Study Group
“Latin American Indigenists”

This study group on the intertwined histories of politics and art brings together scholars interested in the histories and legacies of indigenismo in Latin America. We meet regularly to read and discuss our own and others’ work on indigenismo, an artistic and intellectual movement that emerged in several Latin American countries in the early twentieth century. The movement was shaped largely by non-Indigenous and mixed-race intellectuals, artists, and political actors who studied and represented Indigenous peoples and cultures while advocating for their place within projects of modernity and nation-building.

The group addresses the links between indigenismo as a political and intellectual current and the artistic and material practices through which it rendered Indigenous peoples, cultures, and histories aesthetically, visually, and in scholarly discourse. We also examine how knowledge about Indigenous people and their material culture was produced, collected, and circulated. We focus on Peru and Mexico from the 1930s through the end of the twentieth century, while also exploring transnational connections across regions, disciplines, and political contexts.

We are interested in the diverse legacies of indigenist movements in art and cultural production, as well as their influence on scholarship and research practices. Topics of discussion include the intersections of art, anthropology, archaeology, collecting, and political activism; the work of historical actors who crossed disciplinary boundaries; aesthetic and historiographical projects; attempted social and political transformation; and the ways in which indigenismo’s histories continue to shape artistic, activist, and scholarly engagements with Indigenous studies and decolonization today.

The group welcomes researchers across disciplines and at all career stages who want to discuss texts, visual and material culture, archival sources, and works in progress.