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Piman shamanism is based on the belief that morality and some forms
of sickness are interrelated. The shaman, or medicine man, has a
dual role in the Piman Indian culture. He is the guardian of the
Pimans' health and their consciousness of cultural identity. This
definitive study of shamanic theory and practice was developed
through a four-person collaboration: three Tohono O'odham Indians-a
shaman, a translator, and a trained linguist-and a non-Indian
explicator. It provides an in-depth examination of the Piman
philosophy of sickness as well as an introduction to the world view
of an entire people. Using the most highly developed techniques of
modern ethnolinguistics, anthropologist Bahr investigates the
culturally based concept of staying sickness. He conducted
extensive discussions in the Piman language with shaman Gregorio.
The native informant theorized at length about the cause of staying
sickness, the duajida (divination), and ritual prayers. The
translator and the linguist analyzed the content and style of
Gregorio's discussions. Texts in the Piman language of Gregorio's
discussions are included, as well as literal and idiomatic English
translations. American Anthropologist cites "the infinite care with
which each utterance has been analyzed" and "the richness of
cultural expression captured in the texts themselves and in their
explanation. To read Piman Shamanism and Staying Sickness is to
become familiar with the unique properties of Piman thinking and
modes of expression: abstract, elliptical, contracted, and yet
filled with a rich and natural imagery." The University of Arizona
Press's Century Collection employs the latest in digital technology
to make previously out-of-print books from our notable backlist
available once again. Enriching historical and cultural experiences
for readers, this collection offers these volumes unaltered from
their original publication and in affordable digital or paperback
formats.
When Friar Diego Bringas penned his 1796-97 report on conditions in
northwestern New Spain, he was imbued with an enthusiastic drive
for reform. Hoping to gain the King of Spain's support in improving
the missionary program, Bringas set down a detailed history of all
that had happened in the region since Father Kino's day. His
writings offer a valuable study of Spanish attempts to bring about
cultural change among the Piman Indians. Daniel S. Matson and
Bernard L. Fontana have translated the Bringas document and added
an informative introduction, notes, and references. They analyze
Spanish methods of indoctrination and examine the implications in
terms of the modern world. Friar Bringas carefully explained
various missionary and secular policies, laws, and regulations. He
pointed out why, in his opinion, Spanish efforts to convert the
Piman Indians had failed. He also provided a report of the orders
establishing the ill-fated Yuma missions. His fascinating account
of the Gila River Pimas is one of the most complete ethnographic
descriptions from that era. Friar Bringas Reports to the King is an
important study of Spain's attempts to assimilate the Indians. It
offers a deeper understanding of the history of the Pimeria Alta.
The University of Arizona Press's Century Collection employs the
latest in digital technology to make previously out-of-print books
from our notable backlist available once again. Enriching
historical and cultural experiences for readers, this collection
offers these volumes unaltered from their original publication and
in affordable digital or paperback formats.
In prehistoric times, the Santa Cruz River in what is now southern
Arizona saw many ebbs, flows, and floods. It flowed on the surface,
meandered across the floodplain, and occasionally carved deep
channels or arroyos into valley fill. Groundwater was never far
from the surface, in places outcropping to feed marshlands or
cienegas. In these wet places, arroyos would heal quickly as the
river channel revegetated, the thriving vegetation trapped
sediment, and the channel refilled. As readers of Requiem for the
Santa Cruz learn, these aridland geomorphic processes also took
place in the valley as Tucson grew from mud-walled village to
modern metropolis, with one exception: historical water development
and channel changes proceeded hand in glove, each taking turns
reacting to the other, eventually lowering the water table and
killing a unique habitat that can no longer recover or be restored.
Authored by an esteemed group of scientists, Requiem for the Santa
Cruz thoroughly documents this river--the premier example of
historic arroyo cutting during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, when large floodflows cut down through
unconsolidated valley fill to form deep channels in the major
valleys of the American Southwest. Each chapter provides a unique
opportunity to chronicle the arroyo legacy, evaluate its causes,
and consider its aftermath. Using more than a collective century of
observations and collections, the authors reconstruct the
circumstances of the river's entrenchment and the groundwater
mining that ultimately killed the marshlands, a veritable mesquite
forest, and a birdwatcher's paradise.
Today, communities everywhere face this conundrum: do we manage
ephemeral rivers through urban areas for flood control, or do we
attempt to restore them to some previous state of perennial
naturalness? Requiem for the Santa Cruz carefully explores the
legacies of channel change, groundwater depletion, flood control,
and nascent attempts at river restoration to give a long-term
perspective on management of rivers in arid lands. Tied together by
authors who have committed their life's work to the study of
aridland rivers, this book offers a touching and scientifically
grounded requiem for the Santa Cruz and every southwestern river.
When William John McGee set out from Washington, D.C., for the
Sonoran Desert in 1894, he was inspired by a passion for adventure
as much as a thirst for knowledge. McGee lived in an era when
discovery was made through travel rather than study, and
reputations were forged by going where no outsiders had gone
before. A self-taught scientist in the newly forming field of
anthropology, McGee led two expeditions through southern Arizona
and northern Sonora for the Bureau of American Ethnology. There he
conducted ethnographic research among the Papagos (Tohono O'odham)
and the Seris, and his subsequent publication "The Seri Indians"
helped secure his place in the anthropological community. McGee's
complete journals of the expeditions, kept in small field notebooks
and preserved in the Library of Congress, are published here for
the first time. These journals contain detailed descriptions of the
country and people McGee encountered and convey the adventure of
traveling through wild and unfamiliar places--including a voyage to
Isla TiburA3n, or Shark Island, in the Gulf of California--and
being plagued by foul weather, a shortage of supplies, and fear of
attack from hostile Indians. "Trails to TiburA3n" features 57
historical photographs taken on the expedition, capturing the
places McGee saw and the people he encountered. Fontana's notes to
the diary provide useful botanical, geological, and ethnographic
information, while his introduction places McGee and his field work
in the context of late-nineteenth-century anthropology and science.
"Trails to TiburA3n" reveals McGee's versatility as a field worker
and shows his methods, often questioned today, to be the reasonable
response of a mancaught up in the intellectual fervor of his time.
For anyone wanting to share in the spirit of adventure, these
journals are a landmark in the annals of exploration.
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The Sierra Pinacate (Hardcover)
Julian D Hayden; Photographs by Jack W. Dykinga; Text written by Charles Bowden, Bernard L. Fontana
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R906
Discovery Miles 9 060
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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South of the border, a spectacular range of ancient volcanoes rises
from the desert floor just a few miles from the Sea of Cortez.
Virtually untraveled, the Sierra Pinacate in northwestern Mexico
beckons adventurers and scientists. Here, in words and pictures, is
a remarkable introduction to this place of almost surreal beauty.
Sometimes veiled in clouds or dust storms, the Pinacate have long
been shrouded in mystery as well. From prehistoric times until
today, people of Sonora have told tales of giants, men and animals,
bottomless pits, endless tunnels, hostile Indians, smoking caverns,
and ever-present dangers found in the Pinacate. This book takes
readers deep into the heart of this fascinating area. Julian
Hayden, who worked and traveled in the Pinacate for four decades,
introduces the natural history, archaeology, geology, and human
history of the area. Spectacular color photographs by Jack Dykinga
capture the magic and the isolation of this stunning region.
Hayden's text is presented in both English and Spanish. The Mexican
government has already declared the Pinacate an officially
protected biosphere reserve; still pending is its inclusion in the
Man and the Biosphere program of the United Nations. More than a
natural history, "The Sierra Pinacate" is an elegant appreciation
of a place of wonder.
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