Blurred Edges, Open Boundaries: The Long-Term Development of a Peasant Community in Rural Mexico

Abstract

Wolf's dichotomy between open and closed corporate communities has become axiomatic for the study of social organization in rural communities in Mesoamerica. In this paper I argue that this dichotomy is of limited use for understanding the vital dynamics behind the evolution of social groups typically classified by anthropologists as peasants. To overcome the conceptual limitation of Wolf's original classification I propose a network model that focuses on social relations. This approach can more adequately capture the variability and complexity we observe in everyday practice in rural communities in past and contemporary times. The paper examines aspects of the social organization of Belén, a rural community in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Using data from parish registers and two ethnographic surveys, I demonstrate how the social networks of compadrazgo (ritual kinship) and marriage can be reconstructed back into the seventeenth century. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century Beléños have formed most of their compadrazgo relationships with people from outside, indicating that social boundaries had started to collapse long before industrialization led to new economic relationships. The driving force behind the change was a severe epidemic shock. These findings have substantial, theoretical implications for the model of peasant society commonly applied in Mesoamerica, especially for earlier historical periods.