Introduction/Home Page by Ira Jacknis Introduction to Tzintzuntzan by the Anthropologist George Foster/ Map of Tzintzuntzan/ The First Fieldwork: 1944–46 Mariano Cornelio, a Tarascan fisherman/farmer, in his boat Vicente Rendon and his compadre Salvador Villagomes harvesting maize Vicente Rendón on the way to market with pottery Family at the grave on All Saints’ Day Jesús Peña making candles Tarascan masked dancers, "owner" and "watcher", at the Octava of Corpus Christi Highway victim Changes in Tzintzuntzan: 1945–79 and 1979-88 View towards the northwest side of Lake Pátzcuaro Yácatas, reconstructed ruins on the east edge of the village Doña Micaela González, in her small patio Melecio Hernández, husband of Micaela González, making an ox yoke Micaela González’s house; in front are her daughter Virginia Pichu, and William Iler, a UC Berkeley graduate student The new second floor on Micaela González’s house; Mary Foster on the balcony Dolores (Lola) Pichu and her younger sister Virginia Pichu, daughters of Micaela González and her first husband, Pedro Pichu Pachita Villagómez and her husband Faustino Peña Doña Andrea Medina, her daughter-in-law Pachita Villagómez, and her granddaughter Lucía Lupe Calderon and Eustolio Campos coming out of the parish church after their wedding Florentina Dominga, a Tarascan woman, with a midwife’s offering La Soledad chapel The arrival of fireworks (La Obra) at La Parroquia, the Parish church Death dancer, Salvador Maturino Red devil dancer Female attendants of the king and queen figures, Rosa Lara Group of spies entering the house of Ambrosio Zaldívar, to pay homage to the district saint (barrio santo) and to be fed; Holy Wednesday A spy; Holy Wednesday A penitente, with his assistant (cirineo); Good Friday Fish dancer and net in the procession of trades; Corpus Christi Little Old Man Dance (Los Viejitos) House façade decorated for a posada procession; before breaking the piñatas; Christmas season Tarascan women making tortillas by hand, cooked on a wood fire Lola Pichu making tortillas in a press, inside her present old-style kitchen Amalia Felices making pots, by joining two mold-made halves and smoothing the inside Doña Andrea Medina at the kiln in her yard Otilia Zavala, wife of Wenceslado Peña, glazing pottery Pachita Villagómez painting a fish design on a large platter, before glazing Salvador Cuirís and his pottery delivery truck Pottery sellers in the church atrium; Fiesta of Nuestro Señor del Rescate The store, "La Central," and the plaza on the main highway, looking south Lola Pichu inside her family’s store; Christmas Changes in Tzintzuntzan: 1988–2000 George Foster Biography Tzintzuntzan Tzintzuntzan is a Spanish-speaking peasant community of 2500 people, on the east shore of Lake Pátzcuaro, 230 miles west of Mexico City on a good paved highway. The lake, perhaps the most beautiful in Mexico, lies at an elevation of 7000 feet, surrounded by extinct volcanic peaks rising to 12,000 feet. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, beginning in 1519, Tzintzuntzan was the capital of the Tarascan Empire, the most powerful cultural and political group in west central Mexico. Its importance is still attested to by five circular pyramids rising above the village. Briefly during the early colonial period, Tzintzuntzan was slated to be the seat of the bishopric for west central Mexico, but the church fathers soon thought better of such ambitious plans. Still, a major Franciscan monastery functioned there for well over 2 centuries, and colonial church buildings cast their distinctive stamp on the village. Spaniards and their Mexican-born descendants—increasingly mixed with the indigenous peoples of the areas—have lived in the village since the 1530s; church registers, well into the nineteenth century, distinguish entries as Ciudadano (of Spanish descent) or Yndio (Indian, Tarascan speaking). Although Tarascan appears to have been the dominant language until after 1850, for the past century Spanish has been the principal language. Today the 10% of the population that can speak Tarascan represents recent migrants from adjacent Indian villages. Tzintzuntzan is a pottery-making and trading village, in which farming is of secondary importance, best characterized as mestizo by race and peasant by cultural typology (1979b). George Foster Professor Emeritus of Anthropology UC Berkeley The First Fieldwork: 1944-46 The initial fieldwork on which this study is based took place between late 1944 and mid-1946, when I spent altogether about eight months in Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán, Mexico, dividing my time between the village and teaching duties at the National School of Anthropology in Mexico City. Sr. Gabriel Ospina of Bogotá, Columbia, then a graduate student at the National School, spent about fourteen months at Tzintzuntzan during this period, working as my research associate. Our findings are described in Empire's Children: The People of Tzintzuntzan, published in 1948 by the Smithsonian Institution, my employer during the periods of field work and manuscript preparation (1967). For more information on George Foster's publications visit: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Anthro/foster/pub/fo40.html For more information on George Foster and his research visit: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Anthro/foster/index.html Visit the The George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ANTH/ CONTINUE >