The Pasiegos: Spaniards in No Man's Land

"This unique and fascinating study . . . transcends the usual ethnographic mode by dealing with local ethnography, regional society and culture, and national institutions and ideology together. It is, thus, both a case study of a curious and highly marginal ethnic group and a model for us to follow regarding the study of local-regional-national relationships." - Davydd Greenwood, Cornell University. The Pasiegos are cattle herders who inhavit a mountain zone high above the Atlantic coast in the Castilian province of Santander. Although there is no real evidence that they are ethnically distinct from other Spaniards, the Pasiegos have been classified among the "despised peoples' of northern Spain. The herders, in turn, are treated as inferiors by settled Pasiegos who have taken up commercial callings in the three town centers of the zone. In the nation at large, Pasiegos join a number of comparable peoples in the lower reaches of the social order, plying trades which through history have been left to foreigners and outcasts. Combining rich historical materials and genealogical analysis with a detailed field study of a Pasiego town, Susan Tax Freeman reveals the complex social structure that underlies what is often assumed to be a homogeneous countryside.