This article is about Latin American political ideology. For ethnic nationalism among Indigenous peoples in general, seeIndigenism.
Indigenismo (Spanish:[indixeˈnismo]) is a political ideology in severalLatin American countries which emphasizes the relationship between the nation state andIndigenous nations and Indigenous peoples.[1] In some contemporary uses, it refers to the pursuit of greater social and political inclusion forIndigenous peoples in Latin America, whether through nation-wide reforms or region-wide alliances.[2] In either case, this type ofindigenismo seeks to vindicate Indigenous cultural and linguistic difference, assert Indigenous rights, and seek recognition and in some cases compensation for past wrongdoings of the colonial and republican states.[3] Nevertheless, some historical figures likeJosé Martí are classified as having been both indigenistas and hispanistas.[4]
Originally,indigenismo was a component of Mexican nationalism that consolidated after theMexican Revolution. Thisindigenismo lauded some aspects of Indigenous cultural heritage, but primarily as a relic of the past. Within the larger national narrative of the Mexican nation as the product of European and Amerindianmestizaje,indigenismo was a component of Mexicannation-building, and an expression of freedom for an imagined, reclaimed identity that was stripped during theSpanish colonization of Mexico.[citation needed]
During the administration ofPlutarco Elías Calles (1924–28),Moisés Sáenz, who held a doctorate fromColumbia University and was a follower ofJohn Dewey's educational methods, implemented aspects ofindigenismo in the Department of Public Education. Sáenz had initially taken an assimilationist position on the "Indian problem," but after a period of residence in thePurépecha community of Carapan, he shifted his stance to one focusing on the material conditions affecting the Indigenous. He influenced the administration ofLázaro Cárdenas (1934–40), which established the cabinet-level position of the Department of Indigenous Affairs in 1936.[5] The department's main efforts were in the economic and educational spheres.[6] Cárdenas valorized Indigeneity, as indicated by the creation of the cabinet-level position and resources put into Indigenous communities. In 1940, Mexico hosted a multinational meeting onindigenismo, The Congress of Inter-American Indigenism, held inPátzcuaro, where Cárdenas himself addressed the gathering.[7] PresidentMiguel Alemán reorganized the Mexican government's policies directed at the Indigenous by creating theNational Indigenist Institute (Instituto Nacional Indigenista or INI). In theVicente Fox administration, the unit was reorganized and renamed.[citation needed]
The valorization of Indigeneity was rarely carried over to contemporary Indigenous people, who were targeted for assimilation into modern Mexican society. Though the authors of Indigenist policies saw themselves as seeking to protect and relieve Indigenous people, their efforts did not make a clean break fromforced assimilation practices of the pre-revolutionary past.[8]
InPeru, it was initially associated with theAPRA movement founded byVíctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1924). The then left-wing APRA dominated Peruvian politics for decades as the singular well-organized political party in Peru not centered on one person. To some APRA or "Aprismo" in its initial form stood for the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises and an end to the exploitation of the Indigenous peoples. To others it was about the combining of modern economics and technology with the historical traditions of the countryside and Indigenous populations to create a new and unique model for social and economic development.[9]
Indigenismo in the United States is an ideology found among someChicanos/Mexican Americans, with roots in 20th-century state-sponsoredIndigenismo policies in Mexico.Indigenismo in theChicano movement encourageswhite/mestizo Chicanos to identify withIndigenous Mexican heritage, rather than with Spanish or European heritage. Chicano Indigenismo has been an important or central element ofChicanismo during the 20th century and into the 21st century.[12][13][14] However, Indigenous people and some individuals within the Chicano movement have been criticizingIndigenismo since at least the early 1970s, rejecting the ideology's emphasis on historical heritage rather than connections to contemporary Indigenous communities, as well asIndigenismo's ties toracism,eugenics, anti-Blackness, and anti-Indigeneity in Mexican politics.[15][16]
^Alan Knight, “Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo", inThe Idea of Race in the Latin America, 1870-1940, edited by Richard Graham, University of Texas Press, 1990.
^Latino Indigenismo in a Comparative Perspective Luis A. Marentes
Barnet-Sánchez, Holly. "Indigenismo and Pre-Hispanic Revivals" inThe Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Culture. vol. 2, pp. 42–44. Oxford University Press 2001.
Baud, Michiel (2009). Indigenous peoples, civil society, and the neo-liberal state in Latin America. New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 19–42.ISBN1845455975.
Bonfil Batalla, Guillermo (1996). México profundo : reclaiming a civilization / by Guillermo Bonfil Batalla; translated by Philip A. Dennis. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.ISBN0292708440.
Coronado, Jorge (2009). Andes Imagined : Indigenismo, Society, and Modernity. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.ISBN9780822973560.
Dawson, Alexander (May 1998). "From Models for the Nation to Model Citizens: Indigenismo and the 'Revindication' of the Mexican Indian, 1920-40". Journal of Latin American Studies. 30 (2): 279–308.
Garcia, Maria Elena (2005). Making indigenous citizens: identities, education, and multicultural development in Peru. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.ISBN0804750157.
Knight, Alan, “Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo", inThe Idea of Race in the Latin America, 1870-1940, edited by Richard Graham, University of Texas Press, 1990.
Lewis, Stephen E. (2005). The ambivalent revolution: forging state and nation in Chiapas, 1910–1945. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.ISBN0826336019.
Lopez, Rick Anthony (2010). Crafting Mexico: intellectuals, artisans, and the state after the Revolution. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.ISBN0822347032.
Munoz, Maria L. O.; Kiddle, Amelia (2010). Populism in twentieth century Mexico: the presidencies of Lázaro Cárdenas and Luis Echeverría. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.ISBN0816529183.
Postero, Nancy Grey; Zamosc, Leon (2004). The struggle for indigenous rights in Latin America. Brighton [England]; Portland, Or.: Sussex Academic Press.ISBN1845190637.
Saldivar, Emiko (April 1, 2011). "Everyday Practices of Indigensimo: An Ethnography of Anthropology and the State in Mexico". The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 16 (1): 67–89. doi:10.1111/j.1935-4940.2011.01125.x.
