362 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
In some cases, arrangements are made to pay piece-rate, and often cash advances
are given to the workers. In other cases, different members of the household will be
in charge of different parts of the garment or the performance of different tasks. In
Teotitlán de Valle, Mexico, for example, Cook (2004) observed workers who are in-
dependent and work with their own looms and yarn at home, as well as others who
own their looms but receive yarn from the merchants. In Tecpán, Guatemala, one
Kaqchikel Mayan family invested money earned from work in agricultural and teach-
ing into mechanical sweater looms. After they learned to operate the looms, they
hired workers and trained them. They then worked on marketing the sweaters, which
were woven in styles typically found in the United States, Canada, and Ireland, as
well as in Guatemala City, Totonicapán, and other highland Guatemalan towns. By
owning the looms and the workshop and by marketing their own products, they were
able to consolidate wealth. They kept expenses low by paying the current daily wage
for labor—then only a couple of U.S. dollars per day—and by concentrating on sales.
As a result of this strategy, they were able to make the most profit for their time and
energy.
Merchants, many of whom are themselves intermediaries, take advantage of this
type of work. For one thing, they do not need to supply either a space or equipment
to the worker, thereby saving the expenses of electricity (when available) and up-
keep. Most of the home workers are women, and this work regime allows them to con-
tinue with the daily activities of taking care of young children and various household
tasks. The transition from home work to the workshop at the merchant’s house or
property often implies more expenses for the proprietor-merchant. It also increases
his or her control over the production process. Many workers will eventually become
the merchant’s competitors, as they begin to buy their own raw materials and en-
gage relatives and others with piecework. This was certainly the case with respect to
the family from Tecpán previously described. When they began their sweater-making
business, they were the only family in that town engaged in that enterprise. Within
a few years, several other families, including some of their own workers, had their own
shops.
Sol Tax (1953), who conducted research in the Guatemalan town of Panajachel
in the 1930s, noted this practice of following and imitating successful economic
strategies as part of his observations on Kaqchikel Mayan farmers, weavers, and ven-
dors. Although indigenous communities are popularly conceived of as traditional,
conservative, and reluctant to change, he watched the Kaqchikel Mayas of Panajachel
adopt new crops and planting strategies that were successful in neighboring com-
munities, as well as imitating weaving designs from other places and innovating new
designs that would appeal to tourists. Mesoamerican businesspersons and artisans
continue to innovate and make rational economic decisions.Maquiladora Industries
The combination of lack of land and of employment opportunities for peasants and
urban inhabitants in the region, and the preference of the United States and other
developed countries for obtaining an unlimited supply of cheap unskilled labor, has