Soldiers, Saints, and Shamans: Indigenous Communities and the Revolutionary State in Mexico's Gran Nayar, 1910–1940

Many books have been written on the Mexican Revolution, and some on its aftermath (including the First and the Second Cristero Rebellions), but very few on what happened during that time in remote Indigenous regions of Mexico like the Gran Nayar. In fact, this book is one of only a handful to deal with any period of history in the context of the Gran Nayar. The region's Indigenous people—the Wixaritari (also known as Huichol), Náayari (Cora), O'dam (Southern Tepehuan), and Mexicaneros (Nahua)—are among anthropologists' favorites, for purportedly being traditional and resolutely pagan (or superficially influenced by Christianity). Consequently, ritual, mythology, and traditional arts have been documented quite thoroughly for the region, but studying its history has not been a priority.This book clearly shows that there are no peoples without history in the Gran Nayar. Considering popular images of the region as dominated by unspoiled, shamanic communities, the amount and intensity of the fighting there during the revolution may be surprising, but even more so are the changing and often-paradoxical alliances, for and against the revolutionary governments. Factionalist tensions between cosmopolitans and conservatives are the backdrop for many conflicts. But the emergence of revolutionary and counterrevolutionary militias gave rise to more tensions, to caciquismo and to resistance against such strongmen.Presumably, the Mexican Revolution was motivated by the fight against oppression, ignorance, and poverty. The Gran Nayar was and is one of the most marginalized regions in all of Mexico. So one might think that everybody there was happy when the postrevolutionary governments sent teachers and started to show some interest in the progress of the Native population. However, local hatred of teachers turned many local people against the revolution. Teachers saw themselves as missionaries of science and rationality. They believed that in order to build a modern nation-state, the backwardness of people believed to be ignorant and primitive had to be overcome. In other words, the revolutionary task—known as forjar patria—required the destruction of local political structures, languages, and supposed superstitions. On occasion, the teachers took away children, kept them in prisonlike boarding schools, and punished them when they used their Native languages. This is one of the first books to analyze such ethnocidal practice in Mexico, where, unlike in Canada, the United States, or Australia, there has never been a broad discussion about these policies. Many teachers were also poorly trained and prone to alcoholism, or worse, they colluded with local mestizo elites in trying to steal or split up communal Indigenous lands. Being intermediaries between communities and the state, they turned into a new generation of caciques or even warlords. All of this elicited widespread resistance in the Gran Nayar.Many local people therefore joined Cristero counterrevolutionaries in this period. The Cristeros have often been depicted as Taliban-like Catholic fundamentalists, opposed to the social and anticlerical reforms promoted by the progressive postrevolutionary government. But in the Gran Nayar, many Cristeros were actually non-Christians. Historically, the resistance in the Gran Nayar against Catholic missionaries has been so strong that for the church the whole region is still a terra nullius, a no-man's-land. The Gran Nayar's Indigenous Cristeros were clearly motivated by the defense of not the church but rather local rituals and, above all, what is known as costumbre. Ironically, communities who sided with the federal government against the Cristeros had very similar motivations: defending communal territories and traditional forms of government.Morris's book may cause readers to lose their illusions about social revolutions, but it should also help them appreciate the value of Indigenous autonomy. It is important to mention that despite being a historian, Morris conducted ethnographic fieldwork among all four of the Gran Nayar's peoples. The Gran Nayar is still a region where the rule of law is not well established, so doing research there is often dangerous. To make things worse, Morris conducted his fieldwork during some of the most violent years of the so-called drug war, when many anthropologists preferred not to visit the region. As a matter of fact, many elders compare today's situation with the violence that they experienced in their youth. Morris participated in rituals like Semana Santa; participant observation was the key to his learning about costumbre, which was necessary in order to understand how the Gran Nayar's inhabitants practice history and construct memory. Events and legends are always interwoven. Historical figures have supernatural power and are often identified with gods and saints. On the other hand, only by getting to know the people of the Gran Nayar so well was Morris able to fully understand the importance of autonomy for members of Indigenous communities. He also was able to observe how disrespect for local costumbre and traditional governments still prevails among teachers and functionaries. This is why representatives of the state are still so controversial in most of the Gran Nayar.Why so much violence? Morris is able to prove that the warriors of the twentieth century's first half actually had strategies and good motives for taking up arms. They did not fight because they were uncivilized. Thinking about the contemporary problems of many Latin American countries in the same terms, one can conclude that state-building efforts, as long as they are not based on respect for autonomy and costumbre, are always doomed to fail.

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