Social Organization by Decree in Colonial Highland Guatemala

Abstract

Ethnographically documented forms of Mesoamerican Indian community organization have frequently been interpreted either as mere survivals of preconquest principles or as the results of general Spanish policies and conditions during the colonial period. This article documents the careers of social units, called parcialidades in Spanish, in three highland Maya communities and demonstrates the importance of Spanish recommendations and rulings in response to local-level disputes in determining present-day variations in community organization. All scholars working in Mesoamerica recognize that significant changes were brought about by the Spanish conquest and subsequent colonial administration. Though much of the impact has traditionally been seen as resulting from general conditions such as population loss or the implementation of regional policies such as encomienda or congregaci6n,' at least one other factor shaped the experience of Mesoamerican Indian people: the specific recommendations and rulings by Spanish officials regarding legal disputes presented by individual communities or their component subdivisions. The subject of highland Maya social organization itself has been of enduring interest to scholars concerned with the region. Much ethnographic effort has been expended in describing similarities and differences in patterns of community organization (Hunt and Nash 1967), resulting in the documentation of a large array of units. Types of municipios (town center, vacant town, and intermediate) and types of pueblos (dual barrio and multiple barrio) have been defined along with numerous other units known from one place or another (including barrios, cantones, parajes, and surname groups). Which, if any, of these units represent continuity with preconquest Maya organizational principles, and which are the reEthnohistory 36: z (Spring I989). Copyright ? by the American Society for Ethnohistory. ccc oOI4-I8oi/89/$I.50. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.104 on Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:41:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Social Organization in Colonial Guatemala 171 sults of Spanish colonial policies? The answer to this intriguing question would increase our understanding of both preconquest Maya culture and the changes wrought by the Spaniards. Attempts have been made to project some of these organizational patterns back to the immediate preconquest era and beyond; aspects of social and ceremonial organization in Zinacantan have been projected for the lowland Maya back as far as the classic period (Vogt 1964; Cancian I964). Less ambitiously, the extended patrilineal family organization of some Quiche communities has been used as a model in attempts to reconstruct late postclassic highland Maya social organization (Carmack I966, I977, 1981; Fox 1978; Orellana I984). However, such attempts at identifying continuities in social organization have been hampered by their apparent disregard for changes that may have occurred during the colonial and early national periods. This lack of concern is reflected in scanty use of historical documentation to trace patterns of social organization diachronically. These studies have also failed to confirm the ethnographic or historic patterns through comparative historical studies in different communities. Although studies of this sort are not always possible given the area's uneven documentary record, without such precautions we cannot be at all certain that a particular community's organization represents enduring principles from preconquest times or if it is instead the result of later, postconquest modifications. This article traces the contrasting careers of social units Spaniards called parcialidades in three highland Maya communities: Sacapulas, Tecpan Guatemala, and Totonicapan (see Fig. I). We shall examine the wide divergences in Spanish policy toward such units during the colonial period and the reasons for the at times contradictory actions of the Spaniards. Variations in present-day community organization resulted: in Sacapulas, parcialidades represent direct continuity from preconquest units and were perpetuated, largely as a result of Spanish decisions, in a series of legal disputes; in Tecpan, parcialidades were effectively outlawed as a result of their challenge of a corrupt alcalde mayor; and in Totonicapan the Spaniards created a parcialidad from a contingent of Mexican auxiliaries who aided in the conquest of the area for Spain. Most of the documentation on which this study is based consists of the records of a series of formal investigations carried out by Spanish officials for the Audiencia of Guatemala concerning land, special privileges, or the threat of rebellion against the Crown. Naturally, all of these documents were created by and for Spanish officials, but the Indian people's voices and views are revealed in their recorded petitions, statements, and actions, though always distorted somewhat by translation and procedure. It must be clear from the outset that the Spanish colonial administrators had no official concern about the indigenous organization of their Maya This content downloaded from 157.55.39.104 on Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:41:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms