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Contents
Origins and Philosophy =
Tequio is the name given to unpaid collective work that results from a decision made jointly, with the aim of satisfying shared desires, resolving common problems, or carrying out activities that sustain life. Tequio is a practice found in Indigenous communities but also in non-Indigenous communities, in rural contexts and also in urban contexts, especially in central and southern Mexico.
The word tequio, adapted into Mexican Spanish, comes from the Nahuatl tequitl, which originally means “work.” In other areas of the country it is also known as “tequil,” “faena,” “faina,” or “fajina.” It is important to note that the word tequio, as a loanword from Nahuatl into Mexican Spanish, receives other names in the different Indigenous languages of the country.
Tequio as a means to fulfill shared desires is expressed, for example, as collective work for the creation of community infrastructure or for the production of fiestas and recreational activities; tequio as a means of solving shared problems is activated, for example, to confront the consequences of disasters caused by earthquakes or extreme rainfall; tequio for the sustenance of life is activated to maintain the potable water system or for the cleaning and refurbishing of common spaces such as the cemetery or the roads, to mention just a few examples. Although it is not always called “tequio,” an associated activity is joint collaboration in the form of in-kind cooperation or, more recently, in money.
Tequio in practice
Tequio is a means of producing collective well-being that is removed from capitalist logic and that has been fundamental to the survival of Indigenous peoples during the five centuries that have passed since the establishment of the colonial order. Tequio is a fundamental pillar of the autonomous practices of Indigenous peoples and communities because it allows the satisfaction of collective desires without the intervention of colonial authorities, the nation-state, or the capitalist market. During the first three hundred centuries of colonization, the laws also used the word “tequio” to name the collective work whose objective was to produce the tribute established by the Spanish crown or to comply with the orders of colonial authorities; however, today it no longer has this meaning; the sense that has reached our days is the one that describes collective work that, through the centuries, was oriented toward generating the common good.
The relationship between the practice of tequio today and collective work practices before colonization is complex, since one must take into account, on the one hand, the diversity of sociopolitical structures that existed in this part of the world before the process of colonization and, on the other hand, the historical depth of the peoples and the transformations they went through over the centuries.
A fundamental element for characterizing tequio has to do with the way its execution is established; carrying out tequio is decided collectively, either through assemblies or through the call of legitimate communal authorities. Not all collective work is tequio; in order to be tequio it must be the expression of collective will and not the consequence of the will of a ruling class or of some social agent with an asymmetry of power without communal recognition. In this it differs fundamentally from collective work to produce tribute or benefit for an agent with power; in the latter case the collective work would not be tequio; rather, it would be a coercive extractivist activity that prevents the common good and enables the accumulation of wealth in few hands.
Considering all of the above, we can then say that tequio can take place within any collective entity, Indigenous or not, urban or rural, as long as it is the expression of common will. However, at present, tequio is a practice concentrated above all in communal structures of Indigenous peoples in central and southern Mexico. Among Indigenous peoples in the north of the country, other types of collective work and mutual aid are found that present certain differences with respect to tequio, because, on many occasions, the organization of these peoples is clan-based and not communal, as has already been specified by those who denounce the homogenizing view that assumes that all Indigenous peoples of Mexico are organized through communal structures.
Tequio and reciprocity. Among the different Indigenous peoples of Mexico we find practices of mutual aid and reciprocity, as in many peoples of the world throughout history. Reciprocal relationships can be established between families, individuals, or communities, based on the contribution of specific goods or based on labor. For example, it is common practice for family Y to contribute grains for the fiesta of family Z with which it establishes a reciprocal relationship; this family will reciprocate with the same amount of grains or its equivalent in another input when family Y holds its fiesta. It is also possible that the basis of reciprocal exchange is labor power and not inputs; for example, family Y will go to help family Z harvest its fields in the same way that family Z will do so in the fields of family Y. In certain places in Oaxaca, these reciprocity practices are often called “mano-vuelta” in Spanish, guelaguetza or gozona in some Zapotec languages, or “tunjënpity” in certain varieties of the Mixe language.
Another example is the case of Mixe and Zapotec communities in the northern highlands of Oaxaca that establish relationships of musical reciprocity when the philharmonic band of one community goes to the fiesta of another community which later, in return, will send its philharmonic band to the festivities of the first.
Tequio and Comunalidad
Now, what is the relationship between tequio and these other relationships of reciprocity? We can say that tequio is also part of the ecosystem of mutual aid practices, but unlike reciprocity practices, tequio is carried out within a collectivity to produce a common good, whereas in reciprocity relationships it is necessary for at least two entities to enter into relation. Not all mutual aid is reciprocal and not all mutual aid is tequio. The help that the bereaved receive to carry out a funeral is mutual aid even though reciprocity is not a requirement; by contrast, in phenomena such as “mano-vuelta,” it is expected that the support provided will be reciprocated to the same extent as it was given. Tequio is not recognized as support for another entity; it is the collective entity itself producing a common good through the work of all its members.
Tequio and comunalidad. Although it is possible to find tequio as a common practice in different types of collective units that make decisions together, it is true that within communal sociopolitical systems it constitutes one of the fundamental pillars. This term was coined by the Mixe thinker Floriberto Díaz and the Zapotec thinker Jaime Luna; “comunalidad” describes a sociopolitical system that is sustained by communal ownership of the land, the assembly as the highest decision-making body, authority as unpaid service, tequio, and the fiesta. Tequio within comunalidad acquires certain special characteristics that make it more imperative. Within communal structures, tequio is generally provided per family unit and not at an individual level. In addition, giving tequio is considered a requirement for the enjoyment of other common goods such as communal land, access to the assembly to produce community decisions, and the possibility of participating in the exercise of authority. In other words, tequio enables participation in community life and politics.
It is important to note that tequio is a practice that is maintained in contexts of migration even when other elements of comunalidad, such as communally owned land, cannot be recreated; this is the case of Zapotec migrant communities in Los Angeles that have maintained tequio even under new political and geographical circumstances in order to confront the challenges posed to them by the migratory experience.
At present, the challenges that threaten the continuity of tequio have to do with greater penetration by the market and the state, which create a mirage in which tequio is no longer necessary to fulfill shared desires or confront collective problems—tasks that the state says it can resolve and for which capitalism offers to buy solutions; both the state and the market erode the awareness that individual well-being depends profoundly on collective well-being. Another challenge that tequio faces is appropriation by state political discourse; it is increasingly common for this concept to be trivialized and distorted when it is used as part of electoral campaigns. For example, in Oaxaca, during 2023, the state government decided to create the “Secretariat of Welfare, Tequio, and Inclusion,” thereby appropriating and institutionalizing the name of one of the most important practices of resistance for Indigenous peoples.
Despite this, tequio continues to be carried out; even in contexts in which it seems to have been abandoned, it resurges with force every time a collectivity faces problems; it is a long-standing practice that survives in the memory of many peoples and that remains in force as an effective tool for generating the common good.
References
- Bustillo Marín, Roselia y Enrique Inti García Sánchez. (2019) Tequio, expresión de solidaridad. Requisito para ejercer los derechos político-electorales en las comunidades indígenas. Cuadernos de Divulgación de la Justicia Electoral 34. TEPJF.
- Robles Hernández Sofía y Rafael Cardoso Jiménez. eds. (2007) Floriberto Díaz, Escrito. Comunalidad, energía viva del pensamiento mixe Ayuujktsënää yën - ayuujkwënmää ny - ayuujk mëk äjtën. UNAM
- Zolla, Carlos y Emiliano Zolla Márquez. (2004). Los pueblos indígenas de México: 100 preguntas. UNAM.
Aditional Resoruces
- Tierra, comunalidad y tequio: https://www.revistadelauniversidad.mx/articles/b086416c-af16-46a8-b7df-cc20e4b2c811/tierra-comunalidad-y-tequio
- Diario comunal de Jaime Luna: https://jaimemartinezluna.blogspot.com/2014/10/diario-comunal-284-el-tequio-es-una.html
- Trova serrana: tequio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sikx0cB4P_g&list=RDSikx0cB4P_g&start_radio=1