Yaqui Women: Contemporary Life Histories

by Jane H. Kelley

The four life histories collected here—personal accounts of the Yaqui wars, deportation from Sonora in virtual slavery, life as soldaderas with the Mexican Revolutionary army, emigration to Arizona to escape persecution, the rebuilding of the Yaqui villages in post-Revolutionary Sonora, and life in the modern Yaqui communities—constitute remarkable documents of human endurance, valuable for both their historical and their anthropological insights. In addition, they shed new light on the roles of women, a group that is underrepresented in studies of Yaquis as well as in life history literature. Based on the belief that the life history approach, focusing on individual rather than cultures or societies, can contribute significantly to anthropological research, the book includes a discussion of life history methodology and illustrates its applicability to questions of social roles and variations in adaptive strategies.

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Dr. Jane Holden Kelley, Professor Emerita of Archaeology at the University of Calgary, daughter of TAS co-founder and pioneer in Texas archeology, Dr. William Curry Holden, is herself an accomplished archaeologist. She earned her B.A. in history from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in 1949, and went on to The University of Texas at Austin (UT), where she received her M.A. in anthropology in 1951, completing her thesis on the Bonnell site near Ruidoso, New Mexico. Later, she wrote her dissertation at Harvard University on the archaeology of the Sierra Blanca Region of Southeastern New Mexico, graduating with her Ph.D. in 1966.

Dr. Kelley has worked in New Mexico, El Salvador, and Chihuahua, and is currently involved in a 3-year grant-funded project in Chihuahua investigating the pithouse phase (or the Viejo period). She has published several books, including two on Yaqui life histories, a project she first worked on with her father; a monograph on Cihuatan; and the Archaeology and Methodology of Science, with philosopher Marsha Hanen. Dr. Kelley’s numerous journal articles cover a diverse range of topics such as gender, Yaqui law, and the politics of archaeology. She has been published in The Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, American Antiquity, Latin American Antiquity, Kiva, and Current Anthropology, to name a few. She is past treasurer of the Society for American Archaeology, and recently presented a paper on Chihuahua and served as a discussant in another session at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the SAA in Vancouver

Reviews

[Jen Hopping · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informational but pretty hard to read too… pretty dry

[Velia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars for the value of the content. I am a woman, so I am more interested in the lives of women and what they bring to the family, religion, and culture. There are the wars and men fight the wars, but those same wars have an impact on the women too. Women faced deportation too. Women faced disruptions to their families too. Women dealt with the loss of their husbands, brothers, fathers, sons, etc. Women were slaves for Mexicans too. Women faced the discrimination of the Mexicans too. Women dealt with deculturation too. I also loved that the author incorporated witchcraft into the book and didn't just glaze over this aspect of the culture.

My criticisms:

The author used too much of the Spanish language in the book. The book was primarily in English, but she input several words and sentences in Spanish on numerous pages. In fairness, she did put translations in the book, but the content could’ve been in English only. I found this annoying more than anything else because I don’t know Spanish. I also didn’t understand the point of the Spanish usage in an English language book about a culture that speaks Hiaki.

I wasn’t fond of the author’s writing style. However, I understand that she is a researcher and not a storyteller. Some of the stories didn’t make sense at certain points because of her writing style, use of paragraphs and jumping around to other family members’ bits.

I just wish the author hasn’t changed the names of the people she used as informants.

I also think some of her interpretations are imbalanced, such as the "emotional shallowness" of the people. I think this was more related to poverty and not really a cultural thing. It just reminded me of the reference that people make to natives and being stoic.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a professor of archaeology...so, I have to say, it is a bit "dry." If you can wade through it, this is an amazing look into a tumultuous time. I am struck by the fact that these women survived the Mexican revolution, the Mazocoba Massacre, yet so much of their lives...was just about living their lives. Lives so ordinary and mundane (at times), in the way that they lived (such a dichotomy). Parts of their stories remind me of the Holocaust, and the enslavement and deportation of the indigenous population of Africa, America post civil war...as well as what was done to the North American Indians. Sadly, not new themes to "man," (black, red, or white...or any color in between) or our planet.