Scattered round stones

by David Yetman

"From the very first, Teachive captivated me," David Yetman writes in this ethnography of a Mayo Indian peasant village in Sonora, Mexico. Over the centuries, the Mayos have evolved a profound union between the monte, or thornscrub forest, and their cultural life. With the assistance of resident Vicente Tajia and others, Yetman describes the region's plant and animal life and recounts the stories and traditions that animate the monte for the Mayos. That folk culture, so critical to their identity, is under assault by the global economic revolution. A passionate observer and chronicler, Yetman analyzes how galloping capitalism is destroying the monte and thus eroding traditional Mayo society. Listing Indian, Spanish, and scientific terms, an appendix glosses plants used by the Mayos in the Teachive area.