Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-5r2nc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T06:48:52.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indian Rights and Customary Law in Mexico: A Study of the Nahuas in the Sierra de Puebla

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Maria Teresa Sierra
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Based on the findings of a research project in a Nahua Indian area of central Mexico, this article focuses on the relationship between customary law and state law in the context of the administration of justice by and toward Indians. By showing how customary and state law interact and conflict in the everyday life of Indian people, it questions the idealized vision of customary law that appears to be taken for granted in the current debate over Indian rights in Mexico and Latin America. Thus a paradox is revealed between the intertwining of law and custom in social praxis and the revival of an ethnic discourse which calls for an autonomous indigenous legal system based on customary law.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 1995 , pp. 227 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

I appreciate the invaluable suggestions Jane Collier made on an earlier draft. I am grateful to Victoria Chenaut, Enrique Hamel, and Bill Maurer for their punctual commentaries and to anonymous reviewers who pointed out important issues. I also acknowledge the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University for the stimulating space for discussion and work they offered me during academic year 1993–94, when I wrote this article. This academic term was sponsored by the Fulbright-García Robles Program, CIESAS, and CONACYT (the names of these institutions are given in full immediately before the References).

References

CEMCA: Centro de Investigaciones Mexicano y Centroamericano.Google Scholar
CIESAS: Centro de Investigation y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.Google Scholar
COLMEX: Colegio de México.Google Scholar
CONACYT: Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología.Google Scholar
FIPI: Frente Independiente de Pueblos Indios.Google Scholar
IIDH: Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos.Google Scholar
III: Instituto Interamericano Indigenista.Google Scholar
INAH: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
INI: Instituto Nacional Indigenista.Google Scholar

References

Aguirre Beltrán, Gonzalo (1980) Formas de Gobierno Indígena. México: INI.Google Scholar
Ballón Aguirre, Francisco (1990) “Sistema jurídico aguaruna y positivismo,” in Stavenhagen & Iturralde, 1990.Google Scholar
Borah, Woodrow (1982) “The Spanish and Indian Law: New Spain,” in Collier, G., Rosaldo, R., & Wirth, J., eds., The Inca and Aztec States 1400–1800. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cancian, Frank (1965) Economics and Prestige in a Maya Community: The Religious Cargo System of Zinacantan. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Castellanos Guerrero, Alicia, & Rivas, Gilberto Lopez y (1993) “Grupos étnicos y procesos nacionalitarios en el capitalismo neoliberal,” 44 Nueva Antropología (México) 27.Google Scholar
Castillo Farreras, José (1973) Las costumbres y el derecho. México: Sepsetentas.Google Scholar
CCPY (1989) “The Threatened Yanomami: Morte do Brasil,” 13 (1) Cultural Survival Q. 45.Google Scholar
CEOIC (1994) “Declaración de los pueblos indios de México,” 59 Ce-Acatl (México) 17.Google Scholar
Chamoux, Marie-Noelle (1987) Nahuas de Huauchinango. México: INI.Google Scholar
Chanock, Martin (1985) Law, Custom, and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Chase-Sardi, Miguel (1987) Derecho consuetudinario chamacoco, Asunción: R. P. Ediciones.Google Scholar
Chenaut, Victoria (1990) “Costumbre y resistencia étnica. Modalidades entre los Totonaca,” in Stavenhagen & Iturralde 1990.Google Scholar
Chenaut, Victoria (forthcoming) “Orden jurídico y comunidad indígena en el Porfiriato,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Chenaut, Victoria, & Sierra, Maria Teresa, eds. (forthcoming) Orden Jurídico y formas de control social en el medio indígena. México: CIESAS-CEMCA.Google Scholar
Collier, George (1994a) The New Politics of Exclusion: Antecedents to the Rebellion in México,“ 19 (1) Dialectical Anthropology 1.Google Scholar
Collier, George (1994b) Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas. Oakland, CA: Food First Books.Google Scholar
Collier, Jane (1973) Law and Social Change in Zinacantan. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Jane (1977) “Political Leadership and Legal Change in Zinacantán,” 11 Law & Society Rev. 131.Google Scholar
Collier, Jane (1988) Marriage and Inequality in Classless Societies. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Collier, Jane (forthcoming) “Problemas teóricos-metodológicos en la antropología juridica,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Comaroff, John L. (1992) “The Discourse of Rights in Colonial South Africa: Subjectivity, Sovereignty, Modernity.” American Bar Foundation Working Paper #9401, Chicago.Google Scholar
Comaroff, John L. (1993) “Ethnicity, Nationalism, and the Politics of Identity in an Age of Revolution.” American Bar Foundation Working Paper #9402, Chicago.Google Scholar
Comaroff, John, & Roberts, Simon (1981) Rules and Processes: The Cultural Logic of Dispute in an African Context. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Survival, Cultural (1989) “Brazil: Who Pays for Development?” 13 (1) Cultural Survival Q. (Special Issue).Google Scholar
Díaz Polanco, Héctor (1991) Autonomia regional: La autodeterminación de los pueblos indios. México: Siglo Ventiuno. (English version (in press), Indian Peoples: The Quest of Self-Determination. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.).Google Scholar
Díaz Polanco, Héctor (1994) “La experiencia autonómica: problemas y perspectivas,” Ojarazca Nos. 38–39, pp. 14–16 (Nov.-Dec).Google Scholar
Díaz Polanco, Héctor y López, & Rivas, Gilberto (1994) “Fundamentos de la autonomía regional,” La Jornada (México), p. 1 (22 Feb.).Google Scholar
Figueroa Valenzuela, Alejandro (1993) “Derechos políticos y organización social: el caso de los Yaquis y de los Mayos,” 44 Nueva Antropobgía (México) 43.Google Scholar
FIPI (1994) “La autonomía indígena en México,” 59 Ce-Acatl (México) 19.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, Peter (1980) Law and State in Papua New Guinea. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, Peter (1990) “Custom as Imperialism” in Abun-Nasar, J. M. & Speller, U., eds., Law, Society and National Identity in Africa. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.Google Scholar
García de León, Antonio (1994) EZLN: Documentos y comunicados. México: Ediciones Era.Google Scholar
Gibson, Charles (1977) Los aztecas bajo el dominio espaexañol, 1519–1810. México: Siglo Ventiuno.Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul (1992) “Cultural Studies and Ethnic Absolutism,” in Grossberg, L., Nelson, C., & Treichler, P., eds., Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gomes Pereira, Mercio (1988) Os Indios do Brasil. Petrópolis, Brazil: Vozes.Google Scholar
Gómez, Magdalena (1990) “La defensoría jurídica de presos indígenas,” in Stavenhagen & Iturralde 1990.Google Scholar
Gómez, Magdalena (1994) “Sobre la naturaleza del derecho indígena: Reconocimientos constitucionales y legales.” Presented at the Seminario de Antropología Política, organized by INAH, CIESAS, COLMEX. México City (20–22 June).Google Scholar
Gómez, Magdalena (forthcoming) “Las cuentas pendientes de la diversidad jurídica,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Hale, Charles (1994). “Between Che Guevara and the Pachamama: Mestizos, Indians and Identity Politics in the Antiquincentenary Campaign,” 14 (1) Critique of Anthropology 9.Google Scholar
Hamel, Rainer Enrique (1994) “Linguistic Rights for Amerindian Peoples in Latin America,” in Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & Phillipson, R., eds., Linguistic Human Rights. Berlin: M. de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Hernández Castillo, R. Aída, & Figueroa, Martha Guadalupe (1994) “Entre la violencia doméstica y la opresión cultural: La Ley y la Costumbre a los ojos de las mujeres,” in 1994 Americas & Latinas: Ajournai of Women and Gender (Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford Univ.), pp. 16–19.Google Scholar
Hunt, Eva, & Hunt, Robert (1969) “The Role of Courts in Rural México,” in Bock, P. K., ed., Peasants in the Modern World. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Iturralde, Diego E. (1990) “Movimiento indio, costumbre juridica y usos de la ley,” in Stavenhagen & Iturralde 1990.Google Scholar
Kelsen, Hans (1958) Teoría general del derecho y del Estado. México: Univ. Nacional Autonoma de México.Google Scholar
Krenak, Ailton (1991) “Te quedas y el bicho te come. El movimiento indígena en Brasil,” Interview with Ailton Krenak, in México Indigena, pp. 34–39 (22 July).Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1988) “Legal Pluralism,” 22 Law & Society Rev. 869.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1991) “Law and Colonialism,” 25 Law & Society Rev. 889.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1992) “Anthropology, Law, and Transnational Processes,” 21 Annual Rev. of Anthropology 357.Google Scholar
Moore, Sally Falk (1986) Social Facts and Fabrications: Customary Law in Kilimanjaro 1880–1980. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Moore, Sally Falk (1989) “History and the Redefinition of Custom on Kilimanjaro,” in Starr & Collier 1989.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura (1966) “Variations in Rincón Zapote Legal Procedures” in Summa Antropológica: En homenaje a Roberto Weitlaner. México: INAH.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura (1969) “Styles of Court Procedures: To Make the Balance,” in Nader, L., ed., Law in Culture and Society. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura (1989) “The Crown, the Colony and the Course of Zapotec Village Law,” in Starr & Collier 1989.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura (1990) Harmony Ideology: Justice and Control in a Zapotec Mountain Village. Stanford, CA.: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nader, Laura, & Todd, Harry (1978) The Disputing Process: Law in Ten Societies. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olvera, Claudia (1992) “Hacia la búsqueda de conceptos en antropología jurídica.” Presented at the Seminar Orden Jurídico y formas de control en el medio indígena, Fortín de las Flores, Ver. (2–4 July).Google Scholar
Ortúzar, Ximena (1994) “Crítica Mapuche a los mayas insurgentes,” 910 Proceso (México) 52–55.Google Scholar
Pacari, Nina (1992) “El derecho indígena en Ecuador.” Presented at the Seminar Derecho Indígena: un derecho alternativo. ILSA-Univ. de Guadalajara, 29–31, Chapala, Jal.Google Scholar
Parnell, Phillip (1978) “Village or State: Competitive Legal Systems in a Mexican Judicial District,” in Nader & Todd 1978.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parnell, Phillip (1988) Escalating Disputes: Social Participation and Change in the Oxacan Highlands. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Pospisil, Leopold (1971) Anthropology of Law. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Pozas, Ricardo (1959) Chamula: Un pueblo Indio de los Altos de Chiapas. México: INI.Google Scholar
Rajsbaum, Ari (forthcoming) “Mitología y conflicto entre los Huicholes,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Rojas, Rosa, & Morquecho, Gaspar (1994a) “Sí autonomía es gobernarnos sólos, eso queremos: indios de Chiapas,” La Jornada (México), p. 14 (31 Oct.).Google Scholar
Rojas, Rosa, & Morquecho, Gaspar (1994b) “La paz en Chiapas pasa por el problema de las autonomías,” La Jornada (México), p. 20 (5 Nov.).Google Scholar
Santos, Santos Boaventura de (1987) “Law: A Map of Misreading: Towards a Postmodern Conception of Law,” 14 J. of Law & Society 281.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (1990) “Lenguaje, prácticas jurídicas y derecho consuetudinario indígena,” in Stavenhagen & Iturralde 1990.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (1992) Discurso, cultura y poder. Pachuca, Hidalgo: Gobierno del Estado de Hidalgo-CIESAS.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (1993a) “Usos y desusos del derecho consuetudinario indígena,” 44 Nueva Antropología (México) 17.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (1993b) La lucha por los derechos indígenas en el Brasil de hoy. México: CIESAS.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (1993c) “La costumbre en los procesos judiciales a indígenas.” Presented at session on Legislación Justicia y Pueblos Indigenas at 13th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, México City, 29 July-4 Aug. 1993.Google Scholar
Sierra, María Teresa (forthcoming) “Articulación jurídica y usos legales entre los Nahuas de la Sierra Norte de Puebla,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Starr, June, & Collier, Jane F., eds. (1989) History and Power in the Study of Law. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo (1988) Derecho indígena y derechos humanos en América Latina. México: COLMEX-IIDH.Google Scholar
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo (1990) The Ethnic Question: Conflicts, Development and Human Rights. Tokyo: United Nations Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo (1993) “Self Determination: Right or Demon,” 11 (2) Stanford J. of International Affairs 1.Google Scholar
Stavenhagen, Rodolfo, & Iturralde, Diego, eds. 1990. Entre la ley y la costumbre: el derecho consuetudinario indígena en América Latina. México: IIDH-III.Google Scholar
Valdivia, Teresa, ed. (1993) Usos y costumbres de la población indígena de México. Fuentes para la defensa legal. México: INI (data base on compact disk).Google Scholar
Valdivia, Teresa, ed. (forthcoming) “Derechos indígenas y territorialidad: el caso de los Guarijío de Sonora,” in Chenaut & Sierra (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Villoro, Luis (1994) “Los pueblos indios y el derecho a la autonomía,” Nexos (México) 197, pp. 41–49 (May).Google Scholar
von Benda-Beckmann, Franz (1984) The Broken Stairways to Consensus: Village Justice and State Courts in Minangkabau. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar
von Benda-Beckmann, Keebet (1981) “Dispute Processing in a Minangkabau Village,” 19 J. of Legal Pluralism 117.Google Scholar
Willemsen Díaz, Augusto (1987) “Legisladores indígenas, legislación y políticas que afectan a los pueblos y comunidades indígenas.” Technique Paper presented at the Primer Encuentro Parlamentario de Indígenas de América Latina, Panamá (26–29 Aug.).Google Scholar
Willemsen Díaz, Augusto (1993) “Ambito y ejercicio eficaz de la autonomía interna y el autogobierno para los pueblos indígenas,” 4 (7) Estudios Internacionales: Rev. del IRIPAZ (Guatemala) 127 (Jan.-June).Google Scholar
Yngvesson, Barbara (1993) Virtuous Citizens, Disruptive Subjects. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Local Documents

Declaración de la Convención Nacional Indigena (CNI), La Jornada (México), p. 5 (18 Dec. 1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Declaración de Tlahuiltotepec sobre los derechos fundamentales de las naciones, nacionalidades y pueblos indígenas de indolatinoamérica. Oaxaca: Servicios del Pueblo Mixe (Oct. 1993).Google Scholar
Resolutivos del Primer Encuentro de Resistencia Indígena, Ejido de Santa Elena, Municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas (21–23 Sept. 1994; unpublished).Google Scholar