ABSTRACT
In revising his dissertation for publication, Redfield devoted special attention to the introduction. Specifically, he removed the sharp critique of Franz Boas and his influence within American anthropology and indeed only briefly addressed concerns so forcefully stated previously regarding the antiquarian nature of most American anthropology during the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century. Rather, he focused his introduction on defining a type of peoples, the “folk,” who occupied an intermediate rung on the ladder between traditional and modern. In trying to advance this new term, Redfield was attempting to move beyond social developmental depictions that connoted inferiority or were in any sense condescending. He intended the term “folk” to have general applicability and to describe intermediate peoples caught between tradition and modernity both in remote Mexican villages, such as Tepoztlán, as well as villages and towns within other cultures across the world. This effort at defining intermediate peoples in a generic and value neutral way proved to be a long-time concern for Redfield, one in which he pursued with increasing specificity over his career.
