Product Description: The Mexican aristocracy today is simultaneously an anachronism and a testimony to the persistence of social institutions. Shut out from political power by the democratization movements of the twentieth century, stripped of the basis of its great wealth by land reforms in the 1930s, the aristocracy nonetheless maintains a strong sense of group identity through the deeply held belief that their ancestors were the architects and rulers of Mexico for nearly four hundred years...read more

Since the Revolution of 1910, Mexican society has undergone a profound transformation, characterized by the disempowerment of the landed aristocracy and the rise of a new ruling class of plutocrats and politicians; the development of a middle class of white-collar professionals; and the upward mobility of formerly disenfranchised Indians who have become urban, working-class Mestizos. Indeed, Mexico's class system today increasingly resembles that of Western industrialized nations, proving that, while further democratic reforms are needed, the Revolution initiated an ongoing process of change that has created a more egalitarian society in Mexico with greater opportunities for social advancement.This authoritative ethnography examines the transformation of social classes in the Cordoba-Orizaba region during the latter half of the twentieth century to create a model of provincial social stratification in Mexico. Hugo Nutini focuses on the increased social mobility that has affected all classes of society, especially the rural Indians who have taken advantage of education, job opportunities, and contact with the wider world to achieve Mestizo status. He also traces the transfer of power that followed the demise of the hacienda system, as well as the growing importance of the middle class. This description and analysis of the provincial social stratification system complements the work Nutini has done on the national class system, centred in Mexico City, to offer a comprehensive picture of social stratification and mobility in Mexico today.

Product Description: Three generations after the Mexican Revolution, the Mexican aristocracy maintains a remarkable awareness of itself as a social class. In The Wages of Conquest, anthropologist Hugo G. Nutini sets out to study this social institution, which has shown an unparalleled continuity in structure, form, and content since its beginning with the Spanish conquest of Mexico...read more

Product Description: In the rural areas of south-central Mexico, there are believed to be witches who transform themselves into animals in order to suck the blood from the necks of sleeping infants. This book analyzes beliefs held by the great majority of the population of rural Tlaxcala a generation ago and chronicles its drastic transformation since then...read more

Product Description: The cult of the dead, centered on Todos Santos, the All Saints Day-All Souls Day celebration, is one of the most important aspects of Mesoamerican Indian and mestizo religion. Focusing on rural Tlaxcala, in Mexico, Hugo Nutini presents a thorough description and analysis of the cult in its syncretic, structural, and expressive dimensions and describes its development from the original confrontation of pre-Hispanic polytheism and Spanish Catholicism, through colonial times, until the disintegration of the system of folk religions that is even now occurring...read more

Product Description: This sequel to the first volume of Ritual Kinship (Princeton, 1980) completes a comprehensive account of one of the most pervasive and significant of Latin American institutions. Volume II examines the permanent dimensions of the compadrazgo system and its role in the organization of local society...read more

Product Description: This sequel to the first volume of Ritual Kinship (Princeton, 1980) completes a comprehensive account of one of the most pervasive and significant of Latin American institutions. Volume II examines the permanent dimensions of the compadrazgo system and its role in the organization of local society...read more

Product Description: The Description for this book, Ritual Kinship, Volume I: The Structure and Historical Development of the Compadrazgo System in Rural Tlaxcala, will be forthcoming.