Community Identity

I have to agree with Danielle that this weeks reading really helped me to understand a little more clearly why the Indians didn't all join together. I understand from Smith's observations and conversations with native Indians in Totonicapan that most Indians focus solely on their identity in their own community as Smith stated on 223. I understand that each community had its own customs and beliefs, however, I'm still a little confused as to why they couldn't move past all of this and find new common grounds in order to stand up to the political evils being forced upon them. The struggle may have stopped them from completely hating each other, but I feel that it should have brought them closer together and not just "indifferent to each other" as Smith describes it.

What really interested me about this weeks reading was the ideas that Smith discussed about individual and their "costumbres". As I first started reading this section I was baffled that none of the Indians ever recruited cheaper labor if it was available. It seems only natural to me that if something can be made more profitable than it should be. Sarah and a few others made some good points about this earlier, but I think it all boils down to many of the differences that can be seen in the United States and Guatemala. The United States is a country filled with "real capitalists" and it is from this culture that I gain most of my assumptions on profits should be made. However in Guatemala, this idea of costumbres plays a big role in the way business is run. The only worry that people in Guatemala have is that people from other communities would just not fit in. This also led me to think about a previous discussion we had in the class about border control. One of the big arguments in the United States against letting so many foreigners into the country is that they will steal jobs that should be available to other Americans. However many people see foreign labor as a good thing because of the fact that it is much cheaper. Many of these border control issues are centered around the real capitalists agenda. I find it fascinating that this type of mindset is not well known in Guatemala simply on a basis of community identity.