THE HO'TS AND DFVFLOPMENT CF

MES�'IZO

CULTURE

James Schoenwetter
Southern Illinois University

The paper presents a working hypothesis on the origins
and

development of

Mestizo CuJture in New

brief literatune survey.

Spain b?sed on a

Its purpose is to bring to the

attention of anthropologists interested in the problem of
the mechanics of culture change the fact that in

11exico

adequate documentation must exist on the crystallization
of a new cultural form from two earlier cultures.
The hypothesis developed is that

Mestizo culture

has

its origins in a group of persons who occupled an economic
niche peculiar to and fostered by the contact situation in
New

Spain in the early

16th century.

Historical accident

and the nature of Spanish and aboriginal value systems acted
upon this gDoup to keep it a distinctive entity and endow
it with the attributeF of culture in a process which took
about 200 years.