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Show 46 It would be puerile to state that social anthropology and Indianism are the same thing. What we really want to emphasize is the undeniable fact that Indianism, which at the start was often a romantic and idealistic attitude, later became, as a result of the work of teachers as well known as Doctors Manuel Gamio, Alfonso Caso, Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran and Alfonso Villa Rojas to mention only a few, the beginning and germ of a new form of anthropology aimed at the study and solution of a problem that concerns the majority of the American countries. In the V Inter-American Indian Congress, upon analyzing various programs and plans for action, deficiencies could be noted, in theory as well as in practice. Particular emphasis was placed on the need for concentrating attention on program evaluation. The rtsuits of an Indianism conceived from the point of view of social anthropology cannot be measured theoretically from a desk. Only analysis of projects and concrete programs will permit their evaluation and consequently a greater precision in the formulation of theories and methods best suited for adoption. Comas, Juan. "El Instituto Indigenista," America Indigena, XXV, (October, 1965), pp. 353-363. English Summary: In this article the author, for many years Secretary of the Inter-American Indian Institute, reviews the founding, editorial output and the vicissitudes of the Institute since its beginning* Born as the result of an international agreement in the first Inter-American Indianist Congress held in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, in April, 1940, the Institute began its editorial efforts on August 1, 1941 with the first number of its Boletin Indigenista. In October of the same year also appeared the first number of America Indigena-today celebrating 25 years of uninterrupted publication. The Institute, which the various American states slowly joined as they ratified the Patzcuaro Convention, was heavily attacked during the difficult period of the Second World War and post-war - difficult from the economic as well as the ideologic aspects - both by right and left, each accusing the Institute of the opposite political ideology. Dr. Manuel Gamio bravely faced this opposition, making clear the apolitical character of the Institute, an organization totally dedicated to solving the most critical socio-economic problems of the Continent's Indians. In resume, this article describes the life of the Institute until Dr. Gamio's death in 1960. To take up later events is, in the author's opinion, to write of the present and not of its history and should, in any case, be treated as a separate chapter. |
