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The Hispanic acculturation of the Gila River Pimas Item Type Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic); text Authors Ezell, Paul H.(Paul Howard), 1913- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 12:40:07 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/190935 Copyrighted by PauIHoward Ezell 1956 THE HISPANIC ACCULTURATION OF THE GILA RWER PIMAS by j4-'V Paul HEzell A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Graduate College, University of Arizona 1955 Approved: Director ofhesis This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made.Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the dean of the Graduate College when in their judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship.In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: THE HISPANIC ACCULTURATION OF THE GILA RIVERPIMAS by paul H.Ezell Abstract When the Gila Pimas came into contact with Hispanic culture at the close of the 17th century, they had a relatively stable culture and economy. Subsistence was based on irrigation agriculture,supple- mented by hunting and gathering. Except in basketry and weaving, their technology was simple.There were no full-time specialists0 The social organization was based on the patrilineal extended family, com- plicated by forms of relationships which cut across family and village lines. Leadership was just beginning to extend beyond the village0 The interests of the society were focused on curing, social relationships, and agriculture.Hospitality and peace were the two discernible values of the society. During the one hundred sixty years of Hispanic contact, the Gila Pimas were in an advantageous position in their relationships with the Whites.No immigrant establishment was ever located within their territory, and they were valued as one of the defenses of Sonora against encroachment from the north.Contacts between agents of the two cultures occurred intermittently and inan atmosphere of equality, rather than continuously and under conditions of domination.The Gila Pimas were thus never forced to live under two sets of values, andwere able to choose what of Hispanic culture they wished to accept.They chose elements which they deemed desirable for their material benefit,re- jecting others offered them.Consequently, Gila Pima culture was en- riched by the Hispanic contacts, and readiness to adopt new cultural traits was stimulated. The continuity of the culture was uninterrupted, however, and no major reorientation took place, although the develop- ment of an orientation toward war was in process. Culture contact under those conditions has been defined as the si- tuation of non-directed acculturation,The response of the Gila Pimas to that kind of acculturation situation was to develop a pattern of ad- justment designated as selective acceptance with no major reorienta - tion,and it is suggested that such a pattern of adjustment isonly possible in a situation of non-directed acculturation, PRE FACE Sources The following study of culture changeamong the Gila Pimas of central Arizona as a result of theircontact with Hispanic culture previous to the middle of the 19th century isbased on documentary material, both published and unpublished. Whilea few anthropolog- ical reports were used, most of the material consistsof the accounts of travelers, both civil and ecclesiastical, and of thereports of government, military, and church officials. The bulk of the archival material for the Spanish periodwas found in the Archivo General de la Nacion and the Archivo Franciscano section of the Biblioteca Nacional in Mexico City. Additional material was obtained from the libraries of the Escuela Nacional de Antropolo- gia and the Museo Nacional and the Centro de Historia de Chapultepec in Mexico City, and from the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, California, the mission archives in Altar, Sonora, and the Arizona Pioneers? Historical Society collections in Tucson, Arizona.Copies of some items were obtained by correspond- ence with the Eugene C. Barker Texas History Center, Austin, and from the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. 11 Most of the unpublishedmaterial for the Mexican periodwas found in the BancroftLibrary, in the Centro deHistoria de Chapul- tepee, and the ArchivoMilitar, Mexico, D. F,Other items were secured from the ArizonaPioneers' Historical Society and the iblioteca y Museo del Estado inHermosillo, Sonora, The early American materialwas obtained through the coopera- tion of the Bancroft Library, theArizona Pioneers' Historical Society, the Yale University Library, NewHaven, Connecticut, the National Archives in Washington, D. C., and theMunk Library at the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, In working out the historical reconstructionan evaluation of each report has been necessary. All the documentary sources have been considered as of two classes: primary and secondary.The primary accounts, i. e., of persons writing of their direct contacts with the Pimas, have been given precedence in evidential value. Secondary sources, those which retail what would be classed in law as hearsay information, have had to be weighed more carefully - - the number of times removed they were from the primary source, the purpose for which they were writing, whether what they wrote could be deter- mined to be an inference on their own account or a retailing of the data given by a primary source.It has been necessary to use these 111 latter sources becauseoften the primarysource, while known to exist or to have existed, is not availablefor one reasonor another.Trans- lations of first handaccounts have been acceptedas primary sources, although the original has beenconsulted wherever possible. The documentary data have beensupplemented and checked at some points by information obtained froma few old persons on the reservation who have been able to recall things toldto them in their youth by elderly persons who had been bornbefore the Americans cameo Most of this information was obtained from Kisto Morago, 84 years old, of Sacaton; Alice Harvey, about 80,of Blackwater; Winfield Scott, about 76, of Gila Crossing; Mrs. Andrew Pablo, 65, of Casa Blanca; Antonio B0 Juan, about 75, of Santan; and Sam .1 Randall, 78, of Santan. Analysis The analysis of the historical material has been carried out using the categories set up in the Gila-Sonoran ethnology file in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, as a guide. Some adaptations have been necessary, as would probably be the case when attempting to apply this system of categories to the analysis of the culture of any specific group, either in the past or the present. The eventual purpose of integration of this study with iv others dealing with thesame general geographical and cultural setting lbetter served thusthan by attempting to setup a system solely for this study, Asa matter of fact, it was found thatan earlier attempt to do so resulted ina rather closely parallel system, differingprinci- pally in the labels chosen forthe categories. As eachaccount was read the data containedwere noted under the appropriate categories; at the same time, inferences whichcame to mind were also noted, at least for later consideration in the lightof more evidence and reflec- tion. Orthography for Pima Words Wherever possible or convenient the symbols used byRussell 1 (1908:16) have been used in rendering Pima words in this study. Changes have been made, however, due to a number ofreasons, One of these is the variation in the speech sounds heard. As the Gila Pimas themselves recognized differences in pronounciation between villages and between generations, the same words recorded in differ- ent villages, or from different generations, might show variations, Another cause of variation in recording is the hearer's own linguistic background - - I probably heard the speech differently from Russell. 1.Russell, Frank: The Pima Indians.26th Annual Report of the Bureau of American EthnologyWashington, D. C. 1908. V A second cause of change in recording is the lack of usable symbols on the typewriter. Where Russell used symbols not on the keyboard of a typewriter, it has been necessary to seek substitutes.At the same 1 time, the practice followed by Kurath (1945)and Willenbrink as 2 used by Curtin (1949),of using combinations of symbols to indicate the sounds for which there is no symbol in the English alphabet, has been found unsatisfactory where such combinations may be confused with dipthongs.In preparing this orthographic system, therefore, the symbols (other than letters) available on the typewriter have been adapted as pronounciation aids to indicate different sounds in Pima represented by the same English letter.The orthography is based on the analysis of the phonemes of about two hundred and thirty words. It was nearly always possible to record them on tape at the same time that they were written down. A few were gathered casually, but over two hundred of the words were obtained from Kisto Morago at Sacaton, on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The symbols used for writing Gila 'ima words in this study are given at the left below.Each is followed by an English word Kurath, William: A Brief Introduction to Papago, a Native Language of Arizona.University of Arizona Social Science Bulletin No.

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