Vanderbilt Library Open Journals

Rellstab, Paul M.

Laura Gotkowitz, ed., Histories of Race and Racism: The Andes and Mesoamerica from Colonial Times to the 
Present. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2011. 416 pages. Paper: $25.95. Cloth: $94.95. 
ISBN: 978-0-8223-5043-9 (Paper). ISBN: 978-0-8223-5026-2 (Cloth).  
In the course of a discussion between TAs and a prominent colonial Latin American historian, we all 
seemed to agree that the most problematic topic, when engaging with undergraduates in this field, is 
notions of race in Latin America. It is not due to its potentially polemic nature, but rather that a 
majority of students have a preconceived idea of what constitutes race and racism, and, deriving 
their thoughts from a modern U.S. perspective, they also believe that race and racism are universal 
constructs. The struggle in explicating the contested and continuously reshaping notion of race in 
Latin America is what makes Histories of Race and Racism a welcome addition to addressing these 
concerns.   
The subtle title elucidates a crucial point; the issues discussed are not a “history” but rather 
should be seen as “histories.” Laura Gotkowitz's introduction provides a detailed backdrop to the 
subsequent essays and engages the current historiography, addressing how conceptions of race and 
racism have evolved and progressed throughout Latin America. Most pertinent, however, is the goal 
of the collected essays: it is not—as most traditional historiography engages—to solely ascertain how 
race is understood, but what the effects of race are. To develop this notion, Gotkowitz argues—and 
the successive essays illuminate—that it is “necessary to consider the political, economic, and 
cultural contexts that shape and give like to those uses, practices, and effects” (11). By focusing on 
Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, and Ecuador, this volume demonstrates that notions of race and 
racism are constructed on a distinct local and regional level and consequently diverge from the 
traditional concept of universal ideas of race.  
The essays are grouped into four time periods: colonial, the “long” Nineteenth Century, the 
early to mid twentieth century (1920s-60s), and finally present day (1970s-on). The origins of race 
can indeed be traced back to the early colonial period. Kathryn Burns uncovers that Spaniards in 
colonial Peru continuously reshaped race in order to buttress the social hierarchy: from notions of 
limpieza de sangre to the separation of the república de españoles and república de indios. As the nation-
building project began for fledgling Latin American nations in the early nineteenth century, 
conservative and liberal political elites debated the “Indian” problem in terms of citizenship. Could 
Indians become “productive” citizens? Conservatives and liberals diverged on the issue, but both 
continued to support a hierarchy. While conservative leaders desired a continuance of the caste 
system, Arturo Taracena Arriola explicates how liberal elites incorporated indigenous leaders into 
the nation state, but regarded the majority of Indians as unsuitable for citizenship. Traditionally 
viewed as removing caste differences, liberals in fact rejected Indian culture, thereby relegating 
Indians to a subservient role.  
Nationalization projects—specifically, the recreation of national histories in order to unify 
diverse populations—proliferated during the third period. Claudio Lomnitz demonstrates that 
Mexico embraced ideas of mestizaje (mixing) as a unifying marker in part from its border to the U.S. 
Beginning with the Texas War, Mexicans in the U.S. became racialized. As the U.S. marked 
“Mexican” as a denigrating racial term, Mexicans across the border used this racial marker to create a 
unified “Mexican” race. As a result, racial creation and nationalization became inherently 
intertwined. The bulk of the essays comprise the fourth time period: present day Latin America. 
Andrés Calla and Khantuta Muruchi cover the struggles of racism following the 2006 election of 
Evo Morales, the first indigenous president in Bolivia. An opposition group at the 2007 
constitutional assembly demanded the transfer of the capital from La Paz to Sucre (La Paz is 
“traditionally” indigenous while Sucre is regarded as more “modern”.) As such, Calla and Muruchi 
have seen a rise of overt racial tensions since the election of Morales, including violent episodes. 
Traditional markers of indigenous ethnicity—including “looks,” and clothing —have been singled 
out. Therefore, overt polemic racism has overwhelmed the previous “silenced” racism, highlighting 
the underlying tensions for power and authority that was overturned with Morales' ascendancy.  
The collected essays are a welcome addition to addressing the “histories” of race and racism 
in Latin America. Not only is the text a great framework for undergraduates learning about race and 
related issues, but graduate students will embrace the diverse nature in which Latin American 
nations constructed race based on their specific political, economic, and social contexts. The wide 
range of sources (state censuses, political decrees and laws, newspapers, ethnographies, and 
interviews) will attract social, cultural, and political historians alike. There are minor quibbles: there is 
a prominent emphasis on twentieth century issues, and consequently colonialists will find the two 
essays dedicated to the time period insufficient. Furthermore, an inclusion of race and racism in 
Brazil (and the myth of racial democracy) would have given the collected works even more diversity. 
Nevertheless, the collected essays from Gotkowitz have expanded the historiographical debate on 
race issues. They will provide an essential framework for historians in uncovering the contested and 
continuously shifting contexts within which race developed and currently exists in Latin America.1  
Paul Rellstab  
Ohio University  
                                                            
1 For further reading on Bolivian indigenous relations, it’s worth consulting Kohl, Benjamin, 
Linda Farthing with Félix Muruchi. From the Mines to the Streets: A Bolivian Activist's Life. 
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.  
 


English

Laura Gotkowitz, ed., 'Histories of Race and Racism'

Reid, Robert Stephen

Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived

Harris, James Henry

Donald H. Juel, Shaping the Scriptural Imagination: Truth, Meaning, and the Theological Interpretation of the Bible

Johannes Brahms’s deep engagement with the past contributed to his compositional style in many ways. This article considers Brahms techniques that look back to and expand on those of Renaissance composers, in particular metric conflict and cadences, voice displacement, changes in proportion, rhythmic augmentation and diminution, and the hocket. Examples are taken from Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture, Variations On A Theme By Haydn, Piano Quartet in A Major, and Symphony No. 3 in F Major

Heisey, Eleanor

Brahms, Rhythm, and the Renaissance

Yetter, Leigh

Leigh Yetter Interview

The object of this article is draft a brief history of cultural policymaking in Québec through various initiatives adopted by successive governments in the largely French-speaking province since the middle of the 20th century.  These initiatives have been instrumental in the development of an amazingly rich and diversified cultural life within Québec

Tremblay, Andrée

Cultural Policy and Cultural Life: Québec’s Experience

Ivey, Bill

Bill Ivey Interview

Shepherd, N. Michelle

Studies on Migration in Spanish and Latin American Literature and Film

Barsky, Robert F.

Robert Barsky interview

Allen, Jr., O. Wesley

John C. Holbert and Alyce M. McKenzie, What Not to Say: Avoiding the Common Mistakes that Can Sink Your Sermon

Not a member yet