Class Conflict and the Corporate Peasant Community: Disputes over Land in Nahuatl Villages

Abstract

This article deals with class conflict in Nahuatl villages with "levelling mechanisms," endogamy, and other cultural traits that are supposed to maintain economic equality. Recent research has shown that many of these values and institutions, which have been analyzed as the outcome of defensive strategies by exploited Indian communities, may also mask and legitimize internal class differences after the introduction of commercial agriculture. A case study is presented to illustrate not only the emergence of class difference but also overt conflicts between rich and poor peasants within Nahuatl communities in the district of Huejutla in Mexico. Such internal conflicts, together with land invasions, frequently have resulted in the res̀toration of the truly egalitarian, closed corporate peasant community first described by Eric Wolf.