Cheran, the adaptation of an autonomous community in Michoacan, Mexico Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Castile, George Pierre 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 04/10/2021 07:44:28 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565273 CHERAN: THE ADAPTATION OF AN AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY IN MICHOACAN, MEXICO by George Pierre Castile A Dissertation 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 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by ______ CmorgA Pierre Castile_______________________ entitled CHERAN; THE ADAPTATION OF AN AUTONCMOUS__________ COMMUNITY IN MICHOACAN, MEXICO____________________ be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Donho-r of Philosophy______________________________ / J / / ^ 17 ^ dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* X ‘V c - — ^IS' (‘{T2— (hM&X />T. This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate’s adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor­ rowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re­ production 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 his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the in­ terests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: PREFACE The project reported here is based on research conducted in Mexico over a period of approximately one year in 1969-1970• Nine months of that time was spent gathering ethnographic data on a high­ land village of Tarascan Indians in Michoacan. In addition, supportive research of a documentary and preparatory character was undertaken in Mexico City and in the town of Patzcuaro, an administrative and market­ ing center in the lake region of the Tarascan area. While conducting the field portion of the research, residence of my wife and myself was on the grounds of the regional Centro Coordinador of the Institute National Indigenista, newly established on the edge of the community. In addition to the people of the com­ munity who accepted my presence and actively cooperated with my inquiries, I must acknowledge the aid of the personnel of the INI Centro (particularly the director, Salmon Nahmad) who made available their time and facilities and much eased my task. An intellectual debt is owed to the entire Department of Anthropology at The University of Arizona, and especially to Edward H. Spicer, who taught me anthropology and guided this dissertation through the early stages. Special thanks are given to Richard A. Thompson who brought this work from crude draft to finished product, and to T. Patrick Culbert, who read it thoroughly. iii Appreciation is due for the financial support given to the research by the Comins Fund and The University of Arizona for a pre­ doc toral fellowship. In addition to the funding of the research and the persons named above, I must acknowledge the aid of Gonzalo Aguirre-Beltran, who provided introduction to the community; Sharon Urban who did the illustrations in this report; and Hazel Gillie who typed the manuscript. Finally, my thanks to my wife Marilyn, who helped throughout and knows the trials involved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS................ viii LIST OF T A B L E S ........................................... lx ABSTRACT .................................................. x 1. I N T R O D U C T I O N .............................................. 1 Acculturation - Culture Contact ............... .. 1 The Culture of the C o n q u e r e d .............. .. 7 Enclavement and the Autonomous Community ..... 8 The Rise of the E n c l a v e ............ 11 2. CHERAN IN C O N T E X T .......................................... 27 The Tarascan Sierra .............................. 27 Tarascans .............................................. 31 Conquest and Change ........ .......... 36 Anthropological Research in the Tarascan Area . UU S u m m a r y ................. ............................ U6 3. CHERAN IN 1 9 1 * 0 ............................................ 1*8 The Arrangement of D a t a ............................... 55 : Cheran as Closed Corporate C o m m u n i t y ................ 56 Environmental Isolation . ....................... 56 Features of C l o s u r e .................. 60 Surplus-Consuming Subsistence Economy ....... 63 Stratification and Differential Accumulation . 67 Leveling Mechanisms - The Consumption of Surplus • 70 Interdependence and Equalitarian Leveling ........ 76 Boundary Maintenance ...................... 83 Goodness of F i t ............................... 86 I*. CHANGING CHERAN: THE DECLINE OF I S O L A T I O N ............... 89 The R o a d ....................................... 89 The Wheels of C h e r a n ............................. 9l* 11 La F l e c h a " ................................. « . 98 Cheran as Market Center ............................... 102 The Octava Market ....................... ..... 103 v vi TABLE OF CCNTENTS— Continued Page The T i e n d a s ...................... 110 CHANGING CHERAN: THE AGENTS OF C H A N G E ................. 120 The Protestants ....................... ....... 120 Service Agropequario ............................. • 12h The INI Centro Coordinador ......................... 133 Roads and Construction .............. ..... 139 Pigs, Potatoes and Profits ........... llil Medicines and Matasanos ......................... Ib5 Schools in Cheran ................................... l£2 The Global V i l l a g e ............................. 163 6. THE OPENING COMMUNITY: LAND AND L A B O R ................. 171. Land and Population........................ 171 Population and Migration .............. 181| The "Otro L a d o " ............................... 187 Treasure and Wealth ........ .......... 190 Migration in Mexico ............... ....... 192 Puentes De Trabajo — Further Alternatives ........ 195> Merchants and Entrepreneurs............ 19S> 7. THE OPENING COMMUNITY: STRUCTURE AND STABILITY........ 199 The Civil/Religious Hierarchy.................. 199 Fiestas, Cargueros and Comisio'nados............ 203 : The Political Community........................ 2lU Caciquismo and Consensus ....................... 220 The Decline and F a l l ........................... 222 National Linkages ....................... .... 231 8. A PATTERN OF ADAPTATION................................. 235 Quantification of National Integration ............. 239 Economic L i n k a g e .................. 21*0 Infrastructural Linkages ....................... 2itl Social Structural Linkages ..................... 2hl Value Consistency............................... 2U2 Part or Whole? .......... ................. .2h3 Economic Allocation ......................... • • 2U5 Enculturation .................. 2U6 Authority Allocation ........................ 2li7 S o l i d a r i t y ................................... 2l|8 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS —Continued. Page Folk-Urban?............ 2h9 The Closed Corporate Community ............ 2$1 An Adaptive Model for Change ....... .......... 2£6 Pressures for Change ........ ............. 260 Opportunities for Change ....................... 26U The Means to C h a n g e ............................... 265> Regulation of Change .. .......... ....... 26? Structural and Ideological Adjustment ............... 269 Implications and Problems................ 273 LIST OF R E F E R E N C E S .......................... 281 LIST (F ILLUSTRATIONS Figure , Plage 1. The contemporary Tarascan area. State of Michoacan, Republic of Mexico . .................................... 29 2. Cheran 1970 .............................................. E>2 3. The Octava M a r k e t ............................. .. 10U U. I.N.I. Centro Coordinador ............................... 137 Population pyramid - Cheran i960 (Mexico 1963) ...... 186 6. Formal structure of Cheran g o v e r n m e n t ................... 216 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Seasonal cost of potato cultivation with fertilizers for one h e c t a r e ................................. .. 127 2. Cost of maize cultivation without fertilization and with o x e n ................................. .. 128 3. Cost of maize cultivation with fertilizer and with use of tractor ...................................... .. 129 ix