K'iche' Elites As Power Brokers in Guatemala
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Greg Grandin. The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race and Nation. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2000. xx + 343 pp. $54.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8223-2495-9. Reviewed by Mark Carey Published on H-LatAm (November, 2000) K'iche' Elites as Power Brokers in Guatemala Grandin's study deals with roughly two cen‐ In recent years, scholars have offered many turies of Guatemalan history, from the mid-eigh‐ explanations for Guatemala's four decades of civil teenth century to the mid-twentieth century. war -- a war that unleashed some of the most vio‐ Grandin proceeds chronologically through the lent and repressive campaigns in Latin American book, examining everyday events as well as criti‐ history. Many of these studies look back to the cal points and phases in Guatemala's past, includ‐ nineteenth century and identify distinct divisions ing the late colonial period, the 1786 riot, the 1837 that arose between Indians and Ladinos (non- In‐ cholera epidemic, conservative rule in the young dians) during that important period of nation republic under Jose Rafael Carrera, the transition building. Tending either to chronicle the ways in to liberal rule after 1871, the post-1871 building of which the liberal Ladino state exploited peasants an export economy based on coffee production, and workers to build an export-oriented economy and, fnally, the "decade of democracy" (1944-54) or to describe the ways in which Indians resisted when reforms gave peasants and workers an un‐ this process of modernization, these accounts of‐ precedented voice in Guatemala. Grandin pays ten cast Ladinos as villains and Indians as victims. particular attention to the republic before 1944 But Greg Grandin offers a new interpretation. His when the Ladino state, like in many other Latin study of K'iche' Indian elites cuts across rigid class American nations, viewed Indians as obstacles to and ethnic boundaries; it links local and national modernization and believed assimilation was the histories, uncovers both Ladino and Indian forms course to follow. Grandin ends his study in 1954, of nationalism, and helps explain the power struc‐ the point at which anti- communist forces sup‐ ture that ultimately sparked war in Guatemala in ported by the CIA overthrew the elected presi‐ the 1950s. The Blood of Guatemala is essential dent, Jacobo Arbenz, and started four decades of reading for Guatemalanists and Latin American‐ civil war. ists alike. H-Net Reviews On one level, The Blood of Guatemala pro‐ Indian population. Ladino elites, therefore, de‐ vides an excellent history of Indian elites, specifi‐ pended on these principales. According to cally K'iche' elites in the city of Quetzaltenango. Grandin, K'iche' elites did appeal to both Indians From the colonial era to the mid-twentieth centu‐ and Ladino elites and in the process, they "pro‐ ry, these K'iche' elites, or principales as Grandin duced an apparently contradictory effect: ethnic calls them, maneuvered for power and prestige in identity deepened while state power increased" Guatemala. Amazingly, they preserved their posi‐ (p. 54). tion for more than two centuries, even in the face It is within this historical context that of significant obstacles and changes like the Bour‐ Grandin describes the 1954 outbreak of civil war. bon Reforms, independence, the transition from So long as K'iche' elites could effectively broker conservative to liberal rule, and the arrival of cof‐ between a distinct group of Indians and a power‐ fee capitalism in the late-1800s. Grandin demon‐ ful central state, a relative peace existed in strates that, at each juncture and with each new Guatemala. But the "ten years of spring" (1944-54) challenge, K'iche' elites managed to retain their altered this power structure by bringing democra‐ position because they became effective brokers, cy and giving power to peasants and workers. brokers initially between Indian peasants and the When Indian commoners began to acquire land Spanish colonial government and later between through agrarian reform in the early 1950s, they Indian workers and the Guatemalan (Ladino) threatened the K'iche' elite position. Principales, state. in response, stopped brokering. They joined anti- On another level, then, The Blood of Communist groups that directly and violently op‐ Guatemala goes well beyond the story of princi‐ posed reform. In short, they sided with their class pales in Quetzaltenango. By focusing on K'iche' and turned against other Indians. A powerful elite brokering, Grandin also addresses broader state and a strong Indian identity remained, two issues related to Indian identity, the solidification entities K'iche' elites had helped create during the of state power, and Guatemalan nationalism -- previous two centuries. In 1981, the Ladino state both a Ladino, anti-Indian version and an Indian targeted and massacred Indian villages in the version that saw Ladinos and Indians coexisting highlands. Pan-Mayan movements emerged at the in Guatemala. To maintain their position as Indi‐ same time. Grandin believes these events ans and as elites, principales had to remain legiti‐ stemmed from the influence K'iche' elite broker‐ mate in the eyes of Indian commoners and the ing had had on nation building in Guatemala. Spanish, Creole, and Ladino elites in control of the Like all provocative, well-researched, and state. K'iche' elites thus tried to appeal to both thoroughly documented books, The Blood of groups by embracing the modern (Ladino) world Guatemala opens doors for additional studies that and the traditional (Indian) world. They wel‐ will ultimately refine the argument and follow up comed the railroad, used the telegraph, sent their on additional points. Future studies might test children to school, displayed photographs of whether Grandin attributes too much agency to themselves, dressed in traditional garb (the wom‐ K'iche' elites. His claim that they brokered to pre‐ en usually), erected Indian monuments, and held serve their own position is solid. But the extent to Mayan beauty pageants. K'iche' elites also devel‐ which Indian commoners accepted principales' oped a distinct Indian nationalism, claiming that view of Guatemala and believed that their labor Indian peasants and workers were needed to could build a strong Guatemalan nation is not re‐ build a modern, coffee-producing country. And vealed. Yet Grandin suggests that one of the key importantly, principales retained control over lo‐ pillars supporting the K'iche' elites position was cal resources and an increasingly proletarianized 2 H-Net Reviews their ability to represent the interests of all Indi‐ nections that run deep in Guatemalan history. He ans. From this study, that does not probe deeply effectively links commoners and elites, Indians into commoners' perspectives, though, and we and Ladinos, local and national. Grandin demon‐ can only speculate that principales did, in fact, strates how principales' actions at the community speak on behalf of all Indians. level affected both Indian commoners and the na‐ On a similar note, the crucial role K'iche' tion state. He also illustrates clearly how local elites played in preserving a strong Indian identi‐ people and the state became bound and intercon‐ ty in Guatemala seems questionable. Even in nected, even though each group remained dis‐ places like Mexico and Nicaragua where mestizaje tinct. Not a book for general readers or for those has been a powerful component of nation-state without graduate training, this very academic formation, numerous Indian groups remain with work engages key threads in the Latin American their identities intact. In Guatemala, where Indi‐ historiography. By focusing on Indian elites and ans account for the majority of the population, it their ability to broker between commoners and seems likely that a strong Indian identity would the state, Grandin tackles questions about nation- have survived without K'iche' elites pushing an state formation, ethnic and class relations, hege‐ Indian nationalism. And once the civil war began, mony, nationalism, and identity. He is in dialogue Grandin implies that class overshadowed ethnic with both historians and anthropologists and identity. He recognizes that the state attacked both makes a valuable contribution to diverse disci‐ Ladinos and Indians during the war and Ladino plines and world regions. The Blood of Guatemala elites probably would have attacked peasants and is an important book. workers in the highlands whether they were Indi‐ Copyright (c) 2000 by H-Net, all rights re‐ ans or Ladinos. Violence directed specifically served. This work may be copied for non-profit against Indians did not occur until 1981-82, and educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ K'iche' elites were not targeted because they were thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ part of the wealthy class. Perhaps future studies tact [email protected]. will further illuminate the effects of K'iche' elite brokering on Indian identity and worldviews. Finally, when Grandin introduces the book as being "about nationalism, race, class, and gender" (p. 7), he falls short on one point: gender. Elite men are at the center of this study and Grandin fully acknowledges this. Women appear only oc‐ casionally and usually as conduits through which family honor, prestige, and identity are carried. Rather than a deficiency in the overall quality of the book, the lack of gender analysis is striking because readers are led to believe it will be treat‐ ed with the same depth as his discussions of race, class, and nationalism. These few quibbles aside, The Blood of Guatemala is an excellent, thought- provoking study. The strength of Grandin's work lies in his abil‐ ity to see across boundaries and to show intercon‐ 3 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-latam Citation: Mark Carey.