The Seri (or Kumkaak - "the people" in their native language), are a native hunter gatherer people who are located in the state of Sonora, a desert region in northwestern Mexico. Once numbering approximately 2000 in the 1890s, today they number only about five hundred (Ryerson, 1976). The Seris' traditional lifestyle has avoided farming and cultivation, animal domestication, and extended contact with other groups. The Seri have lived mostly in isolation, due in large part to their habitation of Tiburon Island, a small island in the Sea of Cortez. They are traditionally a matrilineal, monogamous people divided into four major clans (McGee, 1898), living in small, relatively nomadic groups; a necessity for the harsh habitat.

The Seri livelihood has traditionally depended on fishing, but with a failed Mexican fishing cooperative in the 1930's and commercial shrimping disturbing the ocean ecology in the 1950's, the Seri have been forced to find other sources of income. The major alternative has become tourist and craft arts. With the birth of the ironwood carving industry, the Seri moved permanently off the Tiburon Island, and settled in camps such as Desemboque. In addition to the woodcarvings, the Seri also make woven baskets and necklaces made from shell, stone, seeds, and other virtually inexhaustible resources. (Ryerson, 1976)

 

References:

McGee, W.J. The Seri Indians. Government Printing Office: Washington. 1898.

Ryerson, Scott H. Seri Ironwood Carving: An Economic View, in Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World, Nelson H. H. Graburn, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1976.