Tipai Ethnographic Notes

A Baja California Indian Community at Mid-Century

 “More than its title promises, Tipai Ethnographic Notes is a rich compendium of information on the Tipai/Diegueno communities of northern Baja California during the late 1940s… This is keen observational anthropology at its best… Hohenthal’s account touches on virtually every aspect of Tipai culture, describing it as it was. This is… a vivid account of a living culture making its way into the 20th century while holding onto ancient traditions. Tipai Ethnographic Notes deserves an honored place on the bookshelf of every California and Baja California anthropologist.”
—Ken Hodges, Curator of California Collections, San Diego Museum of Man

“Tipai Ethnographic Notes is a salvaged treasure. It is a rich trove of ethnographic details—native toponyms, kin terms, ancient enmities, and traditional material culture—as experienced and remembered by the Tipai, a nearly forgotten people of Baja California… this work is of interest on two levels: as a compendium of ethnographic data on the Tipai and as a primary historical source regarding the creation of knowledge in American cultural anthropology.”
—Jerry Moore, Professor of Anthropology, California State University, Dominguez Hills

“Blackburn [the editor] has brought new life to an important work that lay dormant for nearly half a century. The accompanying map allows the reader to travel down trails and to places that have been covered by the dust of many decades, and yet the book is as alive and vital as if the research were completed yesterday.”
—Richard L. Carrico, Professor of American Indian Studies, San Diego State University