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The Winds of Ixtepeji

World View and Society in a Zapotec Town

Michael Kearney

 

This work offers an exploration into the worldview and social organization in a Zapotec town called Ixtepeji where people believe the world is threatening and filled with dangerous beings! Within the realm of cognitive anthropology, the author continually asks, "How do the people perceive their situation?" Through interview data and case histories the main topic unfolds of how Ixtepejanos perceive reality and how such perceptions affect, and in turn are affected by, the conduct of village life.

$14.95 list, 139  pages

10-digit ISBN: 1-57766-210-0

13-digit ISBN: 978-1-57766-210-0

© 1972

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Table of Contents

 

1. Introduction

2. The Town of Ixtepeji

Cultural and Geographic Setting / Man and the Land / Settlement Pattern and Housing / Health and Illness / Diet / Formal Organization / Arriving at Consensus / Barrio Organization / Intercommunity Relations

3. Town History and Myth

Pre-Columbian Period / Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods / Twentieth Century / The Myth / Recent History

4. World View in Ixtepeji

Basic Propositions

5. The Concepts of Aire and Susto: Symbolic Representations of Perceived Social and Geographic Environment

Aire / Susto, Spirits, and Death / Summary

6. Appearances Cannot Be Trusted

The Concept of Engaño / Childhood Insecurity and Engaño / Ilusión

7. Thou Shalt Covet

Muina and Chípil / The Social Meaning of Food Sharing

8. The Passage of Time

Historic and Cosmic Time / Concepts of Aging / Speech Patterns and Time Orientation

9. The Burden of Life

Attitudes toward Municipal Cargos / Religions Attitudes / Fatalism

10. Everyone Must Drink

Folk Beliefs about Drinking / Drinking Patterns / Etiological Factors / Drinking as a Means of Transcendence / Ambivalence toward Drinking / Case Histories / Drinking and Religious Conversion / Summary

11. La Llorona: Symbol of Family and Interpersonal Relations

12. Adjusting to a Hostile Environment

Defensive Strategies / Emotions and Philosophy of Life

13. Prospects for Change

Change in the Concept of Change / A Strategy for Development / The Beginning of Innovation and Cooperation

14. Summary

Glossary