Chính trị Dân tộc và Bảo tồn Văn hóa: Giáo dục và Bản sắc Biên giới của Wixaritari

ETHNO-NATIONALIST POLITICS AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION: EDUCATION AND BORDERED IDENTITIES AMONG THE WIXARITARI (HUICHOL) OF TATEIKITA, JALISCO, MEXICO By BRAD MORRIS BIGLOW A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2001 Copyright 2001 by Brad Morris Biglow Dedicated to the Wixaritari of Tateikita and the Centro Educativo Tatutsi Maxa Kwaxi (CETMK): For teaching me the true meaning of what it is to follow in the footsteps of Tatutsi, and for allowing this teiwari to experience what you call tame tep+xeinuiwari. My heart will forever remain with you. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members–Dr. John Moore for being ever- supportive of my work with native peoples; Dr.

Allan Burns for instilling in me the interest and drive to engage in Latin American anthropology, and helping me to discover the Huichol; Dr. Gerald Murray for our shared interests in language, culture, and education; Dr. Paul Magnarella for guidance and support in human rights activism, law, and intellectual property; and Dr. Robert Sherman for our mutual love of educational philosophy.

Without you, this dissertation would be a mere dream. My life in the Sierra has been filled with countless names and memories. I would like to thank all of my “friends and family” at the CETMK, especially Carlos and Ciela, Marina and Ángel, Agustín, Pablo, Feliciano, Everardo, Amalia, Rodolfo, and Armando, for opening your families and lives to me. In addition, I thank my former students, including los chavos (Benjamín, Salvador, Miguel, and Catarino), las chicas (Sofía, Miguelina, Viviana, and Angélica), and los músicos (Guadalupe and Magdaleno).

From the community, I thank the autoridades tradicionales/kawiteros and mara’akates--Don Ricardo, Samuel, Faustino, Gerardo and family, Chalío, Manuel, and Lucio. Professionally, I thank Rocío de Aguinaga, Sarah Corona, Carlos Chávez and Ángeles Arcos of Asociación Jalisciense de Apoyo a Grupos Indígenas (AJAGI), Mike Finerty, Oscar Hagerman, Héctor Hernández, Dago and Karen, and los pilotos. Lastly, I wish to thank my family and fiends for helping me through the critical stages of this research--the iv Biglows around the world, Mike and Sandy Iski, Steve Mizrach, James Bosworth, Ken Sturrock, Sebastian Romero, and Gordon Weaver. v TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

iv LIST OF TABLES.x LIST OF FIGURES .1 Research Questions and Hypotheses. 4 The Huichol Homeland Communities. 11 The Centro Educativo Tatutsi Maxa Kwaxi (CETMK). 15 Dissertation Outline and Layout.

HUICHOL HISTORY AND IDENTITY STUDIES .22 Historical Setting of the Huichol. 22 Prehistory and General History. 22 Contemporary Huichol History. 29 Social and Political Organization.

31 Contemporary Religious Organization. 36 Tateikita: A Community Profile. 41 Tateikita Land Tenure and Economy. 41 The Material Life of Tateikita.

47 Gender Roles in Tateikita. 49 Nationalism and Ethnic Identity. 50 Who are We? Defining Ethnic Identity Among Indigenous Peoples. 50 Peasant Economics and Indigenous Class Formation.

58 Autonomy, Self-Determination, and Resistance. 61 Questions of Ethnicity and Nationalism. EDUCATION AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION .70 Indigenous Educational History. 70 A General History of U.

Indian Education and Policy. 71 A Brief History of Indigenous Education in Mexico. 79 Indigenous Language and Culture Preservation. 86 Border Pedagogy and Cultural Diversity.

86 Cultural Preservation vs. 87 Recent Trends in Native Education and Anthropology: A U. 88 Recent Trends in Native Education and Anthropology: A Latin American Perspective. 91 Educational Research and the Huichol.

THEORY AND METHODS. 103 Ethnicity and Identity. 106 Pan-Indianism and Regional Cultures. 106 Native Epistemology and Cosmology.

109 Political Theory and the Aims of Indigenous Movements. 112 Dialectical Materialism and Anomie. 112 Power-Knowledge Relations in Historical Materialism. 115 Educational Theory: Developing a Philosophy of Education for the Huichol.

118 Critical Theory in Education. 127 Formal Interviewing of Key Personnel. 127 Population Demographics and Sampling. 129 Student Questionnaires and Huichol Cultural Values.

130 Informal Interviewing and Oral History Reconstruction. DOING APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY AMONG THE HUICHOL .137 Applied Anthropology and the Question of Researcher Roles. 137 Doing Anthropology in a Huichol Community. 144 Living Wixarika--Being Teiwari.

147 Working in a Closed Corporate Community. 151 The Concept of the Teiwari (other) in Huichol External Relations. 152 Huichol Distrust: Reporters, Franciscans and Ethical Conduct. HUICHOL FORMAL EDUCATION AND THE CETMK .161 Building the Dream: The Centro Educativo Tatutsi Maxa Kwaxi (CETMK).

161 Personnel and Organization. 181 Life at the CETMK: Living the Dream. 187 A Day in the Life of…. 187 We are All Nunutsi.

200 Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk. QUANTITATIVE DATA AND OBSERVATIONS. 209 Indigenous Controlled Schooling and Educational Attitudes. 211 Student Beliefs of Cultural Identity and Change.

211 The Politics of Traditionality and Modernity in Tateikita. 220 What Does It Mean to be Huichol?. 220 Observations in Language and Culture Preservation. 226 Confronting Alcohol and Foreign Values.

232 Culture and Knowledge Preservation. 238 Socialist Education and Identity Preservation. 240 Schooling and Acculturation Reversal. 241 Politics and School-Community Relations.

242 The Case Against Educación Teiwaritsie and Telesecundarias. 244 Community-Centered Schooling and Community (Dis)articulation. 247 The CETMK and the Intellectual Movement. CONCLUSION AND FINAL DISCUSSION.252 Renegotiating Huichol Identity.

252 Indigenous Control and Community Schooling. 257 Living Rural and Being Modern: Some Recommendations for Huichol Education. 262 Suggestions for Future Research. NOTES ON THE USE OF HUICHOL AND SPANISH ORTHOGRAPHY.

HISTORIA CRONOLOGICA DE TATEIKITA. EZLN DECLARATION OF WAR. COURSE SCHEDULES OF THE CETMK. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS .313 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 4.

The Comparison of Theoretical Positions to Macro and Micro Levels of Analysis. R-Scores (Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients) of Traditional Practices. Factor Analysis of Variables--Language, Dress, Religion, Family, and Traditions, Irrespective of Sex. Percent of Variance Explained for Males by Principle Components Analysis.

Percent of Variance Explained for Females by Principle Components Analysis215 Table 7. Component Loading Values of Cultural Variables for Males. Component Loading Values of Cultural Variables for Females. Descriptive Statistical Comparison of Alcohol and Tehuino .237 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1.

The Huichol Homeland. The Huichol Communities. Hillside Cornfields at Huaixtita. Burros Carrying Corn from Huaixtita.

Student Banner Promoting the UCIH. Plane of the Franciscan Missionaries. View of Airstrip and Surrounding Mesas from Tateikita. The almacen at Completion in November 1999.

The Local Agency of Tateikita. Franciscan Mission with CETMK Library in the Background. Child in Tateikita at the Fiesta del Tambor, December 1999. Huichol Political Organization.

The Peyote Cactus. Mara’akame and Village Elder at Tateikita Rodeo. Huichol Woman Leaving Offerings. Huichol Cancer Advisory.

Philip True Murderers as Portrayed by the American Media. Construction Meeting of padres de familia. CETMK Teacher Addressing Students. COPUSI Dining Facility of the CETMK.

Derechos Indígenas Debate at the CETMK Clausura, July 1999. Carpentry at the CETMK. Percentages of Third Year CETMK Students by Age. Pie Chart Indicating Student Home Residences.

Histogram of Family Importance. Histogram of Tehuino Value. Overlaid Plot of Factor Components for Ethnicity and Technology. Factor Plot of Ethnicity and Technology Components for Males.

Factor Plot of Ethnicity and Technology Components for Females. Student Career Aspirations. Male Rankings of Native Language Importance. Female Rankings of Native Language Importance.

Male Ranking of Spanish Importance. Female Ranking of Spanish Importance. Male Rankings of the Importance of English. Female Rankings of the Importance of English.

Overlaid Graph of Students’ Rankings of Alcohol Types by Importance. Model of School-Community Relations and the CETMK. Student Notice for End-of-Year Banquet. “Los Viejitos,” Regional Dance at the Clausura, June 1999.268 xii Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ETHNO-NATIONALIST POLITICS AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION: EDUCATION AND BORDERED IDENTITIES AMONG THE WIXARITARI (HUICHOL) OF TATEIKITA, JALISCO, MEXICO By Brad Morris Biglow August 2001 Chairman: John H.

Major Department: Anthropology This dissertation examines the relationship between “indigenously controlled” education and cultural preservation among the Wixaritari, or Huichol, of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Jalisco, Mexico. Studies of indigenous identity and schooling are still lacking in anthropological fieldwork. While such studies have, in the past, focused on native education in the United States, there has been little research done on the impacts of indigenous-controlled education on the enculturation process of Indian youth, particularly in Latin America, and whether such educational environments really serve to fortify indigenous identity, and if so, how it is done. Recently, there has been resurgence in ethno-nationalism or self-determination among the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Latin America.

This study examines the role of so-called indigenous-controlled community schooling in light of these larger pan-Indian movement goals, showing that xiii indigenous people are themselves divided over the process of cultural preservation due to their own changing sense of ethnic identity. Conflict results, creating a reliance on notions of an “imagined community” to unify social actors in a drama of power- knowledge relationships in which intellectuals, not traditionalists, control the educational process, channeling knowledge to meet the goals of the “imagined community” which may or may not be shared by all social actors. xiv 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Research Questions and Hypotheses This dissertation research is an addition to the existing literature on indigenous language and culture preservation. It is also an analysis of community-school relations and the politics of ethnic identity transmission and transformation within the context of formal education in an indigenous community in Mexico.

The results of this research help to explain the social and ideological processes of ethnic culture change, and, in so doing, may be used to improve indigenous-directed education, and language and culture preservation programs worldwide. The principal research question is: What happens when indigenous people create their own school, define its role, and teach according to their own agenda? And, subsequently, does indigenous-controlled education lead to preservation of ethnic identity, or is there little to no difference between this kind of education and that of schools that are not run by indigenous people? Moreover, Is there a unified concept of cultural identity among indigenous peoples, or are they really composed of ethnic factions with varying degrees of what it means to be “traditional” or “modern.” In examining the central question, a number of secondary questions arise: 1) What are Huichol attitudes toward formal education, especially at the secondary level (a recent government mandate), when it is indigenously (locally) controlled? Do these 1 2 attitudes differ from the attitudes of those attending telesecundarias (video schools) or non-indigenously controlled schooling? 2) Is there any internal conflict that results from indigenously controlled education? If so, how are opposing definitions of cultural identity accommodated (or not) by indigenous schooling? 3) What role does Huichol formal education play in the enculturation process of Indian youth? 4) Do the Huichol have a uniform sense of cultural identity? 5) Lastly, what exactly does indigenously controlled education mean? The case of Huichol education first interested me, when prior to beginning field research I learned that there was little to no record of anthropological research dealing with education and culture change among the Huichol. Salomón Nahmad conducted research in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s while he was the regional director of the National Indigenous Institute’s development projects for the Cora, a neighboring indigenous group, and Huichol. In subsequent articles, he called for a need for further educational research among the Huichol (Nahmad 1981, 1996).

Because of the problems involved in Huichol integration into the national infrastructure of a collective Mexican identity, the choice to work among the Huichol appeared ideal, as there were significant gaps in Huichol ethnography other than research pertaining to archaeology or religion. The scope of applied anthropology today comprises issues of local control of indigenous affairs, from development projects (Mathur 1989, Sodusta 1993), to environmental management (Hornborg 1998) and education (Bernard 1985, Cleary and Peacock 1998, Szasz 1999).