Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:51:36.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF HIERARCHY IN THE TARASCAN STATE

History as ideology in the Relación de Michoacán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2008

David L. Haskell
David L. Haskell*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, c/o 943 Manor Lane, Unit N, Columbus, Ohio 43221, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to:[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper seeks to broaden our understanding of the Tarascan state by analyzing the cultural logic of hierarchy as revealed in the Relación de Michoacán. Following the insights of Dumont (1980) and Sahlins (1985), it is proposed that the historical narrative contained within that document is concerned with legitimizing the rule of the Tarascan royal dynasty through a conception of hierarchy based on the logic of encompassment. This analysis interprets the characters of the narrative as instantiations of “elementary categories,” and the interactions between these characters serve to define and ultimately transform those categories. The most important transformation is the encompassing of the “Islander” category by the “Chichimec” category. It is through this encompassment that the royal dynasty symbolized a socio-cosmic totality and therefore possessed legitimate authority. Furthermore, I outline a model of elite interaction and the development of the Tarascan state in which the royal dynasty sought to monopolize foreign trade goods, thus materially constructing its own identity as a possessor of legitimate authority and, therefore, as Chichimecs, according to one connotation of that term. At the same time, a class of status markers was created that could be shared with the lesser nobility, conferring legitimacy on them while preserving the wealth and identity of the royal dynasty.

Type
Special Section: Recent Research on the Emergence of the Tarascan State
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , Fall 2008 , pp. 231 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alcalá, fray Jerónimo de 2000 Relación de Michoacan, Moisés Franco Mendoza, coordinator, paleography by Ibáñez, Clotilde Martínez and Ruiz, Carmen Molina. El Colegio de Michoacan, Gobierno del Estado de Michoacan, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun 1986 Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by Appadurai, Arjun, pp. 3–63 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnauld, Marie Charlotte and Michelet, Dominique 1991 Les migrations postclassiques au Michoacan et au Guatemala: problèmes et perspectives. In Vingt études sur le Mexique et le Guatemala réunies à la mémoire de Nicole Percheron, edited by Breton, Alain, Berthe, Jean-Pierre and Lecoin, Sylvie, pp. 67–92. Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse.Google Scholar
Barrett, John C. 2000 A Thesis on Agency. In Agency in Archaeology, edited by Dobres, Marcia-Anne and Robb, John, pp. 61–68. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Beltrán, Ulises 1994 Estado y sociedad tarascos en la época prehsipánica. In El Michoacan Antiguo, edited by Lameiras, Brigitte Boehm, pp. 29–163. El Colegio de Michoacan, Gobierno del Estado de Michoacan, Morelia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E., and Feinman, Gary M. 1984 The Mesoamerican World System. American Anthropologist 86:673–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre 1977 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Translated by Nice, Richard. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre 1984 Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Translated by Nice, Richard. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Brand, Donald 1971 Ethnohistoric Synthesis of Western Mexico. In Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, Part 2, edited by Gordon Ekholm and Ignacio Bernal, pp. 632–656. The Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 11, Robert Wauchope, general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bray, Warwick 1989 Fine Metal Jewelry from Southern Mexico. In Homenaje a José Luis Lorenzo, edited by Mirambell, Lorena, pp. 243–275. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Burke, Peter 1990 Historians, Anthropologists, and Symbols. In Culture through Time: Anthropological Approaches, edited by Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko, pp. 268–283. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Cabrera Castro, Rubén 1987 Tzintzuntzan: Décima temporada de excavaciones. In Homenaje a Román Piña Chan, edited by Barbro Dahlgren, pp. 531–565. Serie Antropológica 79. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Pedro 1986 Economía política en el reino tarasco. In La sociedad indígena en el centro occidente de Mexico, edited by Pedro Carrasco, pp. 62–102. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, Mexico.Google Scholar
Corona Núñez, José 1957 Mitología Tarasca. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
D'Altroy, Terence N. 1992 Provincial Power in the Inka Empire. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
DeMarrais, Elizabeth, Castillo, Luis Jaime, and Earle, Timothy 1996 Ideology, Materialization, and Power Strategies. Current Anthropology 37:15–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumont, Louis 1980 Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications, rev. English ed. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Espejel Carbajal, Claudia 2000 Guía arqueológica y geográfica para la Relación de Michoacan. In Relación de las ceremonías y rictos y población y gobernación de la provincia de Mechuacan, edited by Alcalá, Jerónimo de, pp. 301–312. El Colegio de Michoacan, Gobierno del Estado de Michoacan, Morelia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Fischer, Edward F. 1999 Cultural Logic and Maya Identity: Rethinking Constructivism and Essentialism. Current Anthropology 40:473–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Christopher T., Pollard, Helen P., and Frederick, Charles 1999 Intensive Agriculture and Socio-political Development in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin, Michoacan, Mexico. Antiquity 73:642–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fogelson, Raymond D. 1974 On the Varieties of Indian History: Sequoyah and Traveller Bird. Journal of Ethnic Studies 2:105–112.Google Scholar
Fogelson, Raymond D. 1989 The Ethnohistory of Events and Nonevents. Ethnohistory 36:133–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gell, Alfred 1998 Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Clarendon Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 1989 The Aztec Kings: The Construction of Rulership in Mexica History. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 1999 Olmec Thrones as Ancestral Altars: The Two Sides of Power. In Material Symbols: Culture and Economy in Prehistory, edited by Robb, John E., pp. 224–253. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Occasional Paper No. 26. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2007 Toltecs, Tula, and Chichen Itza: The Development of an Archaeological Myth. In Twin Tollans: Chichen Itza, Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Kowalski, Jeff Karl and Kristan-Graham, Cynthia, pp. 85–127. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Gorenstein, Shirley, and Pollard, Helen P. 1983 The Tarascan Civilization: A Late Prehispanic Cultural System. Publications in Anthropology, 28. Vanderbilt University, Nashville.Google Scholar
Haskell, David L. 2003 History and the Construction of Hierarchy and Ethnicity in the Prehispanic Tarascan State: a Syntagmatic Analysis of the Relación de Michoacan. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hassig, Ross 1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Healan, Dan M. 1997 Pre-Hispanic Quarrying in the Ucareo-Zinapecuaro Obsidian Source Area. Ancient Mesoamerica 8:77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jimenez Moreno, Wigberto 1948 Historia antigua de la zona Tarasca. In El Occidente de Mexico, pp. 146–157. Cuarta Mesa Redonda de la Sociedad Mexicana de la Antropología, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 1996 The Construction of Gender in Classic Maya Monuments. In Gender and Archaeology, edited by Wright, Rita P., pp. 167–195. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2000 Gender and Power in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Keane, Webb 2005 Signs Are Not the Garb of Meaning: On the Social Analysis of Material Things. In Materiality, edited by Miller, Daniel, pp. 182–205. Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Kirchhoff, Paul 1956 Estudio preliminar: La Relación de Michoacan como fuente para la historia de la sociedad y cultura Tarasca. In Relación de las ceremonias y ritos y población y gobierno de los indios de la provincia de Michoacán, pp. xix–xxxiii. Aguilar Publicistas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Kopytoff, Igor 1986 The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by Appadurai, Arjun, pp. 64–94. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krippner-Martínez, James 2001 Rereading the Conquest: Power, Politics, and the History of Early Colonial Michoacan, Mexico, 1521–1565. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park.Google Scholar
Leach, Edmund 1990 Aryan Invasions over Four Millennia. In Culture through Time: Anthropological Approaches, edited by Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko, pp. 227–245. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo 1981 Tarascos y Mexicas. Fondo de Cultura y Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Martínez Baracs, Rodrigo 2005 Convivencia y Utopia: El gobierno indio y español de la “ciudad de Mechuacan”, 1521–1580. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Fondo de Cultura y Económica, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Mauss, Marcel 1954 [1925] The Gift. Translated by Ian Cunnison. Free Press, Glencoe, IL.Google Scholar
McKinnon, Susan 1991 From a Shattered Sun: Hierarchy, Gender, and Alliance in the Tanimbar Islands. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.Google Scholar
Michelet, Dominique 1988 Apuntes para el análisis de las migraciones en el Mexico prehispánico. In Movimientos de población en el occidente de México, edited by Calvo, Thomas and López, Gustavo, pp. 13–23. El Colegio de Michoacan and Centre d'Etudes Mexicaines et Centre-Américaines, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Michelet, Dominique 1989 Histoire, mythe et apologue: Notes de lecture sur la seconde partie de la Relación … de Michoacán. In Enquêtes sur l'Amerique moyenne. Mélanges offerts á Guy Stresser-Péan, edited by Michelet, Dominique, pp. 105–133. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and Centre d'Etudes Mexicaines et Centre-Américaines, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Michelet, Dominique 1996 El origen del reino tarasco protohistórico. Arqueología Mexicana 19:24–27.Google Scholar
Michelet, Dominique, Pereira, Grégory, and Migeon, Gérald 2005 La llegada de los uacusechas a la región de Zacapu, Michoacán: datos arqueológicos y discussion. In Reacomodos demográficos del clásico al posclásico en el centro de México, edited by Manzanilla, Linda, pp. 137–153. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Miller, Daniel 2005 Materiality: An Introduction. In Materiality, edited by Miller, Daniel, pp. 1–50. Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Mosko, Mark S. 1992 Motherless Sons: “Divine Kings” and “Partible Persons” in Melanesia and Polynesia. Man 27:697–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munn, Nancy 1986 The Fame of Gawa: A Symbolic Study of Value Transformation in a Massim (Papua New Guinea) Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Noguera, Eduardo 1931 Exploraciones arqueológicas en las regions de Zamora y Patzcuaro, estado de Michoacan. Anales del Museo Nacional de México 4(7):88–104.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 1982 Water and Politics: Paleoecology and the Centralization of the Tarascan State. Paper presented at symposium Paleoecology and Man in Central Mexico, 44th Congress of the AmericanistsManchester.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 1987 The Political Economy of Prehispanic Tarascan Metallurgy. American Antiquity 52:741–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 1991 The Construction of Ideology in the Emergence of the Prehispanic Tarascan State. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:167–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 1993 Taríacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 1994 Ethnicity and political control in a complex society: the Tarascan state of prehispanic Mexico. In Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. and Fox, John W., pp. 79–88. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 2001 Ihuatzio. In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America, Vol. 2, edited by Carrasco, Davíd, pp. 30–31. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 2003a Development of a Tarascan Core: The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin. In The Postclassic Mesoamerican World, edited by Smith, Michael E. and Berdan, Frances F., pp. 227–237. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 2003b El gobierno del estado tarasco prehispánico. In Autoridad y gobierno indígena en Michoacan, edited by Carlos Paredes Martínez and Marta Terán, pp. 49–60. El Colegio de Michoacan; Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social; Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Dirección de Estudios Historicos, Universidad Michoacana, Instituto de Invesitgaciones Históricas, Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico.Google Scholar
Pollard, Helen P. 2008 A Model of the Emergence of the Taranscan State. Ancient Mesoamerica 19:217–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, Helen P., and Cahue, Laura 1999 Mortuary Patterns of Regional Elites in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin of Western Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 10:259–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Relación de Michoacán 1956 Relación de las ceremonias y ritos y población y gobierno de los indios de la provincia de Michoacan. Reproducción facsimilar del Ms IV de El Escorial, Madrid. Transcription, prologue, introduction, and notes by José Tudela. Aguilar Publicistas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Relación de Michoacán 1970 The Chronicles of Michoacan. Translated and edited by Craine, Eugene R. and Reindorp, Reginald C.. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall 1981 Historical Metaphors and Mythical Realities: Structure in the Early History of the Sandwich Islands Kingdom. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall 1985 Islands of History. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall 1990 The Political Economy of Grandeur in Hawaii from 1810 to 1830. In Culture through Time: Anthropological Approaches, edited by Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko, pp. 26–56. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Alexander, Rani T. 1992 The Political Economy of Core–Periphery Systems. In Resource, Power, and Interregional Interaction, edited by Schortman, Edward M. and Urban, Patricia A., pp. 23–49. Plenum Publishing, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholes, France V., and Adams, Eleanor B. 1952 Proceso contra Tzintzicha Tangaxoan, el caltzontzin. Porrúa y Obregón, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Seler, Eduard 1993 [1905] The Ancient Inhabitants of the Michuacan Region. In Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology, 2nd ed., vol. 4, pp. 3–66. Labyrinthos, Culver City, CA.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael E., and Berdan, Frances F. (editors) 2003 The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Stone, Cynthia 2004 In Place of Gods and Kings: Authorship and Identity in the Relación de Michoacan. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Strathern, Marilyn 1988 The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women and Problems with Society in Melanesia. University of California Press, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urton, Gary 1990 The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Warren, J. Benedict 1970–1971 Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán? Americas 27:306–327.Google Scholar
Warren, J. Benedict 1985 The Conquest of Michoacán: The Spanish Domination of the Tarascan Kingdom in Western Mexico, 1521–1530. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Weiner, Annette B. 1992 Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-while-Giving. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar