Abstract

GUZMAN URIOSTEGUI, Jesús. "Of barbarians and savages". The Caste War of the Yucateco Maya according to the press of Mexico City. 1877-1880. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2010, vol.35, pp.111-130. ISSN 0185-2574.

With a deep commitment to defend its lands and way of living, in 1847 the Mayas from Yucatán decided to take up arms against the white population in the State. The media from the capital spread the news criticizing the rebel group attitudes and cataloged them as enemies of order and progress, lacking of any political or social rights, even the right to exist as a specific race. The public opinion was divided. Some people thought that the solution was an ethnic cleansing; on the other side, the solution was to integrate them through education and work. While the confrontation was taking place the last opinion got stronger, especially in 1877 when Porfirio Díaz came to power and looked for a peaceful solution as a mean to be admitted on the group of the civilized countries of the world. The indigenous community was a hindrance for achieving this goal because of the common thought of the native as lazy, indolent and barbarous. Considering this status, as many journalist pointed out, the only solution was to integrate them to Mexican society with a drastic change, not turning them into a first class citizen but a productive being, meaning a kind of workforce available in any time, supposedly free.

Keywords : Caste war; Mayas; press; Porfirio Díaz; peace; order; progress; integration; education; work.

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