book chapter

The Seri Indians

Smithsonian Institution (1)Published In 1898 • Pages: 1-295

By: McGee, W J.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
These selections from a longer report included provide a general account of Seri culture as well as the history of Seri contacts with Mexicans and Europeans. There are detailed accounts of the Seri landscape including physical characteristics and points of contact, food procurement strategies, eating habits, clothing, body decoration and ornamentation, material culture, military tactics, marriage, burial, clan and family organization, political leadership and attitudes toward foreigners. As the author operates within a developmental framework, the Seri are often described as primitive due to the relation of cultural characteristics, environment and physiological characteristics. Although the author, an anthropologist and ethnologist, did field work in the general Seri area he was not able to penetrate Seri territory and thus obtained most of his information from interviews and observations of Seri who lived near or visited the vicinity of a Mexican rancheria.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
History
Prehistory
Ornament
General tools
Utensils
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Seri
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle America and the Caribbean
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Northern Mexico
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Betty Potash ; 1961
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1894-1895
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1750-1895
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
northwestern Hermosillo Municipality, Sonora, Mexico; Hermosillo Municipality, Sonora, Mexico
NotesAdditional notes
by W. J. McGee
The linguistic materials on pp. 295-344 have not been processed for the files.
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
16005529
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Seri Indians