Yucatec Land and Labor before and after Spanish Incursions

Abstract

Yucatec land and labor arrangements before and after Spanish incursions are examined for ruptures and continuities. The Western concept of private property is found to ring hollow in a landscape in which intersecting spheres of authority (including those of supernaturals) guide protocols of access and extraction. Furthermore, no simple dichotomy between pre- and post-colonial can explain the range of land arrangements and networks of labor that existed across Yucatán. Through the input of labor or as a consequence of geomorphology, a patchwork of high-productivity micro-environments can be found across Yucatán and on Cozumel Island. Cultivation and/or extraction at these resource-intensive production zones encompassed a large range of labor arrangements and interdependencies during Pre-Columbian times. In general, land and labor are conceptualized as suspended within relationships of shifting authority. In reference to both land labor, authors break with the construct of “control over” and embrace the phrase “authority to,” which recognizes the role of negotiation and the inclusion of supernatural forces perceived to have played a structuring role in the disposition of land and labor.

Drought-Induced Civil Conflict Among the Ancient Maya

“…Prosperous coastal towns, first observed by Spaniards, 63 took advantage of a variety of freshwater features 69,70 and marine resources that provided opportunities for subsistence and economic diversification. Maritime commerce thrived, with large canoes carrying salt, chocolate and other commodities around the peninsula 80 . At the time of European contact, the Yucatán Peninsula was divided into 15 states 63 , some with developed hierarchies and kings (halach winik) and others more loosely organized; bureaucratic systems ranking nobles according to an array of religious and political titles 81 .…”