El artículo estudia los internados indígenas en el México posrevolucionario y en Bolivia, considerando las similitudes en sus desplazamientos desde la ciudad al campo y las formas específicas en que cada elite nacional discutía acerca de la educación indígena. Examina también las relaciones entre educadores mexicanos y bolivianos, y sus visiones de la experiencia del otro país. El análisis sugiere que estas experiencias y debates resultan reveladores de ideas comunes acerca de la ciudad (moderna y civilizada) frente al campo (primitivo y atrasado), así como de la idea del campo como el lugar natural y apropiado para el indígena.

No abstract

No abstract

Efforts to develop a shared, Pan-American indigenista plan, beginning with the creation of the Inter-American Indian Institute (Instituto Indigenista Interamericano—III) in 1940, had to overcome a series of problems, especially financial and political ones. Obtaining support from the Mexican government and, above all, from the United States allowed the III to launch some important projects, but it greatly limited the extent to which it could promote a truly Pan-American program. The historical record suggests that, in the end, the radical and ambitious indigenista plan was hard to realize. Moreover, this history was much more uncertain, mixed, and ambivalent than had been expected and challenged long-held assumptions about indigenismo and its role. Con la creación del Instituto Indigenista Interamericano (III), en 1940, se pretendía elaborar un programa indigenista panamericano, pero había que superar una serie de problemas, sobre todo financieros y políticos. Gracias al apoyo inicial del gobierno mexicano y de los Estados Unidos, el III puso en marcha algunos proyectos importantes, pero ese mismo apoyo limitó, en buena medida, la posibilidad de promover un programa indigenista que fuera realmente panamericano. La evidencia histórica sugiere, de hecho, que este programa indigenista, ambicioso y radical, era de difícil realización. Además, su historia se revela mucho más incierta, incoherente y ambivalente de lo esperado, desafiando muchas de las ideas consolidadas sobre el indigenismo y su papel.

Objective/Context: The article studies the continental concept of Indian disseminated by the indigenistas who, in the mid-twentieth century, were shaping a Pan-American indigenista field. Originality: Against the common idea that Indian is a colonial category, it suggests that the twentieth century characterization of the Indian was a typically modern creation. Methodology: It is based on an analysis of unexplored printed primary sources, from a transnational approach that highlights the participation of indigenistas of different backgrounds and origins in the search for a continental notion of Indian. Conclusions: The analysis shows how the indigenista contribution reinforces an ongoing process of singularization and abstraction of this concept, also emphasizing the temporary ascription of the Indian and a history of domination and exploitation with effects up to the present day. Although this “Indian of the Americas” is shaped by typically modern elements, indigenistas defend the idea that it is a “colonial category”, determined by a colonial heritage (with effects on “character”) and by the persistence of a colonial situation/relationship. This indigenista resignification would represent an important legacy for later developments, by establishing the experience of colonization as an essential element in the definition of the Indian.