The Tewa World by Alfonso Ortiz - Book Report/Review Example

The Tewa World by Alfonso Ortiz The Tewa World is one of the most significant works created on the discipline of Anthropology during the second half of twentieth century. The work serves as an astounding piece of research in which the author, Alfonso Ortiz, has portrayed the characteristics and traits of the social and ritual life observed by the people belonging to his native Pueblo Indian culture. The myth not only presents the Tewa’s own explanation for the existence of the Winter and Summer moieties, but also defines their relations to the spiritual and natural world. (Ortiz, 1969:121) The work won great applause from the author’s contemporary anthropologists, and got popularity among the writers, researchers and masses alike. Once in an anthropological blue moon the right person comes along at the proper time and presents us with an account of a particular tribe or a particular problem, which moves us onto a new plateau. (Eggan: quoted in Ortiz, 1969) Ortiz was born in San Juan Pueblo in April 1939, which is situated in the northern New Mexico. He led his childhood in the supervision of his grandparents, who brought him up n rural area of Pueblo. His grandfather trained him in such a way that turned him into a tough, sturdy and industrious young boy. His work, in the fields from dawn to dusk, played decisive role in his orientation with the natural phenomena as well as rural life of the indigenous population of his region. Ortiz got his early education from the local city. Ortiz studied sociology at the University of New Mexico and was awarded his degree in 1961. (answer.com) Ortiz maintained quench for knowledge and analysis, which paved the way towards his further study in the fields of sociology and anthropology. Fluent in Tewa, Ortiz studied sociology at the University of New Mexico and anthropology at the University of Chicago, earning his Ph.D. in 1967. Ortiz’s anthropological work was concerned primarily with the history and culture of the American Indians of the southwest. (WC017, 2008) He has selected the same topic for his Ph. D dissertation, which was extended in the form of the under-analysis work. He led an active life and participated in the movements launched for the rights of the northern American subjects, and was elected as the president of Association of Indian American Affairs. Ortiz died in 1997 due to unexpected heart attack; however, he is still alive due to his outstanding research works in the field of anthropology, which remain serving as the guiding star to the future researchers and writers. The most important reason that captivated my attention to choose the work under examination is the tremendous achievements made by the author in respect of revealing the hidden aspects of the northern Mexican Pueblo Indians. Although, several researches have been conducted, on the foundation of the theories articulated, time and again, in the discipline of anthropology, yet very few researchers have gathered courage to explore his native region by concentrating the distinguished aspects of the area. It is partially due to the very reason that the sociological studies made on local culture seldom capture the attention of the readers; consequently, the probabilities of winning applause from the critics appear to be bleak. Another imperative reason behind exploration of some external and yonder civilization is this that discovering realities and making research findings about the outer world is considered as difficult, time consuming and arduous task, because of the researcher’s unfamiliarity with the foreign land and culture. However, the researches have proved the very reality that disclosing of even the trivial and minute elements as well as highlighting the bitter realities prevailing in one’s native culture is hard nut to crack, though Ortiz has conducted the same out of his innate talent and with the help of outstanding labour, which can be estimated by looking into the detailed description of moiety, kinship, cult, traditions and the use of Tewa language explicitly elaborated in the work. The most prominent Tewa social classification is the moiety, and for social organisation, the most significant habit of mind, the tendency to dichotomise. (Parsons, 1929:278) Being a highly qualified post-graduate as well as professional researcher, the author has paid due heed to the structure of his work. First of all the author aims to introduce the readers to the motif behind selection of San Juan village for the study, and throws light on the moiety and clan systems existing in the region. The author declares the structure of society as dual, and consequently applies the same term of dual organisation throughout the book, because of the religious and political influence of Spaniard culture on it. (Ortiz, 4-5) The author also gives citations from the ethnographic studies have already been conducted by various researchers on similar regions, which reveal his vast study and in-depth knowledge about cultural aspects of life. The study has been decorated with the pre-historic Tewa spiritual beliefs, prayers and basic language, which flows with the facts about collective social activities, observed by the population, and thus is vehemently supportive in comprehending with the culture. Ortiz has well divided the book into the categories like Dry Food People, Made People and others on the basis of the era they belong(ed) to. Additionally, he also has provided a comprehensive summary of his research work that briefly points out important findings of the study in the end. The researchers apply both quantitative and qualitative approaches in the anthropological studies, according to the situation and topic; however, they mostly adopt qualitative methods in ethnographic studies. Renowned US research-scholar as well as author of several books and literary pieces, Margaret Mead, has mostly applied qualitative methods while depicting the traits of the cultures under her examination. It is particularly the case with her Sex and Temperament in three Primitive Societies in Papua New Guinea (1935). Ortiz has also applied the same research technique, where he concentrates upon the prominent cultural characteristics prevailing in the culture under study. He has adopted participant observation, historical facts and archival approaches while completing his study. Structuralism and cultural materialism look prominent throughout the book. Cultural Materialism is divided into two parts. The first part deals with cultural materialism itself, and contains a survey of the philosophy of science, an outline of the epistemological and theoretical principles of cultural materialism, and some examples that give an idea of its scope. The second part is a critical look at alternative theories, namely socio-biology and biological reductionism, dialectical materialism, structuralism, structural Marxism, psychological and cognitive idealism, eclecticism and obscurantism. (Harris, 1979) Hence, Ortiz has focused on the structure and materialism found in the Tewa culture. The researcher has tried to explore the influence of western and Spaniard civilization on the spiritual and social life of the Tewa culture. According to the study, the Tewa classify all human and spiritual existence into a hierarchy of six categories, three human and three spiritual, and the spiritual categories are further associated with special geographical points in the Tewa world Ortiz, 9). Interestingly, the Tewa view the living humans in human category, while dead ones become the part of spiritual category. The book also identifies the social behaviour of the people with that of their migration from different parts of the globe. The study is the outcome of four years long efforts made by the author in the field while discovering the traits of the Tewa culture. Since Ortiz maintains command over the native language and people’s behaviour because of his familiarity with the region, he successfully completed the all-inclusive and lengthy research work within the short span of four years from his graduation to completing his doctorate in the discipline. The volume under analysis has skilfully covered the gap existed in the previous studies on the topic similar to the region he has selected. Before this, Parsons (1929) had conducted the research within limited scope of the subject as well as on few cultural traits of the locality. Ortiz has described, in a detailed manner, the prevailing rituals from childbirth to food consuming activities and from the marriage ceremonies and festivals to the funeral rituals, which wide opens new horizons of knowledge and foresight about the Tewa civilisation to the readers. The author has thrown light upon the birth time of the children, where the nurses start providing services to the pregnant women since labour pains to four days after the birth. At birth, each Tewa child is attended by two midwives, neither of whom need necessarily be related to him. Well before dawn that morning the naming mother arises, takes the lightening stones, and rubs them briskly together, to cast lightening (sparks) to the north, west, south, east, up, and down, in that order. (Ortiz, 31) This symbolic act is an attempt to induce rainfall, for rainfall is regarded as a particularly auspicious sign that the spirits are pleased with the child. The book also describes the religious beliefs of the Hopi population, according to which the Catholic faith is followed by the majority of the region. The Roman Catholic faith was important to the Spaniards, so named places for saints, not only to honour the saints but also to elicit the saints’ patronage and protection. (Julyan, 1996: viii) Moreover, death and funeral rituals have also been portrayed by the author in the volume in an informative way. To conclude, it becomes crystal-clear that the volume is the reflection of the author’s dexterity over research process, deep insight, hard labour and dedication. Not only has this that the volume has provided the information about the culture within a historic perspective, but also offers the opportunity of future researched on the Hopi culture and civilisation. Hence, portrayal of traditions, norms, values, mores, taboos, customs and conventions in details makes the volume a wonderful research work on the discipline of cultural anthropology. Works Cited Harris, Marvin. “Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture” 1979 Retrieved fromhttp://dannyreviews.com/h/Cultural_Materialism.html Julyan, Robert Hixson “The Place Names of New Mexico” UNM Press 1996 viii Ortiz, Alfonso “The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society” Chicago 1969 2-176 Parsons, Elsie Clews “The Social Organisation of the Tewa of New Mexico American Anthropological Association Memoir No. 6 1929 “Alfonso Ortiz Collection of Native American Oral Literature, 1959-1965”: Finding Aid Princeton University Library 2008 http://diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?eadid=WC017&kw= Read More