Latin American indigenous movements lead antiracist challenges to whitening ideology more than other groups

Evidence

Whatever the reasons for the failure to situate Indians within the study of race, the irony is that Indians may prove to be an epicenter of antiracism in Latin America. In a number of countries, the empirical evidence suggests that Indians - more so than mestizos, blacks, or whites - are consistently and aggressively challenging the ideologies of whitening and racial democracy, producing antiracist narratives of the nation, expanding and developing sophisticated definitions of racism, fighting for representation in institutions and political office and even pushing for the formation of multiracial states. In Chiapas, for instance, the Zapatistas have centered the issue of racism and call for the formation of indigenous schools and political institutions - a clear resistance to the white supremacist project of mestizaje (Harvey, 1998). In Bolivia and Ecuador, Indians have built formidable movements which are demanding the return of their lands, greater political representation, redefinitions of national histories, and an official valuation of indigenous peoples and cultures (Field, 1991; Riveira Cusicanqui, 1991). Indians in Colombia have spearheaded a critique of the mestizo nation and have served as a model for black mobilization (Arocha, 1998; Wade 1995). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3665

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: the striking contrast between how US critical race studies center Black communities while Latin American antiracism is led by indigenous movements attacking mestizaje specifically.