Two Worlds or One? Political Spaces, Communication and Ethnicity in Yucatan Before and During the Caste War

Abstract

Traditionally, historical and anthropological research has understood the colonial and postcolonial society of the Yucatan peninsula as divided into two clearly defined groups – colonizers and colonized, Spaniards or vecinos and Maya Indians – with more or less separate social and political spheres. The tendency persevered, even gaining momentum during the caste war era, which, among other things, saw the emergence of autonomous political units among the insurgents. This contribution argues, however, that this image of Yucatecan society is based on misconceptions and fails to recognize the nature and functioning of ethnicity in colonial and postcolonial Yucatan. It is shown that in many instances political communication and social ties followed more vertical than horizontal logics in tune with paternalistic and factionalist rather than ethnic or class dynamics. The borders between the rebels, described as ‘barbarous Indians’, and the rest of Yucatan society were, even during the caste war, less impervious than has been assumed and did not strictly adhere to ethnic divisions.