Histories of Race and Racism: The Andes and Mesoamerica from Colonial Times to the Present
edited by Laura Gotkowitz
Duke University Press, 2012 Cloth: 978-0-8223-5026-2 | Paper: 978-0-8223-5043-9 | eISBN: 978-0-8223-9433-4 Library of Congress Classification F1419.A1H57 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.80098
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Ninety percent of the indigenous population in the Americas lives in the Andean and Mesoamerican nations of Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala. Recently indigenous social movements in these countries have intensified debate about racism and drawn attention to the connections between present-day discrimination and centuries of colonialism and violence. In Histories of Race and Racism, anthropologists, historians, and sociologists consider the experiences and representations of Andean and Mesoamerican indigenous peoples from the early colonial era to the present. Many of the essays focus on Bolivia, where the election of the country’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, sparked fierce disputes over political power, ethnic rights, and visions of the nation. The contributors compare the interplay of race and racism with class, gender, nationality, and regionalism in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. In the process, they engage issues including labor, education, census taking, cultural appropriation and performance, mestizaje, social mobilization, and antiracist legislation. Their essays shed new light on the present by describing how race and racism have mattered in particular Andean and Mesoamerican societies at specific moments in time.
Contributors Rossana Barragán Kathryn Burns Andrés Calla Pamela Calla Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld María Elena García Laura Gotkowitz Charles R. Hale Brooke Larson Claudio Lomnitz José Antonio Lucero Florencia E. Mallon Khantuta Muruchi Deborah Poole Seemin Qayum Arturo Taracena Arriola Sinclair Thomson Esteban Ticona Alejo
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Laura Gotkowitz is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of A Revolution for Our Rights: Indigenous Struggles for Land and Justice in Bolivia, 1880–1952, also published by Duke University Press.
REVIEWS
“This timely and important collection should appeal not just to historians of Latin America but also to scholars interested in colonialism, subaltern studies, social policy, modernization, and nation building. Focusing on race and racism in five countries over several centuries, the contributors address themes such as education, cultural nationalism, and definitions of mestizaje and hybridity, enabling readers to see how similar concerns played out in different places and times.”—Mary Roldán, author of Blood and Fire: La Violencia in Antioquia, Colombia, 1946–1953
“This valuable collection delves into issues of racism and indigenous identity at a regional level, in a way that no other book does. Focusing on Mesoamerica and the Andes, where most indigenous Latin Americans live, well-known specialists in their fields offer interesting, up-to-date scholarship on the discrimination that indigenous peoples have suffered from the colonial period to the present.”—Erick D. Langer, editor of Contemporary Indigenous Movements in Latin America
“While the temporal distribution of the collection favors the twentieth century, scholars of all time periods will benefit from the varied methodologies and perspectives presented by the contributors. Ultimately, this volume represents a very valuable collection of cutting-edge research into the permutations of race and racism throughout the history of Latin America.”
-- Robert C. Schwaller Ethnohistories
“This volume’s strength lies in its detailed and, in many cases, very local analysis of specific historical moments. This is less a history of race than a collection of essays about the persistence of racism, and no one reading this volume will be in any doubt about its centrality to understanding the continent’s history.”
-- Rebecca Earl Hispanic American Historical Review
“This is a superior and important book, which will be widely used and cited.”
-- Peter Wade Journal of Latin American Studies
“A major contribution of this volume is the way in which it puts into dialogue histories of race from colonial times to the present, including current indigenous mobilizations. For this reason, it will be an excellent addition to undergraduate surveys and courses on race in Latin American history.”
-- Waskar T. Ari-Chachaki Social History
“The importance of this volume is multiple. It is timely, answering a need for deeper understanding of race/racism in the region given the growing number of violent racist incidents…Moreover, the volume brings together debates relevant to history as well as colonialism, subaltern studies, development studies, sociology, social policy and international relations.”
-- Karem Roitman Ethnic and Racial Studies
“This book performs the useful service of introducing the work of many of these scholars—especially the Latin American scholars—to an English-speaking audience. It does this while also crafting a whole that is more unified, with its various parts in dialogue with one another, than is usual in an edited collection. Laura Gotkowitz should be complimented on the accomplishment.”
-- Robert L. Smale A Contracorriente
“Histories of Race and Racism offers significant, accessible and clearly written contributions from the fields of history and cultural anthropology to the study of Indigenous identities and politics that will be useful for those teaching or writing about race and the colonial legacies of Latin America.”
-- Elizabeth Shesko Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Racisms of the Present and the Past in Latin America / Laura Gotkowitz 1
Part I. The Uses of "Race" in Colonial Latin America
Unfixing Race / Kathryn Burns 57
Was There Race in Colonial Latin America?: Identifying Selves and Others in the Insurgent Andes / Sinclair Thomson 72
Part II. Racialization and the State in the Long Nineteenth Century
From Assimilation to Segregation: Guatemala, 1800–1944 / Arturo Taracena 95
The Census and the Making of a Social "Order" in Nineteenth-Century Boliva / Rossana Barragán 113
Forging the Unlettered Indian: The Pedagogy of Race in the Bolivian Andes / Brooke Larson 134
Part III. Racialization and Nationalist Mythologies in the Twentieth Century
Indian Ruins, National Origins: Tiwanaku and Indigenismo in La Paz, 1897–1933 / Seemin Qayum 159
Mestazaje, Distinction, and Cultural Presence: The View from Oaxaca / Deborah Poole 179
On the Origin of the "Mexican Race" / Claudio Lomnitz 204
Part IV. Antiracist Movements and Racism Today
Politics of Place and Urban Indigenas in Ecuador's Indigenous Movement / Rudi Colloredo-Mansfield 221
Education and Decolonization in the Work of the Aymara Activist Eduardo Leandro Nina Quispe / Esteban Ticona Alejo 240
Mistados, Cholos, and the Negation of Identity in the Guatemalan Highlands / Charles R. Hale 254
Authenticating Indians and Movements: Interrogating Indigenous Authenticity, Social Movements, and Fieldwork in Contemporary Peru / Maríia Elena García and José Antonio Lucero 278
Transgressions and Racism: The Struggle over a New Constitution in Bolivia / Andrés Calla and Khantuta Muruchi 299
Epilogue to "Transgressions and Racism": Making Sense of May 24th in Sucre: Toward an Antiracist Legislative Agenda / Pamela Calla and the Observatorio del Racismo 311
Part V. Concluding Comments
A Postcolonial Palimpsest: The Work Race Does in Latin America/ Florencia Mallon 321
Bibliography 337
Contributors 377
Index 381
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Histories of Race and Racism: The Andes and Mesoamerica from Colonial Times to the Present
edited by Laura Gotkowitz
Duke University Press, 2012 Cloth: 978-0-8223-5026-2 Paper: 978-0-8223-5043-9 eISBN: 978-0-8223-9433-4
Ninety percent of the indigenous population in the Americas lives in the Andean and Mesoamerican nations of Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala. Recently indigenous social movements in these countries have intensified debate about racism and drawn attention to the connections between present-day discrimination and centuries of colonialism and violence. In Histories of Race and Racism, anthropologists, historians, and sociologists consider the experiences and representations of Andean and Mesoamerican indigenous peoples from the early colonial era to the present. Many of the essays focus on Bolivia, where the election of the country’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, sparked fierce disputes over political power, ethnic rights, and visions of the nation. The contributors compare the interplay of race and racism with class, gender, nationality, and regionalism in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. In the process, they engage issues including labor, education, census taking, cultural appropriation and performance, mestizaje, social mobilization, and antiracist legislation. Their essays shed new light on the present by describing how race and racism have mattered in particular Andean and Mesoamerican societies at specific moments in time.
Contributors Rossana Barragán Kathryn Burns Andrés Calla Pamela Calla Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld María Elena García Laura Gotkowitz Charles R. Hale Brooke Larson Claudio Lomnitz José Antonio Lucero Florencia E. Mallon Khantuta Muruchi Deborah Poole Seemin Qayum Arturo Taracena Arriola Sinclair Thomson Esteban Ticona Alejo
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Laura Gotkowitz is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of A Revolution for Our Rights: Indigenous Struggles for Land and Justice in Bolivia, 1880–1952, also published by Duke University Press.
REVIEWS
“This timely and important collection should appeal not just to historians of Latin America but also to scholars interested in colonialism, subaltern studies, social policy, modernization, and nation building. Focusing on race and racism in five countries over several centuries, the contributors address themes such as education, cultural nationalism, and definitions of mestizaje and hybridity, enabling readers to see how similar concerns played out in different places and times.”—Mary Roldán, author of Blood and Fire: La Violencia in Antioquia, Colombia, 1946–1953
“This valuable collection delves into issues of racism and indigenous identity at a regional level, in a way that no other book does. Focusing on Mesoamerica and the Andes, where most indigenous Latin Americans live, well-known specialists in their fields offer interesting, up-to-date scholarship on the discrimination that indigenous peoples have suffered from the colonial period to the present.”—Erick D. Langer, editor of Contemporary Indigenous Movements in Latin America
“While the temporal distribution of the collection favors the twentieth century, scholars of all time periods will benefit from the varied methodologies and perspectives presented by the contributors. Ultimately, this volume represents a very valuable collection of cutting-edge research into the permutations of race and racism throughout the history of Latin America.”
-- Robert C. Schwaller Ethnohistories
“This volume’s strength lies in its detailed and, in many cases, very local analysis of specific historical moments. This is less a history of race than a collection of essays about the persistence of racism, and no one reading this volume will be in any doubt about its centrality to understanding the continent’s history.”
-- Rebecca Earl Hispanic American Historical Review
“This is a superior and important book, which will be widely used and cited.”
-- Peter Wade Journal of Latin American Studies
“A major contribution of this volume is the way in which it puts into dialogue histories of race from colonial times to the present, including current indigenous mobilizations. For this reason, it will be an excellent addition to undergraduate surveys and courses on race in Latin American history.”
-- Waskar T. Ari-Chachaki Social History
“The importance of this volume is multiple. It is timely, answering a need for deeper understanding of race/racism in the region given the growing number of violent racist incidents…Moreover, the volume brings together debates relevant to history as well as colonialism, subaltern studies, development studies, sociology, social policy and international relations.”
-- Karem Roitman Ethnic and Racial Studies
“This book performs the useful service of introducing the work of many of these scholars—especially the Latin American scholars—to an English-speaking audience. It does this while also crafting a whole that is more unified, with its various parts in dialogue with one another, than is usual in an edited collection. Laura Gotkowitz should be complimented on the accomplishment.”
-- Robert L. Smale A Contracorriente
“Histories of Race and Racism offers significant, accessible and clearly written contributions from the fields of history and cultural anthropology to the study of Indigenous identities and politics that will be useful for those teaching or writing about race and the colonial legacies of Latin America.”
-- Elizabeth Shesko Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Racisms of the Present and the Past in Latin America / Laura Gotkowitz 1
Part I. The Uses of "Race" in Colonial Latin America
Unfixing Race / Kathryn Burns 57
Was There Race in Colonial Latin America?: Identifying Selves and Others in the Insurgent Andes / Sinclair Thomson 72
Part II. Racialization and the State in the Long Nineteenth Century
From Assimilation to Segregation: Guatemala, 1800–1944 / Arturo Taracena 95
The Census and the Making of a Social "Order" in Nineteenth-Century Boliva / Rossana Barragán 113
Forging the Unlettered Indian: The Pedagogy of Race in the Bolivian Andes / Brooke Larson 134
Part III. Racialization and Nationalist Mythologies in the Twentieth Century
Indian Ruins, National Origins: Tiwanaku and Indigenismo in La Paz, 1897–1933 / Seemin Qayum 159
Mestazaje, Distinction, and Cultural Presence: The View from Oaxaca / Deborah Poole 179
On the Origin of the "Mexican Race" / Claudio Lomnitz 204
Part IV. Antiracist Movements and Racism Today
Politics of Place and Urban Indigenas in Ecuador's Indigenous Movement / Rudi Colloredo-Mansfield 221
Education and Decolonization in the Work of the Aymara Activist Eduardo Leandro Nina Quispe / Esteban Ticona Alejo 240
Mistados, Cholos, and the Negation of Identity in the Guatemalan Highlands / Charles R. Hale 254
Authenticating Indians and Movements: Interrogating Indigenous Authenticity, Social Movements, and Fieldwork in Contemporary Peru / Maríia Elena García and José Antonio Lucero 278
Transgressions and Racism: The Struggle over a New Constitution in Bolivia / Andrés Calla and Khantuta Muruchi 299
Epilogue to "Transgressions and Racism": Making Sense of May 24th in Sucre: Toward an Antiracist Legislative Agenda / Pamela Calla and the Observatorio del Racismo 311
Part V. Concluding Comments
A Postcolonial Palimpsest: The Work Race Does in Latin America/ Florencia Mallon 321
Bibliography 337
Contributors 377
Index 381
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE