Patterns of domination and state expansion in early colonial and revolutionary Mexico

Abstract

The chapter discusses concepts of colonialism and internal colonialism criticizing both one-sided structural as well as equally biased agency perspectives and an undifferentiated use of categories, such as the colonizer and the colonized. Following this argument processes of state expansion into the Yucatán peninsula, a marginal region in Mexico, in colonial and revolutionary times are compared. In contrast to the colonial regime, the revolutionary state intended the social and economic enhancement of the rural Maya population. Nevertheless, some similarities can be detected in the forms and means by which the state attempted to extend its domination and control. In both periods the reception of these processes was multifaceted ranging between cooperation, cultural adaptation, and resistance. The local population was rather heterogeneous and the various groups pursued different interests.