Boletín
Noviembre
2001•welte@spersaoaxaca.com.mx•http://www.welte.org
MESSAGE FROMTHE PRESIDENT
With
this issue of the Bulletin of the Welte Institute for Oaxacan Studies,
Inc., we are entering a new phase of our existence as a research library
in Oaxaca, Mexico.First, as you
will see from most of the presentations in the bulletin, we are now in
our new location at Emilio Carranza 203, Colonia Reforma.Ownership
ofthis property gives us a more
secure home from which to move forward into the new century and millennium.Many
people made the new location possible foremost of whom were Patsy Welte,
Marie Vegte and the Delakas family.Memorials
recognizing their contributions are now hanging in the library.We
do however still have specific needs in the new building.We
could use specific donations for bookcases and furniture.If
any one would like to donate the funds to furnish a specific room we would
be more than happy to publicly recognize that contribution at the library.
Second, this is the first in a series of bulletins to be edited by Ronald Waterbury and Michael Chibnik.They have done a great job, and we are confident that with them at the helm the Boletín will become more than just an occasional missive from the library to our mailing list.Again, “Thank you Ron and Mike for a great job.” It
is also time to begin to think about your membership status in the Library.For
the past several years the institute has survived primarily due to the
generosity of a few individuals.It
is imperative that we expand our membership base.The
library is free and open to all at no cost ? a condition of our 501 (c)
3 status.However, it does cost
money to keep the institute alive.We
have salaries, utilities, repairs and more to consider.Please,
uses the form attached and contribute at any level you feel comfortable. I
would also like to draw your attention to the Institute’s web page (www.welte.org).On
the web page you will find information about the institute as well as the
current list of holdings.The latter
has become a valuable tool for researchers from around the world who e-mail
us about titles they have not found at any other location.The
web page is possible due to the generosity of J. C. Burns.
Next, let me address
the issue of the acknowledgment of your contributions.In
the past year we have gone through some changes, which delayed some of
you receiving your appropriate acknowledgment.I
apologize for the delay.We have,
I think, solved all (or most) of the glitches in the system and the process
should be much more fluid in the future.I
any of you are still missing letters of acknowledgment and need them for
IRS purposes please contact me as soon as possible. Do
not forget the V Biennial Conference. This
has become an important event not only for the Welte Institute but also
for Oaxacan researchers.It is
a great opportunity to present your latest results to colleagues who understand
the area you are working in and who are eager to hear from you. Finally,
let me thank all of you who have worked over the past decade to make this
idea a reality.Without your unfailing
support and energy this would not have come about. Arthur
D. Murphy, President Welte
Institute for Oaxacan Studies, Inc.
A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT OF THE OAXACAN
CIVIL ASSOCIATION
New
House, New Challenges, New Perspectives
Seven
years have passed since the Instituto Welte para Estudios Oaxaqueños,
A.C. was established so that it, in conjunction with the U.S. corporation,
could conserve, augment, and disseminate the documentary legacy of Mr.
Cecil Welte.To advance those goals,
for the first six years the Institute’s library was located at Cinco de
Mayo 412, in the historical center of Oaxaca City, in space that was kindly
provided free of charge by Mr. Jorge Velasco. On
the 7th of February 2000, a new page was turned in the history
of the Institute when its new home was inaugurated at Calle Emiliano Carranza
203 in the Colonia Reforma.The acquisition
of this house, which will be the Institute’s definitive residence, was
made possible by generous donations from Mrs. Patsy Welte and others.A
little more than a year after moving in to the new locale, we can report
that the collection has been augmented and service has been improved for
the ever-increasing number of users.The
latter is due to wider awareness of the Welte by students and researchers
? national and international ? as well as by local and foreign universities.From
the latter we receive groups of students and professors who make use of
the library’s holdings and other facilities.At
the same time, usage by locals has grown measurably.Many
people especially appreciate the fact that they can be quickly be provided
with a reading list by means of a computerized index of the entire collection.The
new building contains an administrate office with telephone/fax and e-mail
service, two reading rooms, a map room, a classroom, an audiovisual room,
and an outside space for classes and informal meetings. It
can be said without doubt that we have traveled a long way down the road;
nonetheless we have a long way yet to go.At
this moment we are completing the complicated and prolonged bureaucratic
requirements to obtain authorization from the Secretariat of the Treasury
that will allow us to provide tax-deductible receipts to donors.We
hope that tax-deductible status will improve the level of donations we
receive from local institutions, users, and friends, and thereby help to
alleviate the problems we have meeting our operating and maintenance costs.Every
effort should be made to conserve the Welte legacy.I
presume, dear friends, that you all agree. Dr.
Victor Manuel Alvarez Franklin, Presidente Instituto
Welte para Estudios Oaxaqueños, A.C.
OUR NEW HOME
Many
of you have already seen it, but for those of you who may not have we provide
here a brief history and description of our new home.As
much as we enjoyed our quarters on Calle Cinco de Mayo for its charming
patios and particularly for its central location, we simply had to move.We
had outgrown the space, and our rent-free lease was about to expire.We
would have preferred to remain in or nearer to the historical center of
the city, but after examining several properties it became evident that
our budget would not permit that.Every
centrally located place we inspected was either too expensive or in need
of major and costly repairs.The
house we finally decided on was still a budgetary stretch.It
was also a compromise in terms of location, size, and layout; but we think
it was a good compromise.Its location
in the Colonia Reforma is not an excessive distance from the center (walkable
by anyone in normal health), and being only a couple of short blocks north
of the first class bus station it is easy to find.Although
the building was designed as a residence, we have managed to adapt it to
our needs quite well.The living-dinning
room and master bedroom have become the principal library and reading rooms.The
kitchen was converted into the map room, and the second bedroom into the
office.We are able to use the
large bathroom adjacent to master bedroom for storage because there is
a fully adequate bathroom in the main hallway.In
a rear corner of the property there is a small additional structure, the
bottom floor of which was the previous owner’s office and bar, while the
top floor was for a servant.We have
converted that building into an additional reading room that doubles as
a serving center for receptions, since it has running water and its own
toilet.The back patio, part of
which is roofed over, serves as open space for classes, seminars, and social
events.In one corner on the street
side of the property is another small building.It
is occupied by a taquería that garners 2500 pesos rent per month,
a sum that more than covers our utility bills.
The
final papers were signed on August 1, 1999, but we didn’t move in until
October 15 because a number of repairs had to be made and the entire place
had to be painted.Board member and
architect Ignacio Silva and his son, Arq. Marco Antonio, supervised those
tasks. The actual move was carried out by Nelly Robles and her crew and
trucks from INAH. The
great bulk of the purchase price of the house was provided by the sustaining
generosity of Patsy Welte.Two other
major donations of over $10,000 each came from Mimi Delakas and the will
of Marie Veghte.Additional funds
were given towards the purchase of the house or the cost of repairs by
Jack Corbett, William Autry, Marc Winter, Ronald Waterbury, Lowell Greenberg,
and anonymous donors. The
inauguration ? which was very well attended ? took place on January 9,
2000.Patsy Welte was honored, and
of course speeches were made, and a good time was had by all.Limited
space precludes us from including all of the remarks made on that occasion;
however, we do include below those of Marc Winter because of what they
tell us about Cecil Welte, the material and intellectual founder of this
Institute that bears his name. Although
our new home is satisfactory for now, it is far from ideally furnished
and equipped to fulfill its role.In
the long run we may have to add a conference-classroom, as well as re-roof
and make other improvements to the current open-air conference space.But
our shorter-term needs are pressing.The
bookshelves, study tables, conference tables, desks, and chairs are all
barely adequate.So if anybody
would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, how about a new library
table.We’ll put your name on
it: The Joe Blow table. Or if you would like to donate it in name of a
dearly departed: The Joseph Blow Sr. memorial table.
OBSERVATIONS ON CECIL WELTE AND THE
INAUGURATION OF THE NEW HOME OF THE WELTE INSTITUTE
By Marc Winter Centro INAH Oaxaca Some
of us here this afternoon spent time in the 1960s in Cecil R. Welte's office
located on García Vigil and Independencia. That office—smaller but
austere and utilitarian, as is this new Welte Institute facility—had one
large room, a table, chairs, Cecil's desk, his telephone, typewrite and
shelves full of anthropology books and journals. As
the city of Oaxaca grew, Cecil had to move his office, and in 1980 he rented
an even smaller room on the second floor of the rear patio behind a pizzeria
in a house on Alcalá. When he passed away, the office was closed
and later, due to the efforts of Arthur Murphy, Martha Rees and Patsy Welte,
the Welte Institute was established in an office on Cinco de Mayo, where
for several years it flourished and grew. Now finally the Institute has
it’s own building here on Emiliano Carranza thanks to many people, and
especially to the dedication of the librarian, Gudrun Dohrmann.
Returning
to Cecil's preclassic period, retired and with a pension from the U.S.
Navy, Cecil completed a Masters degree in anthropology at Mexico City College
(later the University of the Americas) on the Mexico-Toluca highway. Then,
with his wife Patsy he came to live in Oaxaca and opened the Office for
the Study of Humanity in the Valley of Oaxaca. At that time neither the
Centro INAH Oaxaca, nor CIESAS, nor the Instituto de Sociología
of the UABJO existed: anthropological research was practiced in the provinces
but centered in Mexico's capital city. Here in Oaxaca, at least for the
foreigners, by default Cecil's office served as a communications center
and data repository. Cecil kept in contact with the researchers—social
anthropologists, archaeologists, ethnohistorians, and others. They saw
each other at his office, or occasionally at his house, or left messages
for one another with Cecil. Cecil
was also a researcher with his own projects. One of his interests was geographic
and demographic data. INEGI had not been established yet and Cecil had
made an excellent and accurate map of the Oaxaca Valley by taking compass
readings on church towers in numerous towns. This map was indispensable
for registering archaeological sites in the surveys carried out in the
1960s and 1970s. Cecil
compiled census data and collected information from historical sources
in order to characterize the valley population, and he made available the
results of his studies through his series of "Welte's Ready Reference Releases."
At home he had a rain gauge and recorded the precipitation day by day,
year after year. Some
of his other studies went far beyond data recording. His principal interest
and theoretical focus was humanistic anthropology, and he was a faithful
reader and contributor to the professional journal, Anthropology and
Humanism Quarterly. Two
studies combine his ideas and reflections. The first, published in 1977,
is a long article entitled "Interrelationships of Individual, Cultural,
and Pan-Human Values," that is nothing less than a general theory of the
human being, emphasizing values (an approach little studied since the 1960s)
in the context of culture, biology and the individual. (The latter two
have received much more attention in recent years than when Cecil was writing.) The
second study, published in 1986 in Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly,
"The Human Context of the Interpretation of Cultures," is basically a critique
of the concept of culture presented by Clifford Geertz, who some consider
the most outstanding anthropologist of the second half of the twentieth
century. Cecil argues that Geertz, in his 1983 Distinguished Lecture to
the American Anthropological Association (published in American Anthropologist
in 1984), adopts a cultural determinist posture without taking into account
the dimension of values that arises independently of biology and culture.
In other words, there are aspects of the individual creativity that are
not learned and that do not arise from culture. What
does all this mean? Without
a doubt we are all pleased that the Welte Institute now has its own locale.
While this implies more independence and security for the library, it also
means more responsibility to maintain an active and lively Institute. Work
in recent years by Martha Rees, Arthur Murphy and others to establish the
biannual conference, with support from other local institutions, has been
an important step in fomenting discussion and disseminating anthropological
knowledge. Now, at the end of one century and the beginning of another,
and with today's inauguration of the Welte Institute building, it is time
to consider the possibility of doing more. Yesterday,
a Oaxaca newspaper, El Imparcial,
reported on the front page a conversation in which local representative
GermanTenorio Vasconcelos supposedly said that in Oaxaca poverty is recycled
and inequality increases because there are no moral leaders and no social
project for the people: Lo
que nos hace falta es la organización social, porque en Oaxaca no
hay intelectuales, sólo figuras pintorescas, y un tanto folclóricas,
por lo cual necesitamos guías morales. (What
we lack is social organization, because in Oaxaca there are no intellectuals,
only picturesque and somewhat folkloric personalities; thus we need moral
leaders.) This
may be simply a politician's ambiguous statement, and in fact I don't believe
that either "intellectuals" or "moral leaders" can save us. But I do believe
that anthropological perspectives are fundamental for understanding the
human condition in general as well for understanding specific cases such
as the current socioeconomic situation in the state of Oaxaca. In addition
to the library and data bank, the legacy of Cecil, manifested in what he
decided to do in his mature years and in his anthropological-philosophical
writings, demonstrates a preoccupation with humanity that many of us share.
These concerns and anthropological knowledge form the spirit of this Institute;
they are worthy of being communicated to politicians, among others, and
of being applied in attempts to construct in Oaxaca a just and equal society.
LIBRARY REPORT
The
holdings of the Library, the core resource of the Institute, continue to
expand, maintaining the status of the Welte Library as the most complete,
best organized, and most accessible collection of Oaxacan research materials
under one roof.Our computerized
and cross-indexed catalogue now lists nearly 9000 books, articles, and
journals, and our librarian Gudrun Dohrmann is able to provide researchers
with extensive reading lists tailored to their research needs.Moreover,
we’re most happy to report that, thanks largely to income provided by Jack
Corbett’s program, in November we acquired spanking new computer to enable
Gudrun to do all of those marvelous things even more effectively.As
for the collection itself, at this point it derives almost exclusively
from contributions, so please help us augment and up-date the collection
by donating copies of all of your own writings as well as any other books
and journals you can spare.Clear
off your groaning bookshelves and deposit the books and journals in the
Welte where they will be catalogued and cared for so that you and others
can always consult them.Remember,
your donations are tax deductible.Some
people regularly donate to the collection, and we’d like to thank them.They
include, among others Jack Corbett, Manuel Esparza, Mike Higgins, Matt
Gutmann, Jorge Hernandez, Art Murphy, Kristin Norget, Martha Rees, Lynn
Stephen, Ron Waterbury, and Marc Winter.Special
thanks go to Sutti Ortiz who donated 70 books, and to the Pre-Columbia
Studies Center of Dumbarton Oaks that donated 250 books from the collection
of the late Carol Callaway.In the
not-too-distant future we hope to link our catalog via the Internet to
those of other libraries, such as those of ENAH, CIESAS, UDLAP, and UNAM,
which will provide Welte members with even wider bibliographic resources.
Despite
the fact that our new home is not as centrally located as when we were
downtown on Cinco de Mayo, the number of users continues to grow.The
table below shows the numbers from the sign-in book for the months of January
through July 2001 only.The figures
understate the bustle of activity in the library because many people who
use the library on a daily basis usually only sign in once. Library Users January-July, 2001
Particularly
gratifying is the increased usage by locals, which contradicts those who
in the past criticized the Welte for allegedly being primarily a “foreign”
institution.Of the 544 individuals
who signed in during the first seven months of 2001, 75% were nationals.While
graduate students and professionals from local research institutions such
as CIESAS, INAH, ITO, and UABJO’s Faculty of Architecture and Institute
of Sociological Research, continue to use the Welte’s facilities on a regular
basis, an increasing number of local pre-university and undergraduate university
students frequent the library.As
for the origins of the international users, countries represented, in rough
numerical order, include: USA, Canada, Holland, Germany, France, Italy,
and Japan.
Group
usage of the Welte facilities by research and/or study abroad programs
include such institutions as Wellesley College, Kalamazoo College, University
of Leiden (Holland), the Sorbonne, University of Kentucky, Morehouse College,
Kennesaw State, and Morris Brown College. Of
these, the semester abroadprogram
organized and directed by Jack Corbett is probably the largest and longest
running.It includes a block of students
from Wellesley University sent by overseen by Lois Wasserspring.The
students from this program ? usually between 20 and 25 ? take classes in
classes in the Welte’s meeting spaces in the morning, and then studied
in the library in the late afternoon.Gudrun
keeps the library open extra hours on these days. Groups
from Mexican institutions that utilize the Welte meeting and library facilities
include the Instituto de Geografía de UNAM, Cooperación de
Museos Comunitarios, and Dirección General de Culturas Populares. In
an effort to broaden awareness of our facilities for study abroad programs,
the Welte hosted a reception for participants of the 11th annual
meeting of the Association of Academic Programs in Latin America and the
Caribbean (AAPLAC) that was held in Oaxaca on February 23-26, 2000.At
the meetings, Welte members Jack Corbett and Nelly Robles presented papers
on studying in Oaxaca. In
addition to providing study facilities for individuals and groups, the
Welte also serves as a venue for colloquia, workshops, and book presentations
on a wide range of topics ? over 25 in the last two years.Mike
Higgins was featured in three of them.He
organized two colloquia on indigenous peoples in the urban environment
? one in January 2000, the second in February, 2001 ? and the Welte was
also the site of the presentation of his recent book, Streets, Bedrooms,
and Patios (U. of Texas Press,
co-authored by Tanya Coen). For that event Margarita Dalton, the current
director of CIESAS in Oaxaca, and Arthur Murphy served as discussants.
IV BIENNIAL SYMPOSIUM
Besides
the move to our new home, the other major happening since the last bulletin
was the Fourth Biennial Symposium, which was held July 6-8, 2000.(For
the abstracts and a series of photographs, go to the Welte’s web page [www.welte.org].)This
was the largest and most successful symposium yet.There
were 94 papers by 131 persons (including co-authors) from virtually every
research institution in Oaxaca, plus many other Mexican and foreign institutions.Besides
the presenters themselves, 115 persons who were not on the program attended,
yielding a total attendance of 225.In
order to fit all of the papers into three days, four simultaneous sessions
had to be held, which was made possible by the fact that the venue for
the symposium was the Patio de Lectores of the Santo Domingo Cultural
Center.The
symposium’s resounding success was
due in large part to the hard work of its organizers:William
Autry, Gudrun Dohrmann, and Jodie Randall.
V BIENNIAL SIMPOSIUM
Continuing
our custom of having our conference on the heels of the Mesa Redonda sobre
Monte Albán, the date for the V Biennial Conference on Oaxacan Studies
has been set for July 4-6, 2002.The
deadline to receive abstracts is April 1, 2002.You
will receive a separate call for papers with more detailed information.
Meanwhile, mark your calendar, and begin to think about a paper you’d like
to present.If the trend continues,
we can expect the 2002 conference to be even bigger and better than 2000.
E-MAIL FORUM AND DIRECTORY OF OAXACAN
RESEARCHERS
One
of the functions of the Welte Institute that was established and maintained
by Cecil when he was alive was that of a clearinghouse for information
on Oaxaca research.We’ve decided
to electronically expand that function by setting up an e-mail discussion
list and a directory of Oaxaca researchers.The
purpose of the e-mail list will be to facilitate communication between
persons interested in Oaxaca research.James
Dow of Oakland University, who is “owner” of the e-mail channels of the
Society for Applied Anthropology, has kindly agreed to assign us the “Anthap4”
channel.To join the forum, e-mail
Ron Waterbury [waterbury@qc.edu], who will manage the list; or you can
subscribe directly by sending an e-mail to majordomo@oakland.edu.The
body of the message should read simply: subscribe anthap4.Do
not add a signature or anything else to the message.Since
the list is “controlled,” the server will automatically send your request
to Ron for clearance, but he usually does that the same day.So
please subscribe to the e-mail list; and don’t worry about a flood of messages
in your in-box.Judging by the other
Anthap channels, traffic will be very moderate.The
discussion list will provide us all with a quick and easy way to communicate
with each other and to share news and information about Oaxaca.
The
Directory of Oaxacan Research is a more ambitious and longer-range project.
Its goal is to assemble a database of all persons who do research on Oaxaca
along with contact information and a brief description of their research
projects and interests.We hope to
make the directory available on the computer in the Welte office and on
the web page.To start the ball rolling,
please send an e-mail to Ron Waterbury [waterbury@qc.edu] with your name,
institutional affiliation, contact information (addresses, phone, fax,
e-mail, web page) and a brief description of your interests, projects,
recent publications, etc.Try to
keep the description under 200 words.
WHAT’S HAPPENING: PERSONS, PROJECTS,
AND PUBLICATIONS
As
another way of fulfilling the Welte’s function as a clearinghouse for information,
we’ve decided to add a news column to the Bulletin devoted to bringing
you up to date on persons, projects, and publications related to Oaxacan
studies.What follows are a few
short news items that the editor was able to throw together spontaneously.
He apologizes for any errors and the many omissions.If
you have been left out or your work misrepresented, please send complaints
and/or suggestions to: to: waterbury@qc.edu
Jeffrey
Cohen’s book on Santa Ana del
Valle, Cooperation and Community: Economy and Society in Oaxaca,
was recently published by U. of Texas Press (1999).Jeff’s
migration project continues unabated, despite the fact that this past summer’s
he tore up his foot so badly that he had to return to the States for treatment.He
was playing basketball with some of his “informants” in Diaz Ordaz, proving
that participant-observation can be dangerous to your health…. Several
Welte members participated in the first Congreso Internacional sobre Desafíos
del Desarrollo Regional hacia el Tercer Mundo (November 6-8, 2000) hosted
by the Instituto Tecnológico de Oaxaca (ITO).… In
addition to working with Cohen, Rafael Reyes
and his team of researchers from ITO are collaborating on two projects
related to productive use of remittances, one headed by UCLA economist
David
Runsten and funded by the
MacArthur Foundation, the other with David Myhre
of the Ford Foundation…. Felipe Lopez,
a UCLA graduate student and native of San Lucas Quiaviní, is becoming
something of a celebrity.He was
featured in an August issue of Time Magazine, interviewed
by National Public Radio,
and has addressed two differentcommittees
of the Mexican Congress.Felipe is
also a research associate on David Runsten’s project mentioned above….Teotitlán
del Valle, that perennial research attraction, is being restudied by Lynn
Stephen; Laura Waterbury
is gathering data in its municipal archives on a land dispute with an hacienda
that lasted from 1738 to 1817; and Deanna Rivers Rozdilsky
is doing dissertation research on usage of the World Wide Web to market
weavings.… Nelly
Robles
has published Monte Albán y los Zapotecos
(Desconocido-CONACULTA, 2000).Tad
Mutersbaugh is back in Iowa
after a year’s study of coffee producer cooperatives in Oaxaca….Matthew
Warning, who has shifted his
research focus from Africa to Oaxaca, is also researching coffee producers,
and this summer he was in Oaxaca producing a documentary film on fair-market
coffee producers in the Sierra Sur [www.ups.edu/faculty/mwarning/film/index.htm]….
Oaxacan
Ceramics: Traditional Folk Art by Oaxacan Women
(Chronicle Books, 2000), by Lois Wasserspring
recently came out and has received critical praise.Lois
is currently gathering data for a biography of one Oaxacan ceramic artist….
Another collection on artesanía was also recently published by CONACULTA-FONCA
(2001): Artesanías y Artesanos en Oaxaca: Innovaciones de la
Tradición, by Jorge
Hernandez Diaz et al…. Cuadernos
del Sur, the best journal
devoted exclusively to Oaxacan research, is in its 7th year
of publication and going strong.Its
editor, Victor de la Cruz, [RW1]
is always looking for good manuscripts, so if you’ve got something contact
him at [oaxaca@juarez.ciesas.edu.mx].Remember,
a free issue of Cuadernos del Sur comes with your Welte membership; so
if you’re not a member or haven’t renewed, get moving.…Michael
Higgins and Tanya Coen’s
book Streets, Bedrooms, & Patios: The Ordinariness of Diversity
in Urban Oaxaca (U. Texas
Press 2000) is receiving more than an ordinary amount of attention….Margarita
Dalton, the former director
of the state government’s Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas, is
now director of CIESAS-ISTMO (which despite its title is located in Oaxaca
City).She
is currently working on a project: "Las Mujeres y el Poder, el Programa
Progresa y el Micro Crédito en la Costa y en el Istmo de Tehuantepec.”For
more information on the CIESAS-ISTMO staff and their research go to: www.ciesas.edu.mx/bibdf/unidades/unidadistmo.html….
Two collections of journalistic essays from a critical anthropological
perspective by Manuel Esparza
have been published (Carteles Editores, 2001): Opción Peferencial,
about the Church in Oaxaca; and Patrimonio y Derechos Indígenas:
Tareas Pendientes. He
has also published Del Bule a la Copa de Cristal: Un Minimo para Entender
la Historia Antigua de Oaxaca,
of which an English version translated by Laura Waterbury is in press;
and Convento de la Madre de Dios de Santa Catarina de Sena….Colin
Clarke’s book Class,
Ethnicity, and Community in Southern Mexico: Oaxaca’s Peasantries
was published by Oxford (2000)….Following
his book on being macho in Mexico City (a Spanish version was recently
released), Matthew Gutmann
is now working on “Fixing Men: Negotiating Reproductive Health and Sexuality
in Oaxaca City,” a NEH-sponsored project that runs through July 2002….
At least two other researchers are focusing on issues related to reproductive
health and gender: Martina Krause,
whose work is funded by the German Society for Research and the Free University
of Berlin, and Holly Dygert
of Michigan State, who plans to work in the Mixteca…. Miguel Bartolomé and
Alicia
Barabas organized the INAH-sponsored
Simposio Internacional sobre la Etnografía de México, which
was held in Oaxaca July 24-26, 2001. The symposium assessed the status
of ethnography in Mexico and featured speakers not only from Mexico, but
also from the US, several European countries, and Japan.Miguel
gave the keynote address entitled, “En Defensa de la Etnografía.”The
prolific Barabas-Bartolomé duo has recently edited and contributed
essays to two collections: Autonomías Etnicas y Estados Nacionales,
and Configuraciones Etnicas en Oaxaca: Perspectivas Etnográficas
para las Autonomías
(3 volumes), both published by CONACULTA-INAH.Also
just released was Miguel’s book El Encuentro de la Gente y los Insensatos,
which deals with the sedentization of the Ayoreo hunter-gathers of Paraguay
(III/CEADUC 2000)…. Michael Chibnik's
book Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings will
be published by U. of Texas Press.… Also recently published is Howard
Campbell's new book Mexican
Memoir:A Personal Account of Anthropology
and Radical Politics in Oaxaca
(Bergin and Garvey)…. The large-scale, international research project on
community health, funded by a substantial NIMH grant and co-directed by
Fran
Norris and Arthur Murphy of
Georgia State University, is winding down… Marcus
Winter
and his collaborators have recently released Contribución No. 8
del Proyecto Especial Monte Albán 1992-1994, Cerámica
de la Fase Xoo (Epoca IIIB-IV) del Valle de Oaxaca
(INAH-OAXACA 2000)…. Under the
category of Fulbright goings and comings, in July Martha Rees
finished a year at CIESAS-Istmo, and in October Ronald Waterbury
starts a year at la Universidad Regional del Sureste (URSE) where he intends
to establish an undergraduate anthropology program…. Bobby Vaughn
completed his dissertation Race and Nation: A Study of Blackness in
Mexico (Stanford 2000), a
copy of which will be deposited in the Welte.Vaughn’s
work deals with the Afro-Mexican population of the Costa Chica, and he
has constructed a very comprehensive and useful web site devoted to them
[www.afromexico.com].
|
MENSAJE
DEL PRESIDENTE
Con
este número del Boletín del Instituto Welte de Estudios Oaxaqueños,
A.C. estamos entrando en una nueva fase en nuestra existencia como biblioteca
de investigación científica en Oaxaca, México. Primero,
como ustedes lo verán en el Boletín, estamos en un nuevo
edificio en la calle de Emilio Carranza 203, Colonia Reforma. El ser propietario
de este nuevo local nos proporciona la seguridad de un hogar para adentrarnos
en el nuevo siglo y en el nuevo milenio. Muchas personas hicieron posible
esto, en especial Patsy Welte, Marie Vegte y la Familia Delakas; tenemos
una placa conmemorativa en nuestra biblioteca agradeciendo su apoyo. Además
adelantamos nuestro agradecimiento a todos aquellos que en el futuro quieran
realizar donaciones para adquirir libreros y muebles. Si cualquiera de
ustedes quisiera donar los fondos para amueblar un cuarto específico
nosotros estaríamos muy contentos de poder hacer un reconocimiento
público.
Segundo,
este es el primero de una serie de boletines editados por Ron Waterbury
y Michael Chibnik. Ellos han hecho un gran trabajo y tenemos confianza
que con ellos al timón, el Boletín se transformará
en algo más que una misiva ocasional de la biblioteca en su correo.
Nuevamente “Gracias a Ron y a Mike por el gran trabajo realizado”. También
es el momento de empezar a pensar acerca de la situación de su membresía
en la Biblioteca. En el pasado, el Instituto sobrevivió principalmente
gracias a la generosidad de unos pocos individuos. Es urgente que ampliemos
la lista de miembros. La biblioteca es gratis y está abierta a todo
el que quiera consultarla, sin ningún costo, de acuerdo a lo establecido
en nuestro reglamento: artículo 501 (c) 3. Sin embargo, cuesta dinero
mantener el Instituto vivo. Tenemos que cubrir salarios, gastos de luz,
agua entre otros. Por favor, utiliza la forma anexa y contribuye en la
mejor forma que te sea posible. También
quisiera llamar tu atención para que consultes la página
“Web” del Instituto (www.welte.org).
En la página encontrarás información acerca del Instituto
así como una lista actualizada de nuestro acervo. Este último
ha resultado ser una herramienta muy útil para los investigadores
de distintas parte del mundo, quienes, a menudo, preguntan vía correo
electrónico acerca de libros que no han podido localizar en otras
bibliotecas. La página Web es posible gracias a la generosidad de
J. C. Burns. Permítanme,
ahora, hablar sobre el reconocimiento a sus contribuciones. En el año
pasado realizamos unos cambios, lo que ocasionó que nos atrasáramos
en enviarles a algunos de ustedes el adecuado reconocimiento por su apoyo.
Les pido disculpas por el atraso. Hemos resuelto, creo yo, todas(o
la mayoría) de las dificultades y en el futuro el proceso deberá
marchar en forma más fluida. Si alguno de ustedes aún no
recibe la carta de agradecimiento y la necesita para incluirla en su declaración
de impuestos, por favor contáctenme lo más pronto posible. No
olviden el V Coloquio Bianual. Este evento es importante no sólo
para el Instituto Welte sino para todos los estudiosos que trabajan sobre
Oaxaca. Es una gran oportunidad para presentar los últimos resultados
de sus investigaciones a colegas que conocen el área y que están
ansiosos por escucharlos. Finalmente, deseo expresar mi agradecimiento
a todos aquellos quienes trabajaron durante la última década
para lograr que nuestras ideas se convirtieran en realidad. Sin su valioso
apoyo y energía todo lo logrado no se hubiera alcanzado. Arthur
D. Murphy, Presidente Welte
Institute for Oaxacan Studies, Inc.
UNAS
PALABRAS DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA ASOCIACION CIVIL
Nueva
Casa, Nuevos Retos, Nuevas Perspectivas
Han
transcurrido siete años desde que se constituyera en la ciudad de
Oaxaca, México, el Instituto Welte para Estudios Oaxaqueños,
A.C. para que junto con la corporación de los Estados Unidos se
conservara, incrementara y difundiera el legado documental de la biblioteca
del Señor Cecil Welte.Para
estos fines, los primeros seis años la biblioteca del Instituto
se alojó en la casa 412 de la calle Cinco de Mayo en la ciudad de
Oaxaca, casa que fue amablemente cedida de préstamopor
el señor Jorge Velasco.
El
siete de febrero del año 2000 se inició una nueva página
en la historia del Instituto al inaugurar su nuevo domicilio en la casa
203 de la calle Emilio Carranza en la colonia Reforma, en la misma ciudad
de Oaxaca.Esta casa que fue adquirida
gracias a los donativos de la señora Patsy Welte y otras generosas
personas, dará albergue definitivo al Instituto. A
poco más de un año de haberse inaugurado el nuevo domicilio
se puede informar que se ha incrementado el acervo y mejorado el servicio
que se otorga a un número cada vez mayor de usuarios.Este
último se debe a una mejor difusión tanto entre estudiantes
e investigadores nacionales y extranjeros, así como con instituciones
locales y universidades del extranjero.De
estas últimas se reciben grupos de estudiantes y profesores que
hacen uso del acervo documental y de las instalaciones apropiados para
realizar sus actividades.Por otra
parte se ha progresado en gran medida el número de consultantes
locales. El
nuevo edificio cuenta con una oficina administrativa dotada con servicios
de teléfono/fax, correo electrónico; dos salas de lectura,
sala de mapas, salón de clases, sala audiovisual y espacio abierto
para clases y reuniones informales. No
cabe duda de que se ha recorrido un buen tramo del camino, sin embargo,
aun queda mucho para recorrer. Al
momento se hacen complicados y prolongados trámites para obtener
autorización de la Secretaría de Hacienda y poder extender
a los donadores recibos deducibles de impuestos.Este
trámite es fundamental para enfrentar el problema económico
relativo a gastos de operación y mantenimiento que aquejan el Instituto
y que esperamos mejorar en parte a través de los donativos de instituciones,
usuarios y amigos del mismo. Ningún
esfuerzo será suficiente para conservar este legado.¿No
lo cree usted así, amigo lector? Dr.
Víctor Manuel Álvarez Franklin, Presidente Instituto
Welte para Estudios Oaxaqueños, A.C.
NUESTRO
NUEVO HOGAR
Muchos
de ustedes ya lo han visto, pero para los que no, aquí les ofrecemos
una historia y una descripción de nuestro nuevo hogar.Tanto
que nos gustaba nuestro local anterior en Calle Cinco de Mayo por sus patios
encantadores y en particular por su ubicación central, pero fue
preciso que nos moviéramos.Ya
era pequeño el espacio y nuestro contrato gratis estaba por vencerse.Hubiéramos
preferido permanecer en el centro histórico de la ciudad, pero después
de inspeccionar varios inmuebles fue evidente que nuestras finanzas no
nos permitirían esa opción.Todas
las propiedades ubicadas en el centro de la ciudad, que examinamos eran
demasiada caras o necesitaban reparaciones mayores y costosas.La
casa que finalmente escogimos también era algo cara y difícil
de obtener para nuestro presupuesto y además tuvimos que ceder un
poco en nuestras exigencias respecto a su ubicación, tamaño
y el trazo de sus cuartos;pero quedamos
convencidos de que era una transigencia ventajosa.Su
ubicación en la Colonia Reforma no está demasiado lejos del
centro (no es una caminata excesiva para una persona en estado de salud
normal, excepto para los flojos), y al estar, solamente, a un par de cuadras
al norte de la estación de autobuses de primera, es fácil
encontrar.Aunque el edificio
fue proyectado originalmente como una residencia, hemos logrado adaptarlo
bien a nuestros requerimientos.La
sala de estar y comedor y la recamara principal se han transformado en
los salones principales para alojar el acervo y para consultas.La
que era la cocina, ahora sirve de salón de mapas, y la recámara
secundaria se convirtió en la oficina.Estamos
utilizando el baño grande adyacente a la recamara grande como almacén
porque existe otro baño bastante servible en el pasillo principal.En
un rincón al fondo de la propiedad hay una pequeña estructura
adicional, cuya planta baja funcionaba de bar y oficina del dueño
anterior, mientras la planta servía como cuarto de servicio.A
este edificio le hemos dado un uso doble: uno como salón de lectura,
y otro como centro de servicio para recepciones puesto que tiene cocineta
y baño.El traspatio, parte
del cual tiene techo, sirve de espacio abierto para clases, seminarios,
y eventos sociales. En un rincón enla
parte de la propiedad contigua a la calle está otro edificio pequeño
que está ocupado por una taqueríaque
nos paga 2500 pesos mensuales en renta, una cantidad que cubre los recibos
de luz, agua, etc.
Se
firmaron las escrituras el primero de Agosto de 1999, pero ocupamos la
casa hasta que el 15 de Octubre porque se necesitaban algunas reparaciones
y tenía que pintarse toda la casa. Elarquitecto
Ignacio Silva, un miembro de la mesa directiva, junto con su hijo, el Arq.
Marco AntonioSilva, supervisaron
esas tareas.La mudanza misma fue
llevado acabo por Nelly Robles con su equipo y camiones del INAH El
grueso del costo de la casa derivó de la generosidad permanente
de la Sra. Patsy Welte.Otras dos
donaciones importantes de más que 10,000 mil dólares vinieron
de la Sra. Mimi Delakas y del testamento de la difunta Maria Veghte.Fondos
adicionales para la compra de la casa o para las reparaciones fueron donados
por Jack Corbett, William Autry, Marc Winter,Ronald
Waterbury, Lowell Greenberg, y donantes anónimos. La
inauguración—la que fue bien asistida—se llevó acabo el 9
de enero, 2000.Patsy Welte recibió
un reconocimiento y por supuesto se dieron discursos y todo el mundo disfrutó.El
limitado espacio de este boletín nos impide incluir todos los comentarios
que se hicieron durante la función, sin embargo sí proveemos
abajo el discurso de Marcus Winter, porque dice mucho sobre Cecil Welte,
el fundador intelectual y material de este instituto que lleva su nombre. Aunque
nuestro nuevo hogar es satisfactorio por ahora,está
lejos de estar amueblado y equipado idealmente para cumplir cabalmente
sus objetivos.En el largo plazo
tendremos que agregar una sala de usos múltiples,además
de ponerle nuevo techo y hacer otros mejoramientos al actual espacio abierto
de conferencias. Pero, nuestras necesidades de corto plazo más apremiantes
como libreros, mesas para estudiar, mesas para conferencias, escritorios,
y sillas están apenas cubiertas.Por
lo tanto, si alguien quisiera hacer una donación ? ¿cómo
te parece una mesa de biblioteca?La
fijamos una plaquita con tu nombre: “Mesa Donada por Fulano de Tal.”O,si
quieras donarla en nombre de un querido difunto: “Mesa Memorial de Sutano
de Tal, Querido padre de Fulano de Tal.”
OBSERVACIONES
SOBRE CECIL WELTE Y LA INAUGURACIÓN DEL NUEVO LOCAL DEL INSTITUTO
WELTE
Por
Marcus Winter Centro
INAH Oaxaca Algunos
de los aquí presentes frecuentamos la oficina de Cecil R. Welte
en los años 1960s ubicado en la calle de García Vigil esquina
con Independencia. Aquella oficina—más pequeña pero con la
misma austeridad y carácter utilitario de este nuevo edificio del
Instituto Welte—consistió en un cuarto grande, una mesa, sillas,
el escritorio de Cecil, su teléfono, maquina de escribir y estantes
llenos de libros y revistas de antropología. Con
el crecimiento de la ciudad de Oaxaca, Cecil tuvo que cambiar de local
y en 1980 rentó un cuarto más pequeño en el segundo
piso del patio interior de una casa en la calle de Macedonio Alcalá
atrás de una pizzería. Después de su fallecimiento
se cerró la oficina y posteriormente gracias al esfuerzo de Arthur
Murphy, Martha Rees y Patsy Welte, se estableció el Instituto Welte
enuna oficina en la calle Cinco
de Mayo donde floreció y creció durante varios años.
Ahora por fin estamos aquí en instalaciones propias, gracias al
esfuerzo de muchas personas, y especialmente al trabajo dedicado de la
bibliotecaria Gudrun Dohrmann. Regresando
al periodo preclásico de Cecil, ya jubilado y pensionado de su carrera
en el servicio naval de los EUA, Cecil estudió la maestría
en antropología en Mexico City College (posteriormente la Universidad
de las Américas) ubicado en la carretera México-Toluca. Después
con su esposa Patsy vino a vivir en Oaxaca y abrió la Oficina de
la Humanidad del Valle de Oaxaca. En aquel entonces aún no existía
el Centro INAH Oaxaca, ni CIESAS, ni el Instituto de Sociología
de la UABJO: la investigación antropológica nacional se ejercía
desde la capital del país. Por lo menos para los extranjeros, por
casualidad la oficina de Cecil sirvió como centro de comunicación
y repositorio de datos. Cecil se mantuvo en contacto con los investigadores:
antropólogos sociales, arqueólogos, etnohistoriadores, y
otros. Se encontraron en su oficina, o a veces en su casa, o dejaron mensajes
con Cecil. Cecil
también era investigador con sus propios proyectos. Por un lado
le interesaba los datos geográficos y demográficos. El INEGI
aún no había sido establecido; Cecil había hecho un
excelente mapa de los Valles Centrales tomando puntos de referencia con
brújula de las torres de las iglesias de los pueblos para después
plasmar la información en su cuadro. El mapa fue indispensable para
el registro de sitios arqueológicos en los recorridos llevados a
cabo en los 1960s y 1970s. Cecil
recopiló datos de los censos y de fuentes históricas para
caracterizar la población del Valle de Oaxaca, y difundió
los resultados de sus estudios en su serie "Welte's Ready Reference Releases".
Tenía en su casa un aparato (supongo que era un tubo con gradaciones)
para captar y medir la cantidad de lluvia; registró estos datos
climatológicos día tras día, año tras año. Otras
investigaciones iban mucho más allá del registro de datos.
Su principal interés y enfoque teórico fue la antropología
humanística, y era fiel lector de la revista profesional Anthropology
and Humanism Quarterly. Dos
estudios reúnen sus ideas y reflexiones. El primero, publicado en
1977, es un artículo largo intitulado "Interrelationships of Individual,
Cultural, and Pan-Human Values," que es no menos de una teoría general
del ser humano, con énfasis en los valores (un enfoque poco estudiado
desde los años 1950s) dentro del contexto de la cultura, la biología
y el individuo (estos últimos han sido mucho más estudiados
en los años recientes que cuando Cecil estaba escribiendo). El
segundo estudio, publicado en 1986 en Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly y
intitulado "The Human Context of the Interpretation of Cultures" es básicamente
una crítica del concepto de cultura presentada por Clifford Geertz
quien es considerado por algunos el antropólogo más destacado
de la segunda mitad del siglo 20. Cecil argumenta que Geertz, en su 1983
Distinguished Lecture al American Anthropological Association (publicado
en American Anthropologist en
1984), adopta una postura de determinista cultural, sin tomar en cuenta
la dimensión de valores que surgen independientemente de lo biológico
y lo cultural. En otras palabras, hay aspectos del individuo y su creatividad
que no son aprendidos o que no surgen de su cultura. ¿Qué
significa todo esto? Sin
duda, estamos contentos todos que el Instituto Welte cuenta ahora con su
propio local. Mientras que implica más independencia y seguridad
para la biblioteca, también significa una mayor responsabilidad
para mantener vivo y activo el Instituto. Los trabajos en años recientes
de Martha Rees, Arthur Murphy y otros en establecer, con el apoyo de otras
dependencias locales, las conferencias bianuales han sido un paso importante
en fomentar la discusión y difusión de los conocimientos
antropológicos. Ahora, al final de un siglo y al inicio de otro,
y con la inauguración del nuevo inmueble del Instituto, podemos
considerar la posibilidad de hacer más. El
día de ayer, en su primer plana, El Imparcial reportó
una conversación en la cual el diputado local, Germán Tenorio
Vasconcelos, supuestamente dijo que en Oaxaca se recicla la pobreza y la
desigualdad crece porque no hay guías morales ni un proyecto social
del pueblo: Lo
que nos hace falta es la organización social, porque en Oaxaca no
hay intelectuales, sólo figuras pintorescas, y un tanto folclóricas,
por lo cual necesitamos guías morales. Tal
vez son palabras ambiguas de un político, y de hecho no creo que
nos pueden salvar ni "los intelectuales" ni "las guías morales",
pero sí creo que las perspectivas antropológicas son fundamentales
para el entendimiento de la condición humana general y de casos
específicos, por ejemplo la situación socioeconómica
actual en el Estado de Oaxaca. Además de la biblioteca y repositorio
de datos, el legado de Cecil, manifestado en lo que decidió hacer
con sus años maduros y en sus escritos antropológicos-filosóficos,
demuestra una preocupación con la humanidad que compartimos muchos
y que consta de preocupaciones y conocimientos dignos de ser difundidos
a los políticos entre otros y aplicados en los intentos de construir
una sociedad oaxaqueña justa e igualitaria.
REPORTE
DE LA BIBLIOTECA
El
acervo de la biblioteca, el recurso central del Instituto, continúa
expandiéndose, manteniendo la situación de la Biblioteca
Welte como la más completa, la mejor organizada y la más
accesible colección de materiales de investigación sobre
Oaxaca, bajo un sólo techo. Nuestro catálogo computarizado
y con referencias cruzadas ahora contiene cerca de 9000 libros, artículos
y publicaciones periódicas, nuestra bibliotecaria, Gudrun Dohrmann,
es capaz de proporcionar a los investigadores extensas listas de lecturas
adecuadas a sus necesidades de investigación. Además, nos
agrada mucho anunciar que, gracias en gran parte a ingresos del programa
de Jack Corbett, en Noviembre obtuvimos una flamante computadora para hacer
posible que Gudrun puede realizar sus milagros aún mas efectivamente.Respecto
a acervo, en este momento proviene casi exclusivamente de contribuciones,
por favor colabora aumentando y poniendo al día la colección
donando copias de todas tus publicaciones, así como otros libros
y revistas que tengas disponibles. Aprovecha para limpiar y ordenar tus
recargados libreros y deposita tus libros y revistas en el Instituto Welte,
donde serán catalogados y cuidados, de tal manera que tú
y otros siempre los podrán consultar. Recuerda que las donaciones
son deducibles de impuestos. Algunas personas regularmente realizan donaciones
a la biblioteca y deseamos expresarles nuestro agradecimiento. Estas
incluyen, entre otras, Jack Corbett, Manuel Esparza, Mike Higgins, Matt
Gutmann, Jorge Hernández, Art Murphy, Kristin Norget, Martha Rees,
Lynn Stephen, Ron Waterbury y Marc Winter. Un
agradecimiento especial a Sutti Ortiz quien donó 70 libros, y al
Centro de Estudios Precolombino de Dumbarton Oaks que donó 250 libros
que pertenecían a la colección de la finada Carol Callaway.
En un futuro no muy distante esperamos ligar nuestro catálogo vía
internet con otras bibliotecas, como las de la ENAH, CIESAS, UDLA-P y UNAM,
lo cual proporcionará a los miembros del Instituto Welte recursos
bibliográficos muy amplios.
A
pesar del hecho de que nuestras actuales oficinas no están en un
lugar céntrico, como cuando estuvimos en la calle de 5 de Mayo,
el número de usuarios continúa creciendo. La tabla siguiente
muestra el número de personas que se anotaron en el libro de registro
de la biblioteca en los meses de enero a julio del 2001, únicamente.
Las cifras no muestran el monto de actividad de la biblioteca debido a
que las personas que acuden diariamente solo se registran una vez. Usuarios
de la Biblioteca Enero-Julio,
2001
Es
particularmente gratificante el aumento en el número de usuarios
locales, lo que contradice a aquellos que en el pasado criticaron al Instituto
Welte, alegando que era una institución principalmente para extranjeros.
De los 544 individuos que se registraron en el libro de asistencia, durante
los primeros siete meses de 2001, 75% eran nacionales. Mientras que los
estudiantes postgraduados y los profesionales de las instituciones locales
de investigación como CIESAS, INAH, ITO, la Facultad de Arquitectura
de la UABJO y el Instituto de Investigaciones Sociológicas, continúan
utilizando las facilidades del Instituto Welte en forma regular, un número
creciente de estudiantes preuniversitarios y estudiantes no graduados de
las universidades locales, usan frecuentemente la biblioteca. Respecto
al origen de los usuarios internacionales, los países representados
son, en estricto orden numérico: Estados Unidos, Canadá,
Holanda, Alemania, Francia, Italia y Japón.
La
biblioteca Welte es frecuentemente visitada por investigadores y por grupos
de alumnos internacionales que están realizando un “semestre al
extranjero” en Oaxaca; se incluyen instituciones como Pórtland State
University, Wellesley College, Kalamazoo College, Universidad de Leiden
(Holanda), la Sorbona, University of Kentucky, Morehouse College, Kennesaw
State y Morris Brown College. Entre estos, el programa semestral al extranjero
organizado y dirigido por Jack Corbett es probablemente lo más grande
y más duradero.Este incluye
un bloque de estudiantes de Wellesley University supervisado por Lois Wasserspring.Los
estudiantes de este programa ? usualmente entre 20 y 25 ? toman clases
por las mañanas en los espacios de reuniones del Welte, y entonces
estudian en la biblioteca por las tardes. Gudrun mantiene abierta la biblioteca
extra horas en estos días. |
