7. Central and South America

Abstract

E. FROMM and M. MACCOBY have studied in depth the social character of peasants who reside in a particular Mexican village. Their main investigative tool is an interpretive questionnaire. The data obtained by them are presented in their book, Social Character in a Mexican Village. A review of this book ushers in this section. Other reports on research in Mexico follow. H. FABREGA'S paper deals with the dynamics of medical practice in a Mexican folk community, that is, with the processes involved in medical care delivery. Some of the strat egies of medical practice adopted in this community are described under the headings of initial probings and the diagnostic unit. P. R. TURNER reports on a witchcraft incident among the Highland Chontal Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, and deals with the dynamics of its occurrence. C. W. O'NELL and H. A. SELBY'S article attempts to relate the incidence of susto, a folk illness common in Hispanic America, to sex role expectations. They collected comparative data in two villages in Oaxaca and tested the hypothesis that women are more susceptible to susto because they appear to experience greater stress than do men. M. DOBKIN DE RIOS describes a new methodological tool for eliciting cultural data pertinent to belief systems concerning illness, as well as general thematic materials. This ethno-projective was developed in Peru.