Doing Research in Mexico

Doing Research in Mexico draws on correspondence between Frans Jozef Schryer and Catherine Foy (Schryer), shedding light on the methods social anthropologists employed before the widespread use of the internet and cell phones. It was once common for anthropologists to travel to remote places, so letter writing was the primary form of communication with other researchers, family, and friends.

The letters presented in this book, spanning the late 1960s to late 1980s, cover a variety of topics relevant to research on rural Mexico (particularly the Alto Balsas region), navigating one’s way through the Mexican bureaucracy, dealing with politicians and priests, and coping with sickness. Doing Research in Mexico reveals to readers, especially those familiar with Schryer’s other work, information not covered in his earlier publications.

This trove of correspondence provides additional insight into Schryer’s life history and his and Foy’s long-distance relationship during his extended stays abroad, while also documenting how to do research (both ethnographic and archival) in or on rural Mexico, the international migration of indigenous people from rural Mexico to urban centers in the United States, and relationships between anthropologist and other researchers, friends, and family members.