Full Description
How do today's Latin American elites understand and relate to ideas of power, race, ethnicity, and mestizaje? And what impact does that understanding have on the dynamics of socioeconomic development in ethnically mixed societies? Focusing on the case of Ecuador - a country struggling to recast its mestizo identity in the aftermath of dramatic indigenous uprisings - Karem Roitman reveals how the urban upper classes represent their ethnicity in ways that both hide discriminatory practices and impede social and economic mobility for the 'other'. This book also reveals how Ecuador's urban upper classes represent their mestizo identity in ways that both hide discriminatory practices and impede social and economic mobility for the 'other'.
Contents
Introduction. Foxes and Lions: Studying the Upper Classes. Constructing Identities: The 2001 National Census. Economy, Etiquette, and Ethnicity: Defining Ecuadorian Elites. The Mestizo and the "Other": Ethnic Narratives in Ecuador. The Port and Mestizaje: Ethnic Narratives in Guayaquil. Learning Mestizaje: Ethnic Narratives in Quito. Ethnic Narratives and Socioeconomic Development. Responsibility and Change. Conclusion. Appendixes: Brief Chronology. Methodological Overview. Statistical Data.
