360 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
Box 9.3 Petty Commodity Production in the Tzeltal Mayan
Township of Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas
In Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas, the intensification of the production of pottery by women has
also generated internal stratification. At the same time, according to June Nash (2001), relations be-
tween men and women experienced a conflictive shift brought about by the new trend of women
being independent and self-sufficient. As part of these economic developments, men and women
have redefined their roles in the household. Both groups had always contributed to the subsis-
tence of the household; but with production intensification and some degree of economic differ-
entiation, the nature of the contributions by men and women has changed. For one thing, in most
cases the hours spent working on the production of a particular commodity have increased.
Cash availability from the work of both women and men has created changes in power re-
lations within the household and between men and women in general. Women now have ac-
cess to the capital they generate owing to an expanded market for the crafts they produce. This
capital has given them more power than they previously had, since they can make decisions re-
lated to production and to the household consumption that they did not make before. Men’s ac-
tivities yield comparable or sometimes lower returns, thus affecting intergender dynamics.
The practice of productive diversification is not new to peasant households, as already
pointed out. However, with intensification, the incorporation of paid help (temporary wage work-
ers) and a different division of labor, the economic process also has changed in nature. For ex-
ample, the combination of subsistence agriculture with the practice of one or more artisan
activities, along with different levels of commercialization, is now considered standard strategies
for capitalization.
Similarly, in Oaxaca, Mexico, brickmakers (rural petty industrial workers studied
by Scott Cook and others) have had incredible material success. Practiced since the
nineteenth century, brickmaking has undergone several changes. It evolved from a
temporary peasant artisan occupation practiced by just a few households to a full-time
peasant capitalist industry practiced by people who have differentiated themselves
into groups of businessowners, and pieceworkers who do not own their business. In
San Miguel Totonicapán, Guatemala, a town studied by Carol Smith, weavers are
doing quite well, since they have intensified the production of textiles for tourists and
export. Totonicapán weavers do not seem to have polarized into two classes (owners
and wage workers), in contrast to the trend in other petty industries.
San Pedro Almolonga in western Guatemala (see Box 9.1) is a town that spe-
cializes in the production of vegetables, and it is considered to be doing better, on
average, than most other towns in the area. In that town there is widespread eco-
nomic differentiation. Because of the lack of land in the township, people rented and
then purchased lands in nearby townships. They diversified production strategies, in-
cluding the development of new markets, new trade partners, new lands, and new
cash crops. On average, those who have opted for trade and intensification of pro-
duction of vegetables are doing better than those who remain dedicated to agricul-
ture and milpa production. Traders seem to be converting to Protestantism in larger
proportions than are agriculturalists, thus generating a distinct group within a town
experiencing profound cultural changes. (See Box 9.3 for an illustration of the im-
pact on community life of this kind of production.)