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  • Maya Lords and Lordship: The Formation of Colonial Society in Yucatán, 1350–1600 by Sergio Quezada
  • Joel Palka
Maya Lords and Lordship: The Formation of Colonial Society in Yucatán, 1350–1600. By Sergio Quezada (Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2014) 248pp. $34.95

This book examines precolonial Maya political, social, and territorial organization and the demise of Maya elites of various ranks during the [End Page 595] Spanish colonization of Yucatan, Mexico. Because of its rich historical and cultural information, in addition to its theoretical contributions regarding Maya political organization and culture change, it is of interest to ethnohistorians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and geographers, especially those working in Maya and Mesoamerican studies. Solidly researched, it drives home two significant points: (1) Precolonial Maya political organization was not based on territory or land ownership, and (2) various ranks of Yucatec Maya elites were eliminated at different times by evolving Spanish colonial policies. This volume updates Quezada’s earlier publication in Spanish, which included his initial interpretation that Maya territory was important in Maya politics, but it loses useful tables and illustrations. The new text, however, preserves detail about Maya society, political offices, and Spanish colonial policies.

Quezada re-analyzes information from commonly utilized colonial documents to argue that Maya social and political organizations were built on social ties and obligations. Earlier reconstructions of Yucatec Maya territory and geographical provinces in the literature, which he outlines, were based on Spanish constructs and not indigenous Maya ones. Unlike Spanish and Aztec territorial political structures, the basic unit of Yucatec Maya polities and interpersonal interaction was based on the batab, a middle-ranked Maya noble, who mediated between upper-level elites and heads of families throughout a region. This point is also novel in Quezada’s research, since many scholars state that the highest-level elites were the core of Maya politics.

The Maya batabs (usually men) held political authority, not territory or land, and had vassals in various places who pledged tribute, service, and personal allegiance to them. Their subjects met at the batab’s residence. At this point, Quezada’s notions of Maya territory and polity become slippery. It is possible that Maya territory may have existed; it just shifted with alliances over time. Most politically complex societies with large agricultural settlements and tribute had territory, land ownership or usufruct, and sites of belonging. Nonetheless, his argument regarding the centrality of social networks between Maya of different rank across the landscape and the power of personal obligations of reciprocity as the basis of Maya political structure instead of the control of land is compelling.

Interestingly, Maya elites survived the initial Spanish conquest. When the Spanish overlords extracted tribute from the Maya, these new leaders bypassed upper-level native elites, but they, too, relied on the batabs as mediators. The Europeans effectively dissolved the time-honored social ties among Maya nobles of various ranks through sociopolitical change, eventually establishing Old World territorial divisions. In a fascinating twist, the Spanish re-organization of Maya society and economy actually gave more power to batabs, thus ensuring their survival until the end of the colonial period when Spanish land and economic reforms removed all control from the last Maya elites. The policies of the colonizers [End Page 596] have influenced the organization of Maya society, settlements, and land ownership to the present day.

Joel Palka
University of Illinois, Chicago
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