Culturas en Peligro. By Miguel León-Portilla. México, D.F.: Alianza
Editorial Mexicana, 1976. 227 pp. Illustrations, maps. Paper $4.10.
Reviewed by W. Michael Mathes, University of San Francisco.
The eminent Mexican ethnohistorian, Miguel León-Portilla,
presents here a series of essays resulting from many years of intensive
research, writing and reflection upon the indigenous cultures in North and Meso
America. These essays provide a brilliant insight into cultural problems of the
last quarter of the twentieth century, particularly in the Southwestern United
States and Mexico.
Endangered Cultures (Culturas en Peligro) calmly and objectively
approaches the problems of indigenous minorities, principally Indian and
Mexican-American, as well as, generally, all Latin American, Asian and African
cultures, in light of contemporary crises and historical analogies. The forces
of majority economic and political power, mass media, and the ensuing loss of
minority personality ("integration") versus the desire to
retain cultural identity is analyzed, as is the problem of "nepantlism"
("being in-between"); a problem widely encountered in the Southwestern
United States and Northwestern Mexico.
Following an introductory chapter, Dr. León-Portilla deals
with acculturation without loss of identity as reflected in the Chichimec
migrations to Toltec domains in the thirteenth century, and the later religious
and philosophical conquests by Spain in the sixteenth century, with resulting
cultural conflicts. The cultural trauma, "Indian problem" and problems of
race-culture mixture in Middle America is then treated.
Of major interest to the United States reader are chapters
6-8 dealing with problems of cultural plurality in the Southwest, the isolation
of Northern Mexico, Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, immigration to the United
States, cultural differences in Northern Mexico, and the cultural problems of
the Navajo as a case-in-point. This deep and well-researched work is capped with
a chapter reviewing the problems of the study of culture history from the
"inside" and "outside", with a strong exhortation
for study from the "outside".
In light of the extensive, and often controversial,
literature in the field of minority studies, particularly of the "Chicano",
Culturas en Peligro presents a refreshing, well-thought-out and documented
series of essays. This book should be read carefully by all persons interested
in minority history and problems, especially those of the Mexican-American.
Hopefully, an English-language edition will be forthcoming.
