Indigenista

Indigenista is a term used to describe a person, movement, or policy that seeks to promote and integrate Indigenous peoples and cultures within a nation's social and political framework. The term derives from indigenismo, a Latin American cultural and political project that emphasizes indigenous heritage as a component of national identity.

Indigenismo emerged in the early 20th century during nation-building in several Latin American countries after independence and the Mexican Revolution. It combined literary, artistic, and political currents with social reform aims, seeking to elevate indigenous languages, cultures, and rights, while promoting mestizaje as a basis for national unity in some contexts. In practice, indigenismo ranged from state-led cultural programs and education reforms to romanticized or essentialist depictions of indigenous life in literature and mural art.

Notable manifestations include Mexico's post-revolutionary indigenismo, with scholars and artists such as Manuel Gamio and the muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros; Peru's indigenista writers such as José María Arguedas and Ciro Alegría; and government programs in Peru and Bolivia that sought to recognize indigenous participation in the national project.

Critics argue that indigenismo sometimes romanticized or exoticized indigenous communities and paternalistically integrated them into a centralized nation-state rather than supporting self-determination. Its legacy is complex: it helped place indigenous topics on national agendas and in cultural production, but many indigenous movements later rejected cultural assimilation as a goal and pursued greater political autonomy and rights within a plural nation-state.