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Race and ethnicity in Latin America

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The conceptualizations of Race and ethnicity in Latin America is enormously complex. There is no single classificatory scheme of races or ethnicities that covers all of Latin America and even when category labels are the same in two or more countries the definitions and the ways in which they are applied may vary substantially. For example, in Mexico the category mestizo is not defined or applied the same as the corresponding category of mestiço in Brazil. While all countries in Latin America have similar histories following a path from indigenous prehistory through colonialism and independence movements to modernity, the way in which this process has led to current ideologies of race and ethnicity and corresponding demographic compositions is varied.

Concepts of Race and Ethnicity

In social sciences the concepts ofrace and ethnicity is differentiated by race is a classification scheme that categorizes individuals according to biological characteristics, such as skin colour or hair type. Racial classification are often linked to ideas of continental genetic heritage so that the presence of specific biological traits are seen as expressing an individuals ancestry as being from particular continent. Ethnicity on the other hand is a system that classifies groups of people according to cultural, linguistic and historic criteria. An ethnic group is normally defined by having a degree of cultural and linguistic similarity and often an ideology of shared roots.

Sources

  • Knight, Alan. 1990. "Racism, Revolution and indigenismo: Mexico 1910-1940". Chapter 4 in The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870 - 1940. Richard Graham (ed.) pp. 71–113.
  • Wade, Peter. 1997. Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. Pluto Press.
  • Bartolomé, Miguel Alberto. (1996) "Pluralismo cultural y redefinicion del estado en México". in Coloquio sobre derechos indígenas, Oaxaca, IOC.[1]
  • Friedlander, Judith. 1975. Being Indian in Hueyapan: A Study of Forced Identity in Contemporary Mexico. New York: Saint Martin's Press.
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