Municipal Organization of an Indian Township in Guatemala

N highland Guatemala there still exist large Indian communities I without a trace of Spanish blood-islands in a ladino (mestizo)' sea. They owe their existence to various circumstances, some of them easily explicable: an aboriginal population too large for complete racial amalgamation with the white conquerors; a racially selfconscious group, so advanced culturally and so closely knit as to be able to maintain themselves under the impact of the Conquest; settlement in areas difficult of access where isolation has afforded a protection only now threatened by the advent of the automobile and the airplane. As a result, we may divide the population of the highlands into three, and only three, really significant groups: the whites, whether guachapin (European born) or creole, the ladinos or mestizos, and the Indians. Although a typical individual can be assigned to the proper group, the most skilled physical anthropologist could not distinguish borderline cases racially; often an individual must be assigned to the group with which he associates himself. And not only is it easier, but sociologically it is more important, to distinguish the groups by social traits-customs, costumes, conscience, and class consciousness-than by proportions of blood. The Indian townships in which the blood of an overwhelming majority is undilutedly Indian are aided in their preservation by the exercise, within broad limits, of self-government. Intrusion of outside influences into town affairs is strongly opposed by the communityand the Indians' capacity for passive resistance is very high. The administration of such predominantly Indian communities evolved, shortly after the Spanish conquest, a double system of municipal government, and so successful has this system been that it persists today

Archaeology · Environmental protection · Geography · Political science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Latin American and Latino Studies · Latin American history and culture · Politics and Society in Latin America

• Guatemalan Political History

  David E Wilkins•Wicazo Sa Review•1993

  Add to list

• Oliver Garrison Ricketson, Jr. — 1894-1952

  Open Access•S K Lothrop•American Antiquity•1953

  Add to list