Ethno-Obstetrics in Ajijic

Ajijic is a community of about 8000 people' in Jalisco, Mexico. It is situated on the north shore of Lake Chapala at a distance of about forty kilometers from Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest metropolis. Originally a village of Nahuatl speaking Indians, Ajijic became mestizoized, probably before the beginning of the nineteenth century, and completely lost its Indian identity. Within the past two decades, it has played host to an increasing number of both middle and upper class Guadalajarans and North Americans. Presently, the pueblo is literally surrounded by large, sumptuous homes of the wealthy and tract houses of the urban upper middle class. It is significant that in the face of overwhelming change influences stemming from urban Mexico and a resident North American retirement colony, the medical system of Ajijicans still retains many traditional features. It contains elements of both the modern and the traditional medical systems, physically juxtaposed in the community, and syncretically fused in the perceptual