Writing Ajawarem: Establishing Authority over People and Territory in Three Sixteenth-Century Texts in the Highlands of Guatemala

Abstract

This essay analyses Indigenous language expressions of authority in the highlands of Guatemala during the early colonial period. It centers on the concept of ajawarem (lordship, señorío) and what I argue are two of its main components: military and political might and legitimacy for leadership and the ability to collect tribute. I explore these two aspects via analysis of the couplets pus nawal and q'aq'al tepewal, as well as the concept of patan or tribute. In studying their use in three important ethnohistorical documents from the region, I trace the notion of ajawarem during the Postclassic period in the highlands and argue that it is wielded in the face of colonial imposition. After discussing the relationship between alphabetic writing and the evangelization process in the highlands, I provide analyses of these concepts as they appear in the Memorial de Sololá (Kaqchikel), the Popol Wuj (K'iche'), and the Título de Totonicapán (K'iche). Each text reveals both general and specific ways in which ajawarem was wielded and represented in alphabetic texts in the highlands.