CHAPTER 3
 TRANSFORMING ETHNICITY IN THE TRANSNATIONAL SPHERE: MAYA AND
 LADINO RELATIONS IN GUATEMALA AND BOSTON

 This chapter traces how traditional patron-client relations have facilitated Maya entrance

into the transnational migration stream and the ways in which Ladino economic support and

interests have sustained Maya migration. Although the indigenous entrance into a once Ladino-

dominated migrant stream has exacerbated ethnic tensions in the home community, it has also

created an arena for re-examining Maya-Ladino dichotomies and inequalities. This chapter

illustrates how recent international migration is transforming San Pedro Pinula's social and

ethnic structure.

 Additionally, this chapter demonstrates how the United States as a receiving community

influences migrants' beliefs about ethnicity. The North American racial matrix is limited to an all

encompassing "Latino-Hispanic" label that does not recognize the heterogeneous nature of Latin

American identities, nor the ethnic differences among Guatemalans. For Maya migrants, this

creates an equalizing affect that reshapes their attitudes about the differences between themselves

and Ladinos, while for Ladinos, it often reinforces inherent racism. Finally, transnational

migration creates new economic and cultural venues for the ethnic relations between Maya and

Ladinos, which sometimes results in inter-ethnic relationships (friendships, courtships, and even

marriages), which would not typically occur in the home community.

 Ladino and Maya Migration to the United States

 As discussed in Chapter Two, years of colonial conquest, independence, and post-

independence relations between the Maya and the Spanish, as well as their Spanish-Maya

(Ladino) descendents, created an interdependent relationship fraught with fear and distrust. Since

Ladinos managed the majority of land and resources, local and national conflict revolved around

Ladino efforts to maintain power and control. In the late 20th century, Ladino privilege included