TALEA AND JUQUILA A Comparison of Zapotec Social Organization I BY LAURA NADER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY Volume 48, No. 3, pp. 195-296, 12 figures in text UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS. BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1964 TALEA AND JUQUILA A Comparison of Zapotec Social Organization BY LAURA NADER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1964 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY EDITORS (BERKELEY): R. F. HEIZER, W. R. BASCOM, E. A. HAMMEL Volume 48, No. 3, pp. 195-296, 12 figures in text Submitted by editors November 2, 1962 Issued February 12, 1964 Price, $2.50 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To the memory of CLYDE MABEN KLUCKHOHN One of the main rewards of intensive study of a culture area ... is that such study eventually frees investigators to raise genuinely scientifie questions-problems of process. Once the influences of various cultures upon others in the same area and the effects of a common environment (and its variant forms) have been reasonably well ascertained, one can then operate to a first approximation under an "all other things being equal" hypothesis and intensively examine the question: why are these cultures ... still different in spite of similar environmental stim- uli.... We are ready now, I believe, for such studies, but no one is yet attempting them seriously. Clyde Kluwkhohn PREFACE THIS STUDY is based on data collected during nine months of field work: seven months between May 1957 and February 1958, and two months between Novem- ber 1959 and February 1960. The field area, referred to as the Rincon, is located in the mountains north of the Valley of Oaxaca. The Rincon area was a good choice for anyone planning to do comparative work since the several villages that make up the Rincon are at relatively close walking distance from each other. I based myself in Talea de Castro, the largest, and the only bilingual, town in the district. From there I took walking trips to all the other villages of the Rincon spending anywhere from two days to two weeks doing comparative survey work. The greatest amount of time was spent visiting in Yobego (one of the last Zapotec villages before the Chinantla and Ozumacin area), in Lachichina, and in Juquila Vijanos. Yobego and Lachichina have small populations-between 300 and 400-while the population size in Juquila (1,700) more closely approximates that of Talea (2,000). In September of 1957 I decided to concentrate my com- parison on Juquila Vijanos and Talea de Castro. This decision was made on the basis of three factors: these two villages were in close walking distance to each other; they provided a contrast in settlement pattern; and their populations were of approximately the same size. My reception by the indigenes went through various stages, which may sound familiar to any anthropologist who has worked in Mexico. There is no one way to gain acceptance into a group, and acceptance techniques vary with the anthro- pologist as well as with the group. Indeed, depending on the problem of investi- gation, one may wish complete, partial, or peripheral acceptance. After I had been two weeks in Talea, the Catholic priest advised me that I was suspected by the local townspeople of being a Protestant missionary. Although I explained that the "mission" of an anthropologist is different from that of an evangelist, the priest did not believe me and to the end continued to warn the people of these towns that they were being spied upon by a missionary from the North (United States). The fact that Talea had had unpleasant contact with various missionaries two years previously did not help. Only time, native observation of my church attendance and behavior in general (missionaries do not drink), in addition to a letter from the Bishop in Oaxaca, convinced many that I was not a missionary. There is no doubt, however, that this accusation hindered the first stage of field work. The language problem was not difficult in T'alea as I am fluent in Spanish. There were communication problems, however, in the other Rincon towns, which are predominantly Zapotec speaking. I worked with an interpreter much of the field-work time and found it was as useful to use an interpreter when working with bilinguals as it was with monolingual Zapotecs, especially when questions of meaning arose. During my first field stay my interpreter was a sixteen-year-old Talean girl who was unsophisticated in the ways of the city, sensitive, obedient, and intelligent. During this first trip I learned enough of the Rincon Zapotec language to carry on a halting conversation and to check my interpreter. In 1959- 1960 my interpreter was a twenty-year-old Talean youth, a "natural" anthro- pologist and fieldworker who became fascinated with the subject matter and who [ v ] often took the initiative in suggesting ways of obtaining information not readily divulged, while explaining to me the possible reasons for a native's reluctance. Both interpreters were accepted and well liked in Talea and Juquila-in itself a feat and an important qualification for the position of interpreter. When it was impos- sible for these interpreters to accompany me to Juquila I would go alone, and I found that the lack of verbal communication often made me notice behavior and interaction that would have gone unnoticed had a conversation been going on that I understood. My first problem was to overcome the Protestant-missionary accusation, since this was obviously limiting my interaction with people. Soon there were other accusations. People in Talea thought me lazy. I did nothing but walk around asking questions. This was not considered a worthy activity, though it created envidia (envy). I began to learn that industriousness was highly valued in this town and found myself explaining the work of the anthropologist. The next ques- tion to arise was "what good will your work be to the Rincon?" I explained the work of the Papaloapan Commission (a government development project) and the need to provide it with information about the lives and customs of these people. Over and over I was asked this same question and over and over I explained, using examples that I came to know were important to them. Next came the question of sex. They had never seen a woman with short hair; they had never seen a woman in button-down sport shirts; they had never seen a woman taller than the men in town; they were surprised that a woman would have the courage to walk between towns at night, alone or with only a young child. Soon the myth grew that I had the power to turn myself into a man or woman at will. The women constantly badgered me to grow my hair, to change my clothes. By experimenting I finally discovered that the best reply was to tell them that were they to visit my home country dressed as they were with such long pigtails they would be ridiculed. Much laughter would result from such conversations. I capitalized on their indecision as to how to categorize me and gained the greatest freedom of movement among both men and women. Public acceptance in Talea came during the fiesta of the patron saint, San Miguel, in September 1957. During this celebration I presented a barrel of mezeal to the town officials. This was evidently symbolic of my becoming a citizen of the town, for I had contributed to the town. Many public speeches followed apologizing for the first reception I had been given, saying in effect, "We were wrong to think Sefnorita Laura was a Protestant. Now she has contributed; now she is one of us." Many of these people were strongly averse to answering direct personal questions such as "How many godchildren do you have?" if they could see no direct practical relevance of such a question. The attempt to collect information always in indirect, subtle ways was often tedious but probably elicited more than if pat answers could have been given to all questions. I also made the habit of direct questioning a kind of joke among families that I knew. When I would tell them that Americans had the custom of being preguntones (big question askers), they learned to laugh and say, "Cada pueblo tiene su costumbre" (Each town has its own customs). There were, however, certain areas of culture about which it was relatively easy to collect information: medical cures, the natural environment, subsistence meth- Vi Preface Preface vii ods. On the second field trip I found many new areas opened up to me that had been considered taboo during the first trip. The most striking of these was witch- craft, which I had been under the impression was relatively unimportant and only later realized was an active part of Rincon Zapotec life. The techniques used for obtaining information were: observation, participant observation, interviewing, and the collecting of legal and historical documents. Questionnaires were used only in the schools of Talea. This monograph describes only certain aspects of social organization in Talea and Juquila. It is not intended to be a complete ethnography, nor do I include all the data collected in the Rinc6n. The mass of biographical and kinship data and the materials that I collected from the law courts will appear in separate works. L.N. Berkeley, June 1962 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To THE PEOPLE of the Rinc6n I am grateful-for their hospitality, and for their co6peration and respect. Many Zapotecs contributed to the knowledge and insight that I gained of their way of life; my thanks can only be inadequate. In Talea and Juquila I received much aid and moral support, especially from Alfredo Bautista, Constantino Hernandez and his wife Rosa, Leon Vasconcelos, Luis Hernandez, Marcelino Mendoza, and their respective families. In Oaxaca, Mexico, I am especially indebted to Ing. Annuar Abdal'a and Ing. Arturo Avila of the Papaloapan Commission. They provided me with transporta- tion, medical aid, and friendship during my stay in the Rincon. I owe particular thanks to Mrs. Lini DeVries for providing me with a home and nursing care when I was ill. The field research was supported by grants from the Mexican government, Radcliffe College, and Harvard University. I am much indebted to these organiza- tions for their support. With great appreciation I acknowledge the critical comments that I received from the late Clyde Kluckhohn, Beatrice Whiting, and Evon Z. Vogt during the initial stages of writing this monograph. For the onerous task of seeing this manu- script through its various final stages I am indebted to Miss Claire Nader, to Miss Patti Hatfield for typing the manuscript, to Mrs. Anne Brower for her patient editing, and to Bruce Gemmel and William DuVoll for drawing the maps. I wish to acknowledge special appreciation to William Bascom, Eugene Hammel, Robert Heizer, and Robert Murphy for taking time from their busy schedules to read and comment upon the manuscript. L.N. CONTENTS Introduction The Rincon. Geography Language Settlement patterns The pueblos of the Rincon The two towns Relations between Talea and Juquila Contact with Spaniards and Mexicans The Family. Introduction Patterns of density, residence, and inheritance The nature of intrafamily relations . The nature of interfamily relations . Social Groupings. Sections and barrios A ssociations Church organizations Organizations of musicians. Other formal groupings. Communal work groups-the tequio Informal groupings in the daily round Social groupings and the division of labor. Summary . Civil Organization Municipal government in Talea Municipal government in Juquila Comment and comparison Grievances and Remedy Agents The court system. The family system . Supernatural system . Comments Epilogue and Postscript Bibliography 195 199 199 204 205 205 208 211 212 215 215 215 220 228 236 236 238 239 240 242 242 242 244 250 252 253 255 260 265 266 277 280 284 285 293 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION THE ZAPOTEC HAVE LIVED in the Mexican state of Oaxaca for more than two thousand years. During these many years their way of life has been changing owing to both internal (processual) factors and external (acculturative) factors. In the last five hundred years the increasing rate of modification of Zapotec culture and society has been directly related to contact the Zapotec have had with Spanish and Mexican societies; yet, despite all these changes, the various contemporary Zapotec groups retain an underlying unity based on related language, common forms of social organization, and particular ways of exploiting and using the natural resources of this region. But who is it that can speak of the Zapotec? To any anthropologist who had spent months living in various Zapotec towns it would seem that such a generalization is most "real" to the outside observer, to the non-Zapotec. The Zapotec himself is more sharply aware of contrasts than of similarities between Zapotecs. For him the Zapotec area is marked by variety in dress, language, crops, and food. The Zapotec himself recognizes that each Zapotec village, no matter where in Oaxaca it is located, has its own "personality." It is this recognition of differences that greatly shapes the behavior of one Zapotec toward another, and it is the analysis of the subtle differences between and within Zapotec villages that is the subject of this monograph. Three monographs have already been published on the Zapotec (E. C. Parsons and C. Leslie on Mitla, and J. de la Fuente on Yalalag), and all three studies documented various aspects of the changing Zapotec world. But thus far there has been no specific attempt devoted exclusively to the task of comparing Zapotec social organizations, although we have reason to believe that such close compari- sons may yield important data for understanding the dynamics of change, both processual and acculturative. As Nadel' used the method of controlled comparison, a set of variables was held constant between the two pairs of societies to be compared so that a single variable could be tested: the role of witchcraft or its absence. In this monograph the method of controlled comparison is used, the comparison focusing on two closely related Zapotec villages, both located in the Villa Alta district of Oaxaca (see fig. 1). These two villages, San Miguel Talea de Castro and San Juan Juquila Vipanos, share a common history, language, and culture which serve as controls against which variables may be tested. The control in this study, however, is more unwieldy than Nadel's, first because the aim here is not to explain the presence or absence of a trait but to contrast various aspects of social organization in two towns and to identify the total configurative pattern in each town as well, and second because we are particularly concerned here with variation. Documentation of intravillage variation is used to achieve greater precision in comparing two closely related villages. For example, these two towns share the same ideal residence rule of patri- locality. Actual residence choices however, vary a great deal in both towns. And so we would plot the complete range of variation in residence for Talea and then 1 S. Nadel, "Witcheraft in Four African Societies: An Essay in Comparison," American An- thropologist, 54:18-29. [195] University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. for Juquila and compare the degree of overlap. Other areas of social organization, such as the division of labor, are also handled in this manner. By plotting the range of variation we may get some idea of the dynamics of residence or of labor division in the two towns. Fig. 1. Communities of the Villa Alta district and vicinity. A further example of intra- as well as intervillage comparison would be the mapping of drinking according to the settings in which drinking takes place. This would obviate statements such as the following-no longer regarded as a sig- nificant description in anthropology: "In village A there is more drinking than in village B. Even the women drink in village A." Such a -statement (though it may be accurate) disregards the importance of patterning. In the two Zapotec villages treated in this study, for example, the drinking of alcoholic beverages means some- 196 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison thing quite different in each village and in each setting. To a Juquilan, it has ceremonial aspects in the courts or at curing sessions; it is a symbol of the collective spirit and goals at a town meeting; it may be an excuse to "let your hair down" at a Talean market. To a Talean, drinking alone might mean one thing, drinking among a group of fellow townsmen something quite different. In this study an activity is held constant and the various settings in which it is found are compared. To understand the intercorrelation or interassociation of the variables that are part of a society, we may compare the presence or absence of elements of social organization, or, when the same elements are present in both units, the patterning of these elements, or the range of variation present in the actual workings of a society. Various aspects of social organizations may be compared-for example, the form or charter of institutions (structure) with the actual workings of such insti- tutions (organization), or, phrased differently, the ideal level with the actual level as viewed by observer and participant, or both. There are myriad procedures that may be used in presenting descriptive data so as to delineate differences in organization. This monograph concentrates on a few specific categories that reflect the kinds of social and physical spatial patterns present in the two towns. Some factors that bring men together, that separate them, that make some want change and make others less interested in change will be disclosed by means of a descriptive analysis of the social arrangements creating intimacy and distance.2 A concise description of the Rincon area-physical setting and peoples-is followed by sections dealing with particular aspects of life in the towns of Talea and Juquila, aspects such as family and other social groupings, civil organization, and social-control remedies. With the exception of chapter ii on the Rincon, this study is based entirely on data collected during a nine-month field stay. Indeed, there is no body of literature on the Rincon; it is a region unreported by anthro- pologists, historians, or linguists. Good historical documentation is lacking then because there is little written history of the area, and to reconstruct it from govern- ment archives would have been an all-consuming task. This dearth of historical data is unfortunate; such data would have helped to solve the puzzles that arose in explaining why each town developed as it did. What time data were available are presented throughout, and in the second and the final chapters these data are used in speculating on the effect that past circumstances have had on the present. Although it is clear that oRe town is more "Indian" than the other, there will be no sustained effort here to discover what is Indian as opposed to what is non- Indian or "acculturative." Those tendencies in social organization that seem to be the result of contact with Spanish and Mexican national cultures are pointed out, but an attempt is not always made to distinguish between so-called processual and acculturative changes, although the difference between them is recognized. Processual and acculturative forces are usually interrelated; contact with Mexican 2 The spacing of social relations is sometimes studied under the rubric of social distance, the spacing of houses within a town under the rubric of settlement pattern. Although there have been many pioneers in anthropology and sociology who have been concerned with this aspect of human life (Durkheim, Mauss, Cashing, Levi-Strauss, Maine, Tonnies, Redfield, Steward, Willey, B. Whiting, Evans-Pritchard, E. Z. Vogt, Birdsell, Reisman, White, to mention only a few), reference to these authors will be made only to illustrate specific points. 197 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. culture provides new materials for change but the processes of change are probably the same regardless of whether change is processual or acculturative.! The principal purpose of this investigation is to document in two towns the contrasting patterns of social organization not readily apparent to the casual observer in the presence of superficial homogeneity. How the towns differed is supplemented, in chapter summaries and in the conclusion, by a discussion of why they differed. The explanation of differences on the ground that one town is more "acculturated" than the other has been consciously avoided because this is a descriptive statement, not an adequate explanation. The question is: what inhibits innovation and/or change in one village and what encourages it in another? The answer to such a question involves a knowledge of the history of the contact that Talea and Juquila have had with Mexican culture. Equally important, however, it involves an analysis of internal change processes-for example of the kinds of ecological adaptive processes at work. In studying change in Mexico there are many kinds of changes that must be taken into account apart from those due to acculturation; and an adequate understanding of change requires painstaking patience and a breadth of view that will allow us to look now at one aspect of change and again at another, using temporal and spatial comparisons. 3 Murdock has labeled these processes: innovation, social acceptance, selective elimination, and integration (G. P. Murdock, "How Culture Changes," in Man, Culture, and Society, ed. H. L. Shapiro (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956). 198 CHAPTER II THE RINCON GEOGRAPHY THE GEOGRAPHICAL COMPLEXITY of Oaxaca presents the most varied situation in Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental-in Oaxaca referred to as the Sierra Madre del Sur-a somewhat uniform range before it enters the state of Oaxaca, here expands in every direction. The 36,000 square miles of Oaxaca are a seeming chaos of mountain chains and isolated peaks, of deep canyons and many barrancas. Only a few valleys are sprinkled through the central area. The area known as the Rincon (fig. 2) lies approximately two hundred kilom- eters northeast of Oaxaca City, in the mountains that are part of the great Mexican cordillera. This mountain system of the Rinc6n enters from the south around the district of Tlacolulu (near Albarradas)1 to form a most impressive setting for the pueblos of the Rincon-all of which, from a distance, may be seen cozily sheltered in the folds of this grand mountain system. A series of mountain chains seems to flow into the Rincon area from the highest mountain tangle in the Mixe area, known as Zempoatepetl. These northern moun- tains nourish heavy flowing rivers which move toward the state of Veracruz, where they form part of the great Papaloapan drainage system. Both geographically and culturally these waterways serve to link the Oaxaca mountains with the Veracruz plains referred to as Los Bajos. The Rincon is a home for these northern rivers and mountains, but it is difficult to mark exact boundaries for what is Rincon and what is not. There are probably as many boundaries as there are inhabitants. The primary use of the label Rincon seems to be directly related to the geographical situation. As one man said, "Somos 'rinconeros' porque estamos entre los cerros" (We are called the people of the corner because we live between the peaks). And this is literally true. The formi- dable Zempoatepetl (Veinte Picos) which stands over 10,000 feet, the threatening, massive Maceta (la Monta-na de Siete Picachos), and El Machin, all surround the pueblos of the Rincon. It is no wonder that the inhabitants refer to themselves as "rinconeros"; they are virtually cornered by mountains on three sides-the one free opening bends with the rivers toward Los Bajos of Veracruz. A second meaning given to the label Rincon seems to be of more recent origin. Rincon and rinconeros have become derogatory names applied to those pueblos that are considered atrasados (backward) or cerrados (closed). If one uses the terms in this sense boundaries will be continually changing along the lines of "progressive" change, or according to what is deemed to be "backward." In this work we will use the term to refer to all the Zapotec pueblos within the circle of the great mountain peaks mentioned.2 The pueblos included on the map (fig. 2) constitute the central part of the Rincon. In addition, the following 1 Rosendo Perez Garcia, La Sierra Juarez (Mexico, D. F.: Grafica Cervantina, 1956), I, 24. 2 The word pueblo is used throughout Mexico to refer to town, village, settlement, people, nation, or population. In this work it is used to refer to town or village settlements. [ 199 ] University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. KILOMETERS I 1 1 2.5 NORTH Fig. 2. Topographical map of the Rinc6n area. pueblos may be included as belonging to the Rincon: Yotao, Cacalotepec, Temas- calapa, Zoogochi, Yagavila to the west of the Rio del Rincon; and Lachiroag, Yatzona, Camotlan, and Reagui to the east of the Rio de la Cantera. This region has been classed by Tamayo8 as a humid, temperate zone, but within this category the range of climatic variation is notable. Throughout the area there are distinct variations in rainfall and temperature. November, December, and 3 Jorge L. Tamayo, Geografia General de Mexico (Mexico, D. F.: Talleres Graficos de la Na- cion, 1949), II, 71. 200 Nader: Talea and Juqutla-A Comparison January are the coldest months. Dominant cold winds during this season come from the west and cause the temperature to drop as low as 300F. (midday tem- perature). Usually, however, the temperature during these months is around 50'F. The combination of humidity, occasional rains, and cold winds often serves to make a 500F. temperature uncomfortably cold even for the inhabitants. Between Febru- ary and May the temperature may rise as high as 1100F. at midday; this is also CLIMATE ZONES TALEA DE CASTRO W COLD ZONE N FOREST FOREST BRICK OVEN Gt&t Large yellow corn RED SOIL A Coffee TEMPERATE ZONE Coffee 1580 M BROWNISH RED SOIL GREY SOIL (YU GABIL) + (YU BECK) YELLOW SOIL HOT HUMID ZONE Coffee* Sugar cane Beans \ Small white corn LIMESTONE s *Best coffee area E Fig. 3. Climatic zones, Talea de Castro. the driest season of the year. In May the summer rains begin, and the natives refer to May, June, and July as the rainy season. There is rain quite regularly through- out the designated rainy season, and dominant winds blow from the northeast. In August rains let up somewhat but return again in September and October. Some- times the rains are torrential downpours that last for weeks, but usually they come in the form of drizzle lasting for only several days.' 4Oscar Schmieder gives the following descriptions of the climate of the region: "The climatic feature which distinguishes the north slope climates [i.e., the Zapotec and Mixe mountains] from all the rest of the area is their excessive humidity. During the greater part of the year moist air from the Atlantic ascends the north slope. This typical circulation is interrupted for short periods of time in December and January. The result of this type of circulation is the for- mation of heavy clouds, owing to the forced rise of the moisture-laden air currents from the Atlantic over the north slopes of the mountains" ("The Settlements of the Tzapotec and Mije Indians," Univ. Calif, Publ. Geog., Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1930), IV, 8. 201 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. This broad description of seasons should not obscure the fact that local climatic conditions are diversified. There is often a drop of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet from the highest house in a pueblo to the lowest section of the pueblo proper. Within the pueblo these differing altitudes are recognized as having influence on climate and as affecting conditions for land cultivation-resulting in a diversification of crops, some of which may be cultivated only in the hot zone, some only in the cold zone, and some best in the temperate zone. The accompanying diagram (fig. 3) was drawn by a native of the town of Talea to show the location of various climatic zones in relation to the town center, the crops most usually associated with the various zones, and the kinds of soils that are recognized. This intensively dissected mountain region is often described as one of the most fertile in the state. Trees are still abundant, and although there is a recog- nizable amount of soil erosion due to slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal burning, and the dissection that occurs as a result of heavy flowing seasonal rivers, it is little in comparison to that of the lands south around Yalalag, or of the very badly eroded lands of the Mixteca. There is additional variety that characterizes the natural setting of the Rincon. The geologic base, in harmony with the complexity of the topology and climate, is an intricate foundation of highly metamorphic rock-rock easily affected by pres- sure, heat, and water.5 This is an earthquake belt,' and endogene forces are still at work as was brought to public notice by earthquakes between 1957 and 1960. The land is rich in minerals, gold and silver having been exploited since colonial days. Relatively untouched minerals such as lead, coal, iron, mercury may well affect the future of the people of this region. The traveler, walking along mountain paths from one pueblo to another, is always dimly aware of the settlements that are enfolded by the mountains in view. He may walk for hours while these settlements seem to remain in the distance until suddenly he has arrived at his destination and finds himself wandering down a well-worn path to the center of the pueblo. In a moment there are houses every- where-houses made of forest and of earth baked in the sun-terraced into the hills. There is a vivid green that contrasts with the brown houses and the eye is impressed immediately with orchids clambering down trees, coffee plants in bloom, and, some distance below, sugar cane ripe for harvest. These pueblos have the charm and beauty of being in harmony with the natural environment. The subtropical flora is well known to the natives. They point out various plants that are used for food and for decorative or medicinal purposes: lilies, jasmine, orchids, gladiola, magnolia, yoloxochitl, tulips, camellias, gardenias, begonias, dama de noche, flor de luna, vanilla. In addition to these wild plants a wide variety is planted:7 squash, chayote, yucca, peas, quetites, onion, nopal, beans, corn, cuato- mate, chayocamote. The forests yield a variety of trees: pine, cedar, mahogany, rosewood, ceiba. The fruit trees produce nisperos, avocado, pineapple, various kinds of banana, limes, oranges, plums, mangos, and zapote. 5 Ibid., p. 1. 8 Ibid., p. 2. See also Tamayo, op. cit., I, 253. 7The use of these names is so variable in Mexico that it makes any translation into botanical classification impossible unless specimens are collected. This I did not do. 202 Nader: Tatea and Juquila-A Comparison Among the fauna are some that receive special attention from the Rincon Zapotec. The hunter still tracks the jabali (the wild boar, the greatest depredator of corn fields), the armadillo (the shell is useful in picking coffee and the meat is tasty), the tapir, badger, rabbit, raccoon, fox, skunk, monkey, and an occasional coyote. Snakes are killed when found on the path. Pheasant, wild turkeys, sparrows, and hummingbirds are good food; blackbirds and auras (zopitote) make good targets for slingshot practice. Deer used to be hunted regularly but now are rather scarce. Between December and February the rivers are full or bovos and trout. Sweet- water shrimp is best in June. The larvae of a wasp called panal de tierra (villaj in Zapotec) occasionally supplement a family diet. The land produces a livelihood for the inhabitants in the form of the staples, corn, beans, and sugar cane, and of the cash crop, coffee-a fairly recent intro- duction. Although there is a fundamental and underlying unity in agricultural production throughout the area, there is also crop variation which serves to distinguish one pueblo from another. Corn and beans are grown everywhere, but in some areas sugar cane and coffee cultivation are more prominent. Owing to differences in local climates and soils, corn ripens at different times in different pueblos. Some settlements have gained renown for excellent oranges, some for a special kind of banana, some for the large black beans grown at high mountain altitudes. Pueblos with good grazing land specialize in cattle. This variation results in a lively trade. Trade is the main communication within the Rincon, and between the pueblos of the Rincon and other peoples. Talea de Castro, for historical and geographical reasons, is the main market center for the Rincon area. San Juan Yaee and Lalopa have minor markets. Until October 1959 there was no vehicular road into the Rincon. Traders had to walk into the region from the Sierra de Juarez by way of the settlements of Calpulalpan and Maravillas, and this path was often cut off for weeks during the summer rainy season. The oldest route from the Rincon to Oaxaca runs straight south to Solaga, Tlacolula, or Mitla and then to Oaxaca, and until October 1959 this was still the route by which coffee, loaded on donkeys, was shipped out. Within the Rincon the pueblos surrounding Talea bring the following products to sell at market: vegetables, zacate (fodder), beans, corn, panela (unrefined brown sugar), tiles for house roofs, coffee, poultry, and pigs. The people from the area south and northwest of the Rincon (Solaga, T'abah, los Cajones, Yacatepec, Yalalag, Yaa, Lachopa, Jacaltianguis) bring corn, vege- tables, potatoes, lime, hammocks, rope, comales (flat plates of pottery on which the tortilla is cooked), pottery, livestock, serapes, metates, petates, pulque, and mezeal. Earlier in the century-before coffee became an important product and before the government began to build mountain roads-the people of the Rincon used to travel to the Bajos of Veracruz where they traded and worked on tobacco plan- tations. Now there is little communication between the major pueblos of the Rincon and the Bajos. The impassable mountains which had previously "cor- nered" the rinconeros have now been opened to connect the Rincon with the Valley of Oaxaca. 203 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Like their valley counterparts, most of the pueblos of the Rincon are settled compactly, although the difficult terrain makes this seem impracticable in some places-a challenge to any theory suggesting that topographic land features deter- mine forms of settlement. The neighboring Mixe Indian group, who also inhabit mountainous areas, find isolated farmsteads the more convenient mode of settle- ment. LANGUAGE In the present state of Oaxaca a number of American Indian languages are still spoken. One of the predominant language groups is Zapotec, which according to the 1950 census was being spoken by 215,651 people. Several linguists have suggested classifications for the Zapotec language family. In 19498 Maurice Swadesh, building on the earlier work of Sapir, Radin, and De Angulo, presented a tentative classification. In his report, Swadesh subdivided Zapotec into six languages: (1) serrano: around Ixtlan, the Sierra Juarez; (2) nexitzo: the area of the Rincon; (3) villalteco: the area around Yalalag and Villa Alta; (4) tehuano: around Tehuantepec; (5) valle: Valley of Oaxaca; (6) miahua- teco: Miahuatlan and south. Actual linguistic boundaries for such divisions are highly tenuous because gradual differentiation is found from pueblo to pueblo. From the available infor- mation, crude boundaries of mutual intelligibility may be drawn between moun- tain, valley, and isthmus peoples. In the entire area, linguistic differences from pueblo to pueblo and even within different barrios of the same town9 are markedly important, not only to the interested linguist and social anthropologist but also to the people themselves. To complicate the situation further, in the midst of the Zapotecan area there are groups speaking Mixe, Zoque, Huave, and Chontal. In the immediate surround- ing areas we find Mixtecos in the northwest and Chatinos in the southeast, and Chuchones, Chinantecs, Mexicanos, and Popolocas in the north region. In addition, of course, Spanish penetration is to be found everywhere. Spanish, in many areas, serves as a lingua franca, a tool useful in trade between Zapotec and Mixe, or Zapotec and Mixtec, or Zapotec and Chinantec. In the Isthmus of Tehuantepec tehuano instead of Spanish is used as a lingua franca among Europeans, Mexicans, and Indians. This classification suggests, and comparative linguistic information collected in 1957-1958 confirms, that the people in the Rincon speak a mutually intelligible language. The rinconeros refer to all the people who speak this langauge as bulni (people) rshidza?. They say: "We speak didza? (words) rshidza?." When it actu- ally came to defining the area that rshidza? covers, the extension was often wider than the area described earlier in this chapter as Rincon. When asked specifically who bulni rshidza? are, they would say: "Todos con quienes nos entendemos son rshidza?" (All of those people whom we can understand are rshidza?). All this is further proof that actual linguistic boundaries here are highly tenuous. 8Maurice Swadesh, "El Idioma de los Zapotecos," in Lie. Lucio Mendieta y Nufnez et al., Los Zapotecos (Mexico, D. F.: Imprenta Universitaria, 1949), pp. 417-448. 9Julio de la Fuente, Yalalag: Una Villa Zapoteca Serrana (Sirie Cientifica, Mexico, D. F.: Museo Nacional de Antropologia, 1949), p. 33. 204 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison SETTLEMENT PATTERNS There are three types of settlement patterns in the area: (1) pueblos that are compact and densely populated; (2) pueblos that are semivacant, that is, a com- pact town center that is only partially occupied because many of the citizens live permanently on dispersed farmsteads while maintaining houses in the town center; and (3) a semicompact pueblo center where each house maintains a large garden around the dwelling. Talea de Castro is an example of the first type-compact and densely populated (fig. 4); all the inhabitants live in the town. Juquila is of the second type (fig. 5); only a portion of the population lives in the town center per- manently. Many of the Rincon pueblos have the third form of settlement-the semicompact center. Examples of this would be San Juan Yaee or Lachichina. Juquila and Yatoni are the only Rincon pueblos with dispersed farmsteads, and of these two Juquila has a larger proportion of the population living on these farms, which they refer to as ranchos. Thus, in this one geographic area compact, semicompact, and dispersed settle- ments are found. Geography per se seems to have little to do with the type of settlement pattern,10 but it does have an important effect on the stability of location of communities.' Choice locations must have the following characterisites: lands, free from barrancas, that are flat enough for building, water (but not too much to undermine the buildings), and good soil for agriculture in close range of the town center. When these factors are not present, there is good reason for a pueblo to relocate. This whole region, extending into the Chinantla, has a history of chang- ing pueblo locations owing to soil or water exhaustion. In addition to this, there have been relocations due to epidemics. THE PUEBLOS OF THE RINCON The Rincon pueblos are very similar. They are clustered mountain settlements. The people of these settlements speak the same Zapotec language. They grow the same subsistence crops. They share similar political and religious organizations. They are rinconeros, cautious in their treatment of strangers. Yet, when one studies the representatives of these pueblos all together in the Talean market place, it is not their similarity that is striking, but rather their diversity. The women from Lachichina wear red waistbands and their wrap-around skirt is brown and white striped, with the blouse (huiple) tucked inside. The women from Yaviche wear all white with a black waistband. The women from the farthest pueblo to the north, Yobego, still wear a long white huiple over the wrap- around skirt, with gay colors covering the side seams. The observer also soon learns that the comparatively taller men with blue eyes come from Tanetze, that the shortest of the men come from Yobego, and that the men with white shirts and 10 What determines settlement pattern is an interesting question to which there is no single answer. A discussion of this problem here would be primarily speculative. Rinc6n settlement types seem to be influenced by the following variables: (1) the amount of land which pertains to a pueblo, (2) the location of good agricultural and grazing lands in relation to the town center, (3) rules of inheritance, and (4) the value system. This monograph is not concerned with the determinants of settlement pattern but rather with some of the implications that a par- ticular settlement type may have for some aspects of social organization. "For an interesting discussion of this question see Sol Tax, "Municipios of the midwestern highlands of Guatemala," American Anthropologist, 39:423-444. 205 0 a) -4- 2 a) v a) Ca la E-1 It R Q- Ca *S I -j Nader: Tatea and Juquila-A Comparison Fig. 5. Settlement map of Juquila Vijanos. 207 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. black serge trousers have at one time worked in the cities. Individuals who are quick to initiate conversation with a stranger have worked in the United States as migratory labor (braceros). If one observes men and women drinking together it is likely that they are from the pueblo of Juquila, and in this same pueblo the men are mocked for carrying their babies as women do. One overhears a Talean woman arguing with another over the payment for pigs sold to the second woman months before and soon learns that women from Tanetze have a reputation for buying pigs and not paying for them. The market is dotted with the special prod- ucts of each town: panela from Lalopa, fruits and woven towels and sheets from Yaee, black beans and corn from Juquila, fodder for feed and bulls for butchering from Yaviche, fruits, pigs, and poultry from the other towns. And the observer wonders if the uniqueness of each pueblo is only a superficial aspect of existence or if it is related to basic organizational differences. Rincon pueblos fall into three categories of population sizes. Talea is the largest with a population of approximately 2,000,1 and Juquila is the second in size with a population of about 1,700. Tanetze, Yaee, and Lalopa all have about 1,000 inhab- itants. The rest of the pueblos-Yobego, Lachichina, Yagallo, Yaviche, El Porvenir, Yatoni, and Otatitlan-have fewer than 500. THE TWO TOWNS As we have said this study will be concerned with only two of these Rincon pueblos-San Miguel Talea de Castro and San Juan Juquila Vijanos. Talea was founded in 1525," when Fray Bartolome de Olmedo came from Mexico City with various representatives to baptize and preach Christianity among the Zapotecs of the Rincon. It is interesting that they came at the request of the Zapotecs themselves. In the previous year the respected elder statesmen (ancianos) from various pueblos of the Rincon (Capulalpam, Tepanzacualco, Tanetze, Yaee, Yagallo, Juquila, Yatoni, Yoxobe, and the ancestors of Taleans and Villa Altecans) had gone to Mexico City to request that the new "king," Cortez, send ambassadors of the new religion. When they came they founded a new town, Talea. The people who first lived in this town are said to have come from a settlement situated on the side of the mountain that Talea now faces, and the ruins there buttress this belief. Olmedo founded his new settlement precisely on the border between Yatoni and Juquila, the lands presumably having been bought in small lots from the people of the two neighboring villages. The size of the Talean population in the sixteenth century was probably smaller than that of Yatoni and Juquila. The history in the town archives showed only a handful of houses on the accompanying maps. Unfortunately I do not have information on the development of T'alea from 1525 until the turn of the last century. However, during the past fifty years Talea has probably changed its size and composition more than any other Rincon pueblo. Older informants remember Talea at the turn of the century as a smaller (popula- tion 1,000?), compact, agricultural community, of special importance only because it was on the route to the Hacienda de Santa Gertrudis-a settlement situated "2All the quoted populations are approximate because of the inaccuracy of existing census materials. la This history was taken from documents in the Archives of the municipal building in Talea. 208 Nader: Tatea and Juquila-A Comparison some 2,000 feet below Talea at the Rio de la Cantera. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Santa Gertrudis was the scene of a very active gold-and- silver mine, which attracted workers from the surrounding pueblos as well as from the Sierra Juarez. At that time Talea had no market, and the largest market in the region was situated at this Hacienda. Once a week, people from all the sur- rounding pueblos would make the steep trek down to market. About 1905, the mines closed permanently and many of the miners, representing a variety of pueblos, came to settle in Talea where they began to farm for a living. Some of these miners were mestizose from the Sierra Juarez, who spoke Spanish and Sierra Zapotec, some of them people from monolingual Rincon villages such as Reagui and Cacalotepec. The predominant language among the mine admin- istrators was Spanish; among the miners Rincon Zapotec predominated, so that even the Sierra Juarez miners had to become conversant in the latter. Following the move of miners from Santa Gertrudis to Talea the market was also gradually moved there. Owing to the closing of the mines, Talea became the most important commercial center in the Rincon region and today boasts six well-stocked stores. The market probably moved to Talea rather than to Juquila or Yaee because of Talea's central location. It was fortunate and probably not a historical accident that Talea became a center of commerce, for with this sudden influx from the mines, the gradual accretion of lands from neighboring pueblos was not rapid enough to provide all these new citizens with land. Many turned to commerce as an adjunct to farming; they began to buy and sell, to make products that other villages would come to market to purchase. Talea remained a compact town; all its citizens live in the town and farmers commute daily to their fields. In the early 1900's coffee cultivation was introduced. Talea was the first Rincon town to accept this new crop, and in all probability this acceptance was related to the advantages that coffee production has for a town suffering from land shortage. An acre of coffee land could provide enough cash (provided the price of coffee was high enough) to buy several acres of corn harvest. Thus the cultivation of coffee relieved the land-shortage problem for the time being. Coffee provided Taleans with cash, which made it possible for them to buy land from other towns; it in- creased the commercial possibilities of the town, for traders and coffee buyers came from Zapotec regions to the south around Solaga, Yalalag, and the Cajones. But more than this-coffee changed the relationship that Talea had with the surround- ing towns. Apart from the prestige accrued from wealth in cash that coffee afforded, Talea became more dependent on the surroundings towns. The more time spent on coffee production and commerce, the less time was spent on cultivating corn and beans-the subsistence crops. Until contact with the valley of Oaxaca was ,made easier the town of Juquila had been the main supplier of corn and beans to Talea. It could also be said that because Juquila was able to sell a surplus of corn and beans to Talea their subsistence crop became a cash crop. Another important factor in the evolution of the town occurred some forty years after the closing of the mines, and after the introduction of coffee. In 1946, approx- "The word mestizos is used here to refer to individuals who are no longer monolingual Zapotee speakers, although they may be bilingual. Often they are also of mixed cultural and genetic heritage (European and Zapotee). 209 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. imately thirty Talean men left to work for one or two years in the United States as part of a migratory labor team imported from Mexico. The Taleans themselves state that before this time all the men in the town wore the traditional dress, hand- woven shirts, white calzones, and huaraches. Many changes came with the return of these workers, and many more were to follow their example and look for work in the United States. These Taleans returned wearing shoes and colored trousers and shirts, and gradually, by conscious persuasion, they convinced other citizens of the town to change to this new dress. Women were encouraged to abandon the traditional peasant blouse and skirt in favor of the "dress" of the city. Accompany- ing these changes, an active attempt was made to bilingualize the townspeople, and in 1957 the town could be described as being 90 per cent bilingual Spanish- Zapotec. The school runs through the sixth grade and is well attended and com- paratively well staffed with six teachers. In addition to all this activity, Taleans were also doing all possible to connect Talea, and thereby the whole Rincon, by road, with the valley of Oaxaca. As of 1957 Talea was a town which, while pri- marily endogamous in marriage patterns, still accepted citizens from other villages; at the same time it was beginning to lose some of its older citizens to the El Dorados of Oaxaca and Mexico City. As has been mentioned, the first contact Juquila had with Spaniards is recorded to have occurred simultaneously with "the ancestors of the Taleans," yet Juquila has not been so strongly influenced by external happenings as has Talea. Juquila is an old town. The present site was founded long before the arrival of the Spanish in 1525. There is evidence that the population has slowly increased since the found- ing of the town, for citizens claim that at one time the site of the town center could comfortably hold the total Juquilan population. Growth in population has been internal in the sense that Juquila, with very few exceptions, has not encouraged or accepted citizen recruitment from the surrounding villages. The only acceptable way to become a Juquilan citizen if you are not born in the town is to marry in- and such individuals may be counted on both hands. The tendency and ideal is for one Juquilan to marry another Juqiulan. In the past fifty years the most important developments in Juquila have been a result of internal political fission. Natives refer to previous locations of the town, but the present site has remained essentially intact from the time of the Spanish arrival until 1937, when a splinter group founded a separate settlement, El Porvenir. In 1957 a second splinter settlement was founded and named La Colonia Nueva. The story of this second split is interesting. In 1946 from ten to fifteen young men left Juquila to work in the United States and since then more have gone (although the total number is larger in Talea). When these men re- turned to their pueblo, they tried for many years to introduce "progress": they urged their fellow townsmen to change their dress, to learn Spanish, to improve their standard of living by acquiring the accoutrements of modern life. For the most part they failed, but they remained undaunted in their enthusiasm for "progress" and a "modern" life. They finally split from the mother town to form a small colony of their own. Excluding the members of this Colonia Nueva, the town of Juquila in 1957 was about 95 per cent monolingual Zapotec. The school is poorly attended and teachers who have come to Juquila are often very poorly qualified. 210 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison The people of Juquila attend the markets in Talea and Natividad, the important mining center of the Sierra Juarez. The market at Natividad was important to the Juquilans even before the creation of the Talean market, and its location is particularly convenient for those ranchers who have their lands on that formidable mountain, La Maceta. They take products to sell-primarily corn and beans-in order to have cash with which to buy chile, mezeal, materials for weaving, meat, medicine, harmonicas, huaraches, or anything else they may need. Juquilans have never developed any strong mercantile interests, and until recently would rather horde extra money than invest in products to resell upon return to the villages. There are no stores in the town center although from five to six houses sell soft drinks, beer, and mezeal; these "penny capitalists" have all had some city experi- ence and half of them are married to women from outside the town. Some Juquilans have used their surplus cash, when not spent on mezeal, to buy coffee plants, but again, this is especially true of those men who have had experience in towns and cities outside the area. For the most part Juquilans have been satisfied with corn and beans as a cash crop, ignoring the seductive possibilities of coffee because, as they explained to me, "If the price of coffee goes down what do you do? You can't eat coffee." It is unfortunate that we do not have a documented history of the introduction of coffee, for its story during the past sixty years must be a fascinat- ing one. The buying and selling of coffee, as well as the picking of the berries by men and women from neighboring towns must have greatly increased social inter- course as well as the economic worth of the region. It was briefly mentioned earlier that only part of the Juquilan population lived on isolated ranchos. Actually a third of the population lives permanently in the town center and commutes daily to nearby lands, a third lives permanently on the ranchos and maintains houses in the town center, and a third lives part of the week on ranchos on La Maceta and the rest of the time in the town center. Juquila is the largest landowning village in the Rincon and the only large population characterized by dispersed settlements; Juquilan ranchos are to be found scat- tered over a wide area-now in clumps, now isolated, one close to the town center, another closer to the Talean or Natividad center. Ranch houses are usually found in the middle of a cornfield, and regardless of what actual distance they may be from another ranch house they are for most purposes quite isolated. I have been as close as twenty feet to a ranch house just before corn harvest when the stalks are tall and have not seen it. The ranchos are situated so that you can see and hear what is going on only by walking up close to the entrance. No matter how isolated, however, citizens are obligated to return to the Juquilan town center for town meetings, weddings, funerals, and fiestas; it is there also that they must go to present complaints to the town court. RELATIONS BETWEEN TALEA AND JUQUILA There is a great deal of animosity between the citizens of Talea and Juquila. The Taleans resent the Juquilans, who own more land than any other pueblo in the Rinc6n, have steadfastly refused to sell their land outside the town of Juquila and severely punish and usually exile any Juquilan who may decide to do so. The Taleans say that the Juquilans are not to be trusted but, nevertheless, respect them 211 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. for their cleverness even when escaping justice and for their knowledge of the land and natural environment, and always end by saying of them: "Siempre son muy alegres entre si" (They are always happy among themselves). The Juquilans, on the other hand, feel threatened. They watch Talea buy up the land of the various surrounding towns and they can feel the tentacles reaching for Juquila, but they need not and will not give in. They often quarrel with T'aleans for trespassing to get firewood and say they don't belong to this land anyway, for Talea is a "new town" (1525). The Juquilans also consistently get drunk when they come to the Talean market on Monday and are often put in the Talean jail and fined. They say the Taleans don't have a sense of humor; they don't laugh enough. However, the Juquilan also knows that he can sell his firewood in Talea, that Talean stores and cantinas break the monotony of life on an isolated farmstead, and that, if he needs cash, he can probably get a job working by the day for someone in Talea. CONTACT WITH SPANIARDS AND MEXICANS Every Indian village in Mexico has in one way or another been affected by the arrival of the Spaniards and the ensuing growth of Mexico as a country separate from Spain. Albeit sometimes heavily disguised, symbols of Old World culture are to be found in the most isolated regions of Oaxaca. Spanish and Mexican influ- ences are reflected in religious and political organization, in the use of Old World plants, and in all that results from modern communication. Sometimes, as in the case of many Trique Indian villages, the effect has been to increase the isolation of people who wish to avoid contact with all foreigners and to limit the territorial movements of groups. Change may have come swiftly and directly by choice or by conquest as a result of contact, or it may have been slow and gradual. In the more remote and inaccessible corners of this great territory of Oaxaca, contact for most part was gradual and indirect, and resultant changes were adapted to the local environment over the centuries. Such an inaccessible area of gradual contact and gradual change is the Rincon, and in the Rincon especially Talea. As I mentioned previously, Talea and Juquila came into contact with the Spanish at the same time, and at the request of the Rincon Zapotec. Some four hundred years later we find that each village has had separate and distinct experi- ences with the Mexican government and with Mexican national culture in general. Talea owes its very existence to the Spanish friars who founded the town. As a new settlement that lacked the residential continuity of surrounding towns, Talea has throughout the past four hundred years been considered by its neighbors an intrusive element in the region (even though the ancestors of Taleans were from the region). Being considered neither fish nor fowl, it is not surprising that Talea, as far as we can tell, has always been rather hospitable toward strangers. (Note, for example, the T'alean policy of accepting new citizens from other villages in the region.) Minority groups have often used recruitment techniques as avenues to greater strength and power and Talea is probably no exception. In part Talea became a refuge town, a place that attracted Zapotecs who left their own village for a variety of reasons, Mexican nationals escaping the series of revolutions that shook the country, or unemployed miners seeking a new means of subsistence. Had these same people tried to set up residence in Juquila, or any other Rincon town, 212 Nader: Talea and Juquila6-A Comparison they probably would not have been accepted. These facts about Talean recruitment, which in the chain of change may be traced back to its founding by the Spanish, and Talea's initial and continued partial rejection by other Rincon pueblos are an integral part of the history of Talean contact with Spanish and Mexican cul- tures. A town that is relatively accustomed to dealing with strangers and incor- porating them into its organization is likely also to be a town willing to accept change from the outside. Further, its citizens would be more likely to tread beyond Rincon terrain-as evidenced by the fact that many Talean men left to work in Oaxaca, Mexico City, and the United States. Apart from such attitudes about the non-Zapotec world, the economic and eco- logical considerations briefly discussed in a previous section are very much involved in the kind of outside contacts that were initiated by Taleans. I speculated earlier that their interest in coffee was probably related to land shortage. When Talea began to grow (and to depend on) a cash crop such as coffee, of necessity it could not ignore the Mexican national scene because national and international price fluctuations in coffee seriously affect the Talean economy. Furthermore, when Taleans began producing large quantities of a crop which had to be shipped to the valley of Oaxaca to be sold and distributed they committed themselves to the prob- lem of how to improve transportation and lower shipping costs. Of all the Rincon pueblos Talea has been the most active in the various road projects of government agencies. Taleans desire modern facilities, whatever they may be, and modern medicine, and many Taleans value, per se, social intercourse with non-rinconeros Some Taleans may not be in sympathy with this course, but for the most part they are without political power. The story of Juquila's contact with the Spanish and Mexicans is a simpler one than Talea's. Since the first contact Juquilans have played a passive role, never particularly seeking outside contact. Juquila has enough land to produce what it needs to live on. Whatever surplus it has it can sell to Talea; it is not dependent on a cash crop and thus on national price fluctuations. Juquila is economically self-sufficient for the most part, and Juquilans often state that they do not need anything from the outside. Only recently, through travel, has it become clear to some Juquilans that there are some attractive features of the outside world, such as modern medicine, educational facilities, and roads. If we turn the story of contact around and look from the outside inward, various themes prevail: religious, economic, and governmental. In early times the Spanish, motivated by religious fervor, made contacts in the Rincon, which were renewed at various intervals thereafter. For centuries the Catholic church had its religious center in the town of Tanetze, and it was not until 1958 that the central location of the Catholic church organization (and the one priest) officially moved to Talea. The success of Catholic activity in the area is reflected in some of the elegant church buildings such as those found in Yagallo, Tanetze, and Talea. For the most part Catholic services, ceremonies, and other religious duties have been carried on by the population relatively independently of any specified direction from the Mexican Catholic church centers. There are at present only two priests in the Rincon-one in Talea, the other in San Juan Yaee. The Rincon has never been of great economic interest to the Spanish and Mexi- 213 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. can governments because it is not a wealthy area and because communication was so difficult. When private individuals come in their stay is always temporary. People have come to the Rincon bent on finding and developing mining interests, or they wander through to buy archaeological specimens, to sell medicine, to prac- tice dentistry, to buy coffee, or to sell food and clothing. Very few of these outsiders open businesses and settle down permanently, and stories of various attempts to do so suggest that rinconeros are very jealous of outside entrepreneurs. A wealthy Oaxacan once proposed to open a business in Talea, but he was not allowed to carry out his plan, although he offered to use his private plane to bring goods into the area. Another man, from Veracruz, did succeed in opening a business in Talea and was flourishing as a town philanthropist, but one night he was poisoned. Another came to open a corn mill, was ruined economically, and left. No similar attempts to open permanent businesses in Juquila have ever been recorded. Mexican government contact with the Rincon has been sporadic. Taxes are col- lected with varying degrees of efficiency. The schools are administered by the state district capital at Villa Alta, but the degree of contact with each pueblo depends upon the activity and initiative of the towns themselves. Traditionally Taleans try to obtain all they can in the form of government aid, and Juquilans pride themselves for accomplishments without the aid and interference of the state and national government. Further contact with the Mexican government has been through medical students who have, at one time or another, come to spend their six months of required social service in Talea. These students have sometimes chosen the Rincon for personal reasons; at other times the municipio of Talea has requested them from the government health center in Oaxaca. All these students have spent most of their six months in Talea, with occasional trips to surrounding towns in times of epidemic or to vaccinate for smallpox. No student has ever based himself in Juquila or in any Rincon town other than Talea. Until the past ten years much of the contact that the government initiated with the Rincon had been lackadaisical. If the government did start a program with any kind of vigor it would fizzle out with new elections, leaving some sorely dis- appointed rinconeros behind. In the 1950's, however, under the auspices of the Papaloapan Commission, road engineers, agronomists, medical specialists, and educators were sent to all the Rincon villages as part of an all-out integrated pro- gram to develop the Oaxacan zone, which falls in the Papaloapan drainage basin. It is difficult to evaluate the effect of this program. In addition to practical accom- plishments, such as finally connecting the Rincon by road to the valley of Oaxaca, initiating coffee nurseries, and improving and sanitizing the water supply to vari- ous villages, the Papaloapan Commission was an important catalytic agent. In summary it is worth noting that, until recently, important contacts with the Mexican nation were initiated by the rinconeros themselves. Talean contact with outsiders was gradual and contact with and knowledge of Mexican culture filtered in chiefly through intermediaries-bilingual and bicultural Zapotecs from adjacent regions. In Juquila contact with Mexican culture has been recent and the change that results will probably be abrupt rather than gradual. 214 CHAPTER III THE FAMILY INTRODUCTION IN ALL SOCIETIES individuals and family groups maintain relations with groups and individuals outside the family circle. However, the degree to which these intergroup relations are important varies from place to place. There are ties in all societies, also, that link numbers of people together as groups or as individuals, while other ties divide them by linking some of them with different groups. And the degree to which these intergroup relations cross-link, again, varies from place to place. The intensity of the individual's relationships with groups and individuals out- side the family circle inevitably affects relations within the family. This chapter and the next proposed to explore the implications for family and village organi- zation that a differential in the intensity and range of cross-linkage may have. It outlines the composition of settlement and household, the nature of intrafamily relations, and the nature and kinds of interfamily relations that are present in the town of Talea and in the Juquilan ranch area.1 PATTERNS OF DENSITY, RESIDENCE, AND INHERITANCE In chapter ii I mentioned that the general settlement of these two towns differs. Talea is a compact town, whereas Juquila has a compact town center but most of the town citizens either live permanently in dispersed ranchos or alternate resi- dence between rancho and the town center. This description tells us something about the general layout of the settlements but it does not define their actual com- position. Do related families live in close proximity to one another, or are they scattered throughout both the compact town and the dispersed ranch areas? Inter- related with distribution in space are three factors which affect the family in Talea and Juquila: they are density, residence, and inheritance patterns There is a strong tendency in both towns for related families to live in the same neighborhood. In Talea this is becoming more and more difficult because of increas- ing density and concomitant lack of house space. In Juquila this is sometimes difficult because of the inheritance of scattered holdings; for example, lands inher- ited by siblings may not be contiguous. In spite of these factors, the foregoing statement regarding family residence is generally applicable in both communities. In Talea the tendency is for related males to live in the same neighborhood. This becomes clear if part of one family distribution is plotted on the settlement diagram (fig. 6). Pedro and his wife live in House number 1 (a house which he built on his wife's land) and his younger unmarried sons live in la. His eldest son, who had lived in la for several years after marriage, now lives with his wife and one son next door to his father-in-law (number 3) in number 2. The next eldest son lives within the same corridor as his father, Pedro, in number 4, and the only daughter 1 The analysis of the Juquilan family will focus on thirty-two ranch families permanently dwelling in dispersed settlements-an- area they call Lachirigi?. This was decided in order to have some control present since those families that reside in the Juquilan town center live part of the time in the town center and part of the time in the country. [ 215 ] University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. A VILLA ALTA Y SOLAGA Fig. 6. Settlement map of the center of Talea. in the family lives in number 5, a house which she and her husband built on land that the husband inherited from his father at marriage. This daughter's father- in-law lives in number 6. Pedro has a brother who lives with his family in number 7, and another married brother lives in number 8. His step-mother's daughter lives in number 9 with her husband, and number 10 is occupied by Pedro's oldest unmarried son and the oldest unmarried son of Pedro's brother (number 7). The 216 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison closest remaining relatives of Pedro's wife (a maternal uncle and his son) live in number 11 and number 12. This family is considered a "large" family in Talea and thus was chosen to illustrate the distribution of close kin. On the Juquilan ranchos the tendency is for related men and women to live in the same general neighborhood. On the diagram of the ranchos (fig. 7) one family is plotted. In House number 1 Jose lives with his wife, one unmarried daughter, and one unmarried son. The land belongs to his wife through inheritance; the rancho was one that Jose built. In House number 2 their eldest married daughter SAN JUAN JUQUILA LACHIREGI' Dispersed Homesteads --^^1200--.- 100 meter contour lines * House 5 min walking distance - Road.\ C . ,00 ...... ... .~~~~~TO Talea Fig. 7. Settlement map of the Juquila ranchos. lives with her husband and two children on lands and in a ranch house that her husband gained through inheritance. House number 3 belongs to the sister of this man (number 2) and her husband. Jose's second daughter lives with her husband and one child in number 4, and the third daughter lives with her husband in number 5. The parents-in-law of the daughter in number 5 live in number 6 with one young daughter. House number 7 is inhabited by Jose's brother and family; this land was lent to him by Jose and his wife when this brother recently remar- ried. When Jose's married daughters return to the Juquilan town center for any reason, they stay in houses which belong to their husbands' families, with the exception of the daughter who lives in number 4. The husband in this house is an orphan; when he and his wife return to the town center they stay in the house that belongs to Jose and his wife. There are two main differences between Juquila and Talea to be noted here. When related Juquilan ranch families live in the same neighborhood they do not at the same time live in close association with nonkinfolk. In Talea the relative density is great, so that families often cannot live next to one another, but even 217 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. those that do, necessarily live also in close spatial relation to families that are unrelated. There are a variety of possible settlement compositions of which the following are the most pertinent here: 1) scattered settlement of only related neighbors 2) scattered settlement of both related and unrelated neighbors 3) scattered settlement of unrelated neighbors 4) compact settlement of only related neighbors 5) compact settlement of both related and unrelated neighbors 6) compact settlement of unrelated neighbors. Among the Juquilan ranchos, type 1 is most noticeable; type 2 is frequent; and type 3 is relatively infrequent. In Talea, type 5 is all pervasive and types 4 and 6 are totally absent for town citizens. The second difference to be noted is related to the types of houses used by each community. In Juquila each rancho is a one-room construction (fig. 7), which usually houses a nuclear family. A Talean house, on the other hand, is a series of rooms, which may house a nuclear or an extended family. Although the density of settlement is greater in Talea, the density within households is greater in Juquila (see below, The House). The ideal or preferred residence pattern among the Rincon Zapotec is patrilocal or a patrisponsored neolocal residence; that is, the father of a newly married son makes arrangements for his son to continue living at the parental home with his new bride or else provides the couple with a separate house location, usually next door to the parental home. Even though both Talea and Juquila consider patrilocal (extended) or patrisponsored (neolocal) residence as the cultural rule of residence, the actual occurrence of residence is much more varied, as the following array illustrates. A couple may be sponsored2 by others; that is, they may: (1) live in the same house with the groom's parents or surrogate parents, i.e., his padrinos; (2) live in a house given to the groom by his parents; (3) live with the bride's parents; (4) live in a house given to the bride by her parents; (5) live in a house which is the gift of both the bride's and the groom's parents, e.g., a groom's father may give him a piece of land and his father-in-law may offer to help with the cost of build- ing, or vice versa; or (6) enjoy simultaneously numbers 1 or 2, and 4. A couple may be self-sponsored; that is, they may: (7) rent a house (usual in the case of orphans); or (8) work to buy land and build their own house. Once a person sponsors his own residence (numbers 7 and 8), it is unlikely that he will participate in forms of residence numbers 1 through 6. Within the first group of residential forms, there is much wandering. For instance, a couple may start out living with the husband's parents (number 1). After several months, they may move to live with the bride's parents (number 3), because the parents of the wife are sick or old and in need of help. Later, they may find it more convenient to live by themselves, so the wife's father allots to his daughter and son-in-law a nearby plot of ground. The father of the husband then offers to help build the house (number 5). "J. L. Fischer, in "The Classification of Residence in Censuses," American Anthropologist, 60:508-517, discusses sponsorship as a means of classifying residence. 218 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison All the residence forms listed above are found in Juquila. All, with the exception of number 6, are also found in Talea. The enjoyment of simultaneous residential sponsorship by both the parents of the wife and the parents of the husband may occur only when a couple maintains more than one residence. Taleans all have their homes in the town center; although they may have "ranchitos" or rude shacks on their lands, which the men use for sleeping purposes when working at any great distance from the town center, these are not residences. The Juquilan ranchers, however, maintain residence on the land as well as in the town center; most of their time is spent in residence on the ranch lands and they use town residences for special purposes such as fiestas, sickness, funerals, weddings, and town meetings. Of the thirty-two Juquilan ranch households, eighteen are presently sponsored by the parents of the wife, fourteen by the parents of the husband. In the town center of Juquila, on the other hand, there were very few households that were sponsored by parents of the bride. There is a tendency for ranchers to keep all members of the nuclear family together, even after they marry. By means of the preferred patrilocal residence rule, parents are allowed to keep their sons close after marriage, but daughters upon marriage are expected to leave their parental household. Ranch parents solve this dilemma in one of two ways; either they let their daughter live with her husband's people at first, and then within a few months or years bring her back by alloting her a piece of land close to their home, or they marry their daughter to an orphan,' who is usually pleased to make his home near his in-laws. Regardless of the form of residence used on the ranchos, however, village residence is always sponsored by the husband's family where at all possible. Unfortunately, a complete census was not taken of either village. However, from sample censuses the following tendencies were recorded. Talean residence is pri- marily sponsored by the parents of the husband. Approximately one half of the households follow residence forms numbers 1 and 2; approximately one fourth follow residence forms numbers 3 and 4; and residence of the final quarter is formed according to numbers 5, 7, and 8. In Juquila town center, residence forms numbers 1 and 2 are the dominant tendency, whereas number 6 is a dominant pattern among scattered households. Numbers 3 and 4 follow in frequency and 7 and 8, self-sponsorship, are found to be relatively rare. We turn next to inheritance patterns, for settlement composition cannot be understood without reference to the patterns of property transmission in a society. Inheritance is bilateral and lineal. Parents ideally divide their property equally among their children or their grandchildren. Individuals rarely inherit lands from their siblings or their parents' siblings. The data disclose a tendency for daughters to inherit from their mothers and sons from their fathers. However, this varies considerably and often is closely related to the amount of wealth either parent has accumulated. In Talea, where land is scarce, parents might choose to give their lands to their son and their house 8 Any individual who has lost either his mother or his father or both parents is considered an orphan, as are widows and widowers. 219 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. to their daughter. This is described as a kind of insurance in case her marriage does not work out and, indeed, marriages here are brittle. This particular factor in inheritance has served to increase matrilocality in Talea. Land is no problem in Juquila for there is more than can presently be worked. A distinction is made there between private and communal land: private land is owned by individuals and may be both inherited or sold; communal land may be used for farming by any citizen who asks permission from the town, and this land use may be passed from parents to children but no individual has a right to sell communal land. In Juquila it is preferable to leave a house for a son and a house lot, which is land where a house may be built, for a daughter. Lands ideally are divided equally among sons and daughters but in actual practice preference is shown to male children. In Talea a child may be apportioned the greater part of his inheritance at the time of marriage. What is left when all the children are married goes to the child or children who take care of their parents during sickness and old age. Usually, but not always, the youngest child remains to take care of his parents. In Juquila official apportionment of inheritance is held off until just before the parents die. Those children who pay closest attention to the parents, it is said, receive the largest portion. The inheritance of property often incites argument over the amount to which each child is entitled, but the right of children to inherit is not questioned. Rights to inheritance are questioned in the following cases: When a childless man dies, does his wife have the right to inherit over and above her husband's siblings? Does a step-child have the right to inherit from a step-parent? Indeed, the right of a child to inherit from a parent who has other children by a second marriage may be questioned, as may be the right of a godchild to receive property from his godparent. Throughout this discussion of inheritance there runs one common theme. The Rinc6n Zapotec's concept of property is based on individual ownership. A piece of property may be inherited jointly by a pair of siblings, but this joint ownership is usually temporary. One sibling may buy out the other, or both may sell the property and divide the payment equally. This is often done to avoid conflict, for joint ownership of property foreshadows conflict. The individual-ownership pattern, which is partly determined by inheritance rules, does not imply that use of this property is individual. On the contrary, we find that individual ownership is accompanied by joint use of property by the nuclear family. Control and disposition of the sale of property may also be under joint control of a married couple but, in the last analysis, it is the individual owner of a property who decides to sell or lend it. THE NATURE OF INTRAFAMILY RELATIONS An analysis of the census materials indicates that there is scarcely any difference in the composition of the family in both towns. It is essentially nuclear, composed of a father, a mother, and children. Where families are extended they include either newly married children, or relatives of the grandparental generation. In either town it is rare for an individual to live completely alone. In Juquila it is 220 Nader: Talea and Juquitla-A Comparison rare for a woman to live without a spouse, whereas in Talea this is now quite a common situation. The over-all similarity in family composition, however, is in striking contrast to the diversity in use of space, both in settlement arrangement and in house type. Juquilan families are more isolated and more likely to live near related peoples. Talean families are packed into dense neighborhood areas com- posed of both related and unrelated households. Furthermore, the design of a house and the organization and use of space within it afford important clues to understanding the nature of the differences in family structure in these two towns. THE HOUSE In both towns, on the rancho and in the town, houses are important for the under- standing of social organization because so much of social life goes on in and around them. The house is the place where food is prepared and eaten and shelter for sleep is provided. It is where the saints on the family altar watch over the family's welfare. The house is where members of the family are born and, as if in testimony, the house walls shelter the umbilical cords of all the young who are born into this space. The house is where members of the family die. It is where harvest is stored and where social gatherings are held. It is the place where little children and their mothers spend most of their time. The house is not the place where friends and neighbors generally gather for informal discussion and gossip. The wells and mills, the cantinas and market place, all provide a better environment for this sort of thing. Rather, the house is a place where news, opinions, and family crises are discussed among family members. In Talea, house size and design vary with wealth; a man who can afford to build a house with two or more rooms will do so. In the town center of Juquila, the permanent residents who are able to build extra rooms onto their houses do so, for they generally consider it desirable to have a house with more than one room. The Juquilan ranchers, however, usually have a one-room house in the town center, and on the rancho their abodes without exception consist of one room (fig. 8). In Talea, where the majority of families have houses with two or more rooms, one room is always used as a kitchen. A second room is used as a sleeping room and also as the family altar room. Additional rooms are often built as the children grow older, and older boys frequently sleep here away from their parents and sisters. Often these additional rooms are the beginning of a son's house, to belong to him when he marries. In all Talean houses cooking and sleeping space is separate and in some households sleeping arrangements involve the use of more than one "bed- room" (fig. 9). The Juqulian ranchers and townsmen use just one room for cooking, eating, and sleeping no matter how many extra rooms they may have. Extra rooms are used for storage or for the family altar. Sleeping arrangements are far less varied here. All Juquilans use the temascat' for a bed. A mother, father, and small children ' The temascal (yuw in Zapotec) is a square, adobe construction within the house that is used for taking sweat baths and for sleeping. It is never a separate house like the temazcalli of the Aztecs. Wood is used to heat the temascal and in towns (like Talea) where wood is scarce its use as a sweat bath is considered costly. 221 Unitversity of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. jT~~~~~ 4 i I ~ ~ ~ ~ : ' ~ ~ ~ * 0.4 f CHARACTERISTIC RANCH HOUSE-JUQUILA _~~ Town House-Juquila , KaB Fig. 8. Characteristic ranch house and town house, Juquila. 2429 yo . , .,- , .11 . . la, A , If A., . - 3 41 . I of, . 4; I I?L Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison sleep on top of the temascal. The youngest child who may still be breast feeding sleeps next to the mother, the recently weaned child sleeps next to the father, and the older children are tucked away underneath in the lower sections of the temascal. In Talea, where the temascal is now considered both outmoded and costly, the citizens sleep either on scattered petates or on home-fashioned "beds," elevated some sixteen inches off the ground. There is a great amount of variation in the kj.. CHARACTERISTIC HOUSE - TALEA Room Arrangement Fig. 9. Characteristic house, Talea. arrangement of sleeping space in Talea. A family may sleep together in the same room, but often the parents sleep with the youngest child, in a separate bed from the other children, who, depending on the number of children and their ages, sleep two or three in a bed. It is becoming customary for parents to hang curtains around their beds for privacy. The youngest child, however, often sleeps with them. Where there are several rooms in a house, a family may not share one sleeping room. The older children, boys in particular, may sleep in separate rooms, as we have noted. The greatest amount of variation and unpredictability in sleeping patterns occurs among unmarried Talean boys. They may sleep at home in the altar room with the rest of the family. They may board off part of the corridor for their own sleeping purposes. They very often go off with their palomilla, a group of boys who are close friends, and sleep at the house of one of them where accommodations 223 W. 0 .4 0 . ".,. . -NOON University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. make it possible, or they may sleep in the escoleta, the house where the musicians practice and keep their instruments. Adult men in Talea do not necessarily always spend their nights at home. Fathers often spend their week nights away on their ranchos. Musicians, before they built the escoleta, spent one night a week sleeping in the corridor of their orchestra leaders' house, where they had previously spent the night in music practice. The policia on duty sleep in the corridor of the town hall. In Juquila, except for the policia on night duty, this kind of male night prowl- ing is unusual and, indeed, almost impossible among those who live on the ranchos. The distance between ranchos prohibits the formation of palomillas. There are no places where a group can gather to sleep. The ranch houses are small one-room abodes, which have barely enough space for family members to lie down to rest. The fact that there are no places where young boys and men can gather to sleep does not explain why they have not built such places. To understand this, we would have to investigate friendship patterns and their structural correlates in both towns. With regard to women, ideally in neither town do we find them sleeping outside their own homes unless they are caring for a sick relative. This description of spatial arrangements during sleep was included as an index of the kind of interaction of family groups during a nine- or ten-hour sleeping period. If we accept the idea that spatial position during sleep takes the place of explicit interaction, then it can be said that the Juquilan family is in closer, more intimate interaction during sleep than the Talean family, whose members may or may not participate in this passive interaction among family members. It has been said that the extent to which a group shares close sleeping space may be a useful index and determinant of its cohesiveness.5 It appears that differences in Talean and Juquilan family organization are best delineated by describing the spatial arrangements (such as sleeping patterns) in each town, since in other ways, for example in the composition of family groups and in the preferred residence rule, the two groups are so similar. The context in which family groups are set provides important clues for understanding their organization. AUTHORITY The authority patterns described here are formulated from two distinct sources of information. The first source, a collection of conflict cases handled by the formal court system of each town, provides us with information about a class of authority patterns in which an individual's control over and responsibility for another indi- vidual is formally discussed and upheld by the court system. By exclusion this defines the class of authority patterns that are never challenged in a court of law because of their relative unimportance, because they may be settled in an out-of- court system, or because they are so well defined that conflict never arises. The second source, a collection of decision-making situations occurring in daily life in a sample of households, gives us a general picture of the kinds of authority that one person may in fact exercise over another. These data mirror the extent to rHarrison C. White, "Sleep and Society: An Exploration" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Princeton University, 1956). 224 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison which an individual is bound to fulfill orders and favors addressed to him by other individuals, as well as the extent to which an individual has authority to issue orders. AUTHORITY PATTERNS IN TALEA Husband-wife relations.-In Talea, marriages are for the most part arranged by the parents. It is advantageous for a girl to take her father's advice when decid- ing whom to marry, for, if she disobeys, her father will not take her back should the marriage not work out; obedience to the father means future security if the marriage is a failure. In husband-wife relations, a great deal of variation was found. Which spouse actually exercises the greater amount of authority in the family depends on such factors as residence location, differential wealth positions of the two, and indi- vidual personality differences. If a man is sponsored in residence by his wife's parents, if his wife has more property than he, it may be difficult for the husband to exercise his authority, although the ideal in Talea is a male-dominated house- hold. Husbands are supposed to decide whether their wives should take the pilgrim- age to Juquila Chatino in a particular year. Fathers are supposed to decide whether their sons should leave home to find work in the city. Actual decision- making however, is not so clear-cut as ideal statements about it would have us believe. Parent-children relations.-A quote from the field notes describes the father- child relation fairly succinctly. They were discussing a case at dinner of a son who had to go to jail in Villa Alta because he had struck his father. I said, "For that they sent him to jail?" The father said, "Of course," and sounded surprised at my question. I probed further. "But many men beat their wives and they never go to jail." He answered, "Wives are one thing, fathers another." Then I asked what if the father was in the wrong, and the son in the family answered, "Fathers are never in the wrong for beating their sons. They always do it for their own good." I asked if a father under their law could ever be proved guilty for doing wrong to a son, no matter what the son's age. The answer: "A father cannot do wrong with his children." Generally the father is considered the undisputed authority figure in the family. He is the disciplinarian. He does not have to take back talk. He can not only threaten the child with physical punishment or with disinheritance, but also he knows that his court of law will probably support whatever he may do. Children usually have a pretty good idea who is boss in the family. In a ques- tionnaire given to forty-five school children in Talea, the question was asked: "Quien manda en la casa?" (Who commands or directs the household?). Twenty- eight children responded that the father did, eleven the mother (eight of these eleven had no man living in the house). Three children said both parents com- manded in the household, one said the brother, one the sister, and one the grand- father. In the same questionnaire, the majority of children who said that the father was the boss in the family also said that they feared the father most. To the question "Who do you fear most?" the answers were as follows: father, 29; father and mother together, 4; mother, 6; brother, 4; sister, 1; the one who is most angry, 1. When the ideal of a father-dominated household is achieved, there is an exten- 225 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. sion of the father's authority to his male siblings. The father's male sibling is generally referred to as tio in Talea, a term analogous to the English kinship term uncle. This tio has indirect authority over Ego since Ego's father always sanctions the exercise of his brother's authority over his son or daughter. The place of residence of the father's male sibling is usually next door or in the same neighbor- hood as Ego. The mother-child relation is seen by children as primarily one of affection, rather than of fear or strong respect. She may let either her husband or his parents punish her child, but she avoids doing so herself. She will rarely say, "I will spank you," but rather, "Your father will beat you, the witches will get you, the doctor will inject you," etc. So the mother is the one to whom the child runs for support and safekeeping, and for the mother the children are seen as her future security should her husband die or separate from her. Sibling relations.-It is difficult to be precise in discussing sibling relations. Much depends on the sex of the children and on their age and order in relation to each other. Older siblings in Talea have the right to exercise authority over younger siblings. If a younger brother is caught drinking by an older brother, the latter may order the younger to leave the cantina. If the younger brother refuses, a rare occurrence, the older brother may exercise his authority by threatening to advise the father of the younger man's behavior. This older-younger brother dyad resembles the father-son relation. Similarly an older sister acts as mother surrogate to her younger siblings. Thus the pattern of sibling relations serves as a good indi- cator of the parent-child relation. AUTHORITY PATTERNS IN JUQUILA Husband-wife relations.-The husband and wife in Juquila are a more close-knit unit than in Talea. It is suggested throughout this chapter and the next that the Juquilan family spends more of its time together in work, play, and sleep, often to the exclusion of each member's having friendship or other relations with un- related people. If the husband goes to the monte to work on communal lands, the wife prefers to accompany him rather than simply to provide him with tortillas for his sojourn. If the wife is busy the father will readily pick up and play with the children, and, much to the amusement of Taleans, he helps his wife by carrying the smallest child to and from the Talean market. Parent-child relations.-The husband-wife relation is reflected in the control of parents over children. The ideal in Juquila is a parent-dominated household, rather than simply a father-dominated household.6 Juquilan children often refer to their mother and father as parents, rather than using separate terms. Ideally, the hus- band and wife together make decisions affecting the future of the household. In the words of one Juquilan informant, "para que pasa lo que pasa a ninguno le caiga la culpa" (in order that no one parent bear the burden of having made a wrong decision). The ideal of a parent-dominated household is believed to be incompatible with the extension of parental authority to patrilateral or matrilateral kin. The kin 61 I was unable to carry out a questionnaire directed to Juquilan school children as was done in Talea. Juquilan children attended school irregularly and very few of them could either speak or write Spanish. 226 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison terms which Ego uses to refer to his parents' siblings are the same terms which the Zapotec use for 'brother' and 'sister.' The place of residence of Ego's parents' siblings on the Juquilan ranchos may be quite close or at a much greater distance than would be possible in a compact settlement. In both Talea and Juquila, the parent who may actually exercise authority in the family varies with respect to such factors as residence location and differential wealth. Sibling relations.-In Juquila, older siblings exercise their authority over younger siblings only when one or more parent is deceased and the older sibling has inherited the parental authority position. DRINKING PATTERNS Perhaps one of the most graphic ways of summarizing this contrast in family relationships would be to compare the drinking patterns in the two towns. In Talea, women rarely drink in public and only occasionally in the privacy of their homes. Talean men drink, and with whom they may drink is quite strictly de- fined. Talean men seldom drink with close kin; a younger brother will rarely drink in the presence of his older brothers, a son almost never in the presence of his father or mother. Compadres7 may drink together, but when you really want to "let your hair down" in Talea, kinfolk are ruled out as drinking companions. Apart from special occasions, Talean men drink in the company of friends, usually age mates. The Juquilan ranchers present a direct contrast. When the Juquilans come to market, they generally come in family groups, and (unlike any other rinconeros) the family all drink together, including infants, children, parents, and grand- parents. This family group may meet other individuals and families and may drink with them at the market place. Married men and women, for example, often drink together-a custom that disgusts the Taleans. While they are at the market the family usually keeps pretty much together, the mother trying to keep her baby from falling off her back and at the same time keeping one arm or one eye on her husband so that he does not get too far away. Juquilans may drink with their compadres only at the invitation of the compadre. The settings for drinking in these towns are diagrammed below. Setting Talean women Talean men Juquilan women Juquilan men Market ............. 0 X X X Home .............. (X) 0 X X Funerals ............ (X) X X X Weddings ........... (X) X X X Town meetings 0...... O 0 0 X Town court ......... 0 0 X X I I I I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The setting for drinking in Talea is restricted; it is considered inappropriate for Talean men to drink at town meetings and a Talean man does not drink at home. Talean women drink only upon rare occasions, at home or at weddings and 7The compadrazgo is a ritual kinship relation between two individuals as a result of the rela- tion of one as a godparent to the child of the other. 227 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. funerals; they never drink in the market place. In neither town does a woman attend town meetings. There is no setting that is considered inappropriate for drinking in Juquila. This applies to both men and women, and is often mentioned by other rinconeros as a peculiarity of the Juquilans. To envision more vividly the husband-wife relationship, it is worth mentioning here what happens when men in these two towns become uncontrollably intoxi- cated. A Talean wife is likely to be generally unsympathetic. It is quite probable that she will complain to her in-laws and quite possible that she may also complain to the town presidente. As a result her husband might be fined and required to spend some time in the local jail. A Juquilan wife is often sympathetic to her husband's predicament-probably she is euphoric herself; she would be likely to bail her husband out of jail with the week's corn for tortillas. THE NATURE OF INTERFAMILY RELATIONS Marriage and ritual kinship are two ways by which unrelated families are able to relate. Marriage creates kinship relations between a man and a woman and between their respective families. Apart from the affinal relations that are neces- sarily created by marriage ceremonies, the whole complex of marriage initiates a series of ritual kinship relations. This section will describe the place of marriage and ritual kinship and will analyze the kinds of interfamily relations that result from different marriage customs and varying forms of ritual kin relations. MARRIAGE, RESIDENCE, AND SPATIAL ARRANGEMENTS Village endogamy is the rule among the peoples of the Rincon. Within each village there is a decided tendency to section or neighborhood exogamy. Throughout the region marriage is monogamous. The marriage ceremony itself is a long series of ceremonies, which begins with the first formal negotiations the family of the boy initiates with the girl's family and ends with the groom's family presenting the "gift" to the bride's family in the presence of friends and kinsmen. In return the family of the girl gives its daughter in marriage. Previous to the culmination of this customary exchange, a couple may have undergone the civil and church ceremonies of marriage. These last two forms of marriage are still con- sidered optional. Marriage is for the most part considered legal without the per- formance of the church and civil ceremonies, although the ideal in Talea is to have all three ceremonies. The couple usually only begins to live together after the customary exchange between families has been completed. Parents in both towns play an important role in the arrangement of these marriages, but the boy's choice may be considered. As has been indicated, a girl does well to marry a man whom her parents have recommended and approved, for obedience means future security. There are two variables that are important to consider in the comparison of marriage in Juquila and Talea. The first is the age at which marriage is ideally contracted and the second, which has been discussed at length earlier in this chapter, is residence and spatial arrangements. 228 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison In Juquila the ideal age of marriage for a girl is between the ages of eight and fourteen. For a boy the ideal ranges between sixteen and eighteen years of age. Behavioral conformance to this ideal seems to be fairly high, although this state- ment is based mainly on data taken from the ranch census and random sampling from the Juquilan town center. It is possible for a boy and girl to be bethrothed years earlier than the actual marriage. However, the data on this are not based on an actual count. Early betrothal seems to be more usual in the families of wealthy, property-owning coffee-growers. Taleans ideally marry their daughters between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, and their sons between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. Those individuals who marry outside the ideal age range are gossiped about as being exceptions to the rule. Girls who marry earlier than fifteen or sixteen are compared deroga- torily with Juquilans, although it has not been too many years since Taleans also married at an earlier age.8 The psychological implications of this difference in age of marriage are prob- ably many and varied. However, it is the social and cultural implications for the bride and for affinal relations in general that are specifically pertinent here. An adolescent girl who marries in Juquila goes to live with her mother-in-law, who becomes a surrogate mother to her. The young bride is taught by her mother- in-law how to make tortillas (if she does not yet know), how to cook and wash, and until her first menstrual period she is protected from the advances of her young husband. In effect, she is socialized by her mother-in-law during her transi- tion from adolescence to womanhood. In return for this socialization, her mother- in-law may expect several years of service from her daughter-in-law before the latter becomes burdened by the care of children. Thus, the Juquilan bride has several years of close living with her husband and her in-laws before her children arrive upon the scene to monopolize her time and to burden the economic situation. The Talean bride is a woman, young though she may be, at the time of her mar- riage. She has been socialized into womanhood by her own mother and is not likely to take too kindly any suggestions from her mother-in-law as to how her honsehold should run. She is not dependent upon her mother-in-law to teach her. Since she marries in the middle of her teen years, it is likely that before the first year of marriage has been completed she will have borne her husband a child. Caring for the child will then be her first duty, not aiding her mother-in-law. The change in time of marriage, from adolescence to teen age in Talea, makes it impossible for the Talean bride to enjoy years of marriage before the arrival of children, and the brittleness of marriage and affinal relations in general in Talea may be a reflection of the tensions that result from this. Change in the age of marriage has other interesting implications. Under an earlier discussion of residence it was noted that the ideal or preferred residence form in both Juquila and Talea was patrilocal or patrisponsored residence. House- holds in the town center of Juquila adhered to this ideal quite closely and ad- herence on the Juquilan ranches is about 50 per cent. In Talea it was noted that 8 The change from adolescent to middle and late teen-age marriage is recent; a rough estimate would be thirty to forty years. The ideal rule has changed under direct influence of a Catholic priest (a native Talean), who during the early part of this century preached strongly against early marriage, and through the influence of Talean men who had worked in the United States during the 1940's. 229 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. although variation has probably always existed, there has been a recent shift, noted by the citizens themselves, from predominantly patrilocal or patrisponsored to matrilocal, matrisponsored, and some neolocal households. Earlier it was sug- gested that this shift might bear some relation to the increase in population, and the attendant decrease in the amount of land available per citizen. The sys- tem of bilateral inheritance could be maintained only by leaving houses to the women and agricultural land to the men. An alternative solution would have been for the inheritance system to shift from bilateral to patrilineal, that is, to leave the women out of the inheritance scheme altogether. However, the Taleans preferred to maintain bilateral inheritance and allow for variation in residence. At the same time, both the Catholic priest in Talea and state law were pressuring citizens not to marry or allow children to marry during adolescence. Citizens were encouraged especially not to allow daughters to marry earlier than sixteen. The order of change in Talea seems to have developed as follows: Constant: (1) adolescent age of marriage; (2) patrilocal or patrisponsored resi- dence preferred; behavior performance predominantly patrilocal or patrispon- sored. Impingement by: (1) Catholic priest's and state's advising against adolescent marriage; (2) pressure on land due to increased population directly threatening the existence of a bilateral inheritance system. Change: (1) from adolescent to teen-age marriage; (2) from predominant patri- local to a variety of residence, with a notable shift to matrilocal and matrispon- sored residence; preferred residence still patrilocal. In summary, marriage customs seem to have maintained a continuity in Juquila that is not present in Talea. Talean marriage customs are undergoing changes that have increased tensions between husbands and wives in particular and be- tween affines in general. The materials from the court records seem to support this generalization. Further, the effect that the different settlement patterns have on affinal relations may seem obvious but they are worth briefly mentioning here. Physical distance between Juquilan families is usually great enough to prevent much interaction between the families of the married couple. This distance also serves to cut off interaction between the young wife and her family of orientation drastically. In Talea, in-laws usually live in close proximity and interaction be- tween the family of the bride and the family of the groom continues beyond the time of the wedding ceremony. The families are able to maintain a face-to-face interaction that is often impossible in Juquila owing to the distances between ranchos or between ranchos and town houses. Strangely enough, separation of the bride from her family in Talea is a more painful experience. Perhaps this is because the structural separation (that is, the marriage) is not accompanied by so great a physical separation as in Juquila; also, marriage itself comes at an age when Talean girls find it particularly difficult to leave their parent household and to adjust to new circumstances. RITUAL KINSHIP Throughout Middle America the compadrazgo establishes ritual kinship relations between families. Ritual kinship refers to the relation established between god- 230 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison parent (padrino or madrina) and godchild (ahijado) and between the godparents and the child's parents (compadres). These relations weave a network throughout the community and even beyond it. When compadres are not related, the com- padrazgo works to extend solidarity and reciprocity beyond the lines of the im- TYPE 1. SYMMETRICAL TYPE 2. ASYMMETRICAL A B I___E _ It__ - Compadre Relation - - w Padrino-Ahijado Relation Fig. 10. Types of ritual kinship. mediate family and to integrate society on horizontal and vertical planes. It may relate people with similar interests, or people with few common interests. Ritual kinship establishes reciprocal relations between two families. These relations may be symmetrical or asymmetrical. If the relation is symmetrical, two families arrange to be the godparents of each other's children. This symmetrical relation serves to integrate small segments within the society without weaving a network of relations that integrates society in a crosscutting manner (diagrammed in fig. 10). If the relationship is asymmetrical the two families in compadrazgo relation are not the godparents of each other's children; the ramifications of this second type are extensive (fig. 10). I 231 A = 0 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. In asymmetrical subtype A we see that in order to arrange padrinos for two children (from separate households), three families are involved. In the sym- metrical form described above only two families would be involved in the ar- rangement. In subtype B we see what can happen to this form if there are a small number of people who are recurrently asked to be padrinos. It is no longer ex- tensive in the same way as was subtype a, but serves rather to segment the society on the basis of rank differences, linking many families with a few leading house- holds (fig. 10, type 2B). Among the Rincon Zapotec there is no one rule that determines how god- parents are chosen: prestige, sentimentality, and expediency are all factors. To a degree, however, godparents are sought among those of superior social and eco- nomic status, and the type of compadrazgo is of the second asymmetrical type. This type, with its local variations, exists in both the town of Talea and the town of Juquila. In analyzing the variation the following factors will be considered: (a) the number of padrino forms; (b) the number of padrinos; (c) choice of kinsmen or nonkinsmen; (d) choice of town endogamy or exogamy; (e) status of padrino solicited by parents of Ego or by the padrino-to-be;' (f) asymmetrical type of A or type B. Ritual kinship geneologies were collected from the two towns, and the analysis of these data may be summarized in the following tabulation. Factors a) padrino forms'0 b) number of padrinos c) kinsmen or nonkinsmen d) from inside or outside the town e) padrinos solicited by f) asymmetrical subtype b (limited) asymmetrical subtype a (extensive) In Talea 1) padrino de pafno 2) padrino de bautizo 3) padrino del rosario 4) padrino de communi6n 5) padrino de confirmaci6n 6) padrinos de fiestas 7) padrinos de negocios nuevos (commercial dealings, new buildings, etc.) three to four sets excluding padrinos of 3, 6, and 7 nonkinsmen-most common kinsmen-occurs among a minority primarily from within the town with exception of padrinos del rosario father of the child in numbers 1 and 2 in numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 In Juquila 1) padrino de panlo 2) padrino de bautizo 3) padrino del rosario one set, excluding padrinos del rosario nonkinsmen most common kinsmen-very rare both from within and from outside the town; choice of Taleans especially common for Juquilan ranchers of LachiregiP first child by paternal grandfather and child's father; remaining children by father only in numbers 1 and 2 in number 3 9 Roberto J. Weitlaner and Carlo Antonio Castro, Papeles de la Chinantla I, Mayultianguia y Tlacoatzintepec (Mexico, 1954). In both towns it was found that the individual himself solicited from Ego's parents the status of padrino-compadre. "OPadrino forms 1 through 7 translated read as: godparent of marriage, baptism, of the rosary, of communion, confirmation, fiestas, commercial dealings, etc. Forms 1, 6, and 7 should 232 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison As the table shows, Taleans have developed a greater variety of padrino forms than have Juquilans, and each Talean individual has more padrinos and compadres than in Juquila. Until recently in Talea the padrinos de bautizo and the padrinos de pan-o have been the same individuals, and we see in the diagram below (fig. 11, upper) how this doubling-up procedure emphasizes the lineal or vertical relations 1. 2. 3. A= O LA=OA.C Pa fL nos de Pano A -. o F? ?~ STEP I A o STEP I Padrinos de Bautizo 4. F 5. _ STEP 2 -P = P adrino IM = Madrinq A IA = Ahijado -Compadres ~~~Padrino-Ahijado Fig. 11. Lineal type-ritual kinship; extension of ritual kinship terms. in the society. The rest of the padrino forms are of subtype A (such as, communi6n, confirmacion, and rosario) and may be chosen from any other members in the town. It would be rare for a Talean to use the padrinos de pafno and bautizo for these posts, as it is now even a question whether one should use the padrino de pano as the padrino de bautizo. As the descriptions and diagrams indicate, the Taleans are using the compadrazgo-padrino system so as to link as many families as possible in the ritual kinship tie (fig. 12). The more padrinos and compadres an perhaps be considered apart. These padrino forms are not contracted at a particular time in the life cycle. Padrino del rosario is usually used as a convenient way to form relations with people from other villages. This occurs especially at fiestas in the general warmth of drinking and making new friends. 233 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. individual has the more diffuse become the obligations that traditionally existed be- tween such pairs of ritual kinsmen. In Talea those individuals who choose kinfolk as padrinos for their children are those who have the greatest number of ahijados (see fig. 10, type 2B) ; they are people who believe that ritual kinship is a good way to strengthen ties between relatives. In Juquila the situation is structured in such a way that a great number of families are individually linked with a few families, usually those which are bi- lingual. The Juquilans have adopted only three of the padrino forms present in Talea, the padrinos de paino, de bautizo, and del rosario, and the number of Compodres Compacdres .___ --- ' ,r~l- 7 r~~-~-l--- -- II I I I IA=O A=O - A- 1 A=O A=0 ____________ ___1 L _______________I l '- - - - '- -- -- I_ X Padrinos de Boutizo1Padrinos del Rosario | , ~~~~Padrinos de Bautizol Padrinos de Comunion Padrinos de Confirmaci6n HORIZONTAL SPREAD _--- Padrino-Ahijado Reiation Compadre Relation Fig. 12. Horizontal spread-ritual kinship. padrinos an individual has is limited to one set that fills the first two padrino posts. For this reason I describe the system that they use exclusively (asym- metrical subtype b) as limited or restricted rather than extensive. They may have more padrinos if they create padrino del rosario links at fiestas in other towns. In Juquila, in the event of the death of the padrino an individual does not replace the lost padrino by acquiring another as a Talean would; the bond between padrino and ahijado is not replaceable. In Juquila recruitment of compadres from the family is extremely rare. The Taleans are very strict about not extending their choice of compadres 1, 2, 4, and 5 beyond the town limits, as they say padrinos should be on the spot to take care of their wards, whereas the Juquilans search out compadres in Talea, Tanetze, and other towns in addition to Juquila. Their choice usually re- flects the amount of interaction they have in these towns, and Juquilans do not go beyond the region. In both towns compadre and comadre terms extend to the parents of the padrino of the child, as well as to the parents of the compadres. This is diagramed in figure 11, lower. The ahijado term is not extended. People related by ritual kinship may not marry, nor may their children marry. This picture would be further complicated by a discussion of the specific obli- 234 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison gations that the different dyads have: godparent and godchild; compadre and compadre. But using the information given above let us construct a scale that may indicate the way variation has been developing through time: 1) Nonkin compadres; only forms 1-3 are present; the emphasis is lineal, that is, one set of compadres is used for forms 1 and 2 (see fig. 10, type 2A); obligations between ritual kinsmen are strictly adhered to. 2) Nonkin compadres; forms 1-3 are present; the emphasis is changing from lineal to horizontal, in that a new set of compadres is sought to fill forms 1 and 2; obligations between ritual kinsmen are adhered to. 3) Both kin and nonkin compadres; padrino forms 1-7 are present, predom- inantly horizontal in nature; obligations between ritual kinsmen are sloppily observed. 4) Only kin compadres, especially for upper class (not yet developed in the Rincon with the exception of a very few families in Talea, but very common in urban areas like Oaxaca City). The citizens of Talea are aware of changes in the compadrazgo, and have at times verbally described the scale given above, stopping at step three. The Juqui- lans describe themselves at step two. This emphasis on lateral spread of social relations for the Taleans and lineal emphasis (with no great depth) among the Juquilans is further illustrated in the chapter on Social Groupings below. At this point however, the following hypotheses are suggested as comment on the data of ritual kinship: (1) There is a correlation between the number of padrino forms and the degree to which the Catholic church and the national Mexican culture have influenced the towns. On both accounts Talea has been the more influenced. (2) There is an inverse correlation between the number of padrinos and the degree to which the nuclear family is economically self-sufficient; both the Juquilan ranchers and the wealthier class of Talean citizens have few padrinos. (3) As a corollary to (2) there is a correlation between the use of kinfolk as ritual relatives and the necessity or value placed upon strengthening family relations. (4) there is a correlation between the class of people who are possible candidates for the com- padre-padrino role and the degree of dependence one has on these people. For example, a monolingual Juquilan will choose his compadres from a class of people who are bilingual Zapotec-Spanish, whether they be Juquilan or Talean, or a Talean who is living at bare subsistence level will choose his compadres from among Taleans who have surplus wealth. (5) Where asymmetrical subtype a is found the emphasis in social organization is changing from restricted lineal to horizontal. 235 CHAPTER IV SOCIAL GROUPINGS IN THE SOCLAL organization of towns there are many ties that link citizens: ties of kinship, locale, common work interests, and shared obligations and values. Social grouping primarily involving kin relations were analyzed in the preceding chapter. In chapters v and vi social groupings found in the civil organization and social control systems will be described. The present chapter deals with the vari- ous economic, religious, and play organizations that were found to be important in linking individuals and groups within these two settlements. These organizations include various corporate groups, formal groupings such as the cooperative loan and saving associations (barrios and asociaciones), the church organization, and the organization of musicians. There are also noncorpo- rate, informal, groups that result from the division of labor in agricultural, home, and town activities. This chapter will consider the composition, recruitment, ap- parent function, and relative importance of these social groupings in the interac- tion patterns of each town. It will explore the relation between the physical layout of the two towns and the kinds and numbers of social groupings found in each community. For example, is the amount of interaction between people greater in a compact town than in a dispersed community, or is the interaction pattern the same in both, or does it differ in some areas of behavior but not in others? SECTIONS AND BARRIOS Talea, as we have said, is a compact town that is not laid out in grid-plan pattern. The plan of the town center in Juquila is also compact and follows the lay of the hilly inclines. As in all the towns of the Rincon, Talea and Juquila are divided into a number of sections for purposes of census and taxation. An individual may live in one of four sections: north, east, south, or west.' This section grouping has little or no social significance. In many areas of Mexico and Latin America these sections are referred to as barrios, but in Talea, and the Rincon area in general, the word barrio refers to a nonlocalized group that functions as a cooperative bank or a savings-and-loan association.2 There are three barrios in Talea officially recognized by the town: San Pedro, La Trinidad, and El Rosario. The majority of T'aleans belong to one of these, but there are a number of free lancers (ambulantes), new arrivals in town, who do not belong to any barrio; these men pay their tax quotas directly to the municipal treasury and need not have anything to do with the barrio system. The rest of Talean adult males are free to join any barrio they please. They may change from one barrio to another, or need not join a barrio at all. However, in actual practice, barrio association seems to run along patri-viri-lateral lines: a son will usually join the barrio of his father, and a wife belongs to the barrio of her husband. Each barrio in Talea has a patron saint. On the special day annually dedicated lJuquilan ranchers who do not have a house in town do not belong to a section. 2 There is no Zapotec translation of the word barrio. [ 236 ] Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Compartison to this saint the barrio collects a quota from all its members, and at this time it also requires that interest on loans made during the past year be paid. The interest is used to celebrate the saint's fiesta and to pay taxes to the town government. Apart from collecting and lending money, the barrio is also a landowning unit. This land is lent each year to the mayordomos, men who are in charge of the fiesta in celebration of the barrio saint. Mayordomos are then able to plant corn and beans that are subsequently used for the fiesta. Little is known about the origin or historical development of the barrio sys- tem in the Rincon area, but there is some evidence that these groups evolved just before the turn of the century with the decline of the traditional mayordomo system, whereby a few men would each bear the burden of the costs of religious fiestas.' The barrio system is one way in which the cost of a fiesta has been shifted from the individual to a group. What used to be primarily an individual venture is now a cooperative one. The traditional mayordomo system seems to have func- tioned as a mechanism which kept the poor man poor and made the rich man poorer. For years the state government has disapproved of the mayordomo sys- tem. Now the barrio allows for the accumulation of wealth by maintaining an organization that bears the burden of the costly fiestas. It is no longer in any great degree a prestige-gaining mechanism for the individual mayordomo. In summary, the apparent functions of these barrios in Talea are to lend money, to use the interest to conduct their respective saint's fiesta, and to pay their mem- bers' taxes to the town government. They each also supply two representatives to the town government. Apart from this, the census materials showed no strong tendency to exogamy or endogamy in the barrios and no reflection of any localized groupings. As one informant expressed this, they are all revuettos-all scrambled. So we find that this barrio grouping crisscrosses all over town, tying in people from the various families, occupations, and sections. In Juquila there are barrios also, and they are associated with religious, eco- nomic, and governmental functions similar to those described for Talea. Here only two barrios are recognized by the municipal organization: San Antonio and San Juan Evangelista and all the citizens of the town belong to one or the other. Not even ideally is the barrio to which one belongs a matter of choice in Juquila; a Juquilan son belongs to his father's barrio and a Juquilan wife belongs to her husband's. Furthermore, the members of a particular barrio may have transac- tions with only that barrio, and one barrio would never borrow from another. These barrios are landowning and nonlocalized units possessing capital and ani- mals that are lent out at a varying rate of interest, depending on the item bor- rowed. Each barrio elects two representatives to the municipal organization and collects special taxes that the town government may need. In town fiestas both barrios cooperate to pay the costs, but during the fiestas of San Antonio and San Juan the respective barrios cooperate to help the particular mayordomos in the cele- bration. 3 The barrio system was introduced in Yobego within the last five years. It has been function- ing in Yalalag for many years but, according to De la Fuente, it is considered an import from Talea. See Julio de la Fuente, "Yalalag: Una Villa Zapoteca Serrana" (Serie Cientifica, Mexico: Museo Nacional de Antropologia, 1949), p. 145. 237 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Though similar to that in Talea, barrio organization in Juquila differs in im- portant aspects. Consider first the delegation of authority. In Talea, the barrio each year elects a president, a treasurer, a secretary, and several vocales or aides. Each man has a special role in conducting the formal business of the organization. In Juquila four treasurers are elected to guard barrio money and to make de- cisions about lending it. These treasurers also have the duty and responsibility to collect all debts or to make up any deficit before their one-year term expires. This pattern of generalized division of labor in Juquila and a more specialized division of labor in Talea is repeated in other groupings. The two communities also differ in their methods of recruitment, as has been mentioned. In Talea, ideally at least, recruitment into a barrio for a man may be by inheritance (one joins the barrio of his father) or by choice, although for a woman recruitment is always by marriage. In Juquila, recruitment into a barrio is both ideally and actually prescribed by birth for a man and by marriage for a woman; individual choice is not a possibility. Related to this difference in re- cruitment are the sentiments members have about their barrios. Taleans are rather detached and perfunctory with regard to barrios; they feel much the same as Americans do about their local banks. Juquilans are proud and strongly loyal to their barrio. We cannot flatly state that because Taleans, ideally and to some extent in practice, tolerate horizontal spread (that is, members of the same family may belong to different barrios), members of these barrios have weak sentiments for and indifferent attachments to barrios. Nor can we say that because Juquilans emphasize lineality in barrio recruitment strong loyalties and attachments result. These are merely associations that are possibly significant. ASSOCIATIONS In addition to barrios the T'aleans and Juquilans have associations which are smaller versions of the barrios. In Talea these associations are referred to indis- criminately as barrios or as asociaciones particulares. They differ from barrios, first, in that they are not officially recognized by the town government as barrios; they have no governmental responsibilities such as tax-collecting or electing special representatives for the town government. Secondly, as mainly neighboring group- ings, they are more or less localized. Finally, these associations are primarily com- posed of Talean women. The fiestas that are celebrated by such associations are paid for principally by the woman who wants to give a fiesta (as request from or repayment to a saint, or as a prestige-gaining mechanism, or for a variety of other reasons), and in part by the associations themselves. The savings of these particu- lar groups are, of course, very much smaller than those of the barrios, but these groups are now beginning to lend money for interest and, thus, will supposedly increase their savings and their prestige. Talea has at least six of these associa- tions, all large enough in membership to have a president, a secretary, and a treasurer elected by the group. The associations in Juquila have a religious and economic function, much as they do in Talea. They collect money to celebrate their particular saint's day and lend money at special interest rates. In addition, they care for and embellish their saint's niche in the church. Membership in these associations is dependent 238 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison upon sex, some taking only women, some only men. There is only one to which both sexes belong. The men's associations are commonly referred to as barrios chicos and those of the women as hermandades. Unlikes the Talean associations which are mainly neighborhood groupings, the membership of the barrios chicos and the hermandades is scattered throughout the village. Membership in these associations is small and very few of the Juquilan ranchers participate in these groupings although all of them belong to and participate in barrio activities. These associations have only a president; there is no secretary or treasurer. CHURCH ORGANIZATION Men have church obligations that in some ways, it will be seen, parallel the town government organization. Each August in Talea the municipal presidente calls a town meeting. At this time the presidente will name and the town will approve a presidente, secretario, tesorero, and fiscal of the church. In addition to these officials, there are also fifteen sacristanes named by the outgoing sacristanes each year at the end of their term, and the cantores (church singers), self-appointed positions that last as long as the individual enjoys performing the task. The presidente of the temple is an administrator. He sees to it that the secre- tario, tesorero, fiscal, and sacristanes fulfill their duties. He is the communicating link between the priest and the town, and it is usually an older man who is chosen for this position. The tesorero collects money for the church and is responsible for keeping the church's money box. The secretario is the recorder of all the finan- cial transactions. These two men are usually about forty years old. The sacristanes open the church at 4:00 A.M., clean the church and sweep the atrium, and per- form any tasks that the priest may request. They also make and sell candles and submit a financial report of their sales to the tesorero at the end of each day. These sacristanes, who are both young and old men, serve alternately in the church. One sacristan is on duty each day. The fiscal performs special tasks such as ringing in the day. He also helps in the organization of the town fiestas. Usually the fiscal is an older man of about fifty-five, a man who is about to retire from all obligations to serve his town. In Juquila, each May, at the beginning of their religious year, there is a town meeting at which the town chooses a presidente of the temple, who administers the church organization. He need not be an older man. (In 1959, the presidente in Juquila was only thirty-five years old.) He is also in complete charge of the church money, which he may lend out during the year at a fixed rate of interest. At this same May meeting the town authorities name two fiscales, six sacristanes (usually candidates suggested by the outgoing sacristanes), and two aides to the temple presidente. It is the duty of these two aides, whose ages range between thirty and fifty, to organize and collect money for the fiestas. The fiscales, young men between twenty and thirty, attend to fiesta preparations and ring in the new day each morning at 3:30. They also announce various prayers throughout the day. The sacristanes, most of them men between thirty and forty, clean the church, make candles to sell, and, in the absence of a priest, baptize children. In Juquila we find one man, the presidente of the temple,4 responsible for the 4I use the word church and temple interchangeably; the rinconeros prefer the word templo over iglesia (church). 239 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. range of duties that in Talea are performed by a presidente, a secretario, and a tesorero. The two aides (vocales) to the temple presidente in Juquila are recently created positions that may in the future be labeled secretary and treasurer, but as yet we find no such clear-cut division of labor here. The association between specific positions and specific age range seems to be more rigidly defined in Talea than in Juquila. This was illustrated by the election of old men only, to the posi- tion of temple presidente in Talea, whereas in Juquila this position may be ifiled by a young or an old man. In neither town is it a prerequisite to serve first in the town government in order to serve in the church organization, nor are the positions assigned in alternating sequence, that is, there is no requirement that a man serve one year in the civil organization and the next year in the religious organization. In both towns the positions of sacristanes and fiscales are usually filled by men who are illiterate and monolingual. The temple presidente, in both places, is usually a man of some recognized talent. He may, for example, have a reputation for organization, or for his ability to arbitrate conflicts between the priest and the townspeople, or he may be considered especially dedicated in re- ligious matters. In Talea, the secretario and tesorero are always men who can read, write, and speak Spanish. Their dedication in religious matters is not neces- sarily considered. In neither town are the positions involved in the church organi- zation considered sacred. The citizens regard these officials with no particular reverence. Nor is there any strong respect attached to the mention of these titles- temple presidente, fiscal, or sacristan. The church organization is composed of men burdened with a duty and responsibility to keep the church functioning in a well-ordered fashion. The acceptance of assigned or elected positions in the church organization in Talea is ideally a matter of choice, whereas in Juqulla it is ideally one of duty. In practice, if any citizen of either Juquila or Talea were to refuse to "lend service" to the church, public opinion would make it difficult for him to continue living in his town. In both towns the church organization may be considered a corporate group. Like the barrio and civil organizations, the various church groupings own prop- erty in the form of agricultural land and personal religious property. ORGANIZATIONS OF MUSICIANS In the Rincon music plays a special role in social grouping. In most of the towns in this region musicians are generally organized in groups referred to as bands. The number of bands in each town varies; some towns of 300 people have two or three bands, whereas a town of 2,000 people may have only one or two bands. These organizations of musicians reflect more than an interest in music per se. The musicians usually represent various opposing factions in the towns. This is clearly illustrated in the town of Juquila. Twenty-five years ago Juquila had three bands, but in 1939 a group split from the main town to form the colony now referred to as El Porvenir, taking one band and leaving Juquila with two. Then, in 1958, came the second political split which took with it the main part of Juquila's second band. Now Juquila has one band composed of from fifteen to twenty men and another with only three men. It remains to be seen whether in another few years there will be only one band left or whether the three-man band 240 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison will recover. It is interesting that in Juquila, at the present time, the leading "advisors" in the town are all affiliated with the band that is still complete, and the most influential man in Juquila is leader of this band. In Talea there was only one band of musicians until about thirty years ago. At that time, a native Talean priest organized a second group of musicians, which is referred to as the orchestra. There are now about thirty men in each organiza- tion. Membership in the band or the orchestra is associated with differences in occupation and values. The band, to a man, is made up of farmers of the tradi- tional or conservative element in the town. The orchestra, on the other hand, is composed for the most part of "progressive" farmers, merchants, and coffee- producers. In both towns each organization of musicians has its own house in which the instruments are kept and where the men rehearse and enjoy one another's company. In Talea, though not in Juquila, the men at times use these buildings as a kind of men's sleeping house. In both places the musicians are expected to perform during religious celebrations, at funerals and weddings, and to entertain visiting government officials. In return for their services the musicians expect that their hunger and thirst on these occasions will be well satisfied. In both communities these men are exempt from communal labor. As stated earlier, these musical organizations often represent, if they do not embody, the differing factions in the Rincon villages, which are often conserva- tives versus progressives or old versus young. Such a situation exists in both Talea and Juquila, but in Talea there is also a new element which must be considered and that is the distinction made between kinds of musical expression. There is the band which is largely made up of percussion instruments and the orchestra which is distinguished by string instruments and the lack of percussions. Talea has also developed an interest in music itself and expresses much pride in excellence of performance-the band playing as a band, and the orchestra as an orchestra. In 1957, for the first time since the formation of the orchestra, both musical organizations played together for an evening as one group. At this time, speeches were made by their respective leaders expressing a desire for deeper friendship and union. This was a time when Talea was insecure about the expected arrival of the road and with it more frequent contact with the "outside" world. Unity was a theme found in every public discussion during these times, and what better way to express unity than by consolidating the band and orchestra! However, in a more sober state the following day, such consolidation was no longer considered possible. Two bands could unite but the Taleans could not conceive of how to com- bine a band and an orchestra and still maintain the now important uniqueness of these two types of musical expression. Nor could they resolve the problem of what to do with the two leaders, one a specialist in band music and the other a specialist in orchestra. These are the kinds of problems that do not, as yet, arise when Juquilans dis- solve or unite their bands. Instead the important issues would in the main revolve around the kinds of shared interests and values which brought a group of men together as a band in the first place, and not the music itself or the particular leader. 241 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. OTHER FORMAL GROUPINGS We find other formal groupings in Talea that are not found in Juquila, as for example the well groups in Talea. All the men whose wives wash at a particular well have an association whose purpose is to maintain the wells and the water supply and to protect their rights should anyone cut off or threaten this supply of water. These well associations have a jefe (leader), a secretario-tesorero, and two vocales (aides). These positions are alternated yearly and elected by the neighborhood group. The Taleans, whose love for formal organization is exhibited in the ever- increasing creation of associations, also have associations set up to maintain all the important capillas (chapels) in town. These capillas also have their jefe, secretario-tesorero, and vocales-positions assigned by the presidente of the town civil organization. COMMUNAL WORK GROUPS-THE TEQUIO Tequio, communal work for the benefit of the community, exists throughout the region and is another kind of grouping in which men interact. When tequio is called in Juquila, all the pueblo men over twenty and under fifty are expected to appear for work. In Talea also they may call a town tequio, but they usually stagger tequio duty in smaller groups of about ten. In both towns it is possible for one man to pay another to serve in his stead. However, in Juquila this is frowned upon; a good citizen is expected to appear in person. Tequio is used to repair public buildings (the municipal buildings, the church, the school, and the priest's house), to recondition the public water supply and drainage system, and to keep roads and pathways in good condition. The heaviest tequio duty is carried out just after the new officers have been installed in the municipio in January. INFORMAL GROUPINGS IN THE DAILY ROUND Unlike the formal groups, which were predominantly groupings of men, both men and women participate in informal groupings that are a result of daily activities: agricultural production, food preparation, washing, and praying. Although both sexes will be included in this description, a discussion of the daily round is par- ticularly important in understanding patterns of female interaction because both Talean and Juquilan women have few formal groupings outside the family. They do not have status in civil, religious, or musical organizations, nor are they re- quired to participate in the tequio. INFORMAL GROUPINGS IN TALEA Perhaps the most important and most frequent social contacts that Talean women have are the informal groupings resulting from the daily round. The women get up about 5:00 in the morning to take their corn to be ground at nearby mills. As they usually have to wait their turns at these mills, this is a good time to visit with the other women. After their corn is ground, they return to their homes to fix the family breakfasts and to prepare lunches for their husbands, who go to work on the land that may be one or two hours' walk away. 242 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison During the day the town is left mainly to women, children, merchants, and old people who no longer work. When the older children go to school, a woman may put her little one on her back and go to church for a few hours, usually with her mother or mother-in-law. Women carry out certain religious duties: daily prayer, decorating the church with flowers, and sponsoring particular saints or virgins. After church, still carrying her youngest child, she will usually gather up the family wash and leave for the well. There she is in physical and social contact with women of her general neighborhood, and the visiting and gossip makes this one of her most pleasant tasks.5 In the afternoon, if her work at home is done, she may go to gather firewood with a sister, her mother, or some of her in-laws. In the late afternoon, she returns home in time to go to the mill again, and then to fix supper for her returning husband and possibly her sons. This description of daily activities of women emphasizes the distinct spatial and contextual division between the usual activities of men and women. Women spend the daily round in the company of other women, and men must necessarily spend their days in the fields either in the company of other men or alone. At night when the men come home from their day in the fields, more often than not they spend the evenings in the cantinas or stores, or just standing around the plaza in doorways talking. If they live far from the center of town, they chat with neighbors or retire soon after supper. Sundays and market days break the solitude of work on the land. The men spend this time working around the house or out drinking. These activities often set off husband-wife quarrels so Monday is always a busy day for the courts. INFORMAL GROUPINGS IN JUQUILA The daily round of the Juquilan ranchos presents a contrasting situation. Sitting high upon a hill overlooking several Juquilan ranchos scattered on the land below, I observed the following activities in one ranch that I knew well. At about 5:30 in the morning, smoke was discernible. The women had started the first fire of the day. Soon afterward, the father of the household left the ranch house and started the upward climb toward the forest areas in search of firewood. Almost simul- taneously the son left the rancho to run down the path into a meadow where the cattle spend the night. When father and son finished their respective chores, they returned to the rancho to enjoy the first meal of the day. After this meal, the father and son left to work their lands around the ranch house. (If they were in need of cash, they might instead go together to work for some jefe in Talea, or during December to February the whole family might leave to spend a week working their lands in the monte, the communal lands of the pueblo of Juquila.)6 The women, mother and daughter or mother and daughter-in-law, usually spend the morning either washing at the family well or sitting on a hill to watch the cattle, but on this day the women did neither of these two chores; instead, be- cause I had come down off the hill to visit with them, they spread themselves out in the sun to weave material for a new wrap-around skirt. 6 Since 1959 the installation of piped water has enabled each woman to have a wash tub at her home. However, she still prefers to wash at the wells. 6December to February is the season to be in need of cash because the harvest of their main cash crop, coffee, does not begin until around February. 243 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. The younger children played among themselves in the immediate vicinity of the ranch house and never wandered off to play with children of other ranchos. These children were still too young to attend school in Talea or Juquila. Actual attendance at school is usually very erratic because of the distance, and sometimes children do not go at all. At about 2:00 P.M. the men returned to the rancho to eat with the rest of the family. They were served first and separately because they were in a hurry to get back to work. After this second meal and after the men returned to their work, the women collected firewood to sell in Talea. It takes about an hour to collect the wood and another two hours to carry it into Talea, sell it, and return. At night the family came together to eat and to discuss the day's activities and news. This is a time when married sons who live nearby may drop in to visit. Around 8:00 in the evening the family retired to the cozy space of their little rancho not to be awakened until the first crow of the roosters the following morning. This schedule of activities is carried out for five days. On the sixth day, Sunday, the men usually remain around the ranch house weaving baskets, hunting out armadillos, gathering heavy wood, or relaxing in conversation with relatives who live nearby. On the following day, Monday, the ranchers all go into Talea in family groups of four or five. Here they enjoy the diversion that market day brings to people throughout the region. They sell small amounts of beans, maize, coffee, eggs, or firewood. They buy their frugal supply of meat and their handful of chile, and-interspersed among the activities of buying and selling-they imbibe with their brother Juquilans and other townsmen throughout the region. They collect old debts and make new ones; they make new friends and new enemies; they soak in gossip and news; and, in the early evening, the Juquilan family leaves the scene of the market exquisitely tired and usually dead drunk, ready to start another week. SOCIAL GROUPINGS AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR INTRODUCTION The Rincon Zapotec nuclear family can perform all the work necessary for its maintenance at a subsistence level. In general, the work of the men focuses upon the preparation and cultivation of the land for agriculture, while the work of the women includes food preparation and the care of clothing. Together men and women take care of animals, gather wood, harvest the produce, and market any surplus they may have. The work that cannot be performed by the nuclear family is done by three other kinds of work groups: gozona (mutual aid), compania (partnership), and mozos (hired labor). Although in both Juquila and Talea work is accomplished within the nuclear family, in partnership with other individuals, or by hiring labor, and although in both towns people use gozona as a means of accomplishing tasks which individuals cannot handle alone, the composition, use, and setting of these work groups vary from town to town. A discussion of these work groups follows-their composition, their setting and duration, the duties involved, and their relative importance within the town organization. All these work groups are found in both communities, accounting for the strong resem- blances that are easily recognized by observers both trained and untrained. They 244 Nader: Talea and Juquita-A Comparison are organized in dissimilar ways, however, and this helps to delineate the equally striking diversity between the two communities, a diversity that is difficult to understand because of the presence of the same basic elements, carrying the same labels, in both towns. THE NUCLEAR FAMILY In discussing the family as a work group, we will consider two important tasks: the working of the land by the men (the preparation, planting, weeding, and harvesting of the earth's yield) and the making of tortillas by the women (grind- ing, preparing, and cooking the maize patties). On the Juquilan ranchos two classes of males work the land together on the basis of kinship ties: unmarried sons and their father; and married sons with their father. Certain groups of related males are rarely, if ever, found working the land together: married brothers who have adult sons; uncles and nephews; sons-in-law with their fathers-in-law, unless the father-in-law does not have a son of his own or the son-in-law is an orphan, when in either case the son-in-law is usually adopted as a son.' In Juquila kinsmen who work together continually must be related consanguineally (or adopted as consanguineal), and they must be lineally related. They must also live in the same house, or in neighboring houses on the ranchos, and share one house in the town center of Juquila. This town house is used during fiestas and for special occasions such as funerals or weddings. In Talea only one class of male kinsmen work the land together: unmarried sons with their father. The following groups of related males are rarely found working the land together for any length of time: married sons with their father; married brothers with or without adult sons; son-in-law with father-in-law; uncles and nephews. In other words, in Talea the family members who work together contin- ually must be related both consanguineally and lineally, and the son must be unmarried. On the Juquilan ranchos lineality and consanguinity, residence proximity or patrilocal residence are the distinctive features which set the limits for the family work team. In Talea, the characteristics of consanguinity and lineality are present but the feature which sets the limit to the family work group seems to be marriage status. Once married, a Talean male, no matter what his residence situa- tion, no longer works as part of his nuclear family unless he is working with them in compania or gozona or in a mozo relationship. It is relevant to insert a note here on the respective inheritance patterns in the two towns. In Juquila a son does not usually inherit his share of land officially until the death of his parents. He may be assigned lands unofficially, but he does not have right of sale or sole use until the death of his parents or at least of his father. He continues to work the land in common with his father and brothers as long as the father lives. At the death of the father, brothers gradually separate and work their private pieces of inherited land with their own sons, if they have any. If a man does not have any sons, he may work by gozona, compania, or by means of the mozo relationship with friends and neighbors. In Talea a son usually receives his share of land legally at the time of marriage, and from that time on, 7 All the English kin terms used here refer to Zapotee referents; i.e., uncle refers to mother's brother or father's brother; nephew refers to the children of Ego's siblings. 245 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. he is responsible for working his own land, apart from his father's household. He is also free to sell his inherited lands and buy others, or to dispose of his wealth as he may see fit. Whether a son receives his lands at marriage or at the death of his parents seems to have important implications for the division of labor within the nuclear family and for the continued integration of this family after its members begin to form their families of procreation. In Talea, a father may shed all economic responsibility for his son after giving him his land share at marriage. A son works this land alone or in compania or gozona, or manages by hiring a mozo aide or by being hired as a mozo. Whichever way he chooses to work leads him to seek work aid from predominantly nonkin sources. Thus, at marriage a Talean son separates himself from the communal working of the land with his nuclear family and is forced to ally himself with other members of his town upon whom he now must depend for help to work his lands. A Juquilan son after marriage may change his work habits very little as long as his father is alive. He continues to work with his father and brothers. He does not have a choice of either continuing to work the lands as before marriage or working separately, because "legally" his position as a propertyless man has not changed with his new marriage status. He does not need to seek the aid of neighbors and friends to work in compania as long as his father lives, which is also usually as long as his brothers are there working with him. The inheritance of land at the death of parents in Juquila serves to keep the nuclear family functioning as a unit while its sons are acquiring their own families of procreation. In Talea, inheritance at marriage serves to separate a son from his family of orientation when he embarks upon his own family of procreation. Thus the Juquilan nuclear family continues to function as a unit in some ways, whereas the Talean family experiences discontinuity. When members of a Talean family marry, they are no longer considered as part of their original nuclear family, but as part of a general extended family. Women's work in these towns also requires cooperation between members of the family group. Only unmarried daughters are expected to help a Talean mother in the daily chores involved in preparing and cooking the tortillas. A married daughter or a daughter-in-law who daily performs these tasks is usually one who shares the same hearth and house with her mother or mother-in-law respectively. In Talea we find many unmarried daughters with children who continue to live in the parent household, and the daughter, of course, helps in the home. A daughter-in-law may live with her mother-in-law and help her for from six to eight months before she and her husband separate from the parent household, but often a couple may spend only a few weeks with the husband's parents before separation of households. In Juquila we have a similar situation. Unmarried daughters are expected to help in tortilla making, and married daughters rarely live in the same household with their own parents and are not expected to help their mothers even though they may live in close proximity. However, in practice, daughters often help their mothers, but it is the daughter-in-law's duty to help her mother-in-law during the months or years after marriage when she lives with her in-laws. Also, daughters- 246 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison in-law always live in their fathers-in-law's house when they return to town, so their help is expected there even after they move into separate houses on the ranch. This may be stated more simply by saying that the T'alean mother loses her daughter when the daughter marries and she does not gain a daughter-in-law to aid her in her household chores. A Juquilan mother may lose her daughter when her daughter marries but she gains a daughter-in-law sooner or later if she has a son. When a son is married in Talea, his father loses him as a member of the family work group; he does not gain a son-in-law to replace the son. In Juquila when a son is married, he is not lost to the family work group, but continues as a working member; the Juquilan father does not incorporate his son-in-law into the work group. The previous' description is an abstract of the regularities observed in a sample of fifteen families from each community. It is also the Zapotec's description of what happens to the division of labor among family members during the life cycle. Although we find many cases which fit this description, I do not wish to leave the impression that the situation in either town is a homogeneous one. There are many modifications dictated by circumstances and individual preference. GOZONA The second type of work group mentioned-gozona or gozun in Zapotec is a special kind of mutual aid among kinfolk, friends, and neighbors. It is a prestation of service, of short-time duration, which implies reciprocation. The settings in which a town exercises gozona are special to that particular town, and each community is quite aware of the kinds of gozona that the next pueblo practices. A Juquilan informant describes the situation in Talea by saying: "Alla en Talea todos hacen gozona para cualquier cosa, aqui no" (There in T'alea everyone uses gozona for anything; here it is not so). And, indeed, this seems to be an accurate description. Taleans may call upon kinsmen, friends, neighbors to build their houses, to repair older houses, to help in the preparation, plowing, planting, and harvesting tasks. Taleans volunteer gozona during weddings, funerals, and fiestas. They even carry on gozona between communities; for example, the band and orchestra from Talea have played in fiestas in Villa Alta, Yatzona, Solaga, Yalina, and Yaee. The gozona in Talea often has work for its excuse, but in actual fact it is much more than the most expedient way to handle tasks that cannot be handled by the nuclear family or individuals alone. Indeed, though without affecting the attitude or practice of the rest of the village, some Taleans have pointed out that the gozona is not the most efficient or economical way to build a house, for example. They can vouch that it is more costly to run a gozona for housebuilding purposes than it would be to use hired labor. A man may invite some fifteen to twenty-five men to participate in gozona for two days of house building. This means that he must feed them and their wives, who come to help prepare the food, and also provide alcohol. Soon the gathering becomes a merry working party-the gozona becomes a festivity. 247 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. In Talea the gozona is primarily a neighborhood affair, but in some of the smaller Zapotec towns in the Rincon-Yobego, for example-the whole population of some 300 people is invited to a gozona for house building. In such a town there is much more festivity, drinking, eating, and cost than in Talea. When gozona is used to accomplish agricultural chores, fewer people participate but the same principles of organization apply. People are invited to help in the harvest. They are fed and given mezeal to drink. The following week these same people may ask their host of the past week to do gozona with them, and then they provide the food and drink. Mutual aid of this type is something more than economic cooperation; it is an expression of equality, of mutual respect and courtesy. Everyone who is invited to do gozona participates in the work. It is not considered appropriate to hire a man to do gozona, for gozona is an expression of the social ties that bind men in unwritten contract to aid one another. The Juquilan also practices gozona. However, the concept and its expression is more reserved and its domain more restricted. When the informant said, "Alla en Talea todos hacen gozona para cualquier cosa, aqui no," she also added that in Juquila they use gozona for accomplishing such agricultural tasks as slash and burn, ploughing, planting, harvesting. She further stated with pride that they did not have gozona in Juquila for funerals, weddings, or fiestas. The Juquilans do not use gozona for house building either. When a Juquilan builds a house, he does so with the aid of paid mozos; he does not use gozona. When this same informant was asked if she would not use gozona as the Taleans do were she to move to Talea, she replied scornfully that she would not because it was the duty of each family to pay the cost (gasto) of the wedding, and to fulfill their obligations to the dead by paying the funeral costs. The Juquilan can con- ceive of mutual aid and cooperation in agricultural work, but he does not believe that the family's responsibilities for weddings or funerals should be shared by fellow citizens, nor does he conceive of using gozona for building a family house. Often relatives may lend a hand in these tasks for a short time, but they do not expect to contribute materially. At a Juquilan funeral the family of the dead has to pay for the funeral feast. This usually consists of tortillas, black beans, and coffee. The family also pays for the alcohol consumed by the band and other men and women, and these kinsmen, friends, and neighbors reciprocate only by their attendance. Those who attend also carry candles and, after the dead person is buried, each person who brought a candle receives a section of chicken wrapped in a tortilla. The burden of the funeral cost is most certainly not shared by those who attend. The reverse is true of Talean funerals. Not only do friends, neighbors, and kins- men lend a hand in preparation, but each person who attends also contributes a candle plus money, beans, maize, coffee, or cigarettes. In this fashion, the cost of the funeral is shared by the group rather than borne by the small nuclear family. And the Talean nuclear family which is aided by gozona reciprocates by returning this aid during the next twenty or thirty years. Its counterpart in Juquila, meanwhile, may have been almost wiped out economically as the result of an expensive funeral. 248 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison Summary.-The data indicate that the use of gozona in Talea is extensive; it permeates the "social" and economic spheres. The use of gozona in Juquila is limited; it is used primarily to elicit labor in the performance of agricultural (sub- sistence) tasks and never to elicit aid in material goods. In both towns gozona is run on the principle of strict reciprocity. The respective use made of gozona complements the analysis of the division of labor and inheritance in the family. In Talea a man inherits his land at marriage, and at that time separates himself from the work group of his family of orientation. He cuts his lineal or vertical dependence in this sense and seeks aid when necessary among members of horizontal, nonkin group members. The Juquilans, on the other hand, maintain their work relations with their families of orientation after they marry. In Juquila, where the overwhelming proportion of interaction occurs within the nuclear and extended family, we might have predicted what we actually find, a restricted use of gozona. In Talea, where we find a smaller proportion of total interaction taking place within the family, we may expect to find an extensive use of gozona. WORK EN COMPANIA (PARTNERSHIP) An alternate possibility in work groupings is referred to as work en compania. When two people form a partnership, they are working en compania. Two actual cases may serve as examples: In Talea, a widow who has good lands for sugar cane works en compania with a man whose lands are inadequate for planting sugar cane; they have worked out a verbal contract whereby she provides the land and the plants and he provides the labor, the produce being divided equally at the time of harvest. In Juquila, an unmarried boy supports his mother, who is a widow, work- ing en compania with his brother; both contribute lands and seeds and labor, and the harvest is divided equally. This form of cooperative venture is used in both towns. The Taleans use compania primarily among friends and neighbors. The Juquilans use compania between adult brothers as well as between neighbors or friends or with sponsors. These sponsors are usually Juquilans whose primary residence is in the town center, but whose lands may be scattered among various permanent "ranchers." Compania in this case is convenient and preferred to the mozo-jefe relationship. Work en compania lasts from the time when the land is prepared until harvest time. For sugar cane this would be for two years. MOZO-JEFE WORK ARRANGEMENT Finally, an individual may bypass gozona or work en compania in preference for hired labor. A jefe (the boss) may hire mozos (laborers) to work for him. These mozos are compensated by wages paid in pesos. The mozo-jefe work relationship is found in both towns, but there is a subtle difference in the form it takes and the trend that may be noted. In both towns there are certain men who are always jefes and never mozos, but the proportion of such men is greater in Talea than in Juquila, where the greater part of the male population may be mozos one week and jefes the next week. In Juquila the mozo- jefe relation is predominantly reciprocal (symmetrical). In Talea this relation is strongly nonreciprocal (asymmetrical). In Juquila the reciprocity involved in this 249 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. dominant-subordinate relation maintains a certain equality and reciprocal inter- dependence between members of the population. In Talea the fact of nonreciprocal mozo-jefe relation suggests a trend toward the formation of well-defined classes: those who hire laborers and those who work as laborers. This tendency is encouraged in Talea by the predominance of a cash crop, coffee. Some twenty-five years ago, a number of Talean men aggressively and wholeheartedly accepted this new crop as a good thing. With the boom in coffee prices in the early 'forties, their economic position was solidified and, slowly, other citizens bought and planted coffee. After World War II the braceros from Talea returned home and invested their savings in coffee. With this development T'alea came to be known as a coffee center, and today in Talea we have a crop, coffee, which brings in cash and which enables an individual to hire and pay laborers. In Juquila, excepting the braceros, the majority of the population has been cautious about accepting coffee as a worthwhile product. They see it as too risky, too variable in price, and continue to prefer to invest agricultural time in corn and beans in the main, with coffee as a side product. In Juquila, cash is still scarce and along with this we have a great part of the population working gozona or compania in place of hiring mozos. The Juquilan sometimes refers to himself as working for X person as a mozo but the next week his jefe will be his mozo in return. As there is no payment in cash, this kind of mozo-jefe relation is classed as gozona by the Juquilans. Other mozo-jefe working arrangements in Juquila are paid in cash and this is what was referred to above as reciprocal mozo-jefe relation. When this field work was initiated in May 1957, the price of coffee was quite high, some eighty pesos an arroba (about twenty-five pounds). By February 1960, the price of coffee had dwindled to about forty pesos an arroba. Should the price continue falling so that it no longer would be advantageous for these people to favor this cash crop, it would be interesting to see how the working arrangements would be affected. SUMMARY This leads us to a summary of some general differences between the two towns. They are (1) the differences in the internal organization of formal groupings (that is, rules for recruitment, number of positions, duties and obligations, and delegation of authority); (2) differences in the composition of formal and informal groupings; and (3) differences in the amount of cross-linkage in the two towns. 1) In the comparison of the organization of barrios, associations, church organi- zations, and the organizations of musicians (all corporate, formal groupings), dif- ferences are found in methods of recruitment, in the number of positions, and in the duties, obligations, and authority delegated to each status-differences similar to the kind of contrasts described in the more detailed comparative analysis of civil organization in chapter v. Nevertheless, these similar forms (barrios, associations, church organization, civil organization, etc.) afford approximately the same amount of interaction, approximately the same number of people are involved, and there is similar opportunity for cross-linkage. The difference in the recruitment and roles of these formal organizations, however, gives rise to a difference in the kinds of interactions. In Talea there is a stronger tendency towards centralization, 250 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison the development of role differentiation, and a willingness to delegate authority. In Juquila, on the other hand, there is a strong value placed on group consensus and decentralization, the overlapping of roles is common, and there is a general unwillingness to delegate authority to individuals. 2) The analysis of membership in formal as opposed to informal groups has been especially rewarding. Although spatial arrangement certainly influences both formal and informal groupings, it is more likely to determine the composition of the latter. That is to say, the informal groups vary in composition with respect to spatial arrangement, whereas the composition of formal groupings varies with respect to individual or group choice in recruitment to office. There is little difference between the classes of individuals belonging to the formal groups in both towns. In the informal groups the most striking differences in the classes of individuals occurs in the family, in gozona, and in the daily round. These groups in Juquila, based primarily on proximity in space, are composed of kinsfolk and neighbors, and often these are the same. Talean informal groups may include friends and kinsfolk who need not reside in the same section of town but may be scattered throughout the community. 3) If we compare the social organizations of these two towns, we begin to note a great deal more cross-linkage in Talean than in Juquilan society. There are ties that link a number of men together in a group or as individuals, but other ties that divide them by linking some of them with different groups. Thus, their organized groups are broken with relationships which cross-link their mem- bers. In Gluckman's use of the term, "linkage"8 should make for cohesion. This kind of cross-linkage would seem to have a positive function in a town as densely populated as Talea, where scattered residence and greater density are forcing people to live close to nonkin folk. However, Gluckman does not stress the possi- bility that although cross-linkage may strengthen relations between social groups and thus produce cohesion,9 this cohesive cross-linkage may result at the expense of other ties, such as those within the family. In Juquila, where cross-linkage of the sort described for Talea is relatively weak, we find a more cohesive family. Although kinship patterns a greater amount of interaction in Juquila, interaction in Talea is shared by kinsmen, neighbors, friends, and people with whom one has contractual work relations. 8Max Gluckman, Cu.stom and Conflict in Africa (Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1959). 9A. L. Kroeber, "Zuni Kin and Clan" in Anthropological Papers (New York: American Mu- seum of Natural History, 1917), XVIII:86-87: "Four or five different planes of systemization cross cut each other and thus preserve for the whole society an integrity that would speedily be lost if the planes merged and thereby inclined to encourage segregation and fission. The clans, the fraternities, the priesthoods, the kivas, in a measure the gaming parties, are all dividing agencies. If they coincided, the rifts in the social structure would be deep; by countering each other they cause segmentations which produce an almost marvelous complexity, but can never break the national entity apart." 251 CHAPTER V CIVIL ORGANIZATION THE RINC6N ZAPOTEC are in no sense a politically organized tribe. Each pueblo is primarily an endogamous organization that is largely economically self-sufficient. Each pueblo owns the land it cultivates. In this sense Zapotec pueblos are autono- mous units, but since the political structure of these communities follows a pattern set by the nation and state we must also look at each pueblo as part of the national Mexican political scene. The state of Oaxaca is divided into districts, units of territory that together form the state administrative units of government. Each district is divided into a number of municipios which vary in land and population size. These municipios administer their own affairs through elected town members and are also responsible for the smaller villages and "rancherias" located near the particular municipio. These smaller administrative units, the villages and rancherias, are referred to as agencias. In a political sense several agencias lie within each municipio, several municipios lie within each district, and all the districts combine to form the state of Oaxaca. Geographically, however, these subdivisions do not lie within one another because both agencias and municipios have their own territories with established boundaries that may date from before the Spanish Conquest. For historical reasons, then, it is possible for an agencia to have more land than a municipio center. The municipio of Talea has jurisdiction over three agencias: Yatoni, Otatitlan, and the Hacienda of Santa Gertrudis. These communities have a combined popu- lation of approximately 2,400 people. The municipio of Juquila has jurisdiction over two agencias: El Porvenir and La Colonia Nueva. The combined population here is approximately 1,800. The pattern of civil organization found in the municipios of Talea and Juquila is a combination of aboriginal, colonial, and recent Mexican influences. In these two communities the pattern of civil organization shares many features. The same statuses are given in the civil organization of both towns. Positions are referred to as cargos, which in Spanish means post, duty, obligation, or burden. All male citizens of a town are expected to serve in various municipal cargos in their life- times. These positions in the town government are ranked in a hierarchy. As one moves through this hierarchy to the top positions he assumes a greater amount of responsibility and authority. How far a man climbs and the number of positions in which he serves before retirement varies with the size of the town population and the qualifications of the candidate-his financial position, the amount of schooling he has had, and his general reputation in the town. In both Talea and Juquila the acquisition of rank and prestige is related to the kinds of positions a man has held in the various social groupings. We find that positions in the town government may afford the most important kinds of both temporary and lasting prestige. This chapter will discuss the role, rank, and quali- fications of each position in detail in order to understand their ideal and actual roles vis-a-vis the pueblo citizenry in each town. [ 252 ] Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison The municipio itself is referred to in Zapotec as yu lawi-(yu, land; lawi, com- munal). This is distinguished from privately owned land, yu yu'oo shanee, and from the communally held agricultural lands in the mountains, yu gia?. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN TALEA The municipal building in Talea is the largest in the Rincon area, having two rooms, which are used by the elected town officials. In the first, referred to as the Presidencia, the presidente, the sindico, the town secretario and tesorero conduct their official business; in the second room, called the Juzgado, the alcalde and his secretario carry on their affairs. The regidores sit in the Presidencia or outside in the corridor. The policia sit and sleep in the corridors of the building. The only officials without space in the municipal building are the principales. PRINCIPALES The most influential leaders in Talea are referred to as principales.' These men are considered, and consider themselves, best qualified to act in advisory capacity to the elected officials in the municipal government. In actuality the principales decide the town's governmental policies and are often successful in carrying out the policies they have mapped. When they overstep their role, defined by the town as merely advisory, they are open to criticism through public opinion. The principales are said to be chosen by the presidente each year. In actual practice, however, they are a self-perpetuating body of local statesmen. It is they who nominate candidates for the position of presidente, who upon election will name these principales. In 1957, there were thirteen principales in Talea. These men were recognized for qualities deemed important in Talean leadership: formal education, financial success, wisdom based on traditional experience in the town and sometimes associated with advanced age, and knowledge based on experience outside the immediate culture area. Old age is not a necessary prerequisite for political leadership in Talea; the principales range in age from thirty-five to seventy-five. Nor is it necessary to have passed through the hierarchy in the civil organization, although more than half of the thirteen principales had completed all the positions required of a Talean citizen. These men act in advisory capacity in administrative, legislative, and judicial matters of the town government. PRESIDENTE The municipal presidente, elected by the town at a town meeting, is one of three candidates nominated by the principales. The candidate who comes in second place is automatically the suplente of the presidente.2 The town is able to nominate other candidates, but this power is only exercised when public opinion is in strong dis- agreement with the immediate aims of the principales. The presidente has the authority and duty to call town meetings, to make town rulings, to resolve com- 1 The label principales is used to refer to these men in both Zapotec and Spanish. In the past, when it was only possible to become a principal if one had completed the number of cargos required before retirement, these men were referred to as ancianos (old ones), or abuelos (grand- fathers), or in Zapotee buInigul (old men). 2In both towns suplentes (substitutes) only serve in municipal positions when the elected official, owing to sickness, death, or incompetence, can no longer serve his pueblo. This post is considered a cargo whether a suplente actually serves in a municipal position or not. 253 5 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. plaints and administer justice, to consider petitions, to perform marriages, and to take an active part in the nomination of other town government officials. The presidente is expected to lead his townsmen and to watch out for their welfare. If he shirks his responsibility, he may be reprimanded directly by the principales and town meetings and indirectly by public opinion; in rare cases he may be asked to resign. He is responsible to district and state officials for town activities. The position of presidente is filled with a particular eye for a man's qualities as an administrator. A candidate is selected for his leadership abilities, for his justness, and for his availability in terms of economic resources.8 The presidente-elect nominates a secretario and a tesorero. These nominations must be approved by a vote of the town at a town meeting. SINDICO The sindico is also nominated and elected by the town. Again, strong recommenda- tion by the principales carries weight and their nominee usually wins in the election. The candidate who comes in second is the suplente. It is the duty of the sindico to administer the conununal work program (tequio)' and, as head of the town police, to investigate serious crimes and manage the police force. Men chosen for this position should be good workers and efficient organizers. Since much of the slndico's work involves close cooperation with the presidente, it is also de- sirable that these two men be able to work as a team. REGIDORES The three regidores and their suplentes are nominated and elected directly at a a town meeting. In the past, regidores have been chosen as representatives of the three barrios in town, but since the members of one of these barrios now consti- tute an overwhelming majority of the population, this idea of equal barrio rep- resentation in the town government has been abandoned. The regidores are now elected from the town at large, with slight consideration only for barrio affiliation. The position of regidor is described as little more than that of topil de categoria (official errand boy). These men alternate in helping the presidente by running errands, pouring mezeal at fiestas, or attending government officials who may visit from Oaxaca or Mexico. The three regidores have as their special responsibility one of three special domains: the town treasury, the hygiene department, and the police department. In these departments they act more as observers of the presi- dente than anything else. These regidores are often allowed to sit in on court cases and general municipio business in order to learn the ways of government. ALCALDE The alcalde (judge) may be nominated by the incoming presidente, the prin- cipales, or the town citizens. These nominations are then voted on at a town meet- ing. The duties of the alcalde entail the administration of justice in all cases 8 The term for presidente in Oaxaca is three years. Since no municipal official receives a salary, he has to be able to afford the time for service. Pueblos in Oaxaca often find this too great a sacrifice for one individual and have worked out various ways within the law to resolve this dilemma. 4 The communal work which the municipios organize is referred to in Spanish as tequio and in Zapotec as gin idwi. 254 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison that have not been resolved in the office of the presidente or the sindico. The alcalde is a man known to have an interest in and knowledge of legal affairs, a man whose abilities to arbitrate and reconcile conflicting interests have already gained him renown. He is not an organizer of men, nor an administrator. He is not a legis- lator of rules. He is a small-town philosopher who, in the words of the Zapotec, is capable of erj.goonz, a man capable of "making the balance." The alcalde-elect nominates a man to serve him as secretary, as well as two testigos de asistencia (court witnesses). These nominees are approved by the presi- dente. POLICIA The policia are recruited by the outgoing police force, who have done their year's service. These policia may be men who are regarded as lacking special qualities of leadership or intelligence, and they are usually illiterate. Most gen- erally they are recruited by the policia on the basis of having been the principal troublemakers of the previous year, a form of punishment for those who have delighted in causing them particular annoyance. These nominations also are passed on at the general town meeting. There are twelve policia, two lieutenants, and one chief of police. The roughest, toughest man is usually chosen as chief. The duties of the policia are varied. Apart from their obvious functions-to police the town by a vigilant twenty-four hour watch in order to maintain peace, to bring disturbers of this peace to justice, to interfere and break up all fights and noisy public quarrels-these men provide the brawn which maintains all public buildings and pathways. Organized and led by the sindico, the policia clean, repair, and whitewash the municipio, the market place, and the public bath. When all the male citizens of Talea are called together for communal labor projects (tequio), such as the instal- lation of piped water or special work on the new "highway," the policia help ad- minister the work and take a roll call to see who is absent from duty. As a group, these policia form a tightly knit unit. They work together and in alternating numbers sleep together in the corridors of the municipio. They measure the suc- cess of their day by the number of citizens they have been able to haul into the courtroom. If an individual enters this ranked hierarchy as a policia during his lifetime he may ascend to the positions of regidor, sindico, alcalde, or presidente. Educated men who enter town service as secretarios will never serve as policia or regidor, for these positions are ranked below the secretario, sindico, alcalde, and presidente positions. The organization is a somewhat age-graded hierarchy. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT IN JUQUILA The account of Talean civil organization began with the description of the most influential positions and led down the ordered hierarchy to those municipal posi- tions that were responsible for carrying out the decisions of the higher officials. It would be difficult to describe the civil organization in Juquila by this same procedure. Such clear-cut differentiation of authority and well-defined roles in government do not exist in Juquila. 255 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. The municipio of Juquila is a one-room building. With the exception of the policia, who may be in the municipio corridor or in the nearby old house of the schoolteacher, all elected officials have a special space allocated to them in this building. Their seating positions correspond to their positions in the governing hierarchy. In this building the presidente, sindico, and alcalde may carry out their duties simultaneously or one may listen while the others are performing their duties. Whereas in Talea the principales were described as being the most influential men in creating town policy, in Juquila the political group most important both in creating and in carrying out town policy is the entire pueblo. Policy is made at town meetings by public discussion and finally by public consensus. PRINCIPALES All Juquilan men who have completed their municipal service are referred to as ancianos. This means that they have served in at least four town positions in ranked order: policia of the school committee, municipal policia, regidor, sec- retario or tesorero, and finally presidente, alcalde, or sindico. Among these ancianos there are presently four who are considered by the town as important advisors. These four ancianos are referred to as principales. They have come to be considered important by their townsmen through reputa- tion and public opinion and not through any self-assertive ambition for village leadership, as in Talea. The pueblo has decided that these four men are the wisest among the elders for their patience and for their unselfishness-"They are men of age and experience who no longer have problems of children." Each year the presidente-elect and his regidores decide which one of the wise old men they will elect as their principal. When they have decided, they take a bottle of mezeal and go to this man's home to beg him to consider the post. After refusing many times the principal reluctantly agrees to accept the position. There is much ceremony involved. The principal-elect goes with the new town officials to the church to pray in order that the saints may defend these new officials in all conflict. Not long after this ceremony the principal is visited again by the new officials who come bearing coffee and food in grateful recognition of this old man's new position. It is he who will maintain harmony between members of the munici- pal government. If they do not fulfil their duties in correct Juquilan tradition, this old man will remind them of their obligations. He may even fine them, but more often he will turn the matter over to the pueblo saying that he will no longer be their advisor and helper. From this description we see that the principales in Juquila play a role quite different from their Talean counterparts. In Talea these men are not merely ad- visors, they are progressive, self-assertive men, quite conscious of being leaders. MESA DE CARACTERIZADOS A group in Juquila that would be more comparable to the group of principales in Talea are here referred to as the Mesa de Caracterizados, a name coined by the group itself. These men are all those between the ages of eighteen and thirty-eight 256 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison who have been educated in schools outside the immediate area. They all read and write and all have spent some time working in urban areas in the United States or Mexico. They have been bound together by one mission-to lead their village in the ways of progress and change. These men upon first observation seem to wield great influence in municipal activities. They are quick to make many of the immediate everyday decisions in the municipio when acting as secretarios to the presidente or alcalde, or when acting as translators between town officials and Mexican government representa- tives. However, they are very closely watched by the conservative majority of Juquilans and, if they overstep the bounds of their authority, they are immedi- ately squelched or recommended for removal from office by the senior municipio members, who present the case at a general town meeting. In 1957, it was the largest section of the Mesa de Caracterizados, frustrated by their failure to in- troduce innovations, that separated from the main town and formed their own colony. PRESIDENTE The presidente of Juquila is nominated and elected by his townsmen by means of a popular vote taken at a town meeting. He is chosen from several candidates nominated also at a town meeting. The candidate who comes in second is his suplente. His duties are similar to those of the presidente in Talea. He calls town meet- ings; he is an administrator of justice; he handles all problems with state and national government agencies; and he may also outline construction and repair projects for the town if he is a particularly active individual. He does not make town rulings as the presidente of Talea might, for he is not expected to be a leader in the sense of being an innovator of town policy. The presidente of Juquila follows the wishes of his people. In fact, fear of public incrimination is so strong that a Juquilan presidente avoids making any changes whatsoever. He avoids any decision making. And, as the Juquilans themselves suggest, one of the best ways he finds to accomplish this is to stay so drunk that he cannot be expected to be responsible for any action. The Juquilan presidente is a man who has previously served in at least three other positions in the municipal hierarchy. He is always someone the citizens hope will not be continually drunk, like the last presidente. Often he is a man who is economically in a position to bear the burden of one year's gratuitous service but this is not a necessary prerequisite. If a presidente does not fulfill his duties and obligations in correct Juquilan tradition he may be reprimanded by his principal or by public reprimand at a town meeting. At the end of his term, if the budget does not balance he is re- sponsible for making up the deficit. If the newly elected presidente refuses to accept as his responsibility public buildings left in disrepair or disarray, it is up to the former presidente to clean up so that the newly elected presidente will accept responsibility for the town. If the town citizens have highly disapproved of the presidente's term in office, they may jail him for a day at the end of his term and at the beginning of the new term. This decision, which is made at a town 257 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. meeting, is carried out by the new presidente. The Juquilan presidente may look to the last town meeting of his term with considerable anxiety.5 Thus, although Juquilans often state that they want a presidente who will plan new improvement projects for the town, punishment for failure looms so much greater than reward for possible success that it is considered easier and is perhaps wiser for him just to attempt to maintain the status quo. The other alternative is for him to present all important decision-making at a town meeting. The following account illustrates presidential behavior. An agronomist, rep- resentative of a government commission, came to the Rincon to introduce an idea for the development of coffee nurseries which would be communally organized and owned; he had relatively quick success in Talea. He spoke with the Talean presidente, outlining to him the project and all the benefits of such an experiment. The presidente then met with the principales who approved the idea. A town meeting was called and it was voted to accept the project. Only months later, when the nurseries had already been started, did public opinion develop strongly against the idea, and at that time the nurseries were taken over by a group particularly interested in coffee production. The nurseries were abandoned as a town project and now they are under private auspices. This same representative had at various times visited the presidente of Juquila in vain. The presidente each time neither informed the pueblo of these visits nor would he himself either accept or reject the proposal. I listened to the agronomist describe his dilemma and suggested he ask the presidente of Juquila to call a town meeting in order that he might discuss the proposal with the townspeople. This request had immediate response; a town meeting was held. For those not in at- tendance a total fine was calculated and the presidente used this to buy the alcohol for the evening. The drinking which followed is referred to as "burning the fine," and results in the ceremonial drunkenness that precedes all Juquilan town meet- ings. The agronomist emerged drunk but victorious. He had presented his case (translated into Zapotec); the townsmen had engaged in much discussion and two alternative suggestions had been considered. The first proposed that each individual maintain his own nursery. The agronomist explained that this was time consuming, uneconomical, and quite infeasible. Then, slowly, the idea of a com- munal coffee nursery took hold, was voted upon, and carried through, not without some reservations on the part of many, but it was a group decision, unanimously agreed upon. Two years later (1960) the proposal was being carried through as voted upon. There has been no change from communal to private ownership of these coffee nurseries as in Talea. In Juquila it is considered inappropriate and against town rules for a single individual, like the presidente, or for a small group of individuals, like the Mesa de Caracterizados, to presume to make decisions that would affect the town as a whole. In Talea the townsmen have delegated many of the decision-making powers to the presidente and the principales but still retain the right to reverse the decisions of these men at a later date. 6 In neither of these two towns do candidates vie for town government positions as among Beal's Mixe of Ayutla, for example. In fact, for the first few weeks after elections the jails are often occupied by citizens who have refused to accept the posts to which they have been elected. 258 Nader: Talea and Juquita-A Comparison SfNDICO The sindico, also nominated and elected by a vote at a town meeting, is responsible for the investigation and adjudication of conflicts involving land disputes. He is responsible, along with another town official, the first regidor, for setting boundary rocks. To him also falls the burden of repairing roads and public buildings and running any communal work programs that the town may undertake. To qualify for this position one must have served as a town official twice previously, usually as policia and regidor. ALCALDE The alcalde in Juquila is nominated and elected by the town and it is his duty to adjudicate all conflict and strife cases turned over to him by the presidente or the sindico. If he is unable to find a solution acceptable to the parties involved, he is then authorized to consign them to the district courts in Villa Alta, but if he wishes he may shift the case back to the presidente. The candidate for alcalde also will have served as policia and regidor before he qualifies for this position. The alcalde has a suplente. REGIDORES There are eight regidores, four from each of the two barrios. The first regidor was described as having jurisdiction "almost" equal to that of municipal presi- dente. He instructs the rest of the regidores in their duties. In matters of extreme importance it is they who advise the ancianos in town to attend special town meetings. They collect quotas to pay for the schoolteachers and town fiestas. They take turns serving in the municipio in order that all federal correspondence or any federal or state representatives be attended to immediately. The respect that regidores are given in Juquila is in strong contrast with the attitude toward Talean regidores. All the positions in the municipio of Juquila have special respect accorded them. On the other hand, in Talea regidores and policia are not considered worthy of special respect; the respect accorded to their officials varies according to the posi- tion in the hierarchy, policia and regidores being least respected and presidente, alcalde, and sindico being most respected. POLICfA There are eight policia-four chosen from each of the two barrios at a town meet- ing. As in Talea, it is the outgoing policia who nominate others to take their place. The town passes on these nominations. It is the duty of the policia to take care of all public property and to call the citizens to town meetings. This entails walking around to all the scattered ranches, as well as advising citizens who live perman- ently in the town. The policia are responsible for taking prisoners to the district court in Villa Alta; they organize tequios, collect unpaid debts for the municipio, and, in general, run errands for the presidente. In attitude these men differ quite markedly from their Talean counterparts. Whereas in Talea the policia are both anxious and happy to fine and imprison their fellow citizens, in Juquila we find the policia quite indifferent-in situations of "public disturbance" due to drunk- 259 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. enness, for example. If a man, being punished for a minor offense of assault, battery, and drunkenness, is ordered to clear the paths or do similar town work, he can easily bribe the policia to forget the work and have a few drinks. It is only when a prisoner is accused of a crime considered to be a threat to the whole town that the policia can and do become very stern. The first loyalty of these policia is to their village and they take little interest in the swaggering use of their authority to impress or bully a citizen. A Juquilan would not hold a grudge against a policia who was defending the town against "traitor" members, but the policia have to beware in personal issues for fear of witchcraft or other forms of retaliation when they leave office. Indeed, this statement applies to all the officials in the municipio. SECRETARIOS The secretario of the presidente and the secretario of the alcalde are picked by the very group from which they necessarily must come-the Mesa de Caracteri- zados, the Juquilan "club of literates." The secretario who is chosen is approved by the town meeting. A secretary has great power in all the monolingual villages in the area because of his ability to deal with Spanish-speaking government agencies. COMMENT AND COMPARISON In some respects the civil organization in Juquila is very similar to that of Talea; for example, both towns have principales, presidentes, sindicos, regidores, policias, and alcaldes. The question arises: if these systems of civil organization are so much alike why do they not function in like manner? The fact is that in the two towns men in the same positions or statuses are found to play different roles, these statuses are ranked in slightly different order, and men are recruited into these positions in a slightly different manner. The positions in village government have been described separately. In a sense this description of the parts distorts the view of the whole as conceived by the citizens of both towns. This was quite apparent when I was eliciting the word for justice in Zapotec. The majority of people in both communities would answver by naming all the members of the municipio-the presidente, the alcalde, the sindico, the regidores, and so on. Justice is the presidente, alcalde, sindico, and all the rest of the officials in the municipio. From this and other data it would seem that the prime function of the municipio for the town citizens is the admin- istration of justice, or erj.goonz, which in Zapotec means balance. At the same time, all citizens agree that this justice is poorly administered because the muni- cipio members are continually drunk in Juquila or because they are inefficient in Talea. The members of the municipio in Juquila seem to feel this duty of maintain- ing balance in town affairs, but because of the vulnerability of any leadership position in Juquila, the members drown themselves in alcohol or take refuge in frequent absence from duty rather than risk incriminations. A newly elected presidente may express a desire to start new projects for town progress, but, if public opinion is not inclined in that direction, he soon abandons the idea and merely drinks his way through his term as did his predecessor. 260 Nader: Talea and Juquita-A Comparison In Talea there may be incompetent leadership and even alcoholism in the municipio but the principales are always there as solid, experienced citizens who step in when a serious situation arises. Moreover, Talean government officials feel less threatened by witchcraft than do the Juquilans. There are two striking differences I should like to discuss: the first in the attitude toward leadership and the degree to which authority is delegated, and the second in the recruitment and role specificity in civil positions. What constitutes leadership in one society may be grounds for rebellion and strife in another. In Talea, leadership may be gained by achievement as well as by appointment. If a man proves he can lead his townsmen, that is, that he has the will as well as the power and knowledge, it may be possible for him to do so. The principales in Talea are just such men. They are citizens who have con- sciously and fairly aggressively achieved their position. It is they who step for- ward to act should a problem require the advice of a leader, and the town is dependent to a great extent upon such leaders for guidance. In Juquila, leader- ship positions are primarily appointments made by the town citizens. A presidente is a "leader" of his town for a year because he is singled out and sometimes co- erced into this position. If strong leaders of the type found in Talea arise, they do not usually remain in town for long unless they conform to Juquilan ideas of leadership. Presently in Juquila there is one man who carries a great deal of influence, but it is the townsmen who come to him for guidance. In a sense they have created his position. They have allowed him a certain amount of leadership authority, but they may withdraw the support that maintains his position when then feel so inclined, and this leader is fully aware of the tentativeness of his position. He plays a cautious role whereas his Talean counterpart is publicly assertive. The citizens of Talea are willing to delegate authority to those men in leader- ship positions-the presidente and the principales. Not only are the Juquilans hesitant to do so, but also the men who fill these positions in Juquila are wary of assuming the responsibility necessary in actually exercising authority. As has been previously stated, it is considered inappropriate for a Juquilan individual or group to make decisions for the town. It seems that the degree to which leadership is allocated to individual rather than to collective consensus is directly associated with the amount of interaction within the town group. Juquila has a town center characterized by mobility. Some families live permanently in dispersed settlements and maintain town homes for special occasions. Others maintain permanent residence in town and travel to their farmlands for weekly or monthly work periods. Interaction between fami- lies is sporadic and relatively infrequent. Whereas a Juquilan is able to predict the behavior of his own family members because of his frequent interaction with them, he is anxiously aware of not being able to predict the behavior of nonfamily members and is therefore less likely to delegate authority or leadership positions with power to individuals he does not know very well. Since Juquilans interact with their fellow citizens only upon occasion, alcohol may serve to mellow a social situation which is uncomfortable because it is some- what unpredictable. The infrequent interaction among Juquilans may account 261 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. for the fact that in all situations where a group of Juquilans gather to socialize they drink and drink hard, whether at town meetings (where a "ceremonial" drunk always precedes the discussion of business), or at funerals, or at the Talean market. Indeed, they have gained fame in the surrounding villages for being the most borrachos (drunken). Talea has a compact town center where all the citizens of the town live. There are many activities and organizations that link individuals and groups with a representative cross section of their fellow townsmen. Talean citizens thus fre- quently interact with one another. Unlike their Juquilan neighbors, who are iso- lated both socially and physically from their townsmen, they interact with, ob- serve, and hear about their fellow citizens. Intimate knowledge about fellow citizens enables the Talean to predict behavior and, in particular, to predict a man's trustworthiness and capabilities as a leader. If a man is known to be able and he is willing to be a leader, Taleans will delegate to him the necessary authority to carry out this role. If a leader fails he suffers from town gossip, but is not punished directly and publicly. Furthermore, men in Talea are frequently interacting and discussing town policy. By means of this communication the degree to which individuals continu- ally share opinions about governing policies is great. Leaders in Talea are kept in close touch with public opinion and can act in accordance with this information. In Juquila such communication is infrequent. Town officials are not in close touch with public opinion and cannot act accordingly. They, on the other hand, use the town meeting to have citizens discuss and decide town policy. The second striking divergence noted in the comparison of civil organization in Talea and Juquila is in recruitment and role specificity in civil positions. The concepts of balance and equality function with great strength in the actual behavior of Juquilans. In Talea, these concepts, although often stated, may be said to have only fictional value. Associated with this difference we find that social ranking and individual personality differences are largely ignored in the process by which Juquilans recruit citizens into municipal positions.' The Taleans, on the other hand, consciously emphasize social ranking and special personality qualities when choosing members of the civil organization. There are more men who could be chosen for the position of presidente or alcalde in Juquila than in Talea, where social ranking is developed to a point which allows an outsider to predict which men will become presidentes in the next year-a much more diffi- cult feat for an outsider in Juquila. We have noted that there is differential specification in the type of personalities chosen for various positions in the civil organizations. With regard to role defini- tion, we find that when the various positions are described ideally they cover more or less the same domain in both towns. It is only when we observe actual behavior that we notice a greater interchangeability of roles in the civil division of labor in Juquila. It is difficult to give a simple explanation for this contrast in role specificity-a contrast also noticed in the analysis of division of labor patterns. 6G. C. Homans, The Human Group (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1950), p. 365. In his dis- cussion of social change in Hilltown, Homans suggested the following related idea: "As the norms of a group decline in the degree to which they are clear to, and held in common by, all members of the group, so the ranking of members of the group will become less definite." 262 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison One important variable seems to be, not the respective population sizes of the towns (which are approximately the same), but the sizes of the groups which intermingle and the pattern and frequency of interaction. If we could accept the hypothesis that the larger the group interacting the greater the role differen- tiation in general this would suggest a possible explanation for the greater overlap of roles in Juquila, and the greater specificity of roles in Talea, but does this really explain? Perhaps the question to ask is what are the implications (for society or for the individual) of having statuses that are role specific? One factor has to do with power, and here we can apply the same arguments previously discussed in this chapter under authority distribution. Specificity of role, in its very exclusive aspects, allows a particular status more power. Juquilans would rather leave the role flexible because they do not wish to center power in particu- lar positions. This is a way of protecting the rights of the consensus. Another way of looking at this is that society is protecting the individual in the particular status from the dangers of witchcraft. By maintaining a sort of fluid area in which civil officials function, by having those men at the top of the hierarchy share power and authority, the danger is lessened of any one individual's being blamed for a given act. I have mentioned in this chapter that an official is sometimes paralyzed in decision-making situations if he thinks it appears that he and he alone is making the decision. In court cases (see chapter vi) the presidente and alcalde pass a case back and forth, each one hoping that the other will decide it. This comparative analysis of the civil organization not only indicates that similar social forms may be interpreted differently by those peoples who use them (that is, that Taleans and Juquilans may share an ideal structure but differ in practice), but that through time differences in practice will begin to be re- flected in the structure. The structural arrangement of municipal positions, which was inherited in part from the Spanish by both Talea and Juquila, during the past four hundred years have been gradually modified to fit the changing require- ments of life. For example, power arrangements as well as the actual positional arrangements in the hierarchy have changed, and these are changes in the formal structure of the civil organization. Let us take as an illustration of this the position of the principales. Positions in the hierarchy have not changed in Juquila at least since 1525, that is, in order to become a principal in Juquila an individual still has to go through the other steps first (policia through alcalde and presidente). In Talea, the position on the hierarchy order has changed, that is, a man may become a principal before he becomes presidente or alcalde. If we consider the power positions of the prin- cipales in both towns we have another change in structure. In Talea the princi- pales are exercising a power position similar to that which they had in 1525 when they left as part of a representative body to meet the "new king" Cortez. If, today, a group of Taleans went to Oaxaca to see the governor it is most likely that the principales would be the ones to go with or without the presidente. If, on the other hand, the Juquilans went to see the governor, it is certain that the prin- cipales would not go, rather the presidente and some bilingual Juquilans (if the presidente could not speak Spanish) would represent the town. The Juquilan principales are today advisors rather than leaders who represent the pueblo. 263 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Another example of change in structure concerns the place of entrance in the hierarchy. Talea has a modified version of the hierarchial form of Juquilan civil organization-whereby a man starts as policia and presumably works up the ladder to presidente, alcalde, and possibly principal, but where he enters the ladder in Talea depends on who he is and where he fits into the social strata. And his position in the social strata will depend on degree of formal education, ability to speak Spanish, and power position of his family in the town. This recognition of the facts of social stratification results in making certain positions exclusive: a monolingual Talean could not become presidente, but he could become an alcalde. A man who can type or who has completed six years of schooling, or who has come to the United States as a bracero, will never start out as a policia. It is unlikely that sons of principales would enter the hierarchy as policia, et cetera. Such exclusive recruitment changes the image of the vertical ladder for Talea; it becomes, instead, either two ladders standing vertically side by side, one with fewer rungs than the other (for those that enter at midpoint, the secretario level), or two ladders laid sideways one above the other for a Talean no longer may be progressing up the ladder when he passes from policia to regidor, but rather he is progressing sideways. Such structural rearrangements must always be at work in these viRlages as adaptations to growth in population, social stratification, and contact with the Mexican national scene. 264 CHAPTER VI GRIEVANCES AND REMEDY AGENTS THUS FAR, we have seen how social groupings in two closely related towns may vary in composition and activities. We have indicated that kinship, though im- portant in both places, is not the only factor of importance in social groupings. We further noted that the communities differ most strikingly in pattern of settlement, in density of population, and in the patterns of division of labor. Specifically, in the chapter on civil organization, we have seen that the problems of maintaining order and administering affairs in both towns vary in accordance with these differences. We have throughout considered some of the implications that arise from a difference in mode of settlement. This chapter compares the kinds of grievances that arise in each town and the ways in which such grievances may be handled by individual citizens and elected town officials. (A grievance will be used here to mean a cause of complaint, an injustice.) It is important to note that uniform conditions for collecting data on conflict and control in each community did not exist and that there were serious prob- lems in trying to obtain such information. That conflict-strife situations exist at all is usually denied by members of both towns. This is especially true in Talea, where a visitor, shortly after arrival, is often told that Talea is a peaceful town where strife and conflict never occur, and, further, that in the surrounding towns the situation is quite the contrary. It is true that some towns gain a reputation for being especially discordant but the members of these towns will generally repudiate this general reputation by citing individuals as exceptions to the rule of peace. I found it difficult to discuss conflict with these people because they denied it existed. In retrospect, it was found that the kind of data collected dealing with conflict situations was determined in large part by chance situations. It was impossible to follow a careful pre-field plan as in other areas of investigation, such as ritual kinship or the division of labor. The first court materials obtained were from Talea. Despite the difficulties, a Talean citizen was persuaded to collect a fairly detailed description of all the cases that entered the presidente's office during one month's time, a total of sixty dif- ferent cases. This material was supplemented by cases gathered, again by a Talean, from the alcalde's office. At the same time I tried to collect cases directly from the court officials; they most unwillingly recounted five cases which they said were the only conflicts which occurred during one month's time. The discrepancy be- tween this official report and the sample of sixty cases made it clear that it was not profitable to be direct about obtaining court information in Talea. The situation in Juquila was more impenetrable and impossible. The very few records that are kept in this town are not to be found in any one place, but are scattered all over the courtroom. Apart from this, the records were not satisfac- torily detailed. This may be related to the fact that the officials in Juquila, in- cluding the town secretary, were usually so deeply under the influence of alcohol that I was often asked to type the reports that had to be sent to the district court [265] University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. in Villa Alta. It was impossible to obtain a month's sample from this town. The bulk of reliable information about the Juquilan courts was obtained, after his retirement, from an alcalde, who also rechecked information given by other mem- bers of the town. The second source of reliable information came from the Juquilan ranchers, people with whom the investigator had intimate daily contact. Other cases were collected at random. Apart from this court case material, further information on grievances was elicited in the form of noncourt materials, that is, reports of grievance situations which were resolved outside the court systems. The best records of these cases were those made while the heat and indignation of a conflict were still alive. People, who rarely discussed "dead" conflicts, were most willing to talk at this time. Other cases were collected by asking individuals about their neighbors' problems, but the discussion of other people's problems was thought to be bad because it was gossipy so none of this material was easy to elicit. In the preliminary sorting of these data I attempted an analysis which, although tentative, may be worth while commenting upon briefly. I worked out an arbitrary classification of grievances into complaint (a formal allegation against a party- an allegation being an assertion, unsupported and by implication unsupportable), conflict (a struggle occasioned by incompatible desires, aims, et cetera, which may or may not be supportable by evidence), and strife (an angry dispute arising from momentary aggravations usually supportable by evidence and usually occur- ring in public view). In both communities when a grievance situation develops to a point where a remedy is sought, there are three kinds of agents which may be appealed to: the court, the family, and the supernatural. I refer to these agents as remedy agents. The function of the court, the family, and the supernatural in providing remedies for grievances differs in each community, and, indeed, within each community there are particular factors which influence an individual's choice of remedies. When I worked out this classification of grievances I was attempting to discover (by definition) the distinctive features of the particular grievances which were taken to a particular remedy agent. Preliminary analysis yielded some general tendencies: Taleans took complaints to witches, conflicts to all three remedy agents, and strife only to the court; in Juquila the pattern was the same except that strife was usually handled by the individuals themselves without their going to any remedy agents. I ran into trouble, however, even with the aid of informants, deciding whether, for example, a grievance should be classed as a complaint or as a conflict. The answer to this dilemma is obvious; a much more promising kind of analysis would have been to investigate how the Taleans and Juquilans classify grievances, how they themselves think, what they would consider as evidence, et cetera. Since I did not do this in my early field work the following three sections will be limited to a description of how remedy agents are used to settle particular grievances. THE COURT SYSTEM Three town officials constitute the town court of justice: the presidente, the alcalde, and the slndico. Both the presidente and the sindico have administrative as well as judicial duties. These administrative duties have been described in the previous 266 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison chapter, where it was also reported that the duties of an alcalde were only judicial. Every January, before the new term begins, these officials receive brief instructions of office from the state-appointed officials in the district office in Villa Alta. The court duties of these three officials are commonly described as follows. It is said that the presidente deals with the lighter problems-disputes that may be resolved easily. This would include such conflicts as those that arise between man and wife, between creditor and debtor, and between drunken individuals. The presidente also handles cases of "rebellion in the ranks," that is, when individuals refuse to comply with citizen obligations. Those cases of family conflict, debt, and assault and battery due to drunkenness that remain unresolved by the presidente are then passed to the alcalde. If these cases remain unresolved by the alcalde, they are usually passed on to the district court in Villa Alta. There is overlap in the kinds of conflicts treated by the presidente and the alcalde, the seriousness rather than the class of grievance determining whether it is passed into the hands of the alcalde. The sindico, however, is responsible for processing a special class of prob- lems, those classed as crimes (delitos). It is the duty of the sindico to investigate all crimes such as murder and theft. It is the sindico who gives impartial judgment in the settlement of property disputes. If he is unable to resolve property and theft disputes, he is supposed to refer such cases to the alcalde. All murder cases are directly referred to Villa Alta by the sindico. This is the division of court duties as described by the court officials themselves and as described and recognized by the citizens of the town. The fact that this division of labor is not strictly adhered to is to be expected. A powerful or wise presidente may succeed in resolving many cases that an incompetent one would shift to the alcalde. Or the administrative or personal duties of a presidente may make it impossible for him to be present to deal with conflict cases. In such situa- tions the sfndico could substitute for the presidente. Or both presidente and alcalde may be averse to making decisions and may shift cases back and forth until the plaintiffs either withdraw their cases or seek aid outside the village court system, a situation which is usual in Juquila but not in Talea. Further, there are situa- tions which are ambiguous enough to fit into any one of several categories. Such ambiguity is often not resolved by any of the three court officials, who, instead, may handle such a case at an open town meeting by discussion and then decide by a town vote of judgment. The ideals of office require that these three officials be impartial, wise judges of disputes. They are supposed to listen to a dispute and render decisions that will bind the conflict. Specifically, the duty of these men in handling disputes is to hacer el balance, to make things balance out. The Spanish word justicia is most generally used when speaking Zapotec, but the concept of justice is expressed in Zapotec when a plaintiff tells a defendant, "Vamos a hacer erj.goonz." The way the court attempts to make the balance, the power it exerts, and the kind of action taken to effect these and other goals is peculiar to each town. These variations will be discussed in the following pages and a selection of several cases drawn from each town will be presented as examples of the manner in which disputes are handled. 267 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. THE COURT IN JUQUILA The municipio or town hall of Juquila is a small building, only a few years old. Its modern aspects are especially noted on cold, damp, and windy days. This is the kind of weather when cement floors and the large windows designed to let in light usually freeze the occupants, who may comment on the utility of dirt floors and pass around a bottle of mezeal for warmth. As one enters this building he finds himself facing the court: the presidente, the alcalde, and the sindico. To the left of the entrance is the desk of the presi- dente's secretary and to the right is the desk of the alcalde's secretary. During the day this building is often closed and locked and only a few policia stand around outside. In fact, for some time it was impossible to find out when court was held. Ideally the officials should be around town, but often they are out on their lands tending to personal agricultural tasks. A policia informed me that court business was most lively on the weekends, and indeed Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Monday after market are times when the courtroom is most busy. Problems that arise during the week are usually heard around 5:00 A.M. before the men go out to work, or after they have had supper at night. The officials are sometimes there together, but more often some are there and some are not, or they may walk in and out of the court while a dispute is being heard. It is the job of this court to receive and listen to the grievances of its citizens. A citizen who brings a grievance to the court must enter with "respect" for the court. The plaintiff enters the municipio with this "respect" in the form of a bottle of mezeal. He speaks to the presidente, "Please accept this respect and do me the honor of emptying this bottle." The presidente accepts the bottle and calls a policia to bring him a jigger. He pours the first shot for the plaintiff saying, "Do me the favor of ridding this drink of its poison." Then, the bottle passes to all those present in the court. After this ceremonial drinking is over the plaintiff may present his grievance. If an individual does not bring mezeal with him, he is usually gently asked, "Did you not bring any respect to this court?" This drink is not considered a bribe. It is not considered appropriate to bring presents of any kind into the court room for the officials, but the respect in the form of mezcal is presented by the plaintiff openly and generously to the court. The Juquilan court is not a paternalistic court. The court does not readily interfere to look for redress in situations where a party has not complained. The few cases recorded of court interference in "private" quarrels are those involving women or fights which occur in front of the municipio building. A Juquilan court will not bring a drunken man lying in the street into the courtroom and charge him with drunkenness; they do not interfere in quarrels an individual may be having with a witch or a neighbor until one or the other party asks for help. Similarly, unless a wife complains that her husband is beating her, they will let her resolve her own marital problems. Usually the court will take the initiative when it is protecting its own interests, that is, when an individual has refused to pay town taxes or when a man has not appeared for communal labor projects. The Juquilan courts exist to protect the town's interests as well as individuals who come to the court with complaints. The court does not take the responsibility of 268 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison reforming citizens, nor does the court take the initiative in defining new laws with this purpose or any other in mind. When an individual complains to one of these three court officials, the court must investigate the situation before it takes action. The court must first get in touch with the accused. Nothing can be determined until both sides have been given an opportunity to present their conflicting views. The main task of legal procedure then is to investigate. Its purpose is to arrive at a judgment. How this is performed in Juquila is illustrated in the following cases. Bartolo was returning home from the market in Talea late Monday eve when he met a fellow Juquilan, Felipe. Both of them had been drinking. They walked along together. Soon they began arguing and insults began to fly. Suddenly Felipe punched Bartolo in the head, according to Bartolo, for no reason at all. Bartolo extracted himself and ran ahead to place his complaint in the municipio, whereupon the policia were ordered by the alcalde to bring the accused to the court. The policia couldn't find Felipe at home; his wife said he hadn't arrived yet from the market. The policia left Felipe's home to scout around the house. They focused their flashlights behind the nearby house of Felipe's brother-in-law and found the accused crouched there, hiding. The policia took him back to the court. When the accused saw the plaintiff, he told the alcalde that this man was a brujo, a witch. Then Felipe brought out parts of a skull and other bones as evidence that the other man had tried to "witch" him. He said that another brujo had told him at the market in Talea that the first man to insult him en route home would be the man who was doing him harm. Felipe continued to say that Bartolo was trying to kill him and that was why he had struck Bartolo. The alcalde then asked Bartolo to explain his story. Bartolo said that he had gone to sell beans in Talea, and that this man had hit him to take his money. "While he was hitting me, his brother-in-law stole my money." But Felipe interrupted to say that the diviner had told him that Bartolo was witching him. The alcalde then suggested that Felipe present the diviner to see if this man was really a witch. The mezeal that was being drunk was taking effect and the argument was becoming more heated. At this point the alcalde gave up. He turned to the presidente who had meanwhile come in, and said that they, the plaintiff and defendant, were making his head turn, that he couldn't resolve the case. The presidente asked the alcalde what kind of a decision had occurred to him and the alcalde replied that he was thinking of fining Felipe 40 pesos damages for Bartolo who said he had lost this much en route. The presidente said that since there were no witnesses the 40 pesos should stay as a fine, in the municipio, to help pay for costs at hand. And so, the money was paid. Both men signed a convenio and, according to the alcalde, "alli muri6 el asunto" (there died the matter). * * * * * This case originated in the following way. A Sr. Tomas Miguel had a house next door to his aunt Sra. Lupe Andres. The two houses shared a common corridor. Not long ago Tomas Miguel sold his house to Antonio Lopez because he was moving out of the town center to a new settlement nearby. Lupe Andres was quite angered to hear this news. Because Tomas Miguel was her own nephew, he should not have sold the house to another person outside the family. From the moment that Antonio Lopez moved into his new house, Lupe and Antonio did not get along well. One night, the fiesta of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Antonio Lopez got drunk. In this state he wandered over to Lupe's house and stood in her doorway. Lupe got angry and pulled Antonio right into her house. When Antonio's wife, Trinidad, saw this, she went to pull her husband back. But the chance was too good and Lupe and her daughter began to beat Trinidad and finally succeeded in knocking out one of Trinidad's teeth. When this happened, Trinidad left the scene in order to complain to the municipio. When she had presented her complaint, they sent for Lupe. Lupe denied that she had fought with Trinidad at all, saying that it was Trinidad's own husband who had beat her. Because she would only talk lies, the alcalde could not take her declaration. Instead, he ordered that she spend two days in jail. When the two days were up, the alcalde himself went to take her out of the jail, but she 269 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. stubbornly refused to leave declaring that she was fine in jail, that her brother provided her with whatever she needed and there she would stay. Four days passed. On the eve of the fourth day, the secretary of the presidente went to persuade the woman to leave the jail. She replied that if the alcalde wished her to leave she would, but, if not, the jail was as comfortable as her house, that her brother provided her with all that she needed. The alcalde appeared and opened the door. Upon leaving she handed him an envelope. It was evident from the letter that she had complained to the Agente del Ministerio Publico in Villa Alta saying that she was being unjustly detained. This letter was an order from the agente to the alcalde advising him to set her free in order that both the plaintiff and defendant go to Villa Alta to settle the matter. The woman returned to the house of her brother that night as her husband had refused to take her side in the case. The next day Lupe decided not to take the case to Villa Alta but the alcalde forced her to go, accompanied by two policia, the plaintiff, Trinidad, and the tooth. When the investigator asked the alcalde to predict the outcome of the case, he said Trinidad was sure to win because she had the tooth as evidence. * * * * * A married man, Sr. Manuel Yescas, had struck a Sra. Natividad Dominguez during an argu- ment. Natividad's husband went to place the complaint against Manuel. The alcalde sent a policia to bring Manuel to the court, but he refused to come. Then the alcalde sent two policia but this time the accused was ready to receive them with a machete and the two policia returned to the court alone. Finally, the alcalde sent four policia with clubs and rope. The four men waited outside the house all night. At dawn the accused left the house to relieve himself. It was then that the policia caught him, tied him, and brought him to jail. He stayed there for three days. Manuel's wife, a witch, asked a relative by the name of Macario to write to the Agente del Ministerio Publico in Villa Alta accusing the alcalde of unjustly imprisoning her husband. The alcalde then sent a detailed report to the agente outlining the case. In answer the agente sent an order that the alcalde carry out justice as he saw fit. The alcalde fined the man 30 pesos which the accused said he could not pay. In place of the fine the alcalde ordered the accused to spend three days repairing the bridge at the river below the town. (This case the alcalde thought caused the witching of his son.) * * * * * This trouble occurred during a fiesta. A man from the new settlement nearby, by name Gilberto Pascual, came to the fiesta and was invited to a drink by a Juquilan, Guadalupe Reyes. The mezeal was served in a glass instead of a jigger and Gilberto toasted Guadalupe and proceeded to drink the whole glass. Guadalupe was angered and called Gilberto a poacher, whereupon Gilberto bought another glass for Guadalupe saying, "Take this so you won't feel you've lost something." Guadalupe refused so Gilberto threw it in his face and there began a free-for-all fight. Guadalupe had been in the army and knew how to beat Gilberto. The latter was beginning to look badly hurt when someone notified the policia. When the hearing began in the municipio, Guadaiupe took the blame. The presidente was arranging the fine when los del pueblo (some of the men in the pueblo) arrived saying that if the presidente fined Guadalupe, it would be bad justice. They so insisted that the presidente was forced to free both men without fining either one. These cases have been chosen in order to delineate a few characteristics of legal procedure in the Juquilan courts. The characteristics mentioned below recur often enough to warrant describing them as those qualities which most distinguish legal procedure in Juquila from that in Talea. The first case illustrates a point suggested earlier about the division of duties in the court. In actual practice a case need not proceed in irreversible order from the presidente to the sindico or alcalde. It may start with the alcalde if the presi- dente is not present, and, if the alcalde is not able to make a decision, he may refer it back to the presidente. In the words of one informant, "para no cargar la viga lo pasa al sindico, or al presidente" (In order not to carry the blame he passes the case to the sindico or to the presidente). The final decision made by the presidente 270 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison in this first case is based upon the fact that the plaintiff had no witness, and, although the defendant in fact loses the case and is fined 40 pesos, the plaintiff's case is not considered strong enough to be awarded damages. The second case illustrates the fact that persons accused of crime may be de- tained and subjected to pressure to make them confess. The woman in this case was jailed for two days because she would not confess to having committed a tort. (In serious robbery cases individuals may be hung upside down from a post in order to coerce the accused into confession.) In this case the woman was aware that keeping a prisoner in jail for more than twenty-four hours before trial is a violation of Mexican law. Her action in staying in jail even longer voluntarily was perhaps aimed at giving her accusation in the district court more weight. The citizenry's growing awareness of the inconsistencies that exist between local legal procedure and state legal procedure gives an individual citizen a bargaining posi- tion. In this case, however, the evidence was so overwhelmingly against the de- fendant that it was unlikely that her "illegal" imprisonment would affect the outcome of the case. We may note here that a judgment or incumbent judgment of the town court does not necessarily end a case. A defendant may appeal to an external court. This is very common in Juquila. Rarely are serious cases settled within the town court system. In the third case we are provided with an example of a court official's obtaining official permission from the district court to make a judgment. Thus, a court officer may appeal to an external court for advice and protection. He is more likely to do this in Juquila when there is fear that the defendant may use witchcraft as a means of vengeance. This leads to a fifth point, external factors to the court such as witchcraft and interpersonal relations may influence the judgment and execution of judgment made. In the fourth case the presidente receives a dispute. He investigates the case and makes a judgment that the defendant was guilty as charged by the plaintiff and therefore should pay a fine. The defendant's fellow citizens strongly insist that this is bad justice and the presidente finds himself both outnumbered and overruled. He reverses the decision. The court of justice may be overruled by an informal group of townsmen who choose to abogar or defend the case of the de- fendant. One might choose also to interpret this overruling as a form of appeal. Two further points should be mentioned here in connection with legal procedure. The cost of obtaining justice in a Juquilan court is a very common grievance. The cost of the "respect" that the plaintiff must present to the court in the form of mezeal is often prohibitive. Ten pesos worth of mezeal represents from two to three days work and, as many citizens complain, it does not pay in most cases to take a grievance to court because they may lose more financially than they gain, and the chance of winning a case is just that-a chance. (The cost of obtaining justice, it may be noted, is one of the oldest and most common grievances throughout the history of the English common-law system.) Citizens expressed a general hostility and suspicion toward everything associated with the court system. An increasing number of Juquilans are beginning to take advantage of market day in Talea in order to bring their disputes into the Talean courts where it is not a custom to bring the "respect" mezeal into the courtroom. 271 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. The Juquilan court does not record cases in detail; the record consists of only the short statement that is sent to Villa Alta when a case is referred to that court. The final purpose of this court procedure is to arrive at a judgment or decision about the grievance before the court. It is considered the responsibility and duty of the court to execute or carry out the verdict of the court. Self-help is considered an illegal resolution to most serious crimes. The one exception most often quoted is robbery; if a man catches a thief in process of stealing, he may kill the thief and not expect to be liable for murder. Indeed, in such cases even the family of the thief does not object. Neither party is required to make an appearance in the court. We may summarize this by saying that an individual may in exceptional cases judge and execute his own verdict with no fear of later incrimination and no need to justify such homicide publicly. The Juquilan court is responsible for collecting fines and damages, and assumes the responsibility for the execution of a court decision. Capital punishment and banishment can only be inflicted by approval of the townsmen at a town meeting. There are some verdicts that can be executed only by town consensus. TALEAN AND JUQULIAN COURTS: A COMPARISON The municipio in Talea is a building that the citizens began to construct during the second decade of this century. It is situated to one side of the market place and nestles among the multitude of houses in the town center. As one enters the presidencia he finds himself facing the desks of the presidente and the sindico. To his left is the tesorero and to the right sits the secretario. To one side of the presi- dencia is the juzgado. The president's office is open from 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. On market days, when there is an unusual amount of court activity, the presidente's office will not close until 8: 00 P.M. The juzgado is open all day Monday and during the week when the alcalde is either hearing a case or awaiting referral from the presidente's office. There is no "respect" in the form of mezeal in either one of these court offices, although, sometimes, upon winning a case an individual may buy a bottle of mezcal for the court. In Talea, the court is supposed to be conducted in serious, well- ordered fashion, without alcohol, which is considered shameful in this setting. In 1957, the presidente of Talea was a happy-go-lucky individual who enjoyed drink- ing. When there was nothing to do in the municipio, he would spend his time at a nearby cantina. People began complaining. The father of the presidente's secretary went to the presidente and threatened to withdraw his son from the secretarial position because he had not sent his son to serve the town from a cantina. The Talean court is supposed to be, and generally is, a place where a citizen may present his grievances and expect the full attention of the court. In Juquila the drinking and "discontrol" of the court contrasts strikingly with this description for Talea. It is not for us to say which court serves the citizen body best. However, it is pertinent to mention that the contrasting setting of each court results in the court's serving different purposes. The very fact that the Juquilan court allows both court officials and plaintiff and defendant to drink encourages the use of the courtroom as a place where an individual may not only voice his grievances but may also "vent his spleen," and under semicontrolled 272 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison conditions. The presidente of Juquila describes the following situation. "A wife accused her husband of having beat her. The husband was brought to court. As the discussion wore on, much mezeal was being consumed; the wife began to mellow. When the presidente announced his decision to fine the husband, she rose in his defense saying that he was not really responsible because he was drunk when he struck her." Such a situation would not be likely to arise under the formal con- ditions of the Talean court. The procedure there tends rather to strengthen each individual's belief that a wrong has been done. The citizen's view of the function of the courts may be summarized by quoting two statements. The first was made to me by a Talean woman, the second by a Juquilan woman. The Talean said: "It is shameful for the court officials to accept bribes, for aren't they the fathers of the townspeople? It is their duty to carry out justice as a father would do for his children." On an occasion, when I asked a Juqulian woman whether husbands and wives use the courts to settle marital diffi- culties, she exclaimed: "Why should I, are they my parents that I should take my troubles to them?" In comparison with Juquila, the Talean court may be described as a particularly paternalistic court. The presidente is referred to as el padre del pueblo (the father of the town). The court may readily look for redress in a situation where a party has not complained. Any drunken individual is likely to be picked up off the street, thrown into jail, and later fined for having been drunk. On market day, if the policia notice the least bit of argument and pushing anywhere, they, under orders from the presidente, jail the offenders. Neither party to an argument need com- plain. If a man in intoxicated glory gives forth with the famed Mexican grito (shout), he will be hauled into the court in Talea and fined. This may be inter- preted as "paternalistic," that is, the court is protecting community interests. How- ever, it is the investigator's belief that the Talean court has modeled this sort of initiative with more practical considerations in mind. This is blatantly expressed in the following quote from field notes. "Carlos's padrino told us with glee that when he was presidente in 1929, when the municipio was still being built, he would send a regidor out on Mondays with money especially destined to be used to get visiting Juquilans drunk. The court would jail them for drunkenness and the following day would fine them a day or two labor on the municipal building." In January 1960, when the treasury needed replenishing for the big fiesta of the year, the presidente ruled that any individual echando un grito (coming out with a shout) would be fined five pesos for each grito. In Talea, laws governing personal behavior are being redefined with economic gain in mind. Although this motive may be easily and unselfconsciously expressed by Talean citizens, court officials stalwartly insist that such laws are being created to impress the neighboring towns as well as the citizens of Talea with peace and orderliness.' As in Juquila, court officials must investigate each grievance presented to them before they take action. Those involved in the grievance are summoned and both 1 That law courts should be used for purposes other than the maintenance of peace and order is not unique to the Zapotec. Throughout the development of the British common law, the king's court was well known for defining property laws with economic gain in mind. 273 274 University of California PulzTications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. sides present their cases before the court renders a judgment. The following cases will be quoted in order to isolate specific regularities in legal procedure which may be compared with the Juquilan materials. This case was referred to the alcalde by the presidente of Talea. One night Camilio Montano beat up his coneztno,2 Jose Vasquez, who was in such a drunken state as not to be able to defend himself. Jose complained to the municipio and the polieia went after the defendant. Camilio eluded the policia and left for Villa Alta where he presented his case to the Agente del Ministerio Pu4blico. The latter communicated with the sindico in Talea and, upon return to Talea, Camilio was immediately jailed for having disrespected the town court by going to Villa Alta. The case was heard by the alcalde. Jose declared that on the 28th of June, which was a day of fiesta, he had drunk a bit too much. About ten o'clock that night, he met his concuno and they began to fight. Jose, seeing that he was losing out, escaped to advise the policia. Then Camilio confessed that because he was drunk he got into this fight and that because he was ignorant he had gone to the Agente del Ministerio Publico to ask for help. Now he wished to have the alcalde in Talea handle the difficulty, especially since it concerned family. He apologized to Jose who pardoned him and withdrew his case saying that as a husband and father he could not waste time pursuing such conflicts. Camilio paid a fine of 50 pesos and both plaintiff and defendant agreed not to bear any further grudges as a result of this incident. * * * * * Rosalia Miguel appeared in court to complain that her husband was keeping their twelve-year- old son from attending school. She asked the court to help her by convincing her husband of the necessity of educating one's children. At the same time, she asked that no mention be made of her appearance in the court so that she would not have any difficulties with her husband. Rosalia's husband was summoned to the court. He defended his actions on grounds of ill health and serious economic conditions. The court promised to help the father with clothes and school materials for the child if the father took care of his son's other needs. Having agreed to this, the father left the child in the schoolmaster's care. * * * * * Having been detained overnight in jail, Francisco Chavez appeared in court today to render his declaration. The plaintiff, Manuel Gonzalez, also present, told the following story. The previous night at about eleven o'clock there were various people in his cantina drinking mezeal. When Manuel Gonzalez refused to serve Francisco Chavez any more alcohol on credit, the defend- ant struck Manuel a blow that made him fall over, and at this point grabbed the machete behind the table and attempted to stab (kill) the plaintiff. It was only because of the aid of the other men present that the machete was torn away from him. The plaintiff took advantage of this scuffle to run and call the policia. At this point, the presidente asked the defendant to speak. The defendant declared that it was true he had committed all these acts but that it was only because he was so drunk because, as everyone knows, he has never had reason to fight with Manuel Gon- zalez. The defendant asked that the court fine him. The court (the presidente) decided to fine both parties. The owner of the cantina was fined 25 pesos because he had violated the closing-hour rule set by the municipio. The defendant had to pay 100 pesos on a charge of battery and threat to kill. * * * * * Leon Mendoza complained to the municipio that some of his young coffee plants had been pulled out. He accused Alberto Manzana for this act as his land was adjacent to Mendoza's. The case was assigned to the sfndico by the presidente. The sindico, thereupon, began the investigation. He found that in fact fifteen young coffee plants had been torn from the soil. The accused at this time was not to be found in Talea and so the sindico passed the case to the alcalde. Upon arrival in the court, the defendant denied the accusation saying that he rarely visited that piece of land and that he had not been in town. Again, the sindico was asked to investigate the site with the alcalde and his staff. After long investigations, both the plaintiff and defendant were asked 2A term confined to the relationship between two persons who are married to brothers or sisters. Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison to produce the documents of land ownership. It was found that in actuality Leon Mendoza had planted his young coffee striplings on his neighbor's land. The alcalde then ordered that new boundary stones be set so that each land owner could better respect their mutual boundary lines. The two signed a convenio (agreement). Since it turned out that Leon Mendoza had been tres- passing on his neighbor's land he was fined 40 pesos. This decision was made in accordance with articles 382 and 385 of the Codigo Civil (Civil Code). As in the previous section on Juquilan legal procedure, we will use these cases as examples of special qualities which characterize legal procedure in the Talean courts. If one were learning how to be a good Talean citizen, the rule he should grasp from the first case is that a defendant should only refer to an external court if his case has previously been heard in the town court. Bypassing the local court is strongly frowned upon by Talean court officials, and it is relatively rare that Talean citizens carry their grievances to Villa Alta. This usually happens only in the most serious of property cases and in cases where the Talean court refuses to render a judgment because any outcome might jeopardize the town. Such a case occurred in 1959, when three teachers in town brought a case against four musi- cians. If the town court sided with the teachers, the musicians threatened not to play in the next fiesta. If the town court sided with the musicians, they would have to contend with the problem of filling three vacated teaching positions. Cases in Talea are heard in irreversible order from the presidente to the sindico or alcalde, and from the sfndico to the alcalde. Only unresolved cases continue to Villa Alta. In the words of one informant: "Better that our treasury should flourish than that of Villa Alta." From the second case described, we glean that the presidente in Talea is expected to prevent conflict as well as to resolve and pass judgments on conflicts presented in the court. He has the duty not only to enforce the law, but also to act as a counselor. In Juquila a court official may counsel a domestic relations case but he only gets a chance when there is a "legal" problem. The citizens of Juquila do not conceive of their court as a place of counsel. It is rather the place where a plaintiff may accuse a defendant and expect a just judgment. In Talea, the presidente has a variety of cases to counsel, cases which in Mexican law and our own would not be considered "legal" because they do not constitute a breach of law. The third case described was quoted in order to delineate a particularly impor- tant characteristic of Talean legal procedure and one that has many ramifications. The Talean court recognizes the importance of the "cooling off period" before discussing a case, in particular if it functions also as a "sobering up" period. It is not considered wise, indeed it is not even feasible for a case to be heard in Talea if either the plaintiff or defendant is drunk. As one may imagine, this sets quite a different tone to court proceedings in Talea from that in Juquila. A person is more likely to plead guilty to a battery accusation if he is sober and if he has had time to cool off the heat of the argument. In Juquila, an individual, in the heat of con- flict and alcohol, may use the court as a place "to vent his spleen," as mentioned earlier. He may take a position that he may not want to support when he returns to a more sober state. The last case was mentioned to illustrate the presence and use of an appeal court 275 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. within the town of Talea.' It further illustrates the use of the Codigo Civil to strengthen the position and decision-making powers of the Talean alcalde. It is pertinent to mention here several other points of court procedure. The Talean court may not use physical force to coerce confession to a crime. Further, it does not seem necessary in T'alea: one of the regularities noted from an analysis of the cases was the willingness of Talean defendants to plead guilty. The Talean court keeps a detailed record of all the trouble cases handled by the alcalde. They also keep superficial accounts of the lesser cases handled by the president's office. The implications, if any, of the presence or absence of written records for questions of legal procedure is a subject worthy of investigation. In this last case it seems that the presence of written records in Talea gave the alcalde a sense of being protected, for the written precedent, apart from often being valued more than oral precedent in present-day Talea, gives the alcalde bargaining power with the dis- trict court should his judgment be challenged there. The Talean court has the power or right to fine and collect damages. It does not have the right to banish citizens or inflict capital punishment. The townsmen, at a town meeting, may inflict banishment upon its citizens, but, unlike their counterparts in Juquila, they may not impose a verdict of capital punishment. (Of course capital punishment is no longer practiced in Juquila today.) The contrast between Juquilan and Talean legal procedure is summarized in the tabulation on page 277. In the minds of the people of Talea and Juquila the three categories-court, family, and supernatural-are all intimately related, and what happens in one of these areas often affects what is to happen in another. In the preceding pages we have noted some of the reasons which stimulate citizens to seek remedies in the courts and some of the ways court officials decide on and execute remedies. This has been illustrated by actual cases that have reached the courts. The fact that remedies for these particular grievances were sought in the courts rather than elsewhere indicates that the grievances involved were dis- tinctive because the vast body of conflict-strife situations never reach the court at all. How people are to resolve conflicting interests and how they are to remedy strife situations are problems with which all societies have to deal. Usually a society finds not one but many ways of handling such problems. The following sections will describe and analyze both the remedies that are available to citizens outside the court and the class of individuals who may decide and execute such remedies. The reader should keep in mind that the categories, court, family, and supernatural are a construct of the investigator, created in an attempt to divide this subject matter into analyzable units. THE FAMILY SYSTEM The family as remedy agent plays a restricted role. As illustrated below, if there is a grievance between two unrelated parties, their respective families usually The implications of the presence of an appeal court in Talea and its absence in Juquila are discussed in a separate paper, "Variations in Legal Procedures among the Rinc6n Zapotec," to be published in El Homenaje al Ingeniero Roberto J. Weitlaner. 276 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison will not interfere (unless one party is a minor). In the case of grievances between two related parties, however, families will indeed often act as mediators, arbi- trators, and adjudicators, depending on the position of the specific remedy agent. THE COURT SYSTEM Officers and procedures In Talea In Juquila Court officials Presidente................................... Sfndico ........................................ Alcalde........................................ Rights of judgment and execution Right of court officials to execute judgment through: Fines....................................... Damages .................................... Right of town meeting to execute judgment through: Fines........................................ Damages .................................... Banishment................................. Capital punishment......................... Right of overruling court judgments by: Town meeting................................. Informal citizen groups......................... District court.................................. Right of court to appeal to: Town meeting................................. District court.................................. Right of individual to appeal to: Town appeal court (i.e., juzgado)............... Town meeting................................. District court.................................. Right of court officials to judge a case proceeds: Court records................................... Right of court to force confession by physical coercive methods................................. Cost and distance (physical space) as delay in obtaining court justice........................... Right of court to initiate cases................... x x x x x 0 0 x 0 0 0 x 0 X (rare) x 0 X (rare) in irreversible order: presidente- sfndico-alcalde or presidente-alcalde written 0 0 x (common) x x x x x x x x x x x x x X (common) 0 0 X (common) often on basis of expediency-ideal order is as stated for Talea not written x x X (rare) This generalization holds for both towns, although the particular pattern of appro- priate family members to act as remedy agents differs in the two towns, as does the use of self-help. The following paragraphs describe the environmental settings in which griev- ances are born, as well as the use of self-help and family agents for the resolution of such problems. Both kin and nonkin litigants are described in this section in an effort to contextualize the role of the family. I I 277 278 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. CONFLICT SETTINGS IN TALEA Conflict relations develop for a myriad of reasons; adultery, drunkenness, debts, land boundaries, inheritance, gossip, robbery, and many others. The settings in which such grievances reach a point where one or all parties seek a remedy are to a great extent patterned and therefore predictable. In fact, such settings are often described by informants as being "trouble spots." If a woman is arguing with another woman over a debt, it is likely that she will be doing this at the well, in the market, outside the mill, or while working on the same lands during the coffee harvest. If two men with conflicting interests should meet in a cantina or in the market place, it is in these places that an argument would be most likely to reach a pitch which would make it imperative to find a remedy. Talean women never fight in cantinas and criticize Juquilan women for doing so. Conflicting interests or strife between husband and wife will usually develop in the home. These conflict settings may be charted as follows: Conflicting parties Settings f vsf mVs m mVs f m vsf f VS m (M) f vs m (UM) 1) Well ............. X O O 0 2) Mill ............. X 0 0 0 3) Coffee harvest X.... X0 0 0 4) Neighborhood.... X 0 X 5) Market .......... X X 0 X 6) Home ............ 0 0 X 0 7) Cantina .......... 0 X 0 0 NOTE: f denotes female; m, male; (M), married; (UM), unmarried. REMEDY AGENTS IN TALEA When a conflict occurs between nonkinsmen, the person or persons may seek a remedy by using himself as a remedy agent (self-help) or by using the court as a remedy agent (allowing the court to judge and decide a case). There are no persons outside the court (excepting a witch) to whom a person could go formally to present a case for arbitration or mediation. However, if the conflict is serious enough that community welfare is threatened, a third party, usually a group, may take the initiative to step in and remedy the situation without being asked. The following case is an example: Pedro's mother washed at the well called Los Remedios. As is the custom, each woman in the neighborhood had her special slab of stone on which to wash her clothes. Sometimes a woman would arrive to use her stone and it would be occupied by another. If she asked the trespasser to move, the latter might insult her for her lack of generosity and then words might begin to fly. Or a woman might "accidentally" splash water on another woman's dress and old grievances would be remembered and more fuel added to the fire. Sometimes these problems became serious conflicts and were referred by one of the parties to the municipio. Sometimes they would simply simmer down on the spot. One year it was noticed that the water began to dry up at Los Remedios. This was blamed on the great amount of bickering and fighting that had gone on at this well. The men's Well Association, created to protect and maintain the wells, had a meeting and decided Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison 279 to renovate the well. They removed all the stones, previously considered private property, and built two dozen cement tublike affairs for washing. It was stated that no one could own or reserve a space for washing. The priest was then asked to bless the new well and from then on there was water. If two men are arguing over the division of harvest resulting from work en com- pania (in partnership), they either resolve their own conflict or the case proceeds to the court. They do not appeal to kinsmen, friends, or neighbors to counsel for- mally in such cases. When a conflict occurs between kinsmen, there are a number of persons to whom an individual may appeal. Let us take an example of a husband-wife conflict. Pedro's son was married. As his wife was an only child, he went to live with his wife's family. Very soon after the marriage, Pedro's daughter-in-law came to him with the complaint that her husband was always drunk, that he did not work, and that he did not treat her well. The father warned his son to behave better. Soon the daughter-int-law complained again. This time the father whipped his son, but all this was to no avail, so the padrinos de pano (godparents of the marriage) and later the town priest stepped in to try to remedy the now very serious situation. One night the son came home very drunk and beat his wife. The conflict gained momentum. The wife had tried various remedy agents with no success. What was left? She retired her case to the town court officials.4 Thus in nonkin conflicts, apart from self-help, aid in finding a remedy is solicited from the town court. In conflicts between kinsmen, there are various remedy agents: parents, parents-in-law, godparents, the town priest, and the town court. CONFLICT SETTINGS IN JUQUILA In the Juquila town center grievances seem to reach a crescendo in some of the same physical settings as in Talea, that is, the well, the neighborhood, at home, and at the Talean market, but more crucial than place here is the time setting in which the conflict or strife occurs. Juquila is a semivacant town. It is most reason- able to expect conflicts to blossom during fiesta time when the majority of the citizens return to the town. And we do find that this is the busiest time for the court. On the ranchos, however, Juquilan families have no common wells. Houses are not close enough to be "neighborly." There is no mill anywhere in Juquila, either in the town center or on the ranch lands. Thus, as might be expected, the most common setting for Juquila conflict crescendo is the Talean market and the path- ways back to the ranch areas. If we look at the Talean market place as a potential conflict setting, we realize the very fact that fines in the T'alean court are high and that the Juquilans are in Talea and not on their own lands determines to some degree the outburst of conflicts there. REMEDY AGENTS IN JUQUILA In conjunction with the interaction patterns described in the chapter on social groupings, one might predict that there would be fewer remedy agents on the Juquilan ranchos than in Talea, and indeed this is so. When there are people 4 It is interesting to note that a woman will usually seek her father-in-law as remedy agent if she does not live in a patrilocal or patrisponsored household, and that she will appeal to her own parents if she lives with her in-laws or in a house sponsored by them. University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. living close by or when the court is a few minutes away, one is more likely to refer to them for aid than if one had to walk miles to do so. On the Juquilan ranchos, when a conflict occurs between people who are not related, the parties involved most usually seek remedies by self-help methods. This is the preferable way to deal with conflicting interests here, and only in very serious situations will a rancher take his case to the Juquilan courts. As mentioned earlier, the cost of justice seems prohibitive. Also there appear to be no remedy agents to mediate conflict except self-help and appeal to the court. If a third party volunteers to mediate a case, it is certain that all the parties concerned will end up in court, the moral being that one should not interfere in the problems of another. People prefer, by means of self-help, to resolve their own conflicts. The following is an example of this. A ranch family had a field of corn robbed of its harvest. The woman in this family accused a neighbor, by name, Marcelino, of having robbed them by night. Marcelino denied this and became infuriated at the unjust accusation. That night when the accusors had retired, Marcelino crept up to their house and smashed the slabs of stone that the woman used for washing, shouting challenges to the accusors to come out and saying that unless they could find corn in his rancho, he would use his machete to deal with them. There was no response from within. There was no appeal to the court for damages. The conflict died with the smashing of the stone washing slabs. In conflict between kinsmen, the complainant may appeal to other kinsmen as remedy agents, but only direct lineal relatives or parents-in-law. Godparents are only very rarely called upon in the town center and the ranchers state that this is not the business of godparents. If an individual does not have living parents or parents-in-law, he does not look to surrogate parents (for example, siblings of his parents) for aid but he may look to another lineal relative, as in the following case. Jose left his wife and two children owing to interference by his parents-in-law. As they helped precipitate the conflict, he could not seek them out as remedy agents. Jose is an orphan but his brother, his sister, and his parents' siblings live close by. Decided against reconciliation, he planned to take another woman. He discussed this remedy with his younger brother who advised him of the impracticality of such an act because of the fact that Jose had two children. Jose took his brother's advice, reconsidered and then decided upon a remedy of reconciliation. He himself went to see his wife to accomplish this. As we can see, the remedy agents in Juquila are relatively few. SUMMARY This analysis of conflict settings and remedy agents reveals a contrast between the procedure by which kinsmen and nonkinsmen settle their respective grievances. People in Talea were found to have a greater number of remedy agents and a greater amount of interaction in formally recognized trouble spots. On the other hand, the Juquilans resort to fewer remedy agents and interaction at trouble spots is periodic. SUPERNATURAL SYSTEM This discussion of supernatural remedy agents will focus on the procedures by which individuals are able to obtain remedies from supernatural sources. 280 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison Of all the supernaturals, two groups may be solicited as remedy agents: witches, and God and the saints. Several informants stated that the attractiveness of using a witch as a remedy agent lay in the fact that one could commit a retaliative, aggressive act without being punished for it. For example, if Maria is aware that Juana is stealing the love of her husband and Maria wishes to do Juana harm, she prefers witchcraft because she has little fear of being found out, and, if she were, there would be no proof and without evidence she could hardly be punished. If an individual is witched, he may go to another witch to be cured. This other witch, of course, is able to find out who was the cause of the witching, but she never tells her client for, in the words of many, "they never reveal the name because this would cause the conflict to continue." God and the saints would be attractive agents for similar reasons. Individuals, especially women, ask God directly to intercede for them or against a culprit. It is not too clear how many of the cases describing the use of witchcraft as remedies for complaints are manufactured by the individual's imagination. What is more clear are the cases of witches used to counteract "supposedly" inflicted witchcraft. If a person falls sick and believes that this is owing to witchcraft, he goes to a witch, asks her to find out who is responsible and then has her try to retaliate by harming the other individual. The plaintiff in these cases is initiating personal action against an unknown defendant in order to obtain a remedy for injury. The witch never divulges who the responsible person is. One may find this out by other means. If an adult citizen dies some time after the "plaintiff" has hired the witch, then the client assumes that the witch has been successful, and the witch is given credit for having killed the "defendant." SUPERNATURAL SYSTEM IN TALEA It is often said that the only people who are susceptible to being witched in Talea are those people who believe in witchcraft, and a fairly large sample of conversa- tions leads the investigator to believe that the majority of Taleans still believe in the power of witchcraft. These people usually relate that the best witches come from other towns, especially Lalopa and Yobego, and with relish they tell of how all these witches come to know and aid one another during night reunions at various points where roads cross. In Talea there are two, and some say three, professional witches. All three are women: one is an orphan, another is a Juquilan now residing in Talea, and the third is a married but childless woman. There are presently no male witches and only two mentions were made, from the distant past, of male witches. Witches in Talea are referred to as brujas or brujos in Spanish and buini (male) or ngul (female) and oodza? (witch) in Zapotec. They are only capable of doing people harm and cannot cure. Individuals who have curing talents are referred to in Spanish as curanderos and in Zapotec as winiya. These curanderos cannot kill or harm people but can only cure. Talean witches do not boast about being oodza?, as they do in other towns, but rather they lead secluded lives. When attacked by citizens who accuse them, they do not complain or appeal to the town court; this is interpreted by the citizens as a sure sign of guilt. 281 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. There are said to be two classes of witches: those who are born with supernatural powers and those who learn to become witches. The only names of witches that were obtained were those of professional witches. Other individuals were referred to as having witching powers. As a remedy agent, it does not seem that the witch in Talea plays a very impor- tant part today. She is mainly hired by women involved in love intrigues. Much more important is the place of the Catholic God and the saints. Talean women, especially, refer to these supernatural beings by prayer, and one may ask God or the saints to perform remedies to cure or to harm other people. SUPERNATURAL SYSTEM IN JUQUILA In Juquila there is only one way to become a witch-by learning from another witch. The Juquilans do not make the Talean distinction between those who are born with this supernatural power and those who learn how to become witches. The following excerpt from my field notes gives some indication of how a witch might find an apprentice. When I asked if many people died of brujeria, he said, "Do you believe that there are bruqjos?" "Who knows?" I answered. "Many people complain about this sickness." Juvencio retorted, "All of the people around here believe but I don't. I'm going to tell you a story." "One day when I was in the pueblo, seated on a bench with a bottle of mezeal, a woman, seated nearby, said to me, 'please give me a bit of your mezeal.' As they had told me that she was a witch, it made me sick to my stomach to drink with her. 'Yes,' I told her 'but wait.' I thought I would drink most of the bottle and then give her the last bit to finish up, but she insisted that I give her some mezeal now." Juvencio kept telling her to wait a minute and finally she got up and said, "Wait and see, that mezeal is going to do you much harm." Then Juvencio got mad and said, "They say that you are a bruja. If you are really a bruja, meet me tonight, completely naked (the way that brujos are said to walk around at night) under- neath the big rock below the pueblo before you get to the river." "Of course, I didn't go," he said. "She had given me a year to live." When the time was up, Juvencio happened to meet her and said, "Well, you see, I'm still alive." She answered, "I see you know a few things also. Come to my house and I will teach you a great deal." But Juvencio said, "I was no fool to go." Then returning to his first scepticism, he said, "Anyone can be a witch by just saying so. When a person wants to scare you, they say, 'I'm a brujo. Watch out.'" The informant was a man who had spent much time in various cities of Mexico, and it should also be noted that at the time this conversation was recorded he was becoming a Protestant. There were seven Juquilan citizens who were named and well known as witches, and, although two were men and five were women, people were quick to say that both men and women could be witches. The Juquilan witch can either do only bad or do both good and bad witching. Those who gain a reputation for being able to kill but not cure people are in a precarious position, and sometimes such witches are driven out of town. A case was cited describing a robber who could never be caught because he had a witch's power of turning himself into a dog or cat just when he might be caught. One day the town officials decided to get rid of him and he was killed secretly. Often, in Juquila, individuals who wish to exercise such 282 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison witching power announce openly that they are witches. They will state, "Yo valgo," which means "I have worth," or "I am a witch." Three Juquilan witches are widows, two are wives and mothers with husbands still living, one is a widower, and one a disabled man. All are said to be poor people because they are witches for it is believed that at death a witch has to pay for all the sins of all his or her victims. In contrast with Talea, in Juquila the witch plays an important part as remedy agent, and many individuals, both men and women, seek remedies by means of witchcraft. For example, it was told that a young married son had spent a great deal of money trying to witch his stepmother who was too extravagant with his father's property. How important God and the saints are as remedy agents it is difficult to gauge, and it is unclear whether the Juquilans recognize a difference between supplication to God and to a witch. One informant said, "Di parte a Dios," which means "I left it with God." She went on to say that "God punished the offender by making her poor and compelling her to sell her lands, and then she died. For this we left candles at the altar." The ritual that witches often use involves the use of candles, but this is performed in their own houses rather than in the church. What is clear is that people from both towns distinguish between supernaturals who may serve as remedy agents, that is witches, God, and the saints, and those various supernaturals who play an important part in the business of social control: God and the saints, witches, duendes (little gremlinlike men), the man of the mountain (et Sr. del Cerro), and "bad lands" (terrenos malos). All these super- naturals are used both to explain otherwise inexplicable actions and to punish what is considered improper behavior. The following examples are taken from the field notes. A mother left her children alone one night to go out and visit. When she returned, the house was in chaos, and the children were crying and shouting that the dueende had been there to frighten them. The mother swore that she would never leave her children again. * * * * * The Sr. del Cerro is a supernatural being to whom one goes to ask for money or favors, but the supplicant always has to promise to give something in return for this. Thus, when the first accident occurred on the new road, the Sr. del Cerro was charged with having taken his first victim because certain town citizens had bargained with him that, if the road came in, he would take a hundred lives. If someone falls on a piece of ground and suffers fright and soul-loss, it is because the ground where they fell was terrenos malos. It is then necessary to "feed wealth" in the form of coffee beans, corn, or money in order to regain one's soul and become well. If a rich man suffers from a leg infection, it may be explained as an act of witchcraft. If a woman dies of cancer, it is because God was punishing her for having deprived her half sister of her proper inheritance rights. All these examples show how the supernatural may control as well as remedy behavior: in the first instance by warning the mother; in other instances by sug- gesting that greed is punishable, by reminding an individual that land should be treated with special reverence, by punishing a man for becoming richer than his neighbors, and by punishing a woman for improper behavior towards a half sibling. 283 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. SUMMARY Witchcraft has been discussed by many anthropologists as an important mechanism of social control. Evans-Pritchard, Kluckhohn, Nadel, and Whiting have treated it as an instrument for dealing with aggression and anxiety. It has been described by Gluckman, Nadel, Whiting, and others as a way of explaining things about the world such as death, disease, and catastrophes in general. In this chapter we have discussed the role of the witch as a remedy agent-one to whom a plaintiff may present his case and expect a satisfactory remedy. The witch does not usually judge the case presented. She or he is only expected to carry out the decision already made by the plaintiff (as to the guilt of the defendant) and to accomplish the remedy by means of the special supernatural powers with which she or he is endowed. Both towns have witchcraft although in different degrees of importance. We remember (chapter iii) that Juquila had a weak central government control system and Talea had a strong central government, which seems to substantiate the hypothesis that the degree of political control in a society and the degree of existing or imputed witchcraft and sorcery vary inversely.5 Furthermore, we have made the observation that in both Talea and Juquila citizens make use of two groups of supernatural agents in the attempt to obtain remedies. They both use witches (brujos, oodza*) and God and the saints as remedy agents, witches being the more important supernatural remedy agent in Juquila, and God and the saints the more important in Talea. COMMENTS The procedure of voicing a grievance in order to find a remedy can be considered within the general category of social control. The emphasis in this chapter has been on the particular aspect of social control that attempts to "cure" rather than to prevent conflict. It is useful to keep in mind, however, that the very presence of courts and other remedy agents serves actually to prevent some conflicts from arising. All these remedy agents: the court, the family, and the supernatural, in addition to their function in remedying situations, also act as a control on social behavior. The strength of the court, the family, and the supernatural as controls on social behavior, in curing grievances or preventing them from arising, varies with the amount of power that the citizens of each town have been willing to delegate to these three control systems in the resolution of particular classes of problems. 5 Beatrice Blyth Whiting, Paiute Sorcery (New York: Viking Fund, 1950). 284 CHAPTER VII EPILOGUE AND POSTSURIPT A RAPID TOUR of the Rincon pueblos would probably convince most visitors that the likenesses observed might be attributed to a shared cultural and physical heritage. Yet the population of the Rincon is not culturally uniform and one would not expect it to be. A visitor is aware of physical contrasts when he takes off his sweater in one village and puts it on in the next. But it is not only the weather that changes; rules of behavior change as well. In one village a policia will carry the visitor's pack to the next town with no expectation of payment, and in another he will not perform such services unless paid in advance. The same elements may be present in all the Rincon, but the way those elements are used, the manner in which they intersect, is what differentiates one village from another. The visitor, however, leaves each village, not with an analytical picture of the intersection of a variety of components, but usually having formed a stereotype. Stereotypes of cultures often contain truths, but frequently they are but poor shortcuts to under- standing, and certainly they are questionable as predictors of human behavior. In the introduction I set out as my problem the analysis of some differences between and within two contiguous Zapotec villages. This involved a description of variations in the organization of groups-such as family, work, and play groups, government groups-as well as variations in the manner of dealing with the universal problem of how to resolve grievances. My interest in variation does not ignore the importance of documenting dominant patterns of culture (which in part are stereotypic) but, as Geertz has well stated it, "Essential form may be seen more adequately in terms of range of variation than in terms of a fixed pattern from which deviant cases depart."' By analyzing variation we gain insight into areas where potential change is coming about, or where it may be brought about, for an analysis of variation involves the understanding of the interlocking relation- ships of the various subsystems of society. Talea and Juquila represent variations on a common set of organizational themes that are found throughout the Rincon and even beyond. In the analysis of the court systems we found that court procedures vary a great deal from town to town, despite the fact that the primary purpose of both courts is to administer justice and maintain law and order, and despite the fact that in both towns the three officials whose duty it is to accomplish this purpose are the presidente, the sindico, and the alealde. How is it that Talea and Juquila, towns that have inherited a similar court system, have managed to develop or maintain different ways in which to handle the content that passes through this court system? Similarly, we noted in our comparison of the family that the composition of the family was similar in both villages, yet the authority patterns were in no way the same, nor were the dyadic relations in the family. It is oversimplistic to look for a few variables that could explain how Talea and Juquila each came to be what it is, but nevertheless it is tempting in this conclud- ing summary to discuss patterns of change and settlement as partial explanations of divergent developments in these pueblos. 1Clifford Geertz, "Form and Variation in Balinese Village Structure," American. Anthropolo- gist, 61:1008-1009. [285] University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. Ethnographic studies of change in Mexico have focused almost exclusively on those aspects of society that are a direct result of contact with Mexican national culture. What often follows is the inference that the rest of the culture is what survives of earlier native cultures. Relatively neglected is the fact that while a society may be effected through contact with an alien culture there are also other kinds of culture change that are on-going which may be due to invention, drift, or local diffusion.2 One such example in these materials would be the development and diffusion of the barrio system, another the changing meaning of gozona from one town to another, or changing settlement patterns due to political fission, soil erosion, sickness, or any number of particular reasons. It is imperative to document and consider such processual changes, especially if one is interested in understand- ing the effect of contact with Mexican national culture. The direction and amount of processual change may in fact affect the acceptance or rejection of change that is being promoted by the national government. Juquila is an excellent example. The amount of. change that this pueblo has experienced as a result of political fission alone has been very great in the past thirty years. Yet by outsiders Juquila is considered conservative and unchanging. After the fissions which resulted in the creation of the two agencias El Porvenir and La Colonia Nueva, there was a process of "filling in the holes." With the creation of La Colonia Nueva, for ex- ample, Juquila found itself with only one band. Since the Rinc6n system of bands is based on the principle of opposition, the resultant situation was staggering. The band was like a prizefighter without an opponent. As a result of this split, Juquilans also found themselves in political opposition to ritual kinsmen who had moved to the Colonia-a situation antithetical to the very principles of ritual kin- ship. Similarly, families were split. On the other hand, members of the Colonia Nueva found themselves under the political aegis of their opponents, their depar- ture having created a new agencia for the municipio of Juquila. Perhaps there is a limit to the amount of change a social system can handle, and it should not be surprising then that change promoted by the Mexican government is resisted. Fissive change is built into the social structure of Juquila, partly for ecological reasons. As I have mentioned, the town center is situated in a very narrow space between two barrancas. All of this space is packed with houses; one house may be occupied, another vacant but serving the needs of as many as five nuclear families who come from the ranchos to attend town fiestas. The only direction in which Juquila could spread was up and as yet there are very few two-story houses. In the recent past, problems of space, which had been precipitated by an increasing popu- lation, were solved by spread into the ranch areas. But present pressures to live in town because the school is there and because it is considered more progressive have created a crisis that resulted in separate factions moving out to form their own pueblos. The situation is one of endemic political instability but this instability has little effect on the individual economic situation of families. There is little pressure on resources and the economy is little affected by politics-either national or local. 2 The Social Science Research Council report on acculturation (American Anthropologi8t, 56: 973-1002, suggests, "the change that is induced by contact therefore does not represent a shift from a static to an active state, but rather a shift from one sort of change to another." The present material suggests that there is not a shift from one sort of change to another, rather an addition of many new materials for innovation. The processes that go on after contact are prob- ably no different from what has been going on. 286 - Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison The history of change has been quite different for Talea. Since the settlement of the miners in Talea the composition of town citizentry has been varied. Many of the mining families were bilingual Spanish-Zapotec speakers from the Sierra Juarez, and Mexican culture has gradually infiltrated. It is the special character- istic of acculturation in isolated rural villages that such villages have taken what they wished and incorporated it into their culture at their own pace. The physical location of Talea is ideal for spread and growth; two-story houses are fairly com- mon and there is land for house space. There have been no colonies split from Talea since its founding. Changes have been cumulative and slow-slow enough to be easily adapted to local tradition. Until recently, outside change has been viewed as good, with no strong feelings about the disruptions that may follow, and this is probably because change until this decade has come slowly. An increase in bilin- gualism, in specialization both in work and government, a proliferation of organi- zations, and intense participation in these organizations have been changes of this century for Talea. The economy, based primarily on the cash crop, coffee, has been under pressures of land shortage, and political and economic changes in the Mex- ican capital are likely to affect changes in Talea. This case study of Talea suggests that the increase in the amount of nationalization is related to the heterogeneous composition of the town population. The data suggest that a town largely composed of citizens who originate from a variety of other towns is more likely to desire and to bring about change by emulating and imitating national culture. This will be especially true if this town is located in the midst of other endogamous, closed towns, and if the citizens who migrate are considered deviant in their mother villages.8 T'he problem of understanding the implications of settlement patterns has been difficult. The comparative data prompt several general comments. A basic hypoth- esis at the outset of the field investigation was that sheer spatial distribution of people will affect the amount of interaction they have with each other, unless they have a modern system of communication (i.e., cars, telephones, airplanes, tele- vision, radio, etc.). The compact settlement has a choice. It may be socially as well as physically in close relationship (Talea), or it may be close in physical space but relatively distant in social space (i.e., San Juan Yaee or a modern city). The dis- persed village (Juquila), it is important to note, does not have this choice: physical distance also implies social distance. I suggest that there are certain characteristics that will be present in all dispersed towns in Mexico. It probably would not be so easy to predict patterns for a compact town. Although the difference in interaction patterns did not set limits on the number of forms of corporate groupings that were present in each town, it did affect the use made of such groupings. Talea made full use of them, whereas in Juquila the possibilities that such groupings had for increasing the amount and kinds of inter- action between groups and individuals were often ignored. There seemed to be a direct relationship between settlement distribution and 3 The suggestion that such a cosmopolitan situation creates a sort of hybrid vigor is also borne out by George Foster's material from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan (Mexico) (personal com- munication). 287 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. the form, meaning, and function' of what-for lack of a better term-was labeled informal groupings, those noncorporate groupings that were a result of the daily round in both towns. It was specifically noted in chapter iv that, although spatial arrangement certainly influences both formal and informal groupings, it is more likely to determine the composition of the latter. The meaning and function of "informal" drinking and gozona groups were strikingly in contrast, whereas a comparison of civil organizations, for example, showed more overlap between the two towns. We could plot the sharpest contrasts in these two towns and ask the question: Which of these contrasts may be directly explained as the result of increasing contact with Mexican national culture and which may better be explained as due to the difference in spatial arrangement or something else? The general answer to such a question would be that the characteristics that make up the heart of Juquila are probably closely related to spatial arrangement, and the characteristics that make up the core of Talea are closely related to contact with Mexican culture. The whole history of Talea is one of contact, from its very foundation, to its policy of accepting as citizens individuals from other towns, to its acceptance of coffee, which for the first time linked the Talean economic system with the national Mexican scene. The history of Juquila, until recently, has been concerned with develop- ments internal to the town and region-a history relatively untouched by the Mexican nation or by contact with bilingual and bicultural Zapotecs from outside the region. I have tried to understand the specific contrasts by means of functional analysis. For example, it was found that attitudes toward leadership and the degree to which authority is delegated differ in Talea and Juquila. The postulate suggested was that citizens are more likely to delegate authority to leaders if they feel they can predict and control the behavior of such leaders, and that this is more likely to occur when there is daily interaction between citizens. It was also suggested that the existence of a great deal of cross-linkage at the societal level (Talea) might result in the weakening of other ties, such as those within the family. Where family ties are stronger than the broader social ties (Juquila) the result is the weakening of strong ties within the village. The comparison of family organization was primarily a sample comparison of Talean families with a sample of Juquilan ranch families (not Juquilan town- dwellers). It is in family organization and its relation to the division of labor in general that we find some of the sharpest differences. These differences were diffi- cult to pin down for description and for this reason a setting analysis was utilized to enable the investigator to get closer to the "meaning" that the differences had for each town. The analysis of the census material indicated that there is scarcely any difference in the composition of the family in both groups. It is essentially nuclear, composed of a father, a mother, and children, but may be extended at 4The use of these terms is in accordance with R. Linton: "The form of a trait complex will be taken to mean the sum and arrangement of its component behavior patterns-that aspect of the complex which can be observed directly.... The meaning of a trait complex consists of the asso- ciations which any society attaches to it." The function of a cultural element is an expression of its relation to things within the cultural configuration. (Ralph Linton, The Study of Man, New York: Appleton Century, 1936, pp. 403-404.) 288 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison different times in the life cycle. Granting the similarities in family composition it was discovered that Taleans and Juquilans made use of physical space in dif- ferent ways. Juquilan nuclear families were more isol-ated and more likely to live near related people. Talean families were packed into dense neighborhoods com- posed of both related and unrelated households. The analysis of sleeping patterns pointed up the degree to which individuals are isolated from their families during the night. The use of physical space in general may be a predictor of the types of authority patterns that exist in bilateral or patrilineal families. The authority data suggest three hypotheses: (1) Individuals who exercise authority over other individuals must live close enough to exercise such authority. Proximity in resi- dence does not necessarily mean that father's brother, for example, will be able to exercise authority over his brother's son. It does mean, however, that, if a father's brother exercises authority over his brother's son, he must live close by. (2) When authority over children in the nuclear family is bilateral (parent- dominated) it is unlikely that parental authority will by extension be exercised by sibling members of the parental generation. (3) In a bilateral society where the nuclear family is isolated both spatially and socially it is unlikely that the father will exert strong authority over his children and wife. The basic principle underlying this hypothesis is the truism that man is essentially a social animal. If a man exerts severe authority measures within the nuclear family, he is in a sense isolated from its members. In a compact town, where the nuclear family is not isolated either spatially or socially, an authoritarian father and husband may ally himself with other authoritarian husbands and fathers. Thus, his role as an authoritarian figure may isolate him from the nuclear family, but it does not isolate him from interacting with other members of the society. If a Juquilan male exercises his father-and-husband role as a strict authoritarian figure, he isolates himself from his family and is unable, because of the spatial and social distance between members of one family and another, to ally himself with people outside his family.5 The chapter on grievances and remedy agents outlines the variation in court procedure and the use of different remedy agents. The strength of the court, the family, and the supernatural remedy agents in curing grievances or preventing them from arising varies with the amount of power that the citizens of each town have been willing to delegate to these three control systems for different grievances. The distribution of this power, we have said, is associated with patterns of inter- action and not simply with settlement patterns. Thus it would be naive to say that this order differs in each town because of the contrast in dispersed and compact settlement. In the compact town of Yobego the witch is a more popular remedy agent than the town court; in the compact town of Talea the reverse is true. As has been stated, the crucial variable that determines the use of witchcraft as a control or remedy agent is the degree to which a town has developed super- ordinate authority.! Settlement becomes important, however, if we are to compare It would be interesting to investigate the development of men's societies from this view to see if there is a positive relationship between authority patterns in the family and the develop- ment of such groups. It is still an open question whether dense settlements are primarily associated with centralized political systems, or whether dispersal is associated with noncentralized systems. It may be 289 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. the relative speed with which we get the development of superordinate control in two towns with predominately coordinate control systems. It seems that, owing to the influence of Mexican national culture, centralized control is likely to de- velop more rapidly in the compact than in the dispersed settlements. This was the reasoning that prompted the early Spanish friars to encourage compact settle- ment. The methods used in this exploratory case study have been used by many an- thropologists in varying degrees, that is, controlled comparison and contextuali- zation or setting analysis. Setting analysis in particular was found to be useful for reasons similar to those stated by Radcliffe-Brown: ". . . when, in a single society, the same symbol is used in different contexts or on different kinds of occasions there is some common element of meaning."7 The suggestion here has been that a study of the same symbols or activities used in different contexts in two closely related towns allows us to describe and understand both common and differing meanings in culture and social organization-a necessary prelude to the testing of hypotheses. Apart from the cumbersome problem of recording the variability of culture and social structure in a single area, the most important theme in this monograph is the documentation of the relation between form and organization, between physical space and social interaction, and between dif- ferent kinds of change-processual and acculturative. I have stressed these aspects in order to understand the divergent developments in two contiguous villages- developments that evolved and were limited by psychological, historical, and en- vironmental factors. The extent to which the findings in this monograph are valid can be ascertained on the basis of comparative studies of similar societies. As a postscript I should like to add a few words about what is happening in Talea and Juquila now, only three years since my short second trip to the Rincon. In 1957 and 1959 I had the feeling that Talea and Juquila were on the brink of a period of rapid change but I did not realize how fast this change would be. It might be worth while noting some of the changes that I observed during one week's time in the summer of 1962. Many Taleans had left to work in large cities, and almost all who had left recently had gone to Mexico City. (Previously they had been attracted to Oaxaca City or to urban centers in Veracruz.) Three of the principales were now only part-time residents in Talea, spending many months of the year in Mexico City, either curing themselves or visiting, possibly returning home to administer the coffee harvest in January. The leader of the orchestra, an elderly man, was under pertinent to mention here that the term "population density" is sometimes ambiguous. It is used literally by social scientists to refer to the number of people allotted per square mile. It does not in this sense refer to spatial arrangement of human beings. For example, the density per square mile of a Zapotec village may be sparse, but the arrangement of houses in the settlement may be incredibly dense owing to environmental or social factors. Thus the use of "population density" does not necessarily tell us very much about the physical space of a Zapotec village, although it may explain something about a society's economic-ecological position. A closer scru- tiny of this term may (or may not) elucidate why, in the volume on African Politixtl Systeins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940), the authors found no correlation between types of political systems and population density. 7A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, Structure and Function in Primitive Society (London: Cohen and West, 1952), p. 146. 290 Nader: Talea and Juquila-A Comparison medical care in Mexico City, and the orchestra was badly organized, no longer maintaining the rigorous standards in music that once won them a state prize because, as one musician said, "Our leader is in Mexico." The leader of the band, a talented musician, had resigned his post, and a young man from the orchestra, together with some of the orchestra musicians, "went over" to the band group to reorganize the band. Many Taleans visit Oaxaca and Mexico City now, and better economic prospects for the future seem to lie outside the town in urban areas. In 1957 Talea was a town where few if any of the women had ever seen a woman with a short hair cut and which boasted the long pigtailed hair style of its women, but in 1962 permanents were beginning to abound there. Greater changes were occuring in Juquila. At a crucial time, after the large faction had only recently departed to found L.a Colonia Nueva and when no other factions had yet developed, there arrived a schoolteacher who was bound and determined to revolutionize the town of Juquila. This energetic man was a bi- lingual and bicultural Zapotec from around Betaza, a man in his thirties who had spent a year teaching in Talea, where he was continually "humiliated and heckled by the Taleans" (all the other teachers in Talea were native to the town). He resigned his post in Talea and came to Juquila. He convinced the town to build a new school, and with his aid the Juquilans completely changed the face of the town center. They accomplished what the Papaloapan engineers had said was not possible, maintaining, "There is no room to build a school in the center of the town. It is better to move the town as the mesa de characterizados suggest." Work- ing side by side with the townsmen (the "key" to leadership, he suggests), the teacher and the communal groups leveled the center area and created an expanse of level land large enough for a roomy two-winged school house. The schoolteacher moved into the old municipio and the old school become the new home for civil officials. The school was filled with children and they were learning Spanish; commuting to town was in some cases replacing sporadic ranch life, in order that children might attend school. Another change was noted: I was not offered a drink in the municipio; this may be related to recent Protestant influence or to the influence of the teacher, who does not drink. Juquila has changed, I thought, somewhat at least. As I walked through the coffee nurseries, a Juquilan pointed out that the coffee plants were flourishing, whereas the Talean plants had long ago gone to waste. "The engineer told us not to use the coa (digging stick) but we know this land better than he. The Taleans followed his advice and look...." When I congratu- lated them on their extensive building operations they smiled and said, "And we did this all without the aid of the government." But this was the town center. Out on the ranches, in Lachiregi?, people told me that they would not participate in all this activity of the town center because their children would not be able to benefit from the school; it was too far. They had decided to build their own school. They had meetings, which were led by the anciano of Lachiregi?, and they collected money with which to build. But they disagreed on where to build and how to get a schoolteacher, so they used the money to build a religious shrine-partly, they said, to counteract the Protestant chapel that was built just over the hill in El Porvenir. There had been bitter argument 291 292 University of California Publications in Am. Arch. and Ethn. on the ranchos, especially between two of the larger families. 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