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Like many Casta terms, Coyote
could be used to refer to several different ethnoracial mixures. Generally,
a person identified as a Coyote had at least some Nahau blood. However,
the instability of ethnoracial signifiers during the colonial period is
clear in the great variety of possible genotypes that might give one the
title coyote. The least complicated genotype listed under coyote
was a person who was 3/4 Nahua and 1/4 Spanish. On the other end of the
spectrum, a person whose ethnoracial heritage was 9/32 African, 9/32 White,
and 7/16 Nahua could also fall under the h category
coyote. On the other hand, not only the people with more complicated
ethnic backgrounds, but even a person of 3/4 Nahua and 1/4 Spanish heritage
could fall into a variety of other casta classifications, including cholo
and lobo. Clearly, as ethnoracial genotypes became more diverse,
the systems of classification became unweildy. Ethnoracial classification
in marriage, baptismal, and birth records generally depended on either
the official or priest's phenotypal observations of the participants or
the participants' self descriptions. Therefore, differences in community
dialect or coloquial terminology led to people of different genotypes being
classified under the same title and/or people of similar genotypes being
classified under different titles. At the same time, different officials
might read phenotypical manifestations differently and apply different
categories. In fact, research by Robert A Jackson suggests that what seem
to be shifts in ethnoracial makeup in certain regions of colonial Mexico
can often be traced to a change in the region's classifying official (Jackson
1999, 5). |
Mestiso
Mulatto
here demonstrate the strong reliance on phenotype in determining casta
classification. In both pictures, one spouse is clearly identified as darker
skinned and as a participant in Nahua culture. In the first picture, the
mother carries her baby in a stereotypically Native fashion. In the second,
the father hauls a heavy load strapped to his back in a way that suggests
traditional Nahau load bearing methods. It is interesting to note that
the woman in the second picture is not dressed in Nahua clothing, possibly
to allow a visual recognition of her Mestiza status. By law, Mestiza or
casta women were not allowed to dress in Nahua clothing except when married
to a Nahua man. This legal requirement helped the Spanish rulers to maintain
a system of ethnoracial control based largely on appearance. 