Coercion, Culture, and Contracts: Labor and Debt on Henequen Haciendas in Yucatán, Mexico, 1870–1915

Abstract

The henequen boom coincided with the rule of Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911). During the boom, many Maya in Yucatan lost their rights to land and moved to henequen haciendas. As part of the implicit contract withhacendados, peons accumulated large debts at the time of marriage, most of which were never repaid. We argue that the debts bound workers to the hacienda as part of a system of paternalism and that more productive workers incurred more debt. We examine the institutional setting in which debt operated and stress the formal and informal institutional contexts within whichhacendadosand workers negotiated contracts.“Debt and contract slavery is the prevailing system of production all over the south of Mexico… Debt, real or imaginary, is the nexus that binds the peon to his master…probably 5,000,000 people, or one-third of the entire population, are today living in a state of helpless peonage.”John Kenneth Turner1

Humanistic leadership: Lessons from Latin America

“…Mining centers, for example, were established in rural areas and often hired independent workers, while agricultural organizations, such as the hacienda, had slaves (Bulmer-Thomas, 2003). After the wars of independence early in the 19th century, labor markets functioned under the debt peonage system-a labor contract that retained part of workers' wages to pay for shelter or other needs, and attached employees to a hacienda's owner for an unlimited period of time (Alston, Mattiace, & Nonnenmacher, 2009). Under debt peonage workers were paid so little that they needed to borrow from owners who, in turn, tried to ensure that workers would not be able to pay back their loans and thus, remained on the hacienda.…”

“…Owners had to offer them incentives that included salaries and other additional payments (Alston et al, 2009). This debt peonage system generated a reciprocal relationship that developed into mutual responsibilities and loyalties.…”

“…This debt peonage system generated a reciprocal relationship that developed into mutual responsibilities and loyalties. Both owner and servants acquired social obligations, such as incentives for job performance, protection during downturns, and participation in workers' family events (Alston et al, 2009). This paternalistic relationship fulfilled both the hacienda's need to secure its workforce and the workers' needs for protection in multiple aspects of their lives.…”

‘Thanks God, this is not Cancun!’ Alternative tourism imaginaries in Yucatan (Mexico)

“…Reconstruction works focused on the enclosure of the Hacienda and its conversion into a gated space (Bagaeen & Uduku, 2010). Inside this gated space, all references to the Hacienda as a quasi-feudal socioeconomic system based on a highly segregated distribution of buildings and workspaces were systematically erased (Alston, Mattiace, & Nonnenmacher, 2009). This has been possible by the creation of a romanticized staged scenario in which tourists' experiences and imaginations are equated to those of the owners of the Hacienda, the hacendados, and where Yucatan's history has been materially anchored to the imaginary of a golden era.…”

The Henequen Ports of Yucatan’s Gilded Age

“…There is an extensive literature on the subject; a recent article by Alston et al (2009) provides a recent review and discussion. Archaeological perspectives on the history of the agrarian economy of the nineteenth century are available in the works of Alexander (1997Alexander ( , 1999Alexander ( , 2003, Meyers (2005a, b), and Meyers and Carlson (2002).…”