Indigenism
The Indigenismo (Spanish, German: indigenism ) is a literary and cultural, increasingly, political movement in Latin America from around 1920 to 1970 regained strength since about the 1990th First of all, it seeks to strengthen the cultural identity of the indigenous peoples of the continent through an appropriately realistic, non-idealized representation of their way of life. B. through the use of idiomatic language elements in dialogues and through the appreciation of the indigenous cultural heritage. In this way, indigenism sets itself apart from the Brazilian Indianism of the 1840s to 1870s, which was shaped by natural romanticism and enthusiasm for the noble savage as well as by Christian paternalistic perspectives. It also represented a counter-movement against the demand for the assimilation of the indigenous peoples, for example through the demand for the use of indigenous languages as written languages. Today she is increasingly turning politically against discrimination and white ethnocentrism .
Prehistory and emergence as a cultural movement
Like the representatives of Indianismo, those of Indigenismo assumed that the indigenous cultures can be integrated into a common national culture, but there should not be a total amalgamation, as was striven for by Hispanismo : their intrinsic value should be preserved and be recognizable. This appreciation of indigenous cultures was initially mostly carried out by non-indigenous authors, but led to a break with the widespread social Darwinism and with a simplified racist theory of evolution of the late 19th century.
One of the forerunners of literary indigenism is the Ecuadorian Juan León Mera , who in his novel Cumandá (1879) describes the love affair between an indigenous man and a white landowner with a tragic end. In Mexico , after the loss of large parts of the country to the USA and after the restoration of the republic in 1867, people increasingly reflected on the country's pre-Columbian history. In the last decades of the 19th century, the Spanish occupation of Mexico was viewed more and more critically. This is shown by images such as the “Episodes of Conquest” by Félix Parra (1877) or the “Torture of Cuauhtémoc ” by Leandro Izaguirre (1893).
The development of indigenism was mainly due to the knowledge of anthropologists and linguists who appreciated the learning and artistry of the Indians. The Mexican anthropologist and archaeologist Manuel Gamio is one of the founders of indigenism with his programmatic book Forjando patria: pro nacionalismo (1916; German: “ Forging the fatherland - for nationalism”).
Institutionalization of indigenism 1910–1945
The regional focus of indigenist literature was Mexico, where after the revolution from 1910 to 1920 indigenism became part of the national ideology, especially the Andean region (so-called indigenismo andino ).
Indigenism began early in Peru , represented for example by the poet and anarchist activist Manuel González Prada . Porfirio Meneses used Lazón Kichwa for his work as early as the 1920s . The anthropologist José María Arguedas was also one of the founders of Peruvian literary indigenism with his Spanish-language story Warma kuyay ("Kinderliebe", 1933), one of whose most important exponents is Ciro Alegría with his main work El Mundo es ancho y ajeno (1941), which in Chile had to appear. Politically, the movement was supported by the socialist Partido Aprista Peruano , which called for the country's autochthonous forces to be disrupted.
In Bolivia , the intrinsic value of Indian culture has been emphasized since the 1930s and Kichwa has been recognized as a written language. In Ecuador, Jorge Icaza wrote his main work Huasipungo (1930), a key work of indigenism, in a language permeated with Kichwa vocabulary .
Indigenismo became known worldwide through the Mexican muralistas (“wall painters”) such as David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera . Communist parties in Latin America often identified with the indigenism movement as it aimed to eradicate the racist division of the working class.
The institutionalization of indigenism has an inter-American dimension. In 1931, John Collier , Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the United States, and the Mexican anthropologist Manuel Gamio discussed the need to establish an inter-American organization that could serve as a clearinghouse and collect anthropological data and promote the exchange of experience on indigenous politics. The establishment of an Inter-American Indigenous Institute (III) was officially discussed for the first time at the Octava Conferencia Panamericana (Lima 1938).
In 1940 the first Inter-American Indigenist Congress was held in Pátzcuaro (Mexico) under the auspices of the populist President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río . This congress was organized by Moises Sáenz (1888–1941), who, as a reform pedagogue influenced by John Dewey , was committed to the idea of assimilation of the indigenous people by improving rural education. In 1942, the Inter-American Indigenist Institute (III)) was founded in Mexico, the first director of which was the anthropologist and archaeologist Manuel Gamio (1883-1960). The Mexican policy of “institutionalized revolution” was in fact aimed at assimilation and Hispanization of the indigenous peoples, albeit through education and land distribution.
In the following years, indigenistic institutes for research into indigenous cultures and languages such as B. the Instituto Indigenista Nacional de Guatemala , founded in 1945 . In Guatemala, Miguel Ángel Asturias made a major contribution to the preservation and popularization of indigenous myths and legends.
The Hispanic currents and currents advocating modernization and assimilation repeatedly came into conflict with indigenism. So already joined José Martí , a nationalist, Panamerikanist and credible representative of the interests of indigenous peoples in Latin America in 1880 for the expropriation of the indigenous people of non-farmed land in Argentina in the interest of the modernization of the country.
Criticism, decline and a new upswing as a political movement
After the importance of indigenism declined with the ongoing economic modernization processes and the increasing influence of US politics and also of North American literature in the 1950s to 1970s, it threatened to degenerate into folklore. A conference of anthropologists in Barbados criticized the fact that the state policy of indigenism could also lead to cultural ethnocides . Insgenismo, however, has been revived since the late 1980s, in the form of not just cultural but political-social movements such as the Mapuche movement in Chile . On the other hand, the cultural turn of the 1990s led to an alliance between neoliberal and neo-indigenist currents, which were granted political participation with the aim of integration.
In the 21st century, indigenism, as an anti-colonialist political ideology, took a clear stand against neoliberalism and the effects of globalization . He uses populism's forms of mobilization and struggle. Related movements in the Caribbean are the Black Renaissance , the Negritude or Haitian indigenism.
In 2009 the International Indigenous Institute in Mexico was dissolved.
See also
- Indigenization as a countermovement to assimilation
literature
- Alan Knight: Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo. In: Richard Graham (Ed.): The Idea of Race in the Latin America, 1870-1940. University of Texas Press, 1990
- Guillermo Bonfil Batalla: Aculturación e indigenismo: la respuesta india. In: José Alcina Franch (ed.): Indianismo e indigenismo en América. Madrid 1990.
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Episodes of Conquest" on www.dezenovevinte.net
- ↑ "The Torture of Cuauhtémoc " on www.dezenovevinte.net
- ↑ Enrique Ayala Mora: Indigenismo andino in: El Comercio , December 26, 2014.
- ↑ Olaf Kaltmeier: Indigenismo. Retrieved March 24, 2020 .
- ^ David A. Brading: Manuel Gamio and Official Indigenismo in Mexico. In: Bulletin of Latin American Research , Vol. 7, No. 1: 75-89 (1988).
- ^ Maria LO Muñoz, Amelia Kiddle, Amelia: Populism in twentieth century Mexico: the presidencies of Lázaro Cárdenas and Luis Echeverría. University of Arizona Press, Tucson 2010.
- ^ Indigenism in Haiti , exhibition in Paris 2014/15
- ↑ Olaf Meier cold: Indigenismo on website of the Center for Interamerican Studies at Bielefeld University.
