Robert Redfield’s fresh approach to community studies added new dimensions to social anthropology. This early work indicates the broad and humanistic outlook which was always to distinguish the great social scientist’s thought. The physical, social, and spiritual life of this Mayan community are blended together in a book that was, and remains, important for anthropologists and interesting to the general reader.
Author(s): Robert Redfield, Alfonso Villa Rojas
Series: Phoenix Books
Edition: 1st Phoenix edition
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Year: 1962
Language: English
Pages: 236
City: Chicago, London
Preface ......Page 10
Gradients of civilization in Yucatan ......Page 12
The intermediate villages ......Page 13
The position of Chan Kom ......Page 15
The location of Chan Kom: Communications ......Page 17
The spatial limits of the native’s world ......Page 19
The temporal limits of the native’s world ......Page 22
Population changes ......Page 24
Vitality ......Page 25
Language ......Page 26
Literacy ......Page 28
The pre-hispanic period ......Page 29
The Spanish Conquest ......Page 30
After the Conquest ......Page 31
The War of the Castes ......Page 33
Colonization ......Page 35
The Revolution of 1910-1921 ......Page 36
Chan Kom becomes a pueblo ......Page 38
Chapter III. Tools and Techniques ......Page 42
Houses ......Page 46
Domestic equipment ......Page 48
Food and cookery ......Page 50
Clothing ......Page 56
Agriculture ......Page 57
Cattle and poultry ......Page 62
Bees and bee-keeping ......Page 63
Quantity of maize production ......Page 68
The man-land ratio ......Page 69
Firewood and building materials ......Page 71
Production and consumption groups ......Page 74
Consumption: A family budget ......Page 75
Wealth and its distribution ......Page 76
Trade ......Page 77
Money ......Page 79
Personal property and inheritance ......Page 80
Land ......Page 83
Between the sexes ......Page 89
The secular professionals ......Page 92
Midwife and kax baac ......Page 93
The casamentero ......Page 94
The h-mens ......Page 95
Cooperative labor and work exchange ......Page 98
Communal labor: fagina ......Page 99
Occupational division of time ......Page 101
The yearly round ......Page 102
Family and household ......Page 108
Kinship and the great family ......Page 112
Kinship terms ......Page 114
Older brothers ......Page 115
Marriage: Choice of spouse ......Page 116
Divorce and desertion ......Page 118
Godparents and compadres ......Page 119
Status ......Page 121
Races and classes ......Page 122
Local government: The comisario ......Page 123
State and national government: Liga and Agrarian Committee ......Page 125
The santo ......Page 128
The cross ......Page 131
Gods of the field and the forest ......Page 132
Gods of the bees ......Page 137
Guardians of the deer ......Page 138
The winds ......Page 139
The alux ......Page 140
Demon and monster ......Page 142
Propitiation and prayer ......Page 143
The two ritual contexts ......Page 145
The offerings to the yuntzilob ......Page 148
Making the milpa ......Page 153
The Dinner-of-the-Milpa ......Page 155
The Dinner-of-the-Thup ......Page 158
The rain ceremony ......Page 159
First fruit ceremonies ......Page 168
The Dinner-of-the-Bees ......Page 169
The new house ceremony ......Page 171
The novena ......Page 173
Prayers fot the dead ......Page 177
The village fiesta ......Page 178
Dza akab and hadz pach ......Page 183
Chapter X. Sickness and its Cure ......Page 185
"Cold” and "hot ......Page 186
The evil winds ......Page 189
Ojo ......Page 193
Nocturnal birds ......Page 194
Divination ......Page 195
Treatment of disease ......Page 196
Therapeutic ceremonies ......Page 198
Amulets ......Page 201
Witchcraft ......Page 202
Birth ......Page 206
Names ......Page 210
Baptism ......Page 211
The hand-washing ceremony ......Page 214
Hetzmek ......Page 215
Childhood ......Page 217
Marriage ......Page 219
The dying and the dead ......Page 225
The Days of the Dead ......Page 229
Sun, moon and stars ......Page 232
Eclipses ......Page 233
Plants and animals ......Page 234
Man's own body ......Page 236
Omens and dreams ......Page 237
Chapter XIII. A Village Leader ......Page 239
A native autobiography ......Page 241
Index ......Page 258
