Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán (January 20, 1908 in

Tlacotalpan, Veracruz Tlacotalpan is a city in Tlacotalpan Municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998 primarily for its architecture and colonial-era layout. The town was established in 1550 on what was originally an ...

–1996 in Xalapa, Veracruz) was a Mexican

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

known for his studies of marginal populations. His work has focused on

Afro-Mexican Afro-Mexicans ( es, afromexicanos), also known as Black Mexicans ( es, mexicanos negros), are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both ...

and indigenous populations. He was the director of the

National Indigenous Institute The National Institute of Indigenous Peoples ( es, Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas, INPI) is a decentralized agency of the Mexican Federal Public Administration. It was established on December 4, 2018, though the earliest Mexican ...

and as Assistant Secretary for Popular Culture and Continuing Education he was responsible for forming government policy towards indigenous populations. For this reason he is important in the field of

applied anthropology Applied anthropology is the application of the methods and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems. In ''Applied Anthropology: Domains of Application'', Kedia and Van Willigen define the process as a "complex of ...

Life and career

Aguirre Beltrán was the son of a medical doctor in Veracruz state and he continued himself in medical studies, attending the

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...

and earning a B.S. in 1927 and his M.D. in 1931. He returned to his home state, and practiced medicine in the town of Huatusco for ten years. In his early years as a medical doctor, he became interested in local history and published a book on agrarian struggle during the colonial era. In 1942 he met

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

-trained anthropologist Manuel Gamio, who suggested that Aguirre Beltrán study blacks in Mexico, resulting in his landmark study, ''La población negra de México, 1519-1810: Estudio etnohistórico'' (1946). He left the practice of medicine in favor of becoming an anthropologist, although he pursued topics on medical anthropology. He served in various government positions, including as head of the Sanitary Unit of Huatusco. He was appointed head of the Department of Demography in the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

in the Manuel Avila Camacho and Miguel Alemán administrations. He director of Indigenous Affairs in the Secretariat of Public Education (1946–49), a researcher for the

(INI) (1949–50), coordinator of INI's Tzeltal- Tzotzil region (1951–52), and subdirector of INI (1952–56). He returned to Veracruz and became rector of the Universidad Veracruzana. Under the administration of

Luis Echeverría Luis Echeverría Álvarez (; 17 January 1922 – 8 July 2022) was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously ...

(1970–76) he was sub-secretary of the Department of Culture and Continuing Education, creating a publication series disseminating research on indigenous communities.

Works

* ''El señorío de Cuauhtocho: Luchas agrarias en México durante el virreinato'' 1940. * ''La población negra de México, 1519-1810: Estudio etnohistórico''. Mexico City 1946. * ''Formas de gobierno indígena''. Mexico City 1953. * ''Problemas de salud en la situación intecultural'' 1953 * ''Problemas de la población indígena de la cuenca del Tepalcatepec'' 1953. * ''Cuijila: Esbozo etnográfico de un pueblo'' 1957. * ''Medicina y mágica: El proceso de aculturación'' Mexico City 1963. * ''Regiones de refugio: El desarrollo de la comunidad y el proceso dominical en mestizoamérica''. Mexico City 1967. (translated as ''Regions of Refuge''), Society of Applied Anthropology 1979. * ''Teoría y práctica de la educación indígena'' 1973 * ''Obra polémica'' 1976. * ''Lenguas vernáculas: Su uso y deuso en la enseñanza, la experiencia de México'' 1983. * ''Zongólica: Encuentro de dioses y santos patronos'' 1986. * ''Crítica antropólica: Contribuciones al estudio del pensamiento de México'' 1990. * ''Obra antropológica'' (16 vols) Mexico City 1989-1995. Mexico City, Fundo de Cultura Económica.

Honors

* Malinowski Award of the Society for Applied Anthropology 1973 * Manuel Gamio Award 1978 * National Social Science Prize 1979 * Belisario Domínguez Medal 1991 Robert V. Kemper, "Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán," in ''Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures'', pp. 8-9

Life and career

Works

Honors

See also

References

Further reading