The Indio Ladino As A Cultural Mediator In The Colonial Society

THE INDIO LADINO AS A CULTURAL MEDIATOR IN THE COLONIAL SOCIETY MANUEL AGUIL AR MORENO California State University, Los Angeles In Spanish colonial times individuals of indigenous American roots who were acquainted with Spanish language and customs were commonly described as ladino. Those individuals were “Hispanized” Indians who played the role of critical intermediary and mediator between theindigenous societies and the conquerors. Implying the idea of cultural assimilation the phrase indio ladino, applied to Amerindian natives, could refer to such diverse social types as the first natives who served the Spaniards as interpreters during the conquests (e.g., La Malinche), the ethnic lords who became the negotiators between their local communities and Spanish colonial officials, andpersons of any rank or status who worked under Spanish masters. The example of La Malinche in Mexico as an interpreter is very important, because she was the one that established the protocols and the style of communication between the Indian and Spanish societies. She created a methodological discourse in the use of the language that would be the basic pattern for future interpreters. In addition,persons of mixed Spanish and Amerindian parentage (mestizos) as well as African slaves were also referred to by the adjective ladino (“un mestizo muy ladino”, “negro ladino”) in order to indicate their acquaintance with Spanish language and culture. Evidently, ladino was not a term of self-identification; it was employed instead from the outside by those who considered themselves Castilian orSpanish and therefore able to discern and judge how successfully non-Castilians handled the Spanish language and adapted themselves to Spanish customs (Adorno 1994:378). In Medieval Spain the word ladino was applied to the common Romance vernacular languages excluding Catalonia. Ladino, then, was derived from Latin and is the ancestor of Castilian-Spanish language. Also the term was used to refer to thelanguage spoken by Sephardic Jews (Adorno 1994:379).

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Although the term referred specifically to language use, the descriptions presented by early chroniclers of the Indies suggest as well the meaning of acculturation to Spanish ways. As an illustration, we find Fernández de Oviedo’s vivid description of the cacique Enriquillo of Hispaniola: “Among these modernand most recent lords of this island Hispaniola, there is one who is called Don Enrique, who is a baptized Christian and knows how to read and write and is very ladino and speaks the Castilian language very well” (Fernández de Oviedo 1992: v. I). We have mentioned the positive meanings, but the connotations of the word ladino were multiple and diverse. For example, it connoted the qualities at oneextreme of prudence and sagacity and, at the other, slyness and craftiness. At the opposite pole of the positive values of linguistic expertise and practice of Christian customs, it could refer to the “big talker” and the charlatan (Adorno 1994). In modern Mexican Spanish, the expression “un ladino” may mean a mestizo person, but the expression “una persona muy ladina” may signify a tricky, slyor deceitful person. I believe that both the positive and negative connotations are continuities of the original colonial meanings, given the ambivalent role of indios ladinos in the eyes of their contemporaries. Next, we will analyze diverse manifestations of indios ladinos in Colonial Mexico, in order to better understand the complex threads of transculturation, that eventually led to thecreation of a new identity. a) Indios ladinos as petitioners or pleitistas The pleito (plaint or suit) was the only recourse that the native communities had for defending themselves against the abuses of the clergy and other colonial authorities, and this type of suit existed in great numbers. The role of indio ladino as petitioner and plaintiff (pleitista) against the colonial establishment and its...