Ricardo Pozas Arciniega (May 4, 1912,

Amealco de Bonfil Amealco is a town in the Mexican state of Querétaro. Its name is thought to mean ''place of springs'' in Nahuatl. The municipality seat, also called Amealco, is located 63 km southeast of Santiago de Querétaro. Its elevation is 2,605 meters ...

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

– January 19, 1994,

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

) was a distinguished

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

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 and ...

, scientific investigator and indigenista. He wrote the classic anthropological works ''Juan Pérez Jolote, biografía de un tzotzil'' and ''Los mazatecos y Chamula, un pueblo indio de los altos de Chiapas''. Arciniega's parents were Eduardo Pozas, an elementary school teacher, and Isabel Arciniega. Pozas began his studies in the Escuela Normal (Elementary Teacher's formation School) of San Juan del Río, Querétaro. After graduating he began teaching in Vizarrón de Montes,

, and later in San Sebastián de las Barrancas. Then in 1929 he moved to

, where he taught in an elementary school for working-class children. Later he worked in

Zamora, Michoacán Zamora de Hidalgo (Spanish pronunciation: aˈmoɾa de i'dalɢo is a city in the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Michoacán. The 2010 census population was 141,627. making it the third largest city in the state. The city is the muni ...

. In 1938 he returned to Mexico City as a secondary school history teacher and a laboratory worker at the Escuela Nacional de Maestros. In 1940 he entered the

Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia National School of Anthropology and History (in Spanish: ''Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, ENAH'') is a Mexican Institution of higher education founded in 1938 and a prominent center for the study of Anthropology and History in the A ...

(ENAH; National School of Anthropology and History) as a student. It was there that he began his anthropological work. Pozas then went to the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM; National Autonomous University of Mexico) for postgraduate studies in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. He worked as an

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

in the

Museo Nacional de Antropología The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within ...

(National Museum of Anthropology) and as a researcher in the Instituto de Alfabetización para Maestros de Indígenas Monolingües (Literacy Institute for Teachers of Monolingual Indigenous People) of the

Instituto Nacional Indigenista 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 ...

(National Indigenous Institute). In UNAM he was one of the professors who founded the School of Political and Social Sciences, where he also founded the Sociological Research Workshops. His work at the university emphasized both teaching and research. He founded the journal ''Acta Sociológica'', which had the objective of publishing the research works of the university students. Near the end of his life, in recognition of his career and his dedication to anthropological and cultural research of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, he was awarded the

Manuel Gamio Manuel Gamio (1883–1960) was a Mexican anthropologist, archaeologist, sociologist, and a leader of the ''indigenismo'' movement. Although he rejected full sovereignty for indigenous communities in Mexico, he argued that their self-governing org ...

Medal and the University Medal of Merit.

Works

*''Juan Pérez Jolote, biografía de un tzotzil''. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1952. *''El desarrollo de la comunidad : técnicas de investigación social''. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1961. *''Los mazatecos y Chamula, un pueblo indio de los altos de Chiapas''. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica. *"Etnografía de los mazatecos", in ''Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos'', v. XVI. Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, 1960. *''Chamula''. Mexico: Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1977. *''La Política Indigenista en México'', with

Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán (January 20, 1908 in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz –1996 in Xalapa, Veracruz) was a Mexican anthropologist known for his studies of marginal populations. His work has focused on Afro-Mexican and indigenous populations. He was t ...

. Mexico: Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1981. *', with Isabel Horcasitas de Pozas. Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1985. *''Yis ma̱ i shö (yo voy a decir)'', with Enrique Margery Peña (editor) and Francisco Amighetti (illustrator). Costa Rica: Ministerio de Educación Pública, 1996 (posthumous).

References

* ''Homenaje a Ricardo Pozas Arciniega''. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1996.
Some biographical information from the government of Querétaro web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pozas Arciniega, Ricardo 1912 births 1994 deaths Mexican anthropologists Mexican sociologists Mexican educators Mexican people of Basque descent National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty People from Querétaro 20th-century anthropologists People from Amealco de Bonfil