Abstract

BARRERA AGUILERA, Óscar Javier. Review of the book “La experiencia colonial y transición a la independencia en el occidente de Guatemala. Quetzaltenango: de pueblo indígena a ciudad multiétnica, 1520-1825”. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2018, vol.13, e361. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2018.25.361.

This review describes and analyzes a book devoted to the study of the social, political, and economic transformation that the Guatemalan village of Quetzaltenango experienced as Guatemala made the transition from being a colony to becoming independent. After presenting the book’s novelty, scope, relevance, and structure, the review discusses the accuracy of the methodological tools applied, like historical demography, as well as the analytical relevance of some of the concepts used, such as “ethnic,” “Hispanic,” “Spanish-indigenous intermixing (mestizaje in Spanish),” and “ladinization (acculturation of the indigenous people into a non-indigenous culture),” among others. The review concludes by highlighting the main contributions that the book makes, as well as some lines of research that issue from it, mainly related to the articulation and comparison of the historical experience of Chiapas State and Guatemala.

Keywords : Old Regime; regional history; long duration; Spanish-indigenous intermixing (mestizaje); ladinization.

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