Who Is The Zinacantecos?

Hermine BALLO – The Zinacantecos of Mexico, A Modern Maya Way of Life, Evon Z.Zogt, 1990

Zinacantan is one of twenty-one municipalities located in the Highlands of Chiapas, a peninsula of Mexico near the Guatemalan border, where the Zinacantecos lived in different halmets following ancient Mayan customs, especially by talking Tzotzil, one of twenty-nine currently spoken Mayan languages. This Indian society presents a astonishing cultural vitality, by mixing Mayan and Spanish Catholic features, and still manages to adjust to the 20th century world. Indeed, the Zinacantecos population increased from 8,000 in 1960 to 20,000 in 1990 and, despite technology improvements and economic changes, the Zinacantecos kept most of their ancestral pratices and beliefs. This ethnography was written by Evon Z. Vogt, a former professor of social anthropology at Harvard

But this last purpose is only displayed at the end of the ethnograpghy, an addition from the 1990's edition of the book which shows a reflexion of the author on his work.

3/Obtain informed consent and necessary permissions: The participants of the study were clearly informed, Dr Vogt indeed transposes the Indians lack of understanding as for his will to discover their culture (why would somebody ever be interested in a unknown culture ?).
Professor Vogt obtained the required permissions from the competent authorities, he mentionned his collaboration with the local managers.
Dr Vogt's methods were exposed to the inhabitants of Zinacantecan since they accepted to answer questions during formal interviews at the headquarter of San Cristobal, a town of Chiapas.
The sponsor was introduced to the Zinacantecos, some of them even travelled to Harvard