Lost in Migration: Indigenism from Mexico to Brazil

This paper analyzes the migration of the term indigenism from its Mexican origins to its subsequent appearances in Brazil. I assert that the meanings and practices associated with indigenism have changed from one place to the next depending on the bodies of knowledge they were formed out of, as well as their corresponding institutional frameworks. Following a brief introduction is a description of the historical context of Mexican indigenism, and the related transformation of public policy through the career trajectory of Manuel Gamio. The following section details the shifting political climates of Brazil that allowed for the eventual reception of Mexican indigenism into Brazilian institutions. A speech by Marcos Terenas is examined for its appropriation of nationalist rhetoric to criticize state policy toward native peoples. By analyzing the historical contexts leading to the formation of indigenism as an administrative ideology in Mexico, and it’s subsequent reception in Brazil, we can see the social-political processes instrumental in transforming the term through the course of its migration