ABSTRACT
In the Mexican state of Sonora, around the county (municipio) of Cucurpe, certain land and water rights are legally under community control. Land rights are exercised through a (actually, several) peasant corporations, or corporate communities, especially the Comunidad de Cucurpe (which means roughly “where the dove calls”) (Sheridan, 1988; we will mainly use Sheridan’s extensive analysis of Cucurpeno corporate community throughout this chapter). Although the communal model evolved under the guidance if not control of Jesuit missions in the 17th century, the legitimate existence of the collective corporations wavered with Mexican political change, was opposed by rich private ranchers, and was advocated in the 19th and 20th centuries based on skimpily documented traditions of joint usage.
