From Tribute to Communal Sovereignty: The Tarascan and Caxcan Territories in Transition (Native Peoples of the Americas)

From Tribute to Communal Sovereignty examines both continuity and change over the last five centuries for the indigenous peoples of central western Mexico, providing the first sweeping and comprehensive history of this important region in Mesoamerica. The continuities elucidated concern ancestral territorial claims that date back centuries and reflect the stable geographic locations occupied by core populations of indigenous language–speakers in or near their pre-Columbian territories since the Postclassical period, from the thirteenth to late fifteenth centuries. A common theme of this volume is the strong cohesive forces present, not only in the colonial construction of Christian village communities in Purhépecha and Nahuatl groups in Michoacán but also in the demographically less inclusive Huichol (Wixarika), Cora, and Tepehuan groups, whose territories were more extensive. The authors review a cluster of related themes: settlement patterns of the last five centuries in central western Mexico, language distribution, ritual representation of territoriality, processes of collective identity, and the forms of participation and resistance during different phases of Mexican state formation. From such research, the question arises: does the village community constitute a unique level of organization of the experience of the original peoples of central western Mexico? The chapters address this question in rich and complex ways by first focusing on the past configurations and changes in lifeways during the transition from pre-Columbian to Spanish rule in tributary empires, then examining the long-term postcolonial process of Mexican independence that introduced the emerging theme of the communal sovereignty. __From Tribute to Communal Sovereignty__ The continuities elucidated concern ancestral territorial claims that date back centuries and reflect the stable geographic locations occupied by core populations of indigenous language–speakers in or near their pre-Columbian territories since the Postclassical period, from the thirteenth to late fifteenth centuries. A common theme of this volume is the strong cohesive forces present, not only in the colonial construction of Christian village communities in Purhépecha and Nahuatl groups in Michoacán but also in the demographically less inclusive Huichol (Wixarika), Cora, and Tepehuan groups, whose territories were more extensive. The authors review a cluster of related themes: settlement patterns of the last five centuries in central western Mexico, language distribution, ritual representation of territoriality, processes of collective identity, and the forms of participation and resistance during different phases of Mexican state formation. From such research, the question arises: does the village community constitute a unique level of organization of the experience of the original peoples of central western Mexico? The chapters address this question in rich and complex ways by first focusing on the past configurations and changes in lifeways during the transition from pre-Columbian to Spanish rule in tributary empires, then examining the long-term postcolonial process of Mexican independence that introduced the emerging theme of the communal sovereignty. Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Part I. Introduction 1. Ethnic Landscapes: Territoriality, Time Immemorial, and the Twenty-First Century - Andrew Roth-Seneff 2. Indigenous Population Transformations in West-Central Mexico - Robert V. Kemper and Julie Adkins Part II. Constructing the Historical Horizon of “Contact” 3. Territory and Resistance in West-Central Mexico, Part 1: Introduction and Archaeological Background - Phillip C. Weigand 4. Territory and Resistance in West-Central Mexico, Part 2: The Rebelión de Nueva Galicia and Its Late Postclassic Prelude - Phillip C. Weigand 5. The Prehispanic Heritage of the Tarascans (Purépecha) - Helen Perlstein Pollard Part III. Native Organization and Colonial State Formation 6. Visions of the Past: The Tarascan Kingdom and the Late Colonial Primordial Titles from Michoacán - Hans Roskamp 7. Identity and Ethnicity in Colonial Michoacán: Corporatism, Social Contract, and Individualism among the Tarascans - Felipe Castro Gutiérrez 8. Indigenous Space and Frontier in Sixteenth-Century Nueva Galicia - José Francisco Román Gutiérrez Part IV. The Past in the Present 9. The Historia of Islands: New Huichol Territorial Claims to Ancestral Places - Paul Liffman 10. The Defense of Territory in the Costa-Sierra Nahua of Michoacán - John Gledhill 11. Ritual and Public Spheres in an Ethnic Celebration of Communal Sovereignty: The Purépecha Transition - Andrew Roth-Seneff References Cited Editors and Contributors Index In This Collective Study, The Settlement Patterns Of The Last Five Centuries In Central Western Mexico, Language Distribution, Ritual Representation Of Territoriality, Processes Of Collective Identity, And/or The Forms Of Participation And Resistance During Different Phases Of Mexican State Formation All Combine To Raise The Question Of Whether The Village Community Constitutes A Unique Level Of The Indo-mexican Experience. Edited By Andrew Roth-seneff, Robert V. Kemper, And Julie Adkins. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "In this collective study, the settlement patterns of the last five centuries in Central Western Mexico, language distribution, ritual representation of territoriality, processes of collective identity, and/or the forms of participation and resistance during different phases of Mexican state formation all combine to raise the question of whether the village community constitutes a unique level of the Indo-Mexican experience." Provided by the publisher