Slashed and Burned: The Debate Over Privatization of Q'eqchi' Lands in Northern Guatemala

The Guatemalan state offers lowlands Q'eqchi' Maya two land titling options: communal or individual. With the same goal of bequeathing land to their children, different communities make strategic choices regarding legalized property regimes. In interviews and ethnographic case studies, Q'eqchi' respondents rejected the state's two options because neither juridical form of land tenure affords the assemblage of rights and responsibilities that they lay claim to. My findings suggest that Q'eqchi' communities want two scales of rights: recognition of family plots, including the right to bequeath land; and state recognition of Q'eqchi' communities as corporate entities with the right to expel members, allocate land, and approve (or deny) land sales within the community. Existing legal mechanisms for communal and individual titles do not allow for these two scales of rights. My research shows how Q'eqchi' leaders challenge the state land titling agency to recognize their land management practices.