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Indian Rights and Customary Law in Mexico: A Study of the Nahuas in the Sierra de Puebla
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2024
Abstract
Based on the findings of a research project in a Nahua Indian area of central Mexico, this article focuses on the relationship between customary law and state law in the context of the administration of justice by and toward Indians. By showing how customary and state law interact and conflict in the everyday life of Indian people, it questions the idealized vision of customary law that appears to be taken for granted in the current debate over Indian rights in Mexico and Latin America. Thus a paradox is revealed between the intertwining of law and custom in social praxis and the revival of an ethnic discourse which calls for an autonomous indigenous legal system based on customary law.
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- Copyright © 1995 by The Law and Society Association
Footnotes
I appreciate the invaluable suggestions Jane Collier made on an earlier draft. I am grateful to Victoria Chenaut, Enrique Hamel, and Bill Maurer for their punctual commentaries and to anonymous reviewers who pointed out important issues. I also acknowledge the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University for the stimulating space for discussion and work they offered me during academic year 1993–94, when I wrote this article. This academic term was sponsored by the Fulbright-García Robles Program, CIESAS, and CONACYT (the names of these institutions are given in full immediately before the References).
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