The Colonial Mixtec Community

Abstract

Indigenous communities in Mexico have intrigued generations of historians and anthropologists and have influenced the conceptualization of agrarian “folk” or “peasant” communities worldwide. Since at least the 1940s ethnographers have lived and worked in Mesoamerican communities, observing cultures in their own day while imagining the preconquest past.1 In the last three decades especially, historians have used both Spanish- and native-language sources from the colonial period to analyze the internal organization of indigenous communities, considering how these structures survived in altered yet recognizable forms after the Spanish conquest.2 In the past, both historical and anthropological studies focused on corporate communities such as the Nahua altepetl (local ethnic state), Maya cah, and the undifferentiated pueblo of modern Mexico; however, findings from the two disciplines are not usually integrated or even compared.3 In contrast to previous research, this article uses a variety of Mixtec- and Spanish-language sources to define the nature and internal organization of Mixtec communities in the sixteenth century, and examines some aspects of their reorganization and transformation during the colonial period.4 In particular, I focus on two components of the colonial community in the light of a recent ethnography from the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca.Mixtec-language writings reveal how individuals referred to the groups to which they belonged. The sources speak of the corporate community as a complex sociopolitical entity or multilevel structure, as well as a set of social relations and obligations.5 People identified and affiliated themselves with multiple overlapping “communities” or associations of households. Some ethnographers have addressed the same topic by listening to the ways in which indigenous people referred to their own communities. John Monaghan’s book, for example, shows how Mixtecs of modern-day Santiago Nuyoo talk about their community in terms of a big house, where people shelter and feed one another.6 In Nuyoo people spoke about various social acts related to these unifying principles, such as feasting, gifting, marriage, and cargo or community service. Similarly, the first part of this essay analyzes how Mixtecs in the colonial period wrote about their communities as sociopolitical entities and places, and how indigenous- and Spanish-language sources reflect changes and continuities in those structures. The second part examines two indigenous institutions in the colonial period that organized many of the social acts analyzed in Monaghan’s ethnography by reading what Mixtecs and Spaniards wrote about them. The first institution, the Mixtec royal palace or lordly establishment, called the aniñe, was literally a big house; the second institution, tniño, was a system of reciprocal labor and responsibility. Changes in the aniñe and tniño reflected changing social relations and obligations in the colonial period. The gradual decline of the aniñe and the continued importance of tniño to this day reflect significant changes and continuities within Mixtec communities.The collection of Mixtec-language archival sources with which I am working includes more than 20 types of writing genres generated by notaries of the native cabildo, including last wills and testaments, records of community accounts, criminal records, land transactions, municipal council election results, and petitions to Spanish authorities. Since the language was not transformed in the early colonial period, Mixtec nobles continued to refer to specific sociopolitical institutions and general cultural categories in their own terms. Extant Mixtec-language sources span three centuries, from the 1560s to the first decade of the nineteenth century. My work is based on some 400 documents ranging in length from 1 to 70 pages; the collection is distributed evenly across time, representing more than 60 Mixtec communities, covering the entire culture area from the Mixteca Baja to the Valley of Oaxaca, excluding the Pacific Coast.Unlike not focus on a this essay is based on a of from many communities in the from the Mixteca and more from the of and the colonial period, this indigenous communities that are well in a collection of archival records in and Mexico I focus on institutions and identified by a while and sources are to Spanish-language are sources of in of light on the I Spanish-language sources as well as native-language I to that sources that people from the Mixteca not the to refer to indigenous used the or on the to the communities, and and cultural of the I this which is used by many people in the native community is as a and studies have on Spanish or terms to preconquest and colonial structures. In their own however, used terms such as or to their sociopolitical organization and of to Spanish or complex Spanish-language sources how colonial indigenous in terms of their own and and how they to and them. and a on indigenous indigenous forms of organization not transformed The that continued to in to or terms with and the of this how they spoke about their communities in the early colonial sources that called in the of the as a or even a as a to such as and In the colonial period and people continued to their own for that by and for example, the three to Spaniards as or the or and in the or to define terms such as and of a a was literally a called the in which they lived or and to the people in their The was as to indigenous organization and as the altepetl in Mexico and the in the of the the Mixteca of and well a of the and in the however, as and referred to as in the general as a from the of a and a the lordly of a example, in the century, and and the from their the of both both last and in that was to the and the part to is in and writings as a royal one on a The is a is and is or on is a as a writing in the is a for both the of and the as a royal marriage, the a and The or was a Mesoamerican of or Nahua of the and the with the altepetl and The Nahua that the was a of or is to that Nahua and the the Nahua is in from Mexico on a the and the and one reflected a of and that from two royal The of two lordly from two by a or a of the preconquest survived the and of the colonial period. The in the and native-language archival sources and In the or for is with a of Spanish such as a and and used terms in of the Mixteca by colonial Valley of Oaxaca, the Mixteca and the Mixteca Baja and is to a that not one or the is to that not a which was by a royal called a In the was not used in to which a lordly example, indigenous the of and the of Santiago in from to in called the a and the a and for these by In the Mixteca Alta and the used was In the Mixteca Baja the for a of the was and in the area of was The these three from is to three Nahua terms for of the and Indigenous worked with on the the Spanish as reveal for example, the is as and is as the and The in such as to a a a The of and for one and one one the the was a In the colonial period, the of in a from to and was and to the and the or not includes a example, for the pueblo which pueblo the are which and which both and with is to a a a in the are by in where and to the of and example, of the of called their a by of the The nature of these structures reflected a complex system of sociopolitical organization at the of the this is in the many or writings to the the was to the Nahua altepetl and Maya cah, and complex the Nahua more than the The second of this article the and Nahua community of the early sixteenth century, including lordly and of however, is to how Spanish and these structures in the colonial changes altered not the the Spaniards in the they evenly across the by the and In terms of the was than a in this period. The of the sixteenth have to the general of Spaniards to more by some of the to the from and to and and the of a with called In and was to a in the was to the of a communities from to the and the of some structures themselves to the of a for The of this was in terms of or example, the by was to the of the and was and referred to in some documents as People from to the and the second of the century, the to not to the that Spanish of was to of to the with and a In many places, however, the colonial not the of a Spanish the of for the in native The Spanish was based on a by a was not a of the preconquest was not a even in where the of a and within not or not with the complex and nature of sociopolitical the Mixteca in terms of with and more with by the in a area as and and as or of the In some to by the example, in the within a from as and to with places, and that or with the in a more reciprocal In the their labor and to the and The of was not Spaniards to and influenced by the or of in the and with the a considering the in the early period by Nahua and influenced and reorganization not the of and in the Spanish of People continued to their own terms for and the period, the some which a from that the not the same as the and called a and as terms in specific and genres of in election documents and The of entities which was from the preconquest the century, many such as and of the was the colonial period, including terms for of the as the in many for example, to multiple are as as in the Spaniards sociopolitical relations the various entities their structure, the area or native for these structures. the sociopolitical relations and set the for the of from In the indigenous to the of a of organization as as the nature of the Spanish indigenous communities from the a which by the of the century. example, and from in and In the and centuries, of and in the Mixteca to or to the sociopolitical colonial for to the sociopolitical reorganization as well as the of of community in sociopolitical communities have in terms of structures and that colonial essay to of community based on social and relations within the and recent many anthropologists have focused on internal social relations and than as of the native The on social and cultural acts as in the and of communities to native and the of a corporate is that social relations to the of communities in the colonial period. The for example, a set of social and relations organized by a of their communities in and and organized relations social groups in the from the sixteenth The decline of the reflected changing social relations and altered forms of which the nature of communities. studies some aspects of this transformation by considering the lordly and the sociopolitical structures on three indigenous and aniñe, and of the called and and the general of and addressed or referred to with The of or was in many ways the of the Nahua The a as which to the or which to the in with and and not and the was of In during the sixteenth century, including those for the many from the Mixteca of their as of In from Santiago a and of for from the on the that they their own Spanish that to to the have own and of significant as was to native of sociopolitical within the Spanish however, and they even the importance of in the used the to a of a was the of a that Spaniards in the and to native in was the and of and to the of a native In the was the Spanish of the of the two of the Spaniards the of the a of royal in a in a from example, in and called of the was and in and the from was they called of and the as The Spanish of to the in even their not at In the was a a the was not in the colonial Similarly, a and a Spanish the the in the The Spanish system native and by of their and marriage, the of Spanish in the and the or of lived in royal called The aniñe was the palace of the usually in Spanish-language documents with a or a Nahua and that the of in the Mixteca to those in In and with The aniñe of was in documents as a complex of The of in in a palace to the In this structures are a with with one to the entire of the of the The Spanish on the or at least their of from the aniñe, representing recent generations of the of the the was is at the of the of the of aniñe from from the 1560s the aniñe of as a which and the on or to land on the where the called to the of to the palace with and colonial The palace of or within a by and of aniñe, and the entire complex with and the the on a as a of The the of the in the on usually or in of a The royal palace was the of a the of where the lived and The of was in part or of the The of was to a on the social of the The on and or the was in some The part of the complex where they not a was the the and of and the entire structure, and and from one of a to the of the and as a of of and Spanish acts of in The Spanish as the palace and by this The was part of a which generated a and by the Spanish or indigenous at the of the in the from in the period. the of the records the of and on representing and the of the the of the focus on Spanish by the of to the from the to the of in Spanish to The of native structures and institutions by Spanish by the of a that the and was to Spanish of the royal palace how the native and Spanish as a to and community The of on a palace was a recognizable of to a native The of and with the a of the and of the The the social and the social of to in the of and the of was a a which called to the and in both and on the of and including the of and the of acts the of in that as they in their own they to across the and that was their In the same the and and acts of land in a of the the of the palace and the them. to the of the Spanish not from the the Mixteca the aniñe was a specific and to within a example, in from a of the of aniñe in in the to the is the lordly palace which to this aniñe with a and with a the of Spanish categories on native entities by this period. the aniñe to three in the of the palace and the of the palace and the palace of aniñe aniñe The to palace structures which in sociopolitical In of referred to aniñe in the called as a of nobles in referred to the of the called The of aniñe in of a community was in the Mixteca example, palace was within a specific for of the in the Mixteca of in which called palace in the of royal of records and the of lordly The aniñe a of land which land documents and of and the and the of the land was a of the was called in the general and in to the In land and based on the or The of a complex worked for The of the land by a was called or where the and complex was was the of a as well as a of the Nahua of land called which usually referred to the land of the the and from one to the land was usually with or referred to or a with of land was to the Nahua or in to used the in to their aniñe or palace the or within or the to aniñe in specific or are in the colonial period. and significant of of of the of land that in in communities of the nature of with the land was by the and was to to and of the by the aniñe, on to and to and to the palace in for a of the as as aniñe and corporate to the and example, in the in a land with the of nobles from the for a of the in the of referred to or of the of called the of and their of the and of the of this as of the they called of the people of the of they not refer to the as a corporate the to with of the the Nahua of and the of the and In the was to corporate the and altepetl to which the land to land was to by community that a not own more land than with multiple on to their The to and not that the to of including land by which at some by the was land that not to the lordly the and sociopolitical organization is the that some documents refer to or that a in that they by with a lordly example, in the of to the of this with the of from the the within In the of some to a called in to work The of about 20 that this of that to their the to to they of to from the that the complex lordly and was a in the of sociopolitical contrast to the of documents to the of lordly sources to the or in part to the of in the colonial the of on corporate that many of the corporate by and The to the Nahua culture area and where called have or the and corporate of the altepetl and the or more in the Mixteca Baja than in the where referred to the and of as part of their in many the aniñe the Nahua or The referred as to a lordly as a structure, a social entity as as the In Mexico the was with the altepetl as the palace or of the and the of the records, and The Nahua that was of one one and one The Nahua of the to even to the was a with a and The of altepetl was based in a where palace was the as as the and the the same significant in the specific the Nahua and integrated the as the aniñe was integrated the In aniñe was to some the and of some of those sociopolitical continued of for aniñe in the and the of the lordly in the In the of Nahua for in Mexico was by the the not in documents after the early in Mexico not from corporate the of these categories changes in land and related to the of and Nahua lordly within corporate communities. in the continued of the aniñe was the of Spanish to the Mixteca and the of Spanish in the which to and continued to The Mixteca with the Valley of in this where many by the colonial the of the as to the of the or in Nahua sociopolitical not the same is that the aniñe and the or at least the entity to which as a big The big organized the obligations and labor which within The aniñe was the of a and and for nobles lived and In the as aniñe and aniñe in the and in the of the in the sixteenth that they and the or nobles in lived or in the example, in of that many nobles and in that was by to and many in this that and to and Spanish that previous many more and In to feed themselves and on a of and to work in their in to those and their and such as and and while and to the from the this by for of to 20 the by and a of was a of social in as was in during this period. to the to The on and people to of and and and from the community in a part of their to In the was in part by the to feed people and to the second of the sixteenth century, Spanish of and which their and the aniñe in that part of in the obligations of as that while and by Spanish to and obligations the that of and of and to the nobles and part of to the worked for and have is that not to the of their lordly and the of and Spanish for and In work on colonial a the where to or by the colonial nobles lived in the palace or as of the the aniñe as a for and a of for the entire The in the century, the aniñe as a structure, with a where native a of the palace with the as In the native that in the aniñe of for including In and that they and to the the palace as a with many and that native from the area for of time, where they various and a of and the aniñe of the of Santiago a in the Mixteca John that people talk about their community in terms of a big house, where people shelter and feed one The of the community as a big to the of the aniñe in the colonial Nahua and writings from the sixteenth identified a community with is that of the from the Mixteca that in to the of and aniñe at the of the The reciprocal of and shelter in the Nuyoo is a cultural by households. The of is by the of a royal in in The that the was literally by their in and of and nobles in the on a the a and a of and of in the in the big The by social relations in terms of of the colonial period, the aniñe organized many of these and those that are called the nobles in the aniñe to the The of tniño entire of the and collection of and is to the or and as or to and the of a of labor organized at the and corporate tniño was the of that the community the Spaniards a of municipal by native called the The forms of organization and many preconquest from to for the to which by the 1560s in of the The the of while the and nobles from various of the the of the cabildo, however, from the of the sixteenth century, in the of the The that the of by the not to have of community and the of in a period. a in the is the or the The a of and by of the including the of and royal The of the and the two of the

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