COMPARISON OF ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO

GUATEMALAN COMMUNITIES
Robert E.T. ROBERTS
University of Chicago

Our knowledge of the field of human relations encompassed by

e terms "race and culture contacts" and "race relations" has been en-
ged within recent years by the work of social anthropologists who
ve examined the interrelations of Ladinos and Indians in a number
communities in the Republic of Guatemala. In this paper a com-
rison will be made of ethnic relations in two such communities for
ich sufficient relevant data are at hand and which offer an interest-
example of local variation in one Latin American nation.
Virtually all of the inhabitants of Guatemala are classed either
Ladino or Indian, and although commonly described as races, the
ntial distinction between the two social categories is in terms of
]tural rather than somatic differences. Individuals are identified
Indian or Ladino on the basis of language, dress and other cultural
'teria, and as Sol Tax has said:
If a person's mother tongue is Indian and his Spanish (if any)
obviously a second language; if he wears an Indian costume ra-
ther than European-type clothing; if he participates in the po-
litico-religious life of an Indian community - if any or all of
these things can be said of him, he is certain to be counted an
Indian by Indians and Ladinos alike. If, on the other hand,
the subject's mother tongue is Spanish, his costume is of European
type, and he does not participate in the life of an Indian society,
he is almost certain to be considered a Ladino. 1
During the colonial period the term, ladino, was used in Guate-
la to describe Indians who had gone to the cities to work as artisans
d presumably were more or less acculturated. At this time the fol-

1 Tax, 1942, p. 45•

 ACTA AMERICANA

lowing four categories of Indians were recognized

occupation:
Ladinos, those who lived and worked in the cities as .
, Tributaires, those who worked communal lands subject~ti
ment of tribute to encomenderos; '.Nabori or Naboria d 0
servants in the houses of Spaniards;.· Lavoria, agricultu~al
laborers.2
In addition to Indians, there were racial designations for Spa
~Peninsular and Creole), :"1e~tizo,. Mulatto, Za~bo, and Negr;
ume the Negro group lost Its identity through miscegenation, and
various mixed groups, together with Europeanized Indians, cam
be called Ladinos. As early as the 1778 census, the term "Ladi
was used to describe persons of mixed blood - those not classe
Spaniards, Indians, or Negroes. Then the term "Spaniard" drop
out of common use and "Ladino" came to mean any person
some degree of Spanish ancestry or of Spanish cultural heritage,
including individuals claiming exclusively Spanish ancestry as wel
Mulattoes, Mestizos, and Europeanized Indians. Today the t
Ladino designates any person, regardless of physical type, who i
Spanish native speech and non-Indian (i. e., Ladino) culture.8
The 1921 Census of Guatemala listed 64.80 percent of the po
lation as Indian and 35.20 percent as Ladino, the latter classifica
including the few Chinese and persons of pure European ancest ·
well as those of mixed ancestry and descendants of Indians who
taken over Ladino culture. The Census of April 7, 1940 descri
55.46 percent of the Republic's 3.283,209 inhabitants as Indians, 4
percent as White or Mestizo (Ladino), and 0.16 percent as Negro,
low, or of other race. 4
Indians and Ladinos are found in varying proportions in all p
of Guatemala, but the concentration of Indians is greatest in the H'
lands, a high and rugged plateau which runs the length of the coun
from north-west to south-east between the Atlantic and Pacific coas

2 Jones, 1940, pp. 269-270.

s Ibid., pp. 270-271; Tax, 1941, pp. 27-28; Tax, 1942, pp.
p. 34o.
4 Quinto Censo General de Poblacion, 1942, p. 214.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 1 37

ins, In general, Ladinos are urban dewellers found in greatest pro-

tiotl in the region about Guatemala City and in the larger towns.
n in the Midwestern Highlands, the region of densest Indian
pulation, Ladinos are widely dispersed, although most of them Hve
fairly large towns which are distributed throughout the Highlands
are centers of Ladino civilization.
The Indians are grouped into municipios, or townships, which
»stitute semi-tribal units of about 100 to 250 square kilometers and
less than 1,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. Linguistic divisions do not
respond to cultural or tribal units as closely as do the municipios
ich Dr. Tax has described as the basic ethnic and cultural tribal-
e divisions of Guatemala's Indian population. 5
The Ladinos can be regarded as representing another of the
y cultural divisions but, unlike the Indian cultures which corres-
d to territorial units (municipios), Ladino culture is not localized
t represents the national way of life of the largely literate Spanish-
aking section of the population. Only within this group does one
d a national consciousness or social identification with a larger
it than the local tribal community. The hundreds of separate cul-
al provinces of the Indian population are held together by the
ely dispersed and politically dominant Ladinos who keep alive
concept and reality of nationhood. Government at the national
departmental level is entirely in the hands of Ladinos, but in many
nicipios one finds parallel Ladino and Indian political organiza-
ns or a traditional assignment of certain offices to Indians and others
Ladinos.
Throughout Guatemala Ladinos are accorded higher social status .
an Indians. As a group they look down upon the Indians who in
eir contacts with Ladinos exhibit deference and other indications of
ferior social status. Although Indians are often in frequent and
ose contact with Ladinos and Ladino culture, acculturation and
e transition of Indians to Ladino status is rare because of the general
lief that different cultures belong exclusively to different localities
peoples.
With marked local variation the rule, it is to be expected that

5 Tax, 1937, pp. 423-444.

 ACTA AMERICANA

patterns of Ladino-Indian relations will vary somewhat £

.
reg10n or town to anot h er. A comparison
. o f et h me
. relation torn
.
sin
ral areas of Guatemala should enable us to determine th
ral pattern of Ladino-Indian relations as well as to note 1 e '?t
ferences. ocal
In the following pages we shall compare the patterns of L
Indian relations in two towns for which we have detailed etha
phic accounts. These communities, both located in highlandn
about 150 kilometers from Guatemala City, are Agua Escondid
the Midwestern Highlands, described by Dr. Robert Redfield 6
San Luis Jilotepeque in Eastern Guatemala, described by Dr. M
Tumin 7 and Dr. John Gillin. 8 In addition to Dr. Redfield's e
we have reports by Dr. Sol Tax on Ladino-Indian relations i~
Midwestern Highlands based on field work in several communities
the Lake Atitlan area.o
The 1940 census gives the following population figures for Q.
temala and the departments and municipios with which we
concerned:
TABLE 1 a
POPULATION OF SELECTED AREAS BY RACE AND NATIVE TONG

White and
Total Mestizo
Area Population (Ladino) Indian
Republic of Guatemala ....... 3.283,1:09 1.457,122 1.820,872
Solola (Department) .......... 86,625 5,843 8o,779
San Antonio Palop6 ........ 2,765 300 2,465
Jalapa (Department) ......... 124,855 62,988 61,842
San Luis Jilotepeque ·······. 14,840 5,49o 9,348
Native Tongue: Spa.nish Indian
Republic of Guatemala ....... 1.777,814 1.498,745
Solola (Department) .......... 6,290 80,281

a Quinto Censo General de Poblaci6n, pp. 214, 222, 234, g65, 278 and 307

6 Redfield, 1945 a; Redfield, 1945 b.

7 Tumin, 1944; Tumin, 1945.
s Gillin, 1945; Gillin, 1948.
9 Tax, 1937, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 a, 1946 b.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 1 39

san Antonio Palop6 ········ 316 2,449 0

Jalapa (Department) ......... 119,675 5, 157 23
san Luis Jilotepeque ........ 10,538 4,300 2

Agua Escondida is a rural settlement of Ladinos and a few In-

jans located above the east side of Lake Atitlan, in the municipio
f San Antonio Palop6 and department of Solola. Most of the
»habitants of the municipio live in the almost entirely Indian pueblo
San Antonio, an ancient aboriginal settlement. The aldea, or
Uage, of Agua Escondida was founded about 1895 by rural Ladinos
orn Tecpan (another Midwestern Highland municipio) who bought
nd from the local San Antonio Indians, and most of the later arrivals
ave been similar Ladinos from Tecpan. In 1938 the village contained
9 households of which 37 were Ladino, 10 were Indian, and the re-
aining two contained a Ladino living with an Indian woman and
n Indian living with a Ladino woman. 10
In addition to the pueblo and the village of Agua Escondida, the
unicipio of San Antonio Palop6 contains a small settlement of La-
inos on a trade route, a few Ladino-owned fincas, or plantations, and
number of small rural settlements and individual farms, both Indian
ud Ladino. The San Antofieros, the indigenous Indians of the mu-
icipio, are concentrated in the pueblo but some live in the Ladino
ettlements as well as in smaller detached rural settlements. Most
f the Ladinos live in the predominantly Ladino communities of Agua
scondida and Godinez, with a few small finqueros and independent
mers living outside the settlements. Dr. Redfield's observations on
ethnic relations in this community were focussed on relations between
the runual agricultural Ladinos of Agua Escondida and the local .In-
dians residing in the village and in the nearby pueblo. 11
The San Antonio Indians are almost entirely American Indian in
.their genetic background while the Ladinos are very mixed, with
Caucasoid features predominating. There is little status differentia-
tion along class lines within either group. Both the Indians and the
Ladinos are predominantly farmers with simple technology and little •
.or no schooling. Because nearly all of these Ladinos are poor, unso-

10 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 71, 426.

11 Ibid., pp. 58-59.
 ACTA AMERICANA

phisticated, rural farmers there is less contrast between their rn

culture and standard of living and that of the Indians than is ~t
in other Highland towns such as Chichicastenango where the L ;.
1
are mainly town-dwellers engaged in commerce. Although t;
dinos and Indians share many items of material culture and i
and some of the dissimilarities are only differences of degree, the
1
ferences are sufficiently great to enable us to recognize two readile
tinguishable cultures with different languages, practices and b:i.
In contrast to the situation in many other districts, the Ladinos ra:
than the Indians are bi-lingual although many of the Indians h
some knowledge of Spanish in addition to their native Cakchiq
dialect.
The pueblo of San Luis Jilotepeque, the community studied
Tumin and Gillin, is located in southeastern Guatemala in a val
surrounded except on the east by semi-mountainous areas. The p
blo, with a population of some 1,100 Ladinos and 2,400 Indians,
the jurisdictional center of the municipio of San Luis Jilotepeq
in the department of Jalapa, and is a stable community which
many respects has changed little in the last hundred years. The chur
in the central plaza, and therefore the pueblo, is probably more th
three hundred years old. Dependent upon the pueblo, and especial
its twice-weekly markets, are a number of hamlets varying in pop
lation from So to 400 and all but the most distant, which is inhabit
only by Indians, containing both Ladinos and Indians. 12
There are several differences in the composition of the two are ··
selected for study. Agua Escondida is a small settlement of Ladin
near an entirely Indian town in a predominantly Indian municip'
and department. The Midwestern Highlands remain an Indian stron
hold and Ladinos, now constituting less than ten percent of the pop
lation of the region, have entered most of its districts only within th
last century. In much of Eastern Guatemala, on the other hand, L
dinos have long been numerically dominant. They outnumber Indians.
in the department of J ala pa and are a large and old element in thet
population of the municipio and the pueblo of San Luis Jilotepeque.
Whereas nearly all of the Agua Escondida Ladinos are poor, unso,

12 Tumin, 1944, pp. 17-19, 23, 29.

 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES

isticated, rural farmers, Tumin found a class division among the

dinos of San Luis, with an upper class of twenty "best families", a
dle class of some sixty families of artisans and traders, and a lower
55
("populacho" or mass) of about one hundred and forty families.
e was unable to find any hierarchies of status in the Indian society.
e San Luis Indian culture differs from that of San Antonio in
guage (a dialect of the Pokoman languages is spoken), costume, and
ny details of custom. The Indians of San Luis Jilotepeque have
n in close contact with Ladinos for two or three centuries, and un-
the indigenes of San Antonio Palopo, all but a few are bi-lingual.
e Ladinos, with but one exception, speak only Spanish. 13
Before indicating similarities and differences between the pat-
ns of Ladino-Indian relations described for the two communities,
should take note of the extent to which the data presented by Red-
Id and Tax, on the one hand, and by Gillin and Tumin, on the
er, are comparable. Some of the differences between the two com-
unities and the regions in which they are located have been mention.
. It should be noted that while Gillin and Tumin confine their
scription and analysis to the pueblo of San Luis, and Redfield's
ta is similarly localized, Tax's field work includes several commun-
es and his articles generalize for the Western Highlands area. Neither
umin nor Gillin claim that the system of ethnic relations they des-
ibe is representative of any area beyond the community studied.
While Dr. Redfield's field work was concentrated on a primarily
adino community and his informants were mainly Ladinos, Dr.
umin's field notes deal preponderantly with San Luis Indian life and
s informants were mainly Indians. Tumin admits a pro-Indian bias
ich led him to deprecate the character of the Ladinos as well as a
dency to overstress felt-conflict in social relations and to overstress
fferences in Indian and Ladino culture patterns. 14 Some of Tumin's
atements on Ladino-Indian relations in San Luis are modified by
illin who, with Redfield and Tax, is less inclined to view Ladinos
consciously trying to prevent Indians from improving their status.
In addition to the standard ethnographic methods used by all
ur authors, Tumin sought the attitudes and beliefs of Indians and

13 Ibid., pp. 18-19, 108-109.

 ACTA AMERICANA

Ladinos on a number of specific topics by administering

·
naires · h.1s d.irected mterv1ews
m · · · h a samp1e o f twenty-twoque
wit L
and forty-nine Indian male heads of households. Tumin thus 8
in Gallop poll fashion, an expression of the attitudes of San Le:
dinos and Indians with respect to su~h questions as wheth;is
would prefer to belong to the other ethnic group, and why; wh
they would invite a member of the other group to a meal a
8
visit, baptism, wedding, or wake; attitudes toward interma;ria
volving a son or daughter; and the status of children of mixed ;
tage and of orphans reared in a home of the other ethnic group.
lack a similar attitude and opinion poll for Agua Escondida and
Antonio.
It is inevitable that comparable data for some of the informa
given by Redfield and Tax is lacking in the reports of Tumin
Gillin, and vice versa, but there is sufficient comparable materia
permit us to note essential similarities and differences in Lad'
Indian relations in the two communities.
No expert eye is needed to detect basic similarities in the patt
of ethnic relations operating in the two areas of Guatemala descri
by Redfield, Tax, Tumin and Gillin. In the first place, we fin
both communities the usual Guatemalan division of society into
ethnic groups, Ladino and Indian, distinguished primarily on
basis of cultural differences. With rare exceptions, any membe
either community is readily identified as either a Ladino or an Ind
There are virtually no foreigners, although Indians from other m
cipios tend to be regarded as foreign and to retain their social
cultural separateness over a number of generations.
Although the configurations of Indian and of Ladino customs
fer sufficiently to constitute separate and readily distinguishable
tures, we find in both areas a similar though not identical overlap
of practices. It would be possible to enumerate for Agua Escon
and San Antonio Palopo, as Gillin has done for the pueblo of
Luis, 15 those cultural patterns exclusive to Indian culture, those
elusive to Ladino culture, and those practiced by both groups.

14 Tumin, 1945, p. IV,

15 Gillin, 1945, PP· 4-6.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 143

h in both regions the local Indian culture includes many Euro-

ug elements borrowed since the Spanish conquest and the Ladino
~:Ure includes elements of A~erican Indi~n o~igin: there is at p~es-
very little tendency for Indians or Ladmos m either commumty,
~er as individuals or as a group, to substitute customs of the other
up for their traditional ways. Ladinos as well as Indians appear
accept the differences in culture as natural or appropriate for dif-
ent peoples, and exhibit mutual tolerance for each other's ways. At
e same time, many Indian customs are evaluated by Ladinos as
couth or backward.
In both communities Ladinos not only depreciate many Indian
stoms and beliefs, but they look down upon the Indians as a group.
Agua Escondida as well as in San Luis, the Ladinos as a group are
perordinate in status to the Indians. Indians and Ladinos constitute
parate social entities between which sufficient social distance is
aintained to reduce intimate personal intergroup relationships to a
w frequency, although impersonal contacts are frequent. Ladinos
not treat Indians with the same politeness nor use the terms of res-
et accorded members of their own group, and Indians exhibit defe-
nce in their contacts with Ladinos.
In most social relationships, apart from economic activities and
Iatively impersonal contacts, the two groups tend to be separated.
ersonal relationships between Ladinos and Indians are limited by
e difference in language, interests, and general cultural background,
ut custom further restricts such contacts and tends to prevent the
dian from participating fully or on equal terms in such as do occur.
here are differences, however, in the situations and extent to which
dians are excluded from participation in Ladino-sponsored activities
the two communities.
In both Agua Escondida and San Luis we find joint participation
£Indians and Ladinos in the school, the church and certain religious
elebrations, and in many aspects of economic life, as well as in relati-
ly impersonal and chance contacts in the streets and public places.
n most such instances of joint participation the behavior differs from ,
hat which occurs when both participants are either Indians or Ladi- 1
os, and is characterized by some degree of social distance and of
eference shown the Ladino by the Indian.
1 44 ACTA AMERICANA

In both communities Indians frequently ask Ladin 0

. s to
godparents, but no cases were discovered of a Ladino askin .·•
. h"1p. M any L a d"mos m
to assume t h ere1at10ns . Agua Escondid g an I
San Luis do have Indian godchildren and assume the custo a
·
gauons towardh t em. marv ,r
In the two communities we are comparing both the Ind' .• ·
1
the Ladino group opposes intermarriage and formal interm ~
. arr
rare or absent. Casual sex relat10ns, however, especially of
men with Indian women, are not uncommon. As there is no i
diate social group, all children of mixed parentage grow up, e~
Indians or as Ladinos.
Finally, in both Agua Escondida and San Luis Jilotepequ
find little or no evidence of hostility, conflict, hatred, or resentm
ethnic relations. In both communities such relations operate smo
with both groups accepting the traditional pattern of Ladino su
rity with attendant depreciation of Indians, social distance, and
rential behavior on the part of Indians toward Ladinos. Both
field and Gillin report an absence of conflict and even of resent
on the part of the subordinate Indians. 16
Let us now turn to the differences in patterns of Indian-La
relations as reported by Redfield, Tumin and Gillin for the two .c
munities studied. In the first place, Tumin indicates that in
Luis the distinction between Ladino and Indian is seen to some.
tent in terms of biological differences. He says:
Inmediate rejection by the Ladino of the Indian is largely
terms of manifest differences in culture: clothing, language;
neral social behavior. Ultimate rejection of the Indian is b.
largely on notions of biological differences which, for the L~.
no, speak depreciatively of the Indian. 17
Tax and Redfield insist that in the Midwestern Highlands;··•·
least, biological differences are unimportant in the distinction m
between the Indian and Ladino groups, and Tax suggests that
situation reported for San Luis by Gillin and Tumin is atypical £
Guatemala. 18

16 Redfield, 1939, pp. 514-517; Redfield, 1945 a, p. 313; Gillin, 1948, pp. 340•
17 Tumin, 1944, p. 222. 18 Tax, 1942, pp. 44-46.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 1 45

A- comparison of the accounts given by Redfield and by Tumin

d Gillin clearly indicates that the social distance separating the two
ic groups is much greater in San Luis than in Agua Escondida.
;field says that in Agua Escondida:

The Ladinos show not the slightest reluctance to eat, play,

work or associate generally with Indians. The Indians live scat-
tered about in the settlement among Ladinos. There is nothing
which tends to segregate them. If an Indian family comes to
settle, they build their house where they find it convenient to
acquire land, and I can discover no reluctance on the part of
Ladinos to sell to Indians or to have Indians live near them. 19

Tumin reports that in San Luis separate participation of Indians

d Ladinos is the rule in most activities. In numerous funerals wit-
ed during a stay of nine months in the pueblo he never saw a La-
o in the funeral march for a deceased Indian nor an Indian in the
neral march for a Ladino. Separate participation was the rule in
creational and leisure time pursuits and in informal visiting. There
strict separation of Indian and Ladino in private social affairs such
parties and dances. Indians are seldom, if ever, invited by Ladinos
a meal or to attend a wedding, baptism, or wake. Ladinos may
end such affairs of Indans, however, in which case they rate as hon-
ed guests.
The Ladinos of San Luis regard the cofradias, or religious clubs,
the local Indians as "Indian" additions to "normal" Catholicism,
hough these organizations are of Spanish origin and flourish among
dinos in other areas of Guatemala. An occasional Ladino does come
a cofradia reunion in San Luis, but usually only out of curiosity. 20
Although Ladino and Indian children attend the same school,
umin observed that they formed separate play groups at recess and
at only Ladino children were selected for the speaking and leading
rts in school plays. At the monthly mass conducted in the church
· a visiting priest only Ladinos occupy pews, and the Indians either
ton the floor or stand as do Ladinos not occupying pews. Again,
religious celebrations such as those held at Christmas and Easter,

19 Redfield, 1945 a, p. 315.

20 Tumin, 1944, pp. 96, 178-179.
 ACTA AMERICANA

Ladinos perform the leading parts and Indians tend to rem .

a1n
and in the background.
Tumin stresses the social distance and separate panic•
1
which govern relations between Ladinos and Indians in San L ~
enumerates many situations not explicitly covered in RedHeld~ls
notes on Agua Escondida. However, although Redfield has s
borated as fully on the manifestations of social distance and ;ot
participation of Ladinos and Indians, and granting that Indi p
not customarily participate in intimate social relationships wi::
dinos, it seems clear that contempt for Indians and their excI
from social participation with Ladinos is less marked than in
Luis. Redfield states that in Agua Escondida Indian and La
school children play together and that Ladinos are not reluctant to
work, or associate with Indians. There _are several cofradias in
Escondida, and one with ~redominantly India~ membership is..
tended by a number of Ladmos who take an active part in its af
One year an Indian was accepted as alcalde, or leader, of the lead
cofradia among the Ladinos and the Ladino members wen,t to
house for the fiesta. 21
Rules of behavior involving patterns of deference and res
on the part of Indians toward Ladinos appear to be stricter and
numerous in San Luis than in Agua Escondida. 22 Even in the ch
the fixed and unequal status of the two groups is reflected in the
that no Indian sits in the seats, even if some are unoccupied,
the lowliest of Ladinos will take a seat if it is available. San Luis
terns of social intercourse between Indian and Ladino, with rules·
volving deference and recognition of the subordinate status of .
Indian, remind one of the so-called racial or caste etiquette wh
governs similar relationships between Negroes and Whites in
South of the United States.
In Agua Escondida, as in San Luis, the Ladinos as a group
wealthier and own more land than do the Indians, but in comparis

C!l Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 65, 274-275, 315, 317.

22 Redfield does not give as full a list of such patterns of respect and defere
as Tumin does, but it seems evident that while similar patterns are observed.
Agua Escondida, they are not as important as in San Luis. See Redfield, 1945
pp. 31:il-313 and Tumin, 1944, pp. 149-151.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 1 47
th the Ladinos of San Luis they are relatively poor and do not regard
labor as a dishonorable occupation. In San Luis, Ladino land-
111
ners depend on Indian laborers to farm their land for wages or
a share of the crop in payment of rent, and Tumin found only
0
cases of Ladinos working for Indian employers. 23 In Agua Escon-
" a, on the other hand, there is less fixed division of labor along
nic lines and the community is essentially one of farmers using
iJar techniques. A considerable minority of Ladinos are landless
d work as field hands. Indians and Ladinos are employed to work
e by side, usually for Ladinos but occasionally for a relatively
Ithy Indian. Redfield found that about one third of the Ladino
n of the village had at some time worked for an Indian employer. 24
The evidence presented by Redfield and Tumin indicates that
ere is greater inequality of opportunity, reward and punishment in
vor of Ladinos in San Luis than is the case in Agua Escondida. In
e latter community Indians employed as field hands work side by
e with Ladinos for the same wages. 25 In San Luis, however, the
nskilled and landless Ladino is customarily paid higher wages and
eated with greater consideration than Indians hired to do the same
rk.2 6 In San Luis, at least until very recently, Indians have been
nished more heavily than Ladinos for legal infractions. 27 At the
e Redfield conducted his field work, the Ladinos of Agua Escon-
da were under the jurisdiction of San Antonio, and the administra-
on of law by an Indian mayor with the assistance of the Ladino se-
etary, and with Indian police officers, appeared to operate with
qual justice to each group. 2 8
Tumin and Gillin indicate that despite national pronouncements
at the Indians should enjoy equal status and should be raised to
e "level of civilization" of the Ladino, there is no evidence of any
esire on the part of Ladinos in San Luis to change the present system
•· f ethnic relations. Gillin gives as one factor inhibiting acculturation,

23 Tumin, 1944, p. 116.

24 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 302-3o6.
25 Ibid., pp. 302-304, 306.
26 Tumin, 1944, pp. 116-117.
27 Gillin, 1945, p. 11; Gillin, 1948, p. 339.
28 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 63-64.
 ACTA AMERICANA

"direct punishment inflicted on Indians who attempt to prac .

tam. L a d'mo customs" .29 T umm . reports t h at L a d'mo behavio,tic .
.
as to Impe d et h e progress o f t h e I n d'ian m· acqmrmg.. Ladino wr 1·S
that all efforts that he saw on the part of Indians to move in uaysr
<lino society were rejected by the Ladinos involved. 30 In ccintr po
· the areas o f G uatema Ia wit . h wh'IC I1 h e Is st•
. familiaraL
states that m '
attitudes and actions are predicated on the belief that India a
(and should) become Ladinos, and that it is felt that the troubl~s
the Indians is that they do not accept the Ladino way of life:31
field reports that he found no evidence in Agua Escondida of
disposition on the part of Ladinos to keep Indians in a positio
social inferiority, but that they welcome and encourage attempt
Indians to learn Ladino waysi82
There is very little vertical social mobility from Indian to La
status in either community, but the barriers to such movement
greater in San Luis than in Agua Escondida. Redfield and Tax 8
that in the Midwestern Highlands an Indian automatically becom
Ladino if he acquires the Ladino culture and gives up his Indian
In practice, however, this rarely happens. Ladinoized Indians
usually be recognized as such because they betray some retention
Indian culture or imperfect mastery of Ladino ways, and such
ginal individuals are classed as Indians. Even those who through
cial circumstances are reared by Ladinos and fully acquire Lad
culture are not regarded as Ladino without qualification except
persons unaware of their Indian origin. They, however, do part'
pate socially as Ladinos. 38
In San Luis Tumin learned that it was impossible for a per
known to have had Indian parents to gain complete acceptance
Ladino. Several local Indians have made the transition to Ladi
status, but all of them found it necessary to move to other areas wh
their origins were unknown. The one Indian who, after acquiring
<lino ways in another town, attempted to gain acceptance as a Ladi

29 Gillin, 1945, p. 14.

30 Tumin, 1944, pp. 207-208, 224.
31 Tax, 1942, p. 46.
82 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 311, 314, 323.
33 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 69, 313-314, 317-319, 350, 382.
 ETHNIC RELATIONS IN TWO COMMUNITIES 1 49

011
his return to the pueblo as a government official was not entirely
cessful. Because of this office he was invited to Ladino affairs, but
of the Ladinos questioned on this point by Tumin said that they
uld not have let him marry one of their children because of his In-
• • 34
au ongm.
Although there have been no instances of formal intermarriage in
her community, stable unformalized unions (recognized in the com-
unity as informal marriages) of Ladino men and Indian women
d of Indian men and Ladino women are more common in Agua
ondida and neighboring communities than in San Luis where the
ost sustained mixed union, involving an Indian man and a Ladino
ostitute, lasted less than three years. 35
In both communities children of Ladino-Indian unions are known
cruzados ("crossed") and may be reared either as Ladinos or as
dians. In Agua Escondida there appears to be less reluctance than
San Luis to accept such individuals as Ladinos if they acquire the
dino way of life. Gillin states in San Luis cruzados may be Ladi-
s, but Tumin is inclined to doubt the possibility of their really being
eated as Ladinos, although several of his informants were of the
pinion that they would be, because even though a number of such
ildren in the pueblo have been raised completely in Ladino man-
s and ways, there is no person of definitely known mixed parentage
ho is considered and treated as a Ladino by Ladinos and Indians.
ather, Tumin reports that there is a clearly observable tendency for
child of mixed parentage to be considered as an Indian by both
ndians and Ladinos, even though raised as a Ladino. 36
Although it has not been possible to compare every aspect of
hnic relations in Agua Escondida and San Luis Jilotepeque in minute
etail, the above enumeration of the main resemblances and differen-
s as reported by Doctors Redfield, Tax, Tumin and Gillin indicates
at although there is an underlying basic common pattern of ethnic
lations in the two communities, there also appear to be significant
ifferences. These differences take the form of greater social distance
34 Tumin, 1944, pp. 207-212, 224-225.
35 Redfield, 1945 a, pp. 10-u, 320-322, 348, 364, 370, 379-384, 394, 399; Tumin,
944, pp. 179-181.
86 Gillin, 1948, p. 338; Tumin, 1944, pp. 199-203.
 ACTA AMERICANA

and recognition of the superordinate status of the Ladin . .

o in ru1
deference and precedence, together with tendencies in th d' •·
of an ethnic caste system, with virtually complete absenc: ire.
marriage and vertical social mobility, in the pueblo· of San°{
lotepeque.
Although there can be little dou bt that the patterns of L
1

Indian relations in the two communities we have compared d"f

1
the directions indicated, one might ask whether the differen
as great as Redfield's and Tumin's field notes and interprec
suggest. Tumin has admitted that he felt a sympathetic identif:
with the Indians as "underdogs", and that his field notes are b~a
in that they tend to impute too much felt conflict in social relaf
1
between Indians and Ladinos and to overstress the differences
understress the similarities in the cultur~ pa:terns of the two gro
Tumin also appears to overstress the sooal distance separating In
and Ladino and the rigidity of the barriers preventing social mobi
from one group to the other. On the other hand, Tax and Red£
may have understated the strength of these aspects of Ladino-In
relations in the communities they studied. ·

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