Inaug.-Diss.--Fachbereich Philosophie und Sozialwissenschaften II--Berlin--Freie Universität, 1990. / Bibliogr. p. 256-321. Glossaire.

A framework for the study of acculturation in terms of the larger historical context was developed through research on the Tarahumara Indians of the Sierra Madre in northern Mexico. A new definition of acculturation based on concepts from symbolic anthropology is presented. Acculturation is defined as a complex process of social interaction based on two sets of cultural symbols. Field research focused on a community of Tarahumaras and Mestizo Mexicans. Spanish and Mexican efforts to integrate the Tarahumaras into a larger political system are examined since acculturation is assumed to be integrally related to these processes. The roles of the principal participants in acculturation: traditional Tarahumaras, nontraditional Tarahumaras, Mestizos and mainstream Mexicans and their relationships to each other were examined. Sierra acculturation processes were mainly analyzed in terms of traditional Tarahumaras and Mestizo symbols, their inherent compatibility, and their use in a number of different social contexts in the community. Mainstream Mexicans are mainly involved in national integration efforts which affected both Tarahumaras and Mestizos. Formal education seemed to be the fastest and most effective means through which Tarahumaras were being integrated into the national structure. Nontraditional Tarahumaras were prominant in putting bilingual Indian education programs into effect in the Sierra. In the community it was found that nontraditional Tarahumaras are significantly linked to traditional Tarahumaras, that in spite of strong cultural barriers, Tarahumaras and Mestizos have developed working relationships with each other and that Tarahumara and Mestizo symbols were used not only in common social interactions, but also in political and economic realms. Rather than 'becoming Mestizo,' Tarahumara cultural identity was maintained through the use of central Tarahumara symbols, by redefining Mestizo symbols in Tarahumara social contexts and by using Mestizo symbols (e.g., the Spanish language) in practical ways. The fact that some of the most politically and economically influential members of the community were Tarahumaras provided additional support to the maintenance of Tarahumara cultural identity. It is concluded that Tarahumaras may change their lifestyle and appearance, but depending on how Tarahumara and Mestizo symbols are used, and in which contexts, Tarahumara cultural identity can persist in the face of national integration efforts.

The Rarómuri, or Urique Tarahumara (UT), language belongs to the Taracahitian sub-branch of the Uto-Aztecan family. There are five major linguistics variants called Tarahumara, all spoken in Chihuahua state in northern Mexico. This dissertation is an introduction to how both verbal and nonverbal predicates are formed in the language of the Rarómuri people, as spoken in Urique, Chihuahua. The central contribution of this dissertation is found in Chapter IV on nonverbal predication and Chapter V on verbal predication, and the work opens with three chapters: Chapter I is the introduction, Chapter II introduces the orthography and some of the most common morphophonological processes, and Chapter III sketches the morphology and syntax of the Noun Phrase. Chapter VI concludes the dissertation with a discussion of directions for future research. This dissertation is based on a combination of recorded texts and elicited material. The texts provided the natural language where the constructions in question occur in actual use, providing the motivation and signaling directions for elicitation, which then allowed the understanding of the intricate morphological patterns. Both types of data material are invaluable for the researcher, and I include examples of both when possible. One point of typological interest in UT is the verbal indexation system for subjects in the past tense, which includes suffixes for 3SG/PL and 1PL, zero marking (fused with the tense suffix) for 2PL, and verbal enclitics for 1SG and 2SG. The verbal enclitics also occur marking future tense verbs. The verbal enclitics for 1SG and 2SG can also mark object, and alone among core arguments, the 1SG free pronoun object must take a locative suffix. Looking at person marking and object case, it appears that UT has an incipient hierarchical system, with 1SG > 2SG > 1PL/2PL/3. Another of the most salient features of UT is the morphophonology. It is common in UT for a morpheme to present several allomorphs, and some, like the Potential Future, can have up to 9 allomorphs. Some of this allomorphy is phonologically conditioned, other allomorphy is lexically conditioned, and other allomorphy is clearly suppletive. The interaction of these conditioning factors is possible.

This thesis looks at the people of Nueva Vizcaya's history of resistance to incorporation into the state during the colonial age, and how this history is connected to the contemporary context in the Sierra Tarahumara. To do this, I use and frame the concepts of community, resistance, violence, ethnogenesis, territory and history as intertwined in such a way that the Sierra Tarahumara and its inhabitants cannot be completely disassociated one from another. By looking at the engagements between colonizers and native people of the colonial North of the Nueva España –Tarahumara and other native indigenous people of the Sierra Madre Occidental– in history, and frame the narratives about these historical encounters, drawing colonial accounts, modern narratives and other sources, I contest in this work, allows to frame indigenous societies agency in history. In addition, this thesis endeavors to engage with the broader discussion about ethnogenesis, indigenous resistance to colonialism, native community and ecological conflicts in Nueva Vizcaya and in the Sierra Tarahumara. Finally, this research wants to make sense of the contemporary conflicts over land rights that indigenous communities of the Sierra Tarahumara face today, and connect them with the history of the colonial encounters of the people of the Nueva Vizcaya. I propose that these encounters, in the colonial time of the conquest of the Nueva Vizcaya, and in the national period, are largely a consequence of a colonial process of ethnogenesis that taxonomically indexed native people in categories related to colonial labor needs and control over the territory, which I frame as tarahumarizacíon and raramurización.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 277-291). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Sociology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89).

In this study, I examine the material culture of the Rio Fuerte Basket-Maker Phase (200 B.C. - 1000 A.D.) and Cave-Dweller Phase (1000 - 1600 A.D.) occupations in southern Chihuahua, Mexico, that is represented in the Dr. Robert Zingg Archaeological Collection. Zingg believed that the material culture showed a clear progression from the Basket-Maker Phase to the Cave-Dweller Phase, which he interpreted to indicate a relationship between these two phases, and that these phases were the precursors of the twentieth century Tarahumara. I test this hypothesis by comparing the artifacts in the Dr. Robert Zingg Archaeological Collection curated by the University Museum at Southern Illinois University Carbondale to the artifacts in the ethnographic Tarahumara Collection curated by the Milwaukee Public Museum. Following an evaluation of the archaeological and ethnographic material culture, I conclude that Zingg's hypothesis is only partially supported by the museum collections. Although the material culture of the later Cave-Dweller Phase is sufficiently similar to the material culture of the twentieth century Tarahumara to suggest a relationship between the two cultures, the earlier Rio Fuerte Basket-Maker Phase does not provide enough artifacts that show similarity with either the Cave-Dweller Phase or the twentieth century Tarahumara.

The Tarahumara are one of the most isolated and intact indigenous groups in Mexico. Their agriculture has traditionally been practiced within the steep canyons and uplands of the Sierra Madre Occidental in southwestern Chihuahua. Adapting to these rugged conditions, the Tarahumara developed a variety of agricultural techniques that allowed them to be self-sufficient in food production and independent of external inputs. As varied and ingenious as their techniques are, they share one main objective -- to overcome the lack of organic matter in the stony mountain soils. Since the arrival of the Spaniards, the addition of organic matter has involved large amounts of animal manure to increase organic matter in the soil and maintain fertility. The focus of this study is to investigate new agricultural techniques that the Tarahumara are adopting due to the pressures of globalization and alleged climate change. These new technologies may still include many traditional agricultural methods, but they are increasingly using commercially available fertilizers and other modern agricultural additions, thereby losing self-sufficiency. This study includes in depth interviews with 28 Tarahumara farmers to better understand the modern agricultural techniques, their motivations, and overall sustainability. Soil samples determined the viability of Tarahumara agricultural techniques on soil fertility by examining the visual description, organic matter content, soil texture, and a chemical analysis. The analyses showed that traditional Tarahumara agricultural practices are efficient and sustainable, while modern additions are often ill-suited for their environment and are disruptive to Tarahumara culture. / text

abstract: The following study is based on my individual and collective practice as a former staff member of El Centro de Desarrollo Alternativo Indígena A.C., a non-profit who works in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the north of Mexico, and my experience as a master student in the US. I am developing this research as a reflective instrument to improve the strategies that I have been developing and implementing. To reach this goal I present the concept of praxis, which Paulo Freire and Antonio Gramsci used some years ago, as a methodology to shorten the gap between my practice and theory. Furthermore, I use the theoretical framework of popular education, and other ideas from the complementary fields of community development, and Critical Race Theory/TribalCrit, to shed light on how to improve our practice and the pedagogies we use as part of our work. The main question that is guiding this study is: What is the learning dynamic of organizations and participants who are doing community development work with Indigenous communities? To answer this, I analyze the data I collected in 2016, which includes: two months of participant observation, sixteen in-depth interviews, and one focus group with staff members. The findings of this research suggest that staff members have learned to respect time and culture of the community and to validate local knowledge; community members have shared that they have learned new agricultural practices, production of organic fertilizers and pesticides, earthworm compost, food conservation methods, communication skills and to work together. The ways identified in which participants have learned are: by doing, by observation, by dialogue, by receptivity, by recognition, through meetings and by reflection. The results of this research are consistent with what popular educators say: neutrality is impossible. Practices of the nonprofits do not occur in a vacuum; therefore, the mechanisms of auto analysis and reflection that CEDAIN staff shared, in conjunction with the attempt of this research to unveil the hidden and explicit curriculum of the practices of CEDAIN, are great tools to trigger critical consciousness, challenge what we have taken for granted, and recreate better practices. This research is a result of the compilation and analysis of the narratives, experiences and knowledge of community and staff members who participated in this study. In this sense, these set of ideas, which place grassroots experiences as the principal source of knowledge, could be applied to plan and design future pedagogical interventions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social and Cultural Pedagogy 2018