In Indian Mexico

Starr, Frederick, 1858-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4
Word count
794K words
Chapters
80

Tags

English Originals Historical GeographyCulture Human GeographyTravelogueSocial ObservationFieldworkDocumentary NarrativeIndigenous PeopleExotic CultureFolk CustomsCross-Cultural ViewModern China

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.In Indian Mexico (1908) by Frederick StarrAuthor: Starr, Frederick, 1858-1933,Language: English, Class: F1201: North America local history: Mexico, Release Date: Jul 2, 2005

Editor's review

In Indian Mexico was first published in 1908. A record of anthropologist Frederick Starr's field research among Mexico's indigenous peoples, it stands at the intersection of North American local history and ethnographic writing. Its value lies not in systematic theory but in the details it preserves of village life, dress, labor, festivals and physical characteristics as seen by an observer a century ago; it is useful to readers studying social change among Mexican indigenous communities, early anthropological field methods, and the tradition of travel writing. The book carries the perspectives and expressive habits of its time, and today's readers should read it critically, distinguishing observation from the author's judgments. As a public-domain ebook it is easy to search and excerpt, making it a suitable supplementary text for area studies or the history of anthropology, and rewarding further reading for anyone interested in early twentieth-century Latin America.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Before reading, learn the historical context of Mexico around 1908 in order to judge the setting of the book's observations.
  2. Mark the author's factual descriptions and subjective judgments as you read, training yourself in critical reading of early ethnographic texts.
  3. Read alongside modern works on Mexican indigenous peoples and note the social and cultural changes of the past century.
  4. Read by region or theme rather than straight through from beginning to end, to use the material more efficiently.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Is this book a rigorous academic ethnography? It is closer to a record of early fieldwork and travel observation, with a personal narrative tone and limited theoretical analysis. It is valuable as a historical source and as a text in the history of anthropology, but should not be taken as a model of contemporary academic ethnography. Focus on its observational detail while remaining critical of the author's judgments and the biases of his time.
Is the content out of date? Many of the specific social conditions described are more than a century old, and realities have long since changed, so the book cannot serve as a direct basis for understanding contemporary indigenous life in Mexico. As a historical document, however, it preserves the observational perspective and details of daily life of a particular period and remains useful for studying change itself.
How difficult is the English, and what background knowledge is needed? The text is early twentieth-century English with rather long sentences and many place and ethnic names, but it is not excessively difficult overall. University-level English reading ability is enough to begin. Familiarity with Mexican geography and history since the colonial period will make it noticeably easier; otherwise, read some basic background material first.

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About the author

Starr, Frederick, 1858-1933 Author

Frederick Starr (1858-1933) is an author whose writings address the cultures and histories of several continents. Five of his works are included here, covering a wide range of subjects: The Truth About the Congo: The Chicago Tribune Articles, based on his newspaper pieces; In Indian Mexico, a study of indigenous society in Mexico; Korean Buddhism: History—Condition—Art, which surveys the history, current state, and art of Korean Buddhism; and American Indians and Liberia: Description, History, Problems. His interests thus extended to Native American peoples, an African nation, and East Asian religion. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life and education cannot be reliably established. Judging from the surviving works, however, he combined firsthand observation with historical narrative to introduce foreign societies and cultures to general readers in clear, concrete prose, making these regions more accessible to English-language readers of his time.