Ambiguity and Innovation: Implications for the Genesis of the Culture Broker

IRWIN PRESS
University of Notre Dame Essential to the function of an innovator-particularly a group-straddling one such as a marginal man or culture broker-is the manner in which others view him and the genesis of his mandate to innovate. An account of the genesis of a culture broker in a Yucatan peasant community suggests that ambiguity during the development of the innovator role may allow novel behavior while retarding negative sanction. The case described may help us understand the manner in which culture-straddling brokers arise and receive permission to innovate.

HE CULTURE BROKER is one among many concepts utilized by social scientists to explain the process of change and the nature of its advocates. Most accounts of the innovator, however, tend to type him as one of only several categories of individual, as though most innovative situations were somehow alike and exhibited limited personnel requirements. Thus Adams (1951), in criticizing the incompleteness of Lintons and Barnetts differing views of the innovator, rests with suggesting both are correct. The innovator can be either the prestigious, admired individual, or the maladjusted or frustrated, more or less depending upon whether the culture is in time of stability or crisis. In either case, the innovators qualities are fairly specific and his identification seemingly easy. Little leeway has been left for the situations in between stability and crisis, or for those instances wherein the community is stable and the prestiged individuals have established no precedent for innovation. Culture broker studies have tended to take a broader approach, yet are still new and few enough to lack a unified theory of either the broker or his mandate to innovate. The mandate (as utilized by Parsons 1961:230) is the crux of any innovative situation. Regardless of stability, gradual transition, moving equilibrium (Nadel 1957:142, Nash 1966) or crisis, it stands to
Accepted for publication 27 M a y 1968.

reason that ij the acts of an innovator are accepted, h e must necessarily have some form of structural permission to innovate. Otherwise, he is likely to be viewed as deviant or intrusive. Thus it may be that of greater importance than the mere identification of the innovator must be the identification of his mandate and its origin.
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The genesis of permission has been approached from the structural point of view by Parsons and others. Parsons suggests that structured deviant behavior tendencies, which are not successfully coped with by the control mechanisms of the social system, constitute one of the principal sources of change in the structure of the social system [1951: 321; italics mine]. Nadel pursues a similar point in agreeing that fluid or badly defined roles may be useful as outlets for change (1957:146). He continues, Societies provide such roles in order to accommodate certain unpredictable personalities and, more important, in order to sanction and utilize their irregular, unexpected or revolutionary inspirations [1957: 146; italics mine].

In yet a further final cause approach, Cadwallader suggests that innovation depends . . on preventing . . . a freezing of the behavior of the system in old patterns. , . . In addition, the program of the system may contain specific instructions preventing the synthesis of all information into old familiar patterns and explicitly support205

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ing certain kinds and amounts of novel action [1959:156; italics mine].

As suggested by Homans and Schneider

(1955) and others, however, it is doubtful

that Society (capital S) lays premediated plans either for its continuity or change. Indeed, if any such plan exists, a better case can be offered for the purposeful structuring of conservatism and maintenance of the status quo. Permanent change more likely arises where. the structure cannot readily accommodate innovation or a shift in behavior, and so itself shifts to re-create equilibrium. An intriguing approach is offered by Firth, who sees the genesis of change as first organizational-the product of individuals and idiosyncratic interpretation of norms and social situations-and only later struo rural, when behavioral reinterpretations have become the norm (1959: 342-346). If individual choice and behavior are major factors in social change, and if it is unlikely that social systems themselves anticipate and provide for innovative personalities and their associated roles, some mechanism must exist that accommodates the rise of innovative behavior while retarding negative sanction.
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A tentative solution to tbis problem may be seen in the concepts of marginal man and culture broker. A major difference between the sociological and anthropological approaches to marginality has been their different foci. Park (1928), Stonequist (1937), Green (1947), and others have primarily concerned themselves with identifying the marginal man and analyzing the personal stress under which he operates. Little is said of the effect of the marginal man either upon the parent or the host culture, aside from reaction . or sanction by the groups involved and their further effect upon him. T w i n takes much the same tack in his short biography of a .Guatemalan Indian who adopted many Ladino behaviors ( 1945). In this instance, both classes viewed the Indio as primarily Indio, yet one who

had adopted Ladino traits normally forbidden to Zndios. Tumins account focuses only upon the individuals personal difficulties, leaving open the potential effects he may have upon the class system. Tumin also implicitly raises yet leaves unanswered the question of the difference between marginality and deviation. Newcomb defines the marginal man as one between two cultures or groups and having attributes of membership in each (1956:539). Just how many or what types of attributes is left unclear. It is difficult to conceptualize at which point and with which particular attribute the truly marginal man is created out of the merely deviant. Anthropological views of marginality have tended to focus upon the action of the individual within, and his effect upon, the system. Wolf views the culture broker as an individual who is capable of operating within both the community and national spheres (1956:1072). As such, he must learn to operate in an arena of continuously changing friendships and alliances, which form and dissolve with the appearance or disappearance of new economic or political opportunities ( 1956: 1073). The broker lives on tension and attempts to serve both local and national groups. He acts as a focus for relating the local community-oriented individuals to the nation-oriented (1956: 1075-1076). Though the broker is apparently a local community member, Wolf leaves unclear his primary identity (i.e., how others view him) and the extent to which he has assumed aspects of both social systems. In somewhat similar terms, Fallers examines the modern bureaucrat-chief in Uganda (1955). The chief, in this case, is identified primarily with the local community rather than the outside administration. In his precarious balancing of universalistic-bureaucratic and personal-kin group expectations, the chief bears the brunt of conflicting values during a period of social transition. Because of the chiefs buffering action, the society, claims Fallers, has weathered radical transformation without splitting into op-

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posed factions and without a serious showdown with the European innovators (1955:303). To Geertz, the Javanese brokers primary identity is that of insider. He is a prestigious religious teacher and scholar, a focus of conservative tradition and for this very reason sought by developing political parties as local spokesman o r symbol. He h;ls the potential (if not already utilized) ability to sanctify certain outside (national or modern) phenomena and make them palatable (1959:247). As is Fallers chief, Geertz Kijaji is uneasily searching for an identity that can accommodate the expectations of both great and little traditions ( 1959:248). Either as innovator o r mediator, it is apparent that the broker plays a unique role in certain change processes.2 One of the most consistent attributes of such brokers is a n uneasy cultural or social identification, which appears to be highly instrumental to the mobility and innovative behavior essential to the role. Still to be clarified, however, is the nature of this uneasy identification and genesis of the brokers mandate to innovate or mediate. Given the potential utility for change (as mediator, buffer, scapegoat, innovator, etc.) of a culture-or groupstraddling individual, what is the process by which he circumvents traditional behavioral expectations and achieves mobility or dual identity in the face of structural rigidity (in-group solidarity, ethnocentrism, class barriers, etc.)? This process must first preclude the individuals acts from being viewed as deviant. It must establish the individuals right to utilize (if not proselytize) outside items or ideas, while at the same time allowing him to maintain an identity in some way acceptable o r familiar to his viewers.
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indefiniteness of expectations which derives from the generality of norms, lies in the element of uncertainty which it introduces into the orientation system. . . . It may also provide loopholes for those whose motivational pattern leans to non-conformity, in that the very indefiniteness of expectations makes it impossible to draw a rigid line between conformity and deviance, since this is a matter of interpretation [1951:270]. Shils and Parsons propose that where role expectations are very general, persons with diverse sets of need-dispositions may be allowed to perform [a] role in accordance with their spontaneous tendencies (1962:152). To Newcomb,
a situation is ambiguous [if] a person

does not know what kind of role behavior is expected of him, or how his own role beRehavior will be perceived by others. . sponse to an ambiguous situation is therefore uncertain response; it may or may not conform to what is expected by others, and it may be perceived by them either in one way or in another [1956:536].

...

..

More specifically, Barnett suggests substitution as one basis for innovation. Here an innovator (X)substitutes himself for another person ( A ) . Such a substitution involves Xs performing an act associated with A, that previously has been alien to his own behavior (1953 :230). Ben David utilizes the term role hybrid in reference to such substitution. In discussing the medical innovator, Ben David concludes that an amalgam of the practitioner and researcher roles has been essential in all successful (accepted) medical discoveries. The innovation is the result of a n attempt to apply the usual means in Role A to achieve the goals of Role B (1960:566). Wardwell views the marginal role as an imperfectly institutionalized one, which means that there is some ambiguity in the pattern of behavior legitimately expected of a person filling the role, and that the social sanctions attending the role tend to be inconsistently applied [1951/52:340]. Focusing specifically upon the chiropractor as embodying such a marginal role, Wardwell maintains that the , . . profession pro-

The concept of role ambiguity as a factor in culture change is not new. Parsons suggests that the psychological importance of

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vides a channel of therapeutic innovation alternate to that of the medical profession (1952:346). From a broader point of view, Andrew Frank suggests that the degree to which organizational roles are defined is important for the extent of social change (1963:238). This is especially the case with both under-defined and over-defined roles-which in the former instance allows innovation through the lack of precedent and clear expectation, and in the latter through the near impossibility of encumbents knowing and satisfying all of the expectations. Implicitly or explicitly central to all of these discussions is the concept of role ambiguity as a phenomenon permitting wider latitude of sanction-free behavior than would be possible to encumbents of clear and/or traditional roles. It must be made quite clear that we are not here directly concerned with innovator perceptions of ambiguities within his own roles or with problems of adjustment or mobility that an innovator or broker may experience. Certainly, perceptions (of self, others, and milieu) of the innovator contribute a major element to the innovators ultimate presentation to others. These others, however, constitute the target of innovation. As such, our emphasis is upon their perception of the innovator and the degree to which they-as potential adopters-perceive with ambiguity the statuses and behavior of the innovator. Following is an example which, in a preliminary fashion, attempts to examine the genesis of a culture broker. It focuses upon the operation of role ambiguity as a potentially major mechanism in the circumvention of traditional expectations.
IV Hach Pech is a small community of some two hundred peasant families in Yucatan, Mexico. With but several exceptions, all adult males make or have made milpa in the slash and burn manner. Maya has been the first language learned by all adults. Excepting the school teacher, all village-born adults

dress in a mestizo fashion and speak of themselves as poor, Maya, and campesinos. Mestizo, here, means shoeless with poorly cut clothing for the males and the traditional huipil (white, flower-embroidered shift) for the women. While nominally Catholic, village males ensure the corn crops through an annual round of Maya field-ritual. Hach Pech boasts a Maya priest (hmen) and two of the more famous curanderos in Yucatan. Of the several hundred adult males, only nine are not full-time milperos. Four are shop keepers, two are honey-gang foremen, one a secretary in a nearby town, one a curandero-henequen grower, and one a school teacher. All but the teacher and wealthiest store owner still make milpa on occasion. Even the wealthiest of Hach Pechanos dress and speak no differently (in Maya) than their poorest neighbors. Long politically dominated by the nearby county seat of Oxhol, Hach Pech has viewed concerted action, political autonomy, and internal innovation or leadership with disinterest. Economic homogeneity and the conservatism of the towns wealthy have further tended to minimize innovative behavior. Though taking the lead in acquisition of physical items such as autos and television, the wealthy tend to dress more conservatively than others. The towns rico speaks little Spanish and two of the four wealthiest men earn major portions of their income as curers and Maya-ritual specialists. For many years the dominant political figure of Oxhol has nominated Hach Pech officials and expropriated the proceeds of Hach Pechs lucrative annual fiesta. Each year the presidente would allot a small kick-back to the Hach Pech mayor. Hach Pechanos disinterestedly (and often with amusement) tell tales of the corruption of past town officials. Their leadership is further involved little beyond the adjudication of minor quarrels. Such was expected of leaders by both Hach Pechanos and outsiders. Though guardia and fagina have long been typical of rural Yucatan, both forms of communal labor

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had become sporadic and voluntary in Hach Pech. Until fairly recently the town square would lie overgrown with weeds from one August fiesta week until the next. The town has no economic specialty of importance. There has been little immigration and virtually no emigration since the break-up of the nearby haciendas in the early decades of this century. For those within the town, Hach Pech has offered little alternative to being-or marrying-a mestizo milpero. Outsiders have referred to Hach Pech as a forgotten village, and within the municipi0 the town has been used as a pejorative label for anyone regarded as a hick: Hes from Hach Pech. On the other hand, the town has maintained continuous contact with the outside for over four hundred years. It is situated on a major paved highway. For fifty years a narrow-gauge railroad has linked it with Merida, the Yucatec capital. There has been a school since the 1890s. The movie theater behind the largest store is over twenty-five years old. Many villagers have radios (powered by auto battery, as there is no electricity), sewing machines, bicycles, and enameled utensils. Girls regularly put up their hair with plastic curlers, or travel five miles for a permanent wave. All have been to the large center of Oxhol countless times and to Merida at least once or twice. In the adoption of these physical cultural items Hach Pech has felt itself to be modern. Twenty years ago, the town produced its first professional-a teacher. Previously, the Hach Pech school had been directed by non-Hach Pechanos, state or federal teachers who regretted their assignments and commuted daily from the more civilized town of Oxhol. They returned to Oxhol immediately after the last class and neither attempted nor were expected to innovate. One of these teachers had seen promise in young Enrique Cetina. The boys father was well off and had four other sons to help with milpa work. Furthermore, the state had recently opened a high school in Oxhol, and the government a normal school some fifty

kilometers away. With the teachers impetus, Cetina went through both high and normal schools and completed several years of apprentice teaching. He petitioned the federal school board for permission to teach in his home town. He returned to Hach Pech some fifteen years ago, fired with the goals of the Revolution and pride in his unique status among villagers. He settled down in the thatched house of his father and married a local girl. What villagers initially saw in Cetina was an unprecedented combination of qualities. He was a teacher, and thus learned, the first professional in the towns history. It was with pride that Hach Pech addressed him fondly as Prof. He represented the federal government. He spoke fluent, florid Spanish with no tell-tale Maya inflection. He dressed constantly as a Ladino (catrin in Yucatan), wore shoes and socks, and owned a suit and several ties. No other male in Hach Pech was a full-time catrin. Cetina was worldly; he knew foreign customs and the names of many foreign places. His wife prepared pancakes for an occasional breakfast. Like the doctor in Oxhol (though at no cost) he dispensed penicillin injections and medicines. For a wage-earning villager he earned an unprecedented income. He talked of betterment and change and could rattle off the many heroes and goals of the Revolution. On the other hand, Cetina was still the same boy who had once labored in the rnilpa with his father and brothers. Indeed, on occasion, he would still help the family with occasional harvest needs. He had numerous cousins and uncles in the village-all milperos and mestizos in dress. He still spoke a good Maya and knew the terms of address. His own father was one of only two conservative old men in Hach Pech who still wore the Indian apron, an item of dress more common today in the isolated interior of Quintana Roo. His wife, too, was a native Hach Pechana of well-todo conservative family. Cetina actually lived in Hach Pech as no other teacher had done

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before him. In sum, he was neither a familiar type of insider, nor the usual outsider. Cetinas initial reception by Hach Pech was unanimously enthusiastic. School children reported to their parents that he knew as much as any other teacher-and probably more. It was not long after his arrival that Cetina suggested the village reroof the ramshackle schoolhouse. It was a novel, though not unreasonable request considering that the school and its new teacher were still a focal point of village conversation. Parents of school and postschool children volunteered their labor. Shortly thereafter the teacher raised the necessity of latrines in the school yard and stressed the need for sanitary facilities handy to the younger grades. Again response was quick. Some months later, at a regular town meeting called by the mayor, Cetina suggested that the town clean up and weed the plaza. As the annual fiesta was still months off, the suggestion (unrelated to the school) was viewed as more novel than any preceding idea of the teacher. Several dozen villagers volunteered their labor. As both school and plaza did look better following the communal labor, numbers also donated time when the teacher successfully applied for state economic aid for construction of another school building and a schoolyard stage. He subsequently formed several committees (Fathers of the Family, Mothers of the Family) whose function was, ostensibly, the planning of school programs and application of pressure on parents who kept children out of school with frequency. However, it was not long before these committees began discussions concerning nonschool projects, the towns future, and the role villagers could play in it. Up to this point the mayor, his clique of cronies and several exmayors, and the majority of townspeople viewed the teacher in a disinterested, though not negative manner. Though response to any one of the teachers projects had never involved more than several dozens of villagers, this in itself was innovative and certainly no less of a response than ever greeted a sporadic faginal mainte-

nance project of past mayors. With the formation of the Fathers and Mothers committees, however, the mayor and his close group of perhaps a half dozen began to take another look at the teacher. The first open rupture occurred when Cetina, in a most surprising move, petitioned the state government for the right of Hach Pech to retain the procedes of its own annual fiesta. The municipal president immediately made a formal accusation of sedition. The court issue was decided in the teachers favor (The judge, claims Cetina, was my old normal school prof), which greatly impressed the townspeople. Cetina then formed a Committee of Civic, Moral, and Material Betterment to guard and spend the substantial fiesta monies that constituted a bonanza increment to town funds. With these funds, and with materials obtained through further applications to the state, Cetina asked villagers to construct a cement basketball court-dancefloor in a comer of the plaza. Shortly thereafter, he fomented a project for modernizing the towns water supply by providing a motorized pump for the plaza well. Each such project was allocated to a special committee of volunteers that appointed its own officers (with suggestion from the teacher). Funds were allocated by the powerful Betterment Committee. More projects, now, were directed toward nonschool than school-oriented needs. Far more open meetings were now being called by Cetina than by the mayor. Though the notion of committees was innovative and associated with larger, more modern towns, few Hach Pechanos were completely sure that the currin teacher did not have the right to introduce them. As Cetina, furthermore, did not occupy a role of traditional distrust, there arose no consensus as to the legitimacy of his leadership or motives. Some ( a minority) tended to view him as operating within traditional limits of power, and these individuals consistently fostered or abetted rumors of how the teacher pocketed immense sums from his many projects. Few i n this group donated labor for Cetinas projects. Others embraced

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this view (considering it a natural thing for those in positions of leadership) yet tempered it with statements such as: So long as he gets improvements done, I dont care if he makes a little on the side. After all, his times worth something. Still others refused to accept any view but that of the teacher as a purely apolitical self-less, altruistic force, paving the way toward village fame, betterment, and modernization. The mayor and his clique, on the other hand, refused to legitimize Cetinas position of leadership by complaining of his abuse of it. Rather, they viewed Cetina as an upstart, encroaching upon traditional duties of the mayors office, and a dishonest upstart in the bargain. As mayors traditionally called few public meetings, the mayor himself called but few. With increasing frequency, the maintenance or repair that might have constituted a reason for mayoral action was anticipated by the teacher who held his own meetings. And with increasing frequency, the mayor and his closest cronies began to boycott meetings called by Cetina. Such assemblies soon became weekly occurrences, announced by the bell at the village office. Through Cetinas influence, and due largely to his example, his wifes younger brother went on to high and normal schools and, after several years of apprenticeship, returned to teach in the village school. Like his older brother-in-law, the new teacher was from a very conservative mestizo family of means. He, too, had three strong brothers to help the father with milpa labor. The father had once been a wealthier man, and the prestige of having a professor as son was not the least of the factors that influenced his decision. Gomez, the younger teacher, also combined a number of inside and outside characteristics. He returned to Hach Pech with a catrin wife from a larger town. It was known that she used a diaphragm and contraceptive jelly so as not to have children. Gomez moved into a thatched hut in a corner of his fathers large, plaza-fronting lot. Six years after he had returned to the village as its first local teacher, Cetina, who

had greatly impressed the Yucatec federal school board, was appointed to a position on the board in Merida. Town pride in Cetina was great, and he himself is not slow to emphasize the honor. I was the first professional man Hach Pech ever produced-not another teacher, engineer or what have you in all of its history. I did it. Several years later, Cetina was named to a high position in the Federal school commission for Southern Mexico. Gomez assumed Cetinas position as head of the Hach Pech school, which now boasted some five teachers-the rest being commuters from Oxhol. Gomez actively continued the innovative policies of his elder brother-in-law. He formed a baseball team that soon became one of the top-ranked clubs in Yucatan. Eventually, it was signally honored by becoming the team of Yucatans major brewery with new uniforms bearing the name YUCATECO BEER. The team soon became a powerful opinion source in Hach Pech and the nucleus of a politically active group for nomination and support of teacher-approved candidates and village projects. Gomez broadened the base of outside aid by applying to federal and private as well as state agencies. The motorized well was rennovated and pipes laid to extend water beyond the plaza. Latrines were built on private lots. Streets were leveled; a Monument to the Republic raised; and a down-payment and application made for town electrification. A new economic focus appeared-irrigated citrus groves-as a direct result of Gomez application to the federal government. Potable Water, Proelectrification, Infancy Protection and other committees flourished. Gomez publically stressed the necessity for honest elections with more than one candidate. He denounced to government agencies, municipal authorities, and state newspapers any village or municipal leaders whom he thought or knew to be corrupt. Through both teachers example a number of parents had begun to dress their children as catrins. Today, over two dozen youngsters are dressed catrin, and eight are,

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or have been, enrolled in both high and normal schools. Two presently teach in other Yucatec towns. These catrins have been dressed as such since the age of two or three. The transformation ostensibly represents a projection of new concepts of achievement and life-style upon the younger generation. As there are no economic outlets for catrins within the village (aside from several stores and presently-filled positions as teacher), such acts by parents further represent commitment to a new idea. A catrin child must inevitably emigrate from Hach Pech. While most of the duties, rights and prerequisites of traditional office have remained essentially unchanged, a new hierarchy has evolved that controls a body of largely unprecedented activities and expenditures. The degree of overlap between the two systems is still unclear to the majority. Thus while mayors rarely or never led the village in innovative (rather than merely maintenance) projects, there is no overall concensus as to whether the motorized central water supply, basketball court, school amplification, electrification, and so on should not really have been under control of mayor and town treasurer. Similarly, the treasurer had never been responsible for fiesta procedes while Oxhol monopolized their distribution. Now that a vilIage committee controls these funds (which are considerably in excess of amounts traditionally handled by town treasurers), it is unclear as to whether the Betterment Committee is competing with the treasurer. In point of fact, few in town can presently name the elected treasurer, and the teacher maintains there is none. It must be reiterated that participation in committees and projects is far from universal in the sense of village-wide cooperation in any single venture. On the contrary, highly pragmatic interests dictate the personnel of any labor group-such as residence on the street to be leveled, or proximity to the latest extension of potable water tubing. At the same time, there is a growing core of cooperators (in the teachers terms) who

can be seen participating in most projects, regardless of where or for what the work may be. Villagers exhibit a growing pride in being Hach Pechanos. Outsiders reiterate this new image by saying that Hach Pech was or used to be a forgotten village. The number of Oxhol boys come to court Hach Pech girls has risen in the past few years. Through Cetinas influence, the governor of Yucatan has twice visited Hach Pech, once to inaugurate the Monument to the Republic and once to open the new potable water system. Both Yucatec newspapers covered the event. No governor had trod the village square since the martyred Felipe Carrillo Puerto, some thirty years before. When distinguished visitors come to town, the podium is always shared by mayor and teacher. The teachers speech is inevitably longer and more polished. Indeed, distinguished visitors come to Hach Pech in the first place because the teacher-either Gomez in the village or Cetina from his Merida base-invited them. The result has been a new system-in part distinct from, in part directly competing with, the traditional political set-up. The duties of the mayor are essentially unchanged. He is still the only authority on matters of permits and misdemeanors. He is the only available mediator and judge in minor tort cases. He is the official representative of the town and only he is invited to political party caucuses in Oxhol. At the same time, the village offices have stood still while a new organization has flourished, leading new activities, for new reasons, with new funds. The mayor himself was granted a perfunctory chairmanship of only one committee-For the Protection of Infancy. As treasurer o f the important Betterment Committee, he wielded far more power and funds than he did as mayor. Indeed, he was mayor only because the teacher-controlled sports group campaigned in his behalf rather than in behalf of his opponent, a popular shaman-curer whom the teacher viewed as essentially corrupt. In the past several years, expectations of

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the teachers behavior have become increas- exclusive roles will result automatically in ingly codified. He is for town betterment ambiguity. Where role ambiguity exists, in all spheres, for school attendance, for what is its fate? In Hach Pech almost all adult males are public participation in town affairs, for generous donations to village projects, for ac- milperos and mestizos. It is felt that mestizo tive solicitation of government aid; against clothing is expendible and soilable-fit for outside interference, against fund pocketing milpa work. Catrin clothing is not felt to be and graft in village office, against stinginess, milpa wear and villagers know of no catrins against disinterest on the part of town who make milpa. Associated with milpa and wealthy, and against those who disagree mestizo-ness are Maya language, pagan ritwith him. His dress and personal habits have ual, village residence, communal hunts, and now become familiar. His reactions to most a host of other behavioral and identificative suggestions and actions can be predicted. attributes. No Hach Pechano can successVillage-wide gossip both lauds and, with in- fully change only his style of dress. He would creasing frequency, denounces him for such be labeled a catrin forzado (forced catrin) assumed offenses as fund-pocketing and fa- and derided. Here, the mere combination of voritism in selection of sections of the town role elements is not sufficient to produce unfor betterment projects. In short, the teach- clear expectations. The milpero is still a ers role cont?guration is becoming increas- milpero-but a clearly deviant one. Most of an individuals roles are to some ingly susceptible to the expectations accruing to most familiar power-centered roles. extent mutually dependent. No man is only No one was surprised when Gomez re- a mestizo or catrin. A milpero, while attendcently indicated desire for the mayors of- ing to his crops or field ritual, does not norfice. He was duly elected, thus completely mally behave in such a manner as to contraintegrating for the first time both old and dict expectations of his roles as male, father, new systems. Simultaneously, the first for- villager, Maya, and Catholic. The total mal complaint against either him or Cetina range of expectations accruing to any indiwas lodged in a major daily newspaper by vidual is thus rooted in what might be the exmayor and his clique. The teachers termed his role configuration. Nadel suggests role was now quite clear.
V

The preceding raises a number of questions. Whether the present case represents role ambiguity at all is, of course, a matter of interpretation. Informants can only vaguely recall emotions and perceptions of a decade past. The manner in which these reports and the description of the teachers course are organized clearly represents the ideosyncratic and unobjective view of the writer. If we begin with the assumption that the initial teachers presentation to the village was, indeed, ambiguous, how can this ambiguity be categorized and wherein is its locus? Unanswered by either Barnett or Ben David is the question of whether in all instances the mere combination of previously

The concept needed to bridge the gap between society and the individual must , . . refer not to the concrete, unique human beings living and acting at any point in time, but to individuals seen as bundles of qualities . . . that is, by the given, specified constancies of behavior in accordance with which individuals must act [1957:21]. Once this bundle or role configuration is %xed, alternative behavior in any single role or combination of roles is liable to mark the individual as deviant. In the case of deviance, expectations do not conflict. Rather, behavior conflicts with the now established expectations. It is doubtful whether novel acts under the onus of deviance regularly lead to imitation and wholesale acceptance. Alternatively, a reputation (clear expectations of behavior) is an

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obligation to conform, and it permits little freedom in advocating novel ideas (Barnett 1953:319). For role ambiguity to arise, therefore, the fixation of a reputation must be forestalled, and the roles or role elements must be combined in such a manner as to preclude the creation of a clearly deviant or conformist context. Here, the degree to which values or roles are dependent upon one another is of central importance. While to be milpero in Hach Pech is to be mestizo, one need not be a milpero. There are four storekeepers, two honey-gang foremen, and a secretary who commutes daily to an office in a nearby town. Three of the four storekeepers and both foremen have dressed most of their children catrin, though they themselves are mestizo. The catrin children, it is expected, will either enter the parents non-milpa professions or go on to normal school as several have already done. These youngsters never confronted the transition from mestizo to catrin in that their parents dressed them catrin from birth-long before any economic role with numerous dependent subroles and behaviors had been established for them. That the children are indeed fully accepted as catrin for at least some purposes is illustrated by the fact that of seven longsince marriageable girls, only one has been sought as a marriage partner by Hach Pech mestizo boys. The secretary offers a different situation in that he must dress catrin for his office job. Hach Pechanos recognize this. He eases his own situation, however, by slipping into mestizo dress upon his return from work. He has an above average education and is known as the best typist in town. He is socially smooth in the presence of important visitors who tend to overawe many villagers. He is a close crony of the teacher and for two years has held the office of ejidal representative. Rather than the mere combination of discrete elements, the behavior of the secretary and catrin children represents the unprecedented, though not necessarily conflicting, combination of consistent behavioral bun-

dles-in this instance, (1) Hach Pech born and resident, Maya speaking, mestizo family, etc.; and ( 2 ) nonmilpero, catrin dressing, above-average education, considerable outside contacts, etc. As such, their behavior represents a nascent ambiguous presentation. It follows that the greater the number of mutually dependent roles from each of two culturaVsocia1 configurations that an individual exhibits, the more ambiguous is his total configuration. The teacher is not only a professional, a catrin, and a fluent speaker of Spanish. In addition, he feeds and ministers to his children in a manner different from other villagers; his wife uses birth-control pills; he eats foods and condiments associated with the larger town or city; he sends weekly articles to the major Yucatec newspaper. On the other hand, he was born a Hach Pechano; he speaks fluent Maya; his father and brothers are all metizo milperos; he lives in a thatched hut; many of his mannerisms and aspects of speech are typically Hach Pech. Rather than any single role being ambiguous, we must speak of much of the teachers overall role configuration as ambiguous, lacking a clear-cut hierarchy of expectations. In that both inside and outside aspects of his behavior consist in numerous, dependent and logically consistent elements, few individual behaviors can be interpreted by most viewers as clearly spurious and thus indicative of deviancy. Hymes model for linguistic meaning, with but the substitution of behavior for his term, is highly suggestive:
A [behavior] can indicate a wide range of meanings, and a context can support a range of meanings. In a given case the [behavior] does not so much positively name, as does the intersection of the [behavior] and context eliminates most, or all but one, of the possible meanings [1964:97].

In the case of catrin children, the secretary, and the first teacher in particular, the coexistence of several contexts prevented the establishment of clear expectations. The secretary, for example, can indulge in far more admittedly catrin activities without sanction

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than can most mestizo villagers. The teacher can participate in almost any mestizo or catrin activity without sanction, The question of how ambiguity can arise is partially answered by the examples above. The catrin children who went infrequently or not at all to the milpa exhibited a combination of behavioral elements since birth and thus precluded the establishment of immediate traditional expectations. The secretary on the other hand, is a part-time catrin who, in changing clothes as he changes his daily work, manages to prevent the appearance of extraneous behavior within the wrong context. The teachers situation, however, could only have arisen through a prolonged absence and subsequent presentation upon return (from normal school and apprentice teaching) of a full-blown ambiguous role configuration. As change itself may be viewed as process, so ambiguity is a dynamic phenomenon. It is doubtful whether any role configuration can remain ambiguous. Sooner or later, its unique combination of elements becomes commonplace and forms the basis for a new, and rigid, set of expectations (which can include innovation). This is what has occurred for the second teacher. His recent election to the village mayors post merely provided the capstone that was presaged by several years of increasing criticism within the town. He has now become the culture broker described by Wolf, with a mandate to innovate and expectations that he will both represent the community to outside interests and represent the outside (Mexican national culture; the school administration) within the community. Thus it may be that ambiguity, no less than the similarly ephemeral charisma, is, in Webers terms, doomed to routinization ( 1961). The present paper postulates role ambiguity not as absolutely essential to the brokers mandate, but rather as an important mechanism in his achieving it. Prestige and outright novelty of the potential broker are logical additional factors, though necessarily insufficient in themselves. The teachers role

combined both prestige and elements of ambiguity. It may be argued that a prestigious role alone did not offer sufficient mandate for teacher innovation. Teachers had been outsiders in the past, obviously disdainful of village residence and minimally inclined or expected to innovate. For that matter, prestige (whether economic, political, or charismatic) had long been negatively associated with village betterment in Hach Pech. Most scholars are well aware that prestige in the small or closed society is more often associated with conservatism than with the mandate to innovate. Role ambiguity in itself is not, of course, tantamount to innovation. It need not be stressed that regardless of the role configuration of the innovator, the innovation may be viewed as distasteful, threatening, or superfluous. In the case of Hach Pech, the initial innovations were school associated (and thus ostensibly within the realm of teacher discretion) and involved the reestablishment of defunct or deteriorating yet previously familiar forms of communal cooperation. For another thing, an ambiguous phenomenon is conducive to idiosyncratic perception and evaluation. As indicated by the long-standing opposition of the towns mayors and their clique, certain elements of the ambiguous presentation may be chosen as foci to the exclusion of the full field of stimulLs From the opposite point of view, biculturality in itself is not sufficient cause for the engendering of ambiguity in the eyes of others. We are here taking bicultural to mean dual competence rather than the exhibition of a few behavioral elements of, or less than mastery in the language of, another culture. We must reiterate the assumption that insiders tend to view the acts of clear outsiders as spurious, odd, novel, deviant (a common ethnocentric response), etc.-but hardly as ambiguous. Ambiguity will be largely precluded where the individual (bicultural or not) acts in the clear contextual capacity of one or the other culture (as in the case of the secretary). On the other hand, role ambiguity may result

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(allowing always for idiosyncratic perceptions by viewers-such as the mayors clique in Hach Pech) if it became difficult or impossible to ascertain the primary cultural identity of the individual, the context in which he were acting, or the cultural afIinities of the acts themselves. At base is always the problem of identification of the acts and judgement of the actors right (mandate) to utilize them. As the bicultural passes from one behavioral complex or role-set to another (from office to cocktail party to religious ritual, for example) it is possible that he is clearly identified at one time or place, and viewed ambiguously at another. In his capacity as male, hunter, or Catholic ritual participant, the Hach Pech teacher is viewed and treated as Hach Pechano. In his capacity as catrin dresser, husband of an outside catrin wife, and employee of a federal agency, he is viewed as an outsider. In his capacity as project initiator and organizer of numerous nonschool activities his presentation to the villagers is ambiguous. If labels must be used, he is in many respects bicultural and also falls within the definition of marginal. Regardless of the heuristic label we apply to such individuals, however, the locus of ambiguity, lies ultimately, in the eye of the beholder. As all or most innovation involves a departure from tradition and accepted norms, the present approach raises, in a preliminary fashion, the possibility that role ambiguity likely plays at some point an important function in circumventing potential failure or negative sanction in any innovative situation. It might be suggested that the more ambiguous the role configuration of a potential innovator, the more widespread the idiosyncratic perceptions of his roles and their functions. Thus an ambiguous role configuration could possibly accommodate a number of diverse perceptions (derived from an array of individual needs and anxieties) and result in a widespread manifest acceptance of the innovators behavior

where concensus might otherwise be impossible to achieve. If objects or values may also exhibit degrees of ambiguity to those who attempt to perceive them, ambiguity might prove a useful concept in the explanation of many accdturative processes. While ambiguity is not a new concept within the social sciences, it is hardly adequately codified and has been all but overlooked as a potential theoretical tool. Much empirical work is still needed to clarify both the concept and its relation to potential innovation. As ambiguity may arise most readily where expectations of the various configurational elements (such as insider and outsider) are known and well codified, it is suggested that ambiguity as an innovative mechanism may be more successful in just those communities wherein traditional expectations of insiders and outsiders are most rigid. NOTES This is a much revised version of a paper presented at the 25th Congress of the Society for Applied Anthropology in May 1966. Field work in Hach Pech, Yucatan, was conducted over 13 months of 1963/64. Special thanks to Fred L. Strodtbeck, the Yucatan Field Project and the Ford Foundation for financial assistance. Thanks also to Arthur Rubel for comment and criticism. Final form of this paper is entirely my responsibility. The term culture broker is in itself ambiguous, as it is unclear as to exactly how much inside-outside mobility is necessary for an individual to be so labeled, whether anyone who introduces outside items can be viewed as a broker. * Frenkel-Brunswik, among others, has discussed the relationship between authoritarian personalities and intolerance for ambiguity. She suggests that the clinging to the familiar and precise can go hand in hand with the ignoring of most of the remaining aspects of the stimulus configuration (1949: 141).
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