the changing proportion of Maya Indian and Ladino in the population of Guatemala, '

Transcription

1 the changing proportion of Maya Indian and Ladino in the population of Guatemala, ' JOHN D. EARLY-Florida Atlantic University introduction Guatemala is a prime example of a complex society composed of two distinct cultural groups, the Maya Indians and the Ladinos. Although there are some Orientals and Black Carib Indians, their numbers are quite small, and the censuses include them in the Ladino classification. Exact definition is lacking, but Ladino usually means a person of the national culture, Spanish speaking, white or mestizo. Indian means a person identifying with one of the Maya groups and their customs. Cultural characteristics are more important than skin color in distinguishing the groups. Previous research (Early 1974) has demonstrated the problem of census enumerators in determining ethnicity and the 4.3 percent and 16 percent ethnic misclassification this caused in the 1950 and 1964 censuses. This research also developed a method to estimate more accurately the Maya and Ladino populations of these censuses in addition to calculating these populations for each mid year between 1945 and Table 1 shows that the Maya have decreased from 57.3 percent to 48.5 percent of the total population during this period. A straight line projection estimates 47 percent as the 1973 figure, the year in which another census was taken and whose preliminary results are available. This is a decline of 10.3 percent in twenty-eight years. The purpose of this article is to examine and measure the factors behind this changing proportion of the two ethnic groups in the composition of the Guatemalan population. No universal definition and operational criterion of ethnicity is used in all of the 325 municipios of Guatemala (Gobaud Carrera 1946:29). Because of this problem, census enumerators in 1950 and 1964 (Direcci6n General de Estadistica 1957:xii; 1971a:26) were instructed to use the community consensus or social judgment (estimacidn social) of the local area to determine ethnicity. This is a difficult directive to implement because many census enumerators are Ladino school teachers who were not brought up in the area where they teach, and few Indians attend school. This article employs ethnic vital registration data and ethnic population figures derived from census data corrected by the ethnic designation in the vital registration (Early 1974: ). Therefore, the Revised Maya Indian and Ladino population figures give a new look at the changing proportion of these two groups in the national population of Guatemala. The Maya have decreased percent (5 7.3 percent to 4 7 percent) in a twenty-eight year period. The acculturation of Maya to Ladino is the primary factor for this changing proportion, and the greater Indian death rate is the secondary factor. changing ethnic ratios in Guatemala 261

2 ~ - Table 1. Ethnic composition of Guatemalan population, * Census Revision Census Revision Year % Indian % Indian %d % Ladino % Ladino *Source: Direccion General de Estadistica (1957:xii, 1968:10, 1971a:42, 1974:xxvii) and Early (1 974). definition of Indian and Ladino used here is the community consensus or social judgment of each of the 325 municipios as known by the local registrar and his assistants who keep the vital registration books. These registrars and their assistants are for the most part local people who know the social judgments of their communities and whatever criteria are used. rates of total and natural increase Previous research derived mid-year populations (PM y) for each of the twenty-two departments of the country. The 1950 census was used as the base population for nine departments and the 1964 census for the other thirteen (Early 1974:llO-111). The mid-year populations are converted to beginning of the year populations (P,) by the formula 'MY1 "MY2. 2 The beginning of year and mid-year populations of the departments are then added to provide a national figure. Rates of total increase for each year are calculated by the formula 'B2 - 'Bl 'M Y The rates of natural increase are calculated by the formula B-D -. PM Y (Consult Early [ 1974:115-I 161 for original data sources.) 262 american ethnologist

3 1. *. W NATURAL Figure 1. Rates of total increase and natural increase per 1,000 population, Ladino and Maya, The rates of total and natural increase for each ethnic group and for each year are plotted on a graph as shown in Figure 1. The Ladino rate of total increase (line I) is greater than the Indian rate of total increase (line IV). These lines give the overall reason for the changing proportions of Table 1. One factor responsible for the greater Ladino rate of total increase is that the Ladino rate of natural increase (line I I) is greater than the Maya rate of natural increase (line Ill). natural increase: birth and death rates The rate of natural increase is the result of the interplay between births and deaths. Figure 2 shows the crude birth and death rates for the two ethnic groups over the twenty-five year period. Although the Indian birth rate averages a little more than the Ladino, the big difference is in the death rates. The Ladino rates are consistently lower than the Indian, running about 13 per 1000 population in the later years while the Indian death rate has been running about 20. It is this differential in the death rate which is primarily responsible for the greater Ladino rate of natural increase. (Arias [ 1957: 11 1 ] notes that there was a reorganization of the Guatemalan statistics administration in The data for are inferior to the rest, and this probably accounts for some of the trend difference in these years.) While the lack of modern medical facilities is a factor in the differential death rates, Early (1970a; 1970b: ) has shown that the synergistic relation of infectious disease and malnutrition in children under five years is responsible for the greatest proportion of Indian deaths. In a demographic study of an Indian municipio, but with epidemiological and clinical data drawn from a wider area, close to 60 percent of the total deaths in a decade were in this age group. Even with a drop in the crude death rate from 36 per 1,000 population to 23 between the decades of the 1950s and 196Os, the under-five age group still accounted for over 55 percent of the total deaths. The principal cause is malnutrition which results from the lack of economic resources to buy usual protein food. Substitute protein food is available, but it is not part of the Indian diet. changing ethnic ratios in Guatemala 263

4 Crude Birth Rates LADINO Crude Death Rates '..*a......' *...**... *- I l l l l l l l l l l l l l r l l l l I I I I I I I 0 I Figure 2. Crude birth and death rates, Ladin; and Maya, Scrimshaw and Tejada (1 970: ) have detailed various other pathologies found among living Maya groups. acculturation-ladinoitation Figure 1 indicates another reason for the greater Ladino rate of total increase in addition to the greater rate of natural increase arising from the differential death rates. The figure shows that while the rate of Ladino total increase (line I) is greater than the Ladino rate of natural increase (line II), the Maya rate of total increase (line IV) is less than the Maya rate of natural increase (line Ill). Since international emigration of the Maya is practically nonexistent, the difference between the Maya total increase and Maya natural increase gives an estimate of the amount of acculturation whereby people of Maya cultural background change and adopt Ladino cultural patterns. This acculturation or ladinoization of the Maya has been observed by anthropologists over the years, although the phenomenon still needs much study. Adams (1 957: ; 1967: , ) has attempted to conceptualize the problem. He stresses that the movement from Maya to Ladino is a continuum of various stages. Four ideal-type stages are distinguished: traditional Maya, modified Maya, ladinoized Maya, and Ladino. These stages are types of communities, and an individual is classified by the type of community to which he belongs. Group ladinoization takes place when an entire Maya community no longer identifies itself as Maya. This usually happens when a ladinoized Maya community no longer considers itself Indian. Individual ladinoization usually 264 american ethnologist

5 ~~~~ involves migration; the Indian moves to another town, uses the Spanish language, and identifies with Ladino cultural patterns. Migration has the effect of removing the social pressures against such a change which would be present in the migrant's home village. As has already been stated, no universal criterion is employed in all regions of Guatemala for distinguishing between Maya and Ladino. The same individual may be considered Maya by the criteria of one region and Ladino by the criteria of another region (Adams 1957:273). Table 2. Number and rate of Maya acculturation, * Sum of Indian Acculturation Sum of Ladino Acculturation Number Mid-Year Rate Per 1000 Mid-Year Rate Per 1000 Year Acculturating Populations Indian Population Populations Ladino Population , ,753, ,595 8,414, ,851, ,493 9,384, ,25 1, ,833 10,s 12, ,014, ,555 11,688, ,085, *Source: Early (1 974). Based on the various ethnic criteria employed by the 325 municipio registrars, the algebraic manipulations of the data by the demographic equations provide a basis for an overall estimate of this process. It is impossible to break the estimate down by Adam's categories or to enumerate the various criteria used by the registrars. Table 2 shows the absolute amount of this acculturation by five-year groupings which eliminate some of the estimation error in the single year calculations. For comparability between time periods, with other groups if data are available and with other demographic rates, these absolute amounts should be reduced to rates. Crude birth and death rates per 1,000 population are an accepted demographic form for expressing vital rates. These are calculated by the formula 'M Y X 1000 (where B = births and D = deaths in a year, P, = mid-year population). To be comparable with this form, an acculturation rate can be derived by the formula A - X 1000 (where A = amount of acculturation in a year, P, 'M Y = mid year population). Table 2 shows that Maya acculturation to Ladino has been 4 to 5 per 1,000 Maya population over the last twenty years. The main structural factors responsible for acculturation are political and economic. Adams (1967) has stressed the role of the modern nation state in extending its sovereignty in an effective manner over all its national territory. In Guatemala this has had the effect of breaking down the isolation of the closed, corporate peasant communities of the Maya. This contact has taken the form of military service, attendance changing ethnic ratios in Guatemala 285

6 at government schools, and election of local political officials. Economic pressures which have helped ladinoization are migration due to land shortage (Frost 1964; Adams 1965; Carter 1969) and the experience as a migratory laborer in a Ladino finca area (Schmid 1967). international migration and estimation error Indian acculturation to Ladino (the difference between lines Ill and IV in Figure 1) does not account for all of the difference between the Ladino rates of total and natural increase (difference between lines I and 11). In most years there is a small residual. One factor in this residual is international migration. The 1964 census (Direccion General de Estadistica 1971 b:70) listed 49,504 persons as immigrating to Guatemala from other countries. All are Ladino. Although international emigration is unknown, there is no reason to suspect a large movement. The remaining factor is the residual error which results from the various estimation methods used in the study. In some years the Ladino natural increase is more than the Ladino total increase. The population figures used to calculate the total increase are partially the result (Early 1974:109) of an average taken over the entire twenty-five year period. When there are years of very large natural increases (as in 1951 and 1954), the natural increase will exceed the total increase because it is not averaged out over the same span, even by five-year groupings. In these periods the residual is a minus. relative importance of the factors Table 3 summarizes the various rates by five-year periods, which help reduce estimation error. (There are some slight rounding differences in acculturation between this table and Table 2.) Table 4 examines the differences between the various rates for the two groups. In all the time periods the greater Indian death rate overcomes the effect of the greater Indian birth rate (except the birth rate during ) to give the Ladinos a greater rate of natural increase. The table shows, however, that acculturation plays a greater role than natural increase in the greater Ladino total increase and consequently for the changing proportions shown in Table 1. In the period in which Ladino Table 3. Rates of crude birth, crude death, natural increase, acculturation, and residual by Maya Indian and Ladino, * Rates Maya Indian Ladino Birth Death Natural Increase Acculturation Residual Total Increase *Source: Appendix; Early (1974). 266 arnerican ethnologist

7 Table 4. Differences between Maya Indian and Ladino rates of crude birth, crude death, natural increase, acculturation, and residual, * Rates Birth Death Ladino-Indian Natural Increase Acculturation Residual Total Increase *Source: Appendix; Early (1974). birth rates began to fall more quickly, the difference between the acculturation rates was more than double the difference between the natural increase rates in accounting for the greater Ladino rate of total increase. Acculturation by its very nature is a stronger force in changing the difference between the total increase rates than either birth or death rates. An Indian death takes away one person from the Indian population. One Indian acculturating to Ladino not only takes away one person from the Indian population but also adds one person to the Ladino population. In other words, one event of acculturation results in a net difference of two between the ethnic groups. One event in births or deaths results in a net difference of only one. past research Van den Berghe (1968) has also examined the changing proportion between Maya Indian and Ladino in Guatemala. He uses the term net reproduction (a technical demographic term which requires age-specific female data for its calculation). This apparently means natural increase since no age-specific female data are employed. Natural increase is dismissed as a factor in the changing proportion between the two groups because there is a Spearman rank correlation of only +.I9 between the rank order of the departments by percentage of Ladino population and by the rate of population increase. Natural increase by itself, however, cannot be measured by these data. Population increase at the departmental level is due to internal migration involving acculturation, internal migration not involving acculturation, and natural increase. Van den Berghe s methodology does not distinguish among them. There has been considerable internal migration in Guatemala (Direccibn General de Estadistica 1971 b:80-89). Unrevised ethnic census figures cannot be used to determine the percentage of Ladino population. Therefore, it cannot be inferred that differences in natural increase do not exist or are minor. Consequently, the conclusion that all the difference in the changing proportion is due to acculturation is unwarranted. Van den Berghe also estimates Maya acculturation to Ladino to be 15,000 to 20,000 each year, but no explanation is given for the derivation of these figures. Using the differences between the Indian percentage of the total population in each Department for 1950 and 1964, van den Berghe attempts to pinpoint the departments of changing ethnic ratios in Guatemala 267

8 the greatest amount of acculturation. This procedure is again faulty because (1) unrevised ethnic census data are used, and (2) there is sizable volume of internal migration not involving acculturation which is exerting an influence on this percentage. At the departmental level, this is probably the more important factor. conclusion There has been a 10.3 percent decline over the last twenty-eight years of the Maya population in relation to the total Guatemalan population and a corresponding 10.3 percent increase in the Ladino population. This article has examined the factors behind this changing proportion. The most important ones are the acculturation process whereby Mayas have become ladinoized and the higher Maya death rate. Quantitative estimates of these factors have been obtained to access their relative importance. Acculturation is shown to have had twice the impact on the changing proportion than the differential in death rates. This quantitative estimate of the importance of acculturation demonstrates the need for more qualitative studies of this important process. appendix data for tables 3 and 4 Maya Indian Total Increase 157, , , , ,041 Natural Inc. 177, , , , ,596 Births 362, , , , ,599* Deaths 184, , , , ,003 Acculturation 20,292 35,595 41,493 47,833 56,555 Residual Population 1,526,574 8,414,333 9,384,434 10,512,065 11,688,600 Ladino Total Increase 188, , , , ,641 Natural Inc. 167, , , , ,580 Births 292, , , , ,967 * Deaths 125, , , , ,387 Acculturation 20,292 35,595 41,493 47,833 56,555 Residual 836-5,793 3,811 8,123 6,506 Population 5,753,916 6,851,523 8,251,125 10,014,295 12,085,876 *The author believes that there are serious reporting or tabulation mistakes in the officially published 1968 Indian and Ladino births (Direccion General de Estadistica n.d.:15-16), because the figures are not consistent with other years. It appears that the main mistakes are in the figures for the Depart- 268 american ethnologist

9 ments of El Progreso, San Marcos, Chiquimula, Jalapa, and Jutiapa. The total number of births in these Departments have been multiplied by factors obtained from the fitted regression lines (Early 1974) to obtain better estimates. This transfers 6486 births from the Ladinos to the Indians. notes The author wishes to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Florida Atlantic University Division of Sponsored Research and the computational assistance of Ms. Elizabeth Nick. references cited Adams, Richard 1957 Cultural Surveys of Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Washington, DC: Pan American Sanitary Bureau Migraciones lnternas en Guatemala. Guatemala: Seminario de Integracibn Social Guatema1 teca Nationalization. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 6. Robert Wauchope and Manning Nash, Eds. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp Arias, Jorge B Estadisticas Vitales. Boletin Estadistico, No. 1-2, pp van den Berghe, Pierre L Ethnic Membership and Cultural Change in Guatemala. Social Forces 46(4): (Reprinkdin Race and Ethnicity, New York: Basic Books, 1970, pp ) Carter, William E New Lands and Old Traditions. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. Direccibn General de Estadistica, Guatemala 1957 Sexto Censo de Poblacibn: Guatemala: Direccidn General de Estadistica Aspectos Generales de la Situacibn Demogra fica en Guatemala. 1971a VII Censo de Poblacion, 1964, Tom0 1. Guatemala: Direccibn General de Estadistica. 1971b VII Censo de Poblacion, 1964, Tomo II. Guatemala: Direccidn General de Estadistica Vlll Censo de Poblacibn, 1973-Resultados de Tabulacibn Por Muestreo. Guatemala: Direccidn General de Estadistica. Early, John D. 1970a A Demographic Profile of a Maya Community-The Atitecos of Santiago Atitlan. Milbank Quarterly 48: b The Structure and Change of Mortality in a Maya Community. Milbank Quarterly 48~ Revision of Ladino and Maya Census Populations of Guatemala, 1950 and Demography 11 : Frost, Melvin Jesse 1964 Pioneer Settlements in the Pacific Lowland of Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Florida. Goubaud Carrera, Antpnio 1946 El Grupo Etnico Indigena: Criterios para su Definicibn. Boletin de lnstituto Indigenista, Vol. I, No Guatemala: lnstituto Indigenista. Schmid, L. J The Role of Migratory Labor in the Economic Development of Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison. Scrimshaw, Nevin S., and Carlos Tejada Pathology of Living Indians as Seen in Guatemala. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 9: Physical Anthropology. T. Dale Stewart, Ed. Austin: University of Texas Press. Date of Submission: March 26, 1974 Date of Acceptance: July 5, 1974 changlng ethnic ratios in Guatemala 269

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