For a long time Mexicans believed that the pursuit of knowledge would bring its own rewards. In recent years, however, the legitimacy of the notion of a pure, selfconatined, impartial science has become increasingly questionable. In no scientific field has this proved to be so true as in the social sciences. Anthropologists, in particular, have been quick to point out the ways in which historical misrepresentations, racial doctrines and nationalistic dogmas haev distorted the social needs of ethnic "minorities," producing as a result more detrimental effects than human well-being.