Changes in the Family Structure of the Pokamam of Petapa, Guatemala in the First Half of the 16th Century

Abstract

This article describes the changes in the family structure of the Central Pokomam of Guatemala that occured during the Spanish Conquest up till the 1560’s. Before the Spaniards arrived, the Pokoman social structure was more complex than it is now. Although there existed major political units (kingdoms), the basic political unit was the town in which the clans or lineages played important functions such as distribution of land and payment of taxes. The prehispanic social structure was based on the family. There were five types of households, two of which were the most important, the extended one (the ideal type that could only be reached by the nobles, and that could be characterized by polygyny, with wives or concubines) and the nuclear household, that was the predominant type. After the Conquest, the Spaniards sought to homogenize the social structure by eliminating the nobles and the lineages. The new political organization was based on the establishment of new towns. One single type of household was promoted, the nuclear one by obliging the newlywed couple to live in a separate household. In the 1560’s the only type of household that existed was the nuclear one. There appears however to have been no grave dis-adjustments in the functions of the family, in this region in contrast with the lowlands (cacao zone) which were becoming depopulated because of this.