre ha tenido una

orientation aplicada. Este hecho ha colocado frecuentemente

a los antropologos y a los principios antropologicosque se

alinean junto con los pueblos indios, en conflicto directo

con las politicas del estado y el proyecto nacional. Este arti-

culo presenta una reflexion de la historia de la antropologia

social y aplicada en Mexico, basada en mi experiencia y en

33 1



latrayectoria profesional en el INI, y en la

DGEI

de la

SEP.

A traves de estas reflexiones se exponen los riesgos y retos

queenfrentan losantropologoscuandose comprometencon

los

pueblos

indigenas a favor de su auto-determinacion y

autonomia individual y colectiva.

PALABRAS CLAVES: Antropologia aplicada

Mexico indigenas desarrollo

1

Agradecimientos

Es para mi un alto honor recibir este reconocimiento de

la Society for Applied Anthropology que lleva el nombre de

B. Malinowski (1938, 1982), quien fue uno de los grandes

impulsores de la antropologia aplicada y al mismo tiempo

uno de los cientificos sociales del siglo XX que trabajo en

distintas regiones del mundo. En Mexico lohizo al lado de mi

maestro Julio de la Fuente (2005), a quien deseo recordar en

estearticulo, ya que elme orientoy distinguio con su amistad

para luchar desde el campo de la antropologia a favor de los

pueblos originarios de Mexico y de America Latina.

Me siento muy emocionado de estar con ustedes esta

tarde,con tan distinguidos colegas y amigos que a lo largode

los afiosme han estimulado en el trabajo de la antropologia

aplicada. En especial, quisiera mencionar a Ted Downing, a

Martha Rees, a Tom Weaver, a Phil Dennis, a Carlos Velez,

Claudio Esteva Fabregat, Rodolfo Stavehagen, Margarita

Nolasco,Guillermo Bonfil, Leonel Duran, LourdesArizpe,

Susana Drucker, James Greenberg, Sandy Davis, Johnny

Murra, Erick Wolf, y en fin, a una comunidad cientifica de

Mexicoy EstadosUnidosqueha reflexionadoy sigue reflex-

ionando por el futuro de la humanidad,desde la perspectiva

deunconocimientode lasciencias sociales que ayudena con-

struirunmundodonde ladiversidadculturalse mantengay se

reproduzca en el contextode unapazhumana indispensable.

Demismaestros como Roberto Weitlaner(1964, 1973),

Juan Comas (1964), Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran (1973, 1982),

AlfonsoCaso(1973),JohnMurra (1972), EricWolf(1975),

Angel Palerm (1986, 2006), y muchos otros, recibi orient

ation y meabrieron el camino en la biisqueda de una teoria

y una practica para el cambio social y cultural con justicia,

dignidad y equidad, para queestos pueblos originarios par-

ticipen plenamente con autonomia y autodeterminacion en

un Mexico incluyente.

Tambien

quiero reconocera los Profesorese Investiga-

doresde laUniversidad de

Yucatan

comoGabriela

Vargas-

Cetina, Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz y Francisco Fernandez

Repetto quienes amablemente promovieron mi candidature

para recibir este reconocimientojunto con el apoyo de mis

colegasde lasdistintassedesdel CIESAS, encabezadospor

Virginia Garcia.

Agradezco aAllan Burns, ya que durante su presidencia

se meotorga este importante reconocimiento y asimismo las

palabras afectuosas demicolegaMargarita Dalton y elapoyo

demiscolegas de OaxacaMiguel Bartolome, Alicia Barabas

y

Marcos

Winter.

Quieroagradecerla presenciademi queridaesposaXi-

menaAvellaneda por su acompaflamiento durante todos los

momentos felices y en todos los momentos de problemas y

dificultades quehemoscompartidojuntosy tambienen todas

misactividades profesionales.Agradezcola presenciademis

hijos Daniel, David, Alejandro

y

Yuri,

demis

nietas Anita,

NataliayNina,porestaren estaceremonia y a todoslosque

integran mi familia.

2

n teceden tes

El trabajo de campo que realice para mis diversas in-

vestigaciones antropologicas, me ha permitido recapacitar

y deliberar el trasfondo del proyecto indigenista rnexicano

injertado en los programas de la Revolution Mexicana como

partedelEstado, loque dioorigenamuchascontradicciones

profundas. Por esta razon, muchos de los proyectos especifi-

cos presentados al gobierno nacional, por los antropologos,

entraron en conflicto y contradiction con los politicos del

sistema, lo que motivo que fracasaran y que una gran parte

de nosotros los antropologos nos enfrentaramos a los grupos

de poder regional y nacional, generando una profunda crisis

en las estructuras sociales confrontadas entre los pueblos

indigenas con el Estado y la sociedad nacional.

Los pueblos indigenas de Mexico han sido el centro de

mi actividad etnografica y etnologica, desde mis primeras

incursiones en el trabajo de campo en Tonanzintla (1961) y

Chipilo en el estado de Puebla (1956). De estos pueblos, he

aprendido la inmensa importancia que tienen sus derechos

colectivos frente a las grandes formas de explotacion, exclu

sion y racismo a que han sido sometidos en la larga noche

del colonialismoy del neocolonialismo

interne

Han luchado

permanentemente por ser reconocidos como pueblos y de

ser incluidos en el proyecto nacional, sin que esto se haya

logrado a cabalidad.

Loque laantropologia aplicada ha pretendido, desde sus

initios, es que los sujetos de sus estudios sean considerados

plenamente como seres humanos con derechos sociales,

culturales, tanto individuals como colectivos, al igual que

el resto de los pueblos del mundo. Se trata de buscar las vias

para una vida justa que elimine todas las formas de discrimi

nation y racismo que todavia se mantienen enMexicoy que

a partir de los estudios etnologicos y antropologicos se han

visibilizado. Precisamentees la biisquedade estos objetivos

centrales lo que coloca al antropologo en los riesgos que

representa este compromiso y que yo vivi en mi experiencia

y queseguramentemuchosde loscolegas queestan presentes

tambien han vivido, por ello quisiera recordar esta noche

algunos de estos eventos.

3 Complejidad y riesgos de la antropologia aplicada

en

Mex ico

En 1948 el Instituto Nacional Indigenista fue creado

como una agenda autonoma del gobierno, con presupuesto

y administration propios. Influidos enormemente por los

HUMAN ORGANIZATION



trabajos previos deManuel Gamio 1979 ,

Othon

deMendiza-

bal (1947), Alfredo Barreda Vazquez (1980), Moises Saenz

(1980)y Alfonso Caso, quien fue nombrado primer director,

seguido a su vez por Aguirre Beltran un medico entrenado

en la antropologia por Melville Herskovits (1952). Posteri-

ormente, la influencia de los antropologos en esta agenda

continuo dando la orientation antropologica a las tareas de

los Centros Coordinadores Indigenistas (1962).

Este Institute desde sus initios, tuvo como objetivo la

introduction de programas que elevaran las condiciones de

vida de las comunidades indigenas y que pudieran quebrar

el colonialismo interno; esto se pretendia lograr mediante la

construction de

carreteras, escuelas, centros

de

salud, centros

comunitarios y el mejoramiento en las tecnicas del cuidado

de los animates domesticos y de la agricultura. Se abrieron

Centros Coordinadores en varias partes del pais con el fin de

entrenar tanto a los antropologos, administradores como a

los propios indigenas.

Asi, se delego en los antropologos la funcion de refor-

zar la ideologia nacionalista de corte integracionista y de

servir como medios para normar los programas de desar-

rollo, para art icular y reforzar a los pueblos etnicos en el

proyecto capitalista dependiente de las nuevas metropolis.

Bajo el esquema teor ico de la acul turacion, como tesis

central de la antropologia dominante expuesta por Gon

zalo Aguirre Beltran. y por el proyecto de la integration

nacional como ideologia dominante en la cual habiamos

sido formados en la Escuela de Antropologia, no podia-

mos percibir el fen6meno etnico como proyecto propio y

autonomo. Precisamente, nuestra funcion como cientificos

sociales era trabajar en favor del proyecto estatal y no de

losgrupos etnicos. Elesquema de laaculturacionexpuesto

por Herskovits en 1939era el modelo perfecto parajustifi-

car el proyectodel nacionalismo rnexicano, planteadopor

Aguirre Beltran en el proceso de aculturacion (1982).Nue-

vamente los esquemas externos, procedentes de la escuela

culturalista norteamericana, Servian de molde y por ello

eran sancionados positivamente en el mundo academico

international. A partir de este esquema, los politicos de

Estado y los antropologos organicos institucionalizaron

la antropologia como parte de las politicas publicas del

Estado, a traves del Instituto Nacional deAntropologiae

Historia y su agencia formadora de dichos intelectuales,

la EscuelaNacional deAntropologia,Felipe Montemayor

(1971), el Instituto Nacional Indigenista (actualmente

CDI), y las direcciones de Culturas Populares y de Edu

cation Indigena de la SEP.

Laesperanza que tuvieron y tienen estas elites criollas de

que la antropologia lograra modificar las estructuras micror-

regionales, sin pensar que el cambio en dichas estructuras

en las regiones interetnicas implica tambien el cambio de la

estructuramisma de la sociedad national y del orden geo-

politicoemanadode esta relation. Seplanteanmodificaciones

sociales en los niveles ideologicos sin que estas afecten los

intereses economicos, politicosy sociales de los

grupos

de

poder dominantes.

VOL. 70, NO. 4, WINTER 2011

Ingrese al Instituto Nacional Indigenista en el aflo de

1961 a mi regreso al Distrito Federal, despues del trabajo

que realice en Ciudad Sahagiin (Nahmad, 1961). Despues

de una oferta que me habia hecho el Maestro Alfonso Caso,

cuandoungrupo de estudiantes lo fuimosa ver parapedirle

apoyo para asistir al Congreso de Americanistas. Consulte

con el Mtro. Ricardo Pozas, y sin titubear me sugirio que

entraraal InstitutoNacional Indigenista,ya queahi trabajaban

excelentes elementosy seria una importante experiencia para

mi carrera profesional.

Acepte el puesto de investigador antropologo con un

limitado ingreso y fui asignado a trabajar en el proyectode la

Montaflade Guerrero. Entanto se organizaba dichoprograma,

Juliode laFuentese encargode orientarmeenelconocimiento

de la institution. Siempre fueunhombreserioy profundamente

critico, disentia del esquema y del modelo que seguia Alfonso

Casoeneltrato con los indigenas,y consideraba suactitudmuy

elitista y patemalista, locual se reflejaba en el esquema teorico

y aplicado de laantropologia. Desde su perspectiva de abogado

y con un enorme prestigio como arqueblogo y politico (Caso

constituia una gran vaca sagrada en el campo intelectual,

asociado organicamente al campo politico).

Un dia, Julio de la Fuenteme cito en su modesto depar-

tamento de la colonia Juarez y me indico que Caso daria un

discurso durante la celebration del Dia del Indio; el me daria

unas notas y yo escribiria el discurso. Me enfrento de lleno

al tema de los indios y de la politica indigenista. Me probo

como antropologo y conocio asi mi position con respecto

a este t ema. Ante rio rmente habia s ido a si st en te de Robe rto

Weitlaner en el INAH, quien siempre se habia mostrado en

contra de la politica indigenista oficial; respetaba mucho a

Caso personalmente, pero no estabade acuerdo con elmodelo

rnexicano de integration y asimilacion. Habia convivido de

cerca con varios grupos etnicos y aprendio a amarlos y res-

petarlos, hablaba el otomiy estaba estudiando el chinanteco;

su postura me confronto de inmedia to con las tesis sobre el

indigenismo de Alfonso Caso.

Juliode laFuentereleyoelmanuscrito queprepare enuna

o dossemanasy constituyoel motivopara revisar criticamente

el proyecto indigenista, asimismome previno de los graves

problemas por los que atravesaba la institution. Tambien

habiamos de los riesgos del indigenismo y de la necesidad

de perfilarun esquema teorico, asi como su aplicabilidaden

el campo. Me relato los graves conflictos que habian tenido

lugar en el Patrimonio Indigena delValledel Mezquital con

Lauro Ortega y con el general Corona del Rosal; tambien los

incidentes queel yGonzaloAguirre Beltran habian tenidoen

laDirection General deAsuntos Indigenas, cuandoel presi-

dente Avila Camacho habia desintegrado el Departamento

Autonomo de Asuntos Indigenas para transformarlo en una

Direction de la Secretaria de Education Publica y los habia

nombrado para dirigirlo. Mas tarde, al regresar de un viaje a

un congreso en Europa, al que asistieron los dos, ya habian

sido sustituidos por maestros de filiation asimilacionistas y

articulados a la corrienteVasconcelista del SindicatoNacional

de Maestros (SNTE).

33 3



Al leersus articulosy sus librosempece a profundizaren

la

complejidad

del temade las relaciones interetnicas y de las

corrientes antropologicas enfrentadas alsistemapolitico. El libro

basico en ese

momento era

el del Proceso de

Aculturacion

de

Gonzalo

Aguirre Beltran,

quienhabiasidorectorde laUniver-

sidadVeracruzana y entoncesera diputadofederal del

Partido

Revolucionario Institutional. Fu e a traves de Julio de la Fuente

quecomence a

informarme

de losgravesconflictos quehabia

tenidoen Chiapascon la poblacionde San Cristobaly con los

caciques aristocratas que mantenian el monopolio del alcohol

y sus alianzascon losgobemadores.Asimismo,me confioun

documentosecretoacercadelalcoholismoqueel habiarealizado

y quehastarecientementefuepublicado Monopolio delAguar

dientey elAlcoholismo en losAltos deChiapas del antropologo

Julio de la Fuente, que fue publicado hasta el afio2009.

Estudio

de

la zona mixe

Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran habia regresado al INI como

subdirector general y, en esa ocasion, tuve la oportunidad de

conocerloy solicitarle su orientation en el estudio al que habia

sido comisionado. Con recursos limitados para la realization

de esteme traslade a Mitla, Oaxaca, y desde ahi emprendi el

recorridoportoda laregionmixe.Me acompanaba como guia

e informanteel companero Juventino Sanchez, unjoven mixe

del pobiado de Santa Maria Huitepec, inquieto intelectual y

politicode la regionque emigroa la ciudaddeMexicoy se

habia enrolado en las filas del Partido Popular Socialista;

mantenia una estrecha amistad con Alejandro Gascon Mer-

cado, quien lo habia recomendado para proporcionarme in

formation.Alejandroeraen eseentoncessecretarioparticular

deVicenteLombardo Toledano, ideologo del socialismo en

laepocadeCardenas, fundadorde laCTMy ligadoporpar-

entesco directo con Alfonso Caso, ya que su esposa, Maria

Lombardo, era hermana de Vicente. Conviene recordar,

tambien, que un grupo numeroso de funcionarios medios con

mayorconcienciasocialfueron incorporadosal INIpor reco-

mendaciones de

Vicente

Lombardo. ConJuventino Sanchezy

conJaimeOlivera,arrieroy comerciantezapotecodeMitla,

recorrimos durante tres meses cada uno de losmunicipiosy

gran parte de las comunidades y poblados mixes.

Durante este tiempo se desarrollo una estrecha conviven-

c ia con los

miembros

de

dos

etnias diferentes de Oaxaca.

Reflexionabamos

conjuntamente losproblemas de lospueblos

mixey zapoteco, y durantemuchashorasemergiaen nuestras

conversaciones la ideade unaminorianacional.Lapresencia

y arbitrariedadesdedos lideres-caciques de la region,Daniel

Martinez y Luis Rodriguez, agudizaban el replanteamiento

del proyectomixe y su relation con la sociedad nacionaly

regional;ellos formulabanun nivel de aglutinacionetnica de

todos los municipios y comunidades, asi como una action

politica de autoafirmacion y de reconocimiento de un nivel

de autonomia frente al gobierno estatal. Lasconfrontaciones

intemas y las divisiones por la hegemonia de los centros

geopoliticos, Ayutla y Zacatepec, que habian desplazado a

Totontepec, no permitian la consolidation del proyecto.

33 4

Las reflexiones sostenidas con las autoridades mixes y

la catalogacion de sus necesidades y demandas, asi como

su inclusion en el proyecto de desarrollo regional integral,

fueron aceptadascomo unaexpectativade aperturamayoral

exterior.

Losaspectoseconomicosdelestudionospermitieron

definir el sistema interno de intercambios economicos y su

articulation con el sistema zapoteco de comercio ambulante,

estos como intermediarios del sistema de concentration y

acumulacion del principal productode intercambio,el cafe,

que estaba asociado al mercado international. Estructural-

menteestabanintegradosalsistemacapitalistamundialy solo

se les concebia como productores primarios en

un.

modelo

neocolonial, ya que el sistema creado en el periodo colonial

solo se reforzo y se consolido.

Las platicas con mi compafieromixe eran fructiferas y

estimulantes: analizamos conjuntamente las caracteristicas

de su sociedad y la articulation a la sociedadcapitalista, asi

como el tema de las clases sociales, el cual, para Juventino,

envoi via todo el planteamiento. Esta conversation no cabia

dentro de las oficinas centrales del INI, el proyecto estaba

definido muy claramente por Alfonso Caso. A mi regreso

y durante el t rabajo de gabinete y de redaction, Julio de la

Fuente fue mi constante inter locutor y el unico con quien

podia sostener una discusion academica. Analizamos el rol

de los emigrados indigenas y su papel como observadores

y analistas de su propia realidad y de su participation en

el proyecto. Recuerdo muy bien su planteamiento de que

los miembros de grupos etnicos ya educados y aculturados

dejaban de ser indigenas, asi como el concepto de que la

identidad etnica mayoritaria no operaba y si en cambio la

identidad comunitaria, para ello exponia el caso deYalalag.

Las discusiones fueron fecundas, pero no me quedaban

muy tiaras en la exposicion de mi informe, en el cual por

sugerencias del propio Julio serviria como tesis profesional.

Al concluir la preparation de mi informe lo presente ante

Aguirre Beltran y fue aceptado de inmediato. Caso estaba

enteradodemisactividadescomo investigadory losreportes

le parecian positivos.

En

es e afio de

1963

el interes

se

cent raba en la

termi

nation del edificio para las oficinas generales, de tal manera

que las demandas que traia de la region mixe ni siquiera

fueron analizadas o discutidas. No habia presupuesto y solo

en el futuro se preveria la apertura de un nuevo Centro Co-

ordinador para esta region.

Nunca antes habia estadoyo ligado directamente a mo-

vilizacionespoliticas ni habia participado en ningiinpartido.

Mi interes por la antropologia habia surgido de mis estudios

iniciales de trabajo social y siempre pense realizarme en

servira las clases desposeidas de mi pais. Habia vivido toda

mi infanciaen laciudad deOrizaba, Veracruz,y siendo hijo

de un comerciante inmigrante de Siria habia experimentado

siempre la vivencia bicultural y el bilingilismo. Este hecho,

aunado al de no compartir la religion mayoritaria catolica

sino judia, me hizo percibir afectivamente el entorno indi

gena nahua de esta ciudad dominada por la sociedad criolla

e hispana; mis companeros de la primaria habian sido en

HUMAN

ORGANIZATION



su mayoria indigenas con apellidos tan dificiles de pronun-

ciar corno el mio. Estos hechos biograficos me permitieron

tener una dimension de compromiso frente a lo diferente y

lodiscriminatorio del sistema social. Mas tarde, gracias a mi

participation en lostrabajos de investigation sobre psicologia

profunda entre las madres obreras del D.F., que dirigia el

doctor Eric Fromm (1970, 1977), comprendi el fenomeno

de fondo y por ello decidi trabajar para y por los grupos mi-

noritarios indigenas. Sin embargo, me encontre con muchos

conflictos y problemas en este labor.

Considero importante relatarun grave episodio sucedido

en la misma epoca, para ilustrar hasta que grado llegaba la

corruption e involucramiento de los empleados del INI en

contubernio con los grupos de poder locales y estatales, a

costa de los recursos legitimamente destinados a las comu

nidades indigenas. Diez aflos atras, el ingenio de Catmis y

la hacienda de Santa Rosa habian sido abandonados por sus

duenos, los Medina Alonso, quienes sin embargo se oponian

a entregarlas a las comunidades que deseaban dedicarlas a la

agricultura. Esta familia de terratenientes estaba encompa-

drada con el expresidente de la Republica, Miguel Aleman,

de donde obtenian su apoyo, ademas de ser los dirigentes de

la Uni6n Nacional de Productores de Cafia de Aziicar, razon

por lacual eran temidos localy regionalmente. Los indigenas

de las dos unidades y los trabajadores demandaban la repar

tition de las tierras de acuerdo con el codigo agrario, lo cual

era denegado permanentemente.

Asignamos al abogado del centra la responsabilidad de

promovery agilizar los tramites ante la delegation agraria en

el estadoy ante el DepartamentoAgrario. Envista de que se

empezaba a mover el expediente y de la factibilidad de una

resolution favorable, el gobernador del estado, Luis Torres

Mesias,mecito para que dejara de apoyar a los indigenas y

hacerlos desistir en sus propositos, a lo cual nos negamos.

Por nuestra firme conviction de persistir hasta las ultimas

consecuencias, el gobierno del estado moviliz6 a la policia

judicial, detuvo a dos de los lideres ancianos (hmen) de la

comunidad y los consigno ante el Ministerio Publico. Para

poder obtener su libertad se requeria en aquel entonces de

unafianzade 25000 pesos y,dado que en el presupuestodel

centra existia una partida para la ayuda a las comunidades

indigenas, consultamos anteel consejotecnicoy esteaprobo

ladecision deotorgarunprestamo a lacomunidad paraliberar

a sus lideres.El Dr.Caso apoyaba migestion.

AIotorgar la fianza, el enojo del secretario tesorero, de

loshacendadosy delgobiernoestatal llegoa sus limitescon

el consiguiente endurecimiento de las relaciones interinsti-

tucionales. Grandes

inversiones

se daban a los

hacendados

para el plan de exportation de verduras a los Estados Uni-

dos y a traves del Plan Chac para el desarrollo fruticola de

exportation. Finalmente, despues de una larga lucha interna

y con el gobierno del estado, este amenazo con detenerme

y ponerme fuera de Yucatan. Ante la gravedad del asunto,

Alfonso Casodecidio venir a Merida y en una comida intima

conel gobernadorsenegocio laentregadepartede lastierras

a las comunidades y mi salida de Yucatan.

VOL. 70,NO. 4, WINTER

20II

Ganaderos

y

madereros

vs los

indios

Durante mi gestion como director de los Centros Coordi

nadores Cora-Huichol y el purepecha de Cheran, Michoacan,

los hechos se fueron repitiendo. Fui madurando la creencia de

que launica forma de luchar era la organization politica de los

indigenas como grupos de presion, asi como la preparation

continua de las nuevas generaciones en la clarification del

problema. Mis discusiones conel lider Huichol Pedro deHaro

y su conception clara y objetiva, confrontada con la lucha en

la que se vio enfrentado durante toda su vida en defensa de

su pueblo, y sus relatos durante los afios pasados en la carcel

deTepic, para proponer la organizaci6n de los ganaderos hu-

icholes como una fuerza que enfrentara a las organizaciones

ganaderas de los tehuaris (mestizos). El enfrentamiento fue

directo con el gobernador del estado de Jalisco, Francisco

Medina Ascencio, quien asumio la defensa de los ganaderos

invasores del territorio huichol; por el contrario, el gobierno

de Nayarit apoyo la idea de impulsar la organization de los

indigenas y que ellos asumieran su propia defensa frente a

las agresiones cotidianas del exterior.

Cuando

estuve

en la direction

de l

Centra.Coordinador

Tarasco en 1969 constate nuevamente la fragilidad de los

proyectos de desarrollo de la comunidad impulsados por

Caso,

los

cuales se habian

realizado

en Turicuaro como

parte de la exhibit ion que se ofrecio a los delegados al V

Congreso Interamericano Indigenista, celebrado en 1968 en

Patzcuaro, Michoacan. Por ello decidi que cambiaramos el

proyecto hacia la organization de los comuneros de Tanaco,

para controlar el aserradero que los caciques de Patzcuaro

tenian en su explotacion; a causa de esta decision el enfrenta

miento fue violento al interior del INI y a nivel regional,

ya que los indigenas purepechas, con sus propios fondos

comunales depositados en el Fondo Nacional de Fomento

Ejidal, asumieran la explotacion de sus propios bosques y la

administration de su aserradero que estaba en manos de los

madereros regionales de Patzcuaro. Sus jovenes iniciaron el

manejo comercial, la distribution y venta de la madera en el

mercado nacional. Estos sucesos causaron gran efervescencia

regional y los contratistas se ampararon en sus conexiones

con las autoridades federales forestales y con los politicos

michoacanos, algunos hasta usaban la figura del general

Cardenas para mantener sus privilegios.

Despues, los indigenas se volvieron marginados. En

1976,cuando Jose Lopez Portillo tomo posesion como presi-

dente de la republica, habia que decidir a quien nombrar en

el cargo de director del INI; el recien nombrado secretario

de Education, PorfirioMuflozLedo, apoyaba la designation

de un antropologo que representara un cambio en la politica

indigenista, pero el presidente opto por aglutinar el INI en un

proyecto dirigido a los marginados del pais, donde situaba a

los grupos etnicos, llamado COPLAMAR; de esta manera,

a partir del INI se conformaria el nuevo organismo para

el cual fue designado como director Ignacio Ovalle, quien

habia sido secretario particular del presidente Luis Echever-

ria y secretario de Programacion y Presupuesto al final de

33 5

nahmad ho 2011-libre

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