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Show 77 International organizations are further limited by restrictions on their choice of technical personnel, which often mean that experts cannot be used where they are most needed. Native technicians may not be acceptable to their governments, foreigners may be ignorant of local conditions, language or history, or worse yet may lack enthusiasm or faith in their work, refusing to sacrifice their personal comfort to its success. National officials may be ignorant of conditions in their own country. The inevitable failure in such a situation makes future work even more difficult. People everywhere are tired of big talk that comes to nothing. Has the Indian benefited from the money spent and the experts hired in his name? It is true that improvement takes time but these people are tired of waiting. It will be hard to sell them long-range programs; they want quick and tangible results. But they can be quickly convinced by practical demonstrations of new methods. The problem of the Indian must be faced by people who have studied him and understand him. It is undeniable that some international organizations have helped to create a universal conscience with respect to the Indian but they have not gone beyond. The same might have done much more if their limitations, outlined above, had not been so great, their plans over-ambitious, if their personnel had been better selected and if they had taken into account the Indian himself. Camara Barbachano, Fernando (Mexico), "Aspectos Sociales y Culturales de la America Indigena," America Indigena, XIV, No. 2 (April, 1954), pp. 127- 155. English summary: In this paper the author tries to portray the main socio-cultural characteristics of the Indian population of what is known as Latin America. The data, gathered from personal field-work experience and modern published information, refer to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru and answer the following questions: Who, Where, and how many are they?; What do they do for a living?; How are they grouped?; Whom and how do they obey and follow?; Housing, food and sanitary conditions; and what do they learn and believe? The answer to the first question takes in consideration the homogeneity and variability of the Indian population, both phenotype and genotype characteristics, given examples of measurements and physical traits. In respect to where they live, the great majority inhabits semiarid plateaus, the slopes of eroded mountains, narrow canyons, or dense jungle and tropical forest. There are however, some groups such as the Huastecs, Tarascans, and Zapotecs in Mexico, Cakchiquels and Zutugils in Guatemala, and some Arawaks, Caribs and Quechuas, who do keep and dispose of good soils and harvested lands. According to census reports, the total Indian population in the six countries already mentioned, exceeds 15 million. However criteria and techniques for defining an Indio have been so inconsistent that the expected total figure depends more on the political orientation of the nation and the responsibility and accuracy of the census taker. |
