Anthropology for the masses

By Rachel Higginbotham
Adelante Staff

RACHEL HIGGINBOTHAM/Adelante
Cuban-American anthropologist Ruth Behar spoke at MU in April.

When Esperanza Hernandez agreed to tell her life story, it was on one condition: It must be written in English and sold in the United States only. Hernandez was too embarrassed to let her neighbors in the village of Mexquitic, Mexico, read it. She even asked that her name be changed to Esperanza in order to conceal her identity. Ethnographer and writer Ruth Behar agreed to the terms.

Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza's Story was completed by Behar in 1993 just as Esperanza wished. It has been sold only in English and in the United States. Until now.

After a priest from Esperanza's village found a copy of the book in a library in Mexico City, he went back to the tiny town and congratulated Esperanza on her tale. Soon after, Esperanza called Behar and asked her to get it published in Spanish. “She wanted her children to be able to read it,” Behar said.

Translated Woman will be translated back into Spanish in early 2006. “I have always wanted (Translated Woman) to be translated back into Spanish,” Behar said, “because it’s (Esperanza's) language and mine.”

Ruth Behar was born in Havana and raised in New York. She is the daughter of a Polish mother and a Turkish father. She is a Sephardic Jew, an anthropologist, a storyteller, and she is 100 percent Hispanic. “I have never quite been sure where I belong” she said at MU in April, “but my feet keep leading me in the direction of the Spanish heritage.”

Behar's career has spanned more than 20 years and five countries and has at times been controversial. “I never took (basic anthropology classes),” she said. “That’s why I do funky anthropology.”

“Funky anthropology” to Behar means writing poetically and personalizing her findings. “I put myself into a lot of the stories.”

But Behar’s unconventional methods and unusual heritage reflect her beliefs about modern anthropology. “Once upon a time the world was carved into more distinct ethnic groups.” She added, “You no longer have to be an anthropologist to get a cross-cultural experience. We are all ethnographers.”