The Persistence of Racism in Critical Imaginaries on Latin America

Abstract

Transculturación, sincretismo, and hibridismo/hybridity are used in contemporary studies on Latin American culture to refer to a general idea of mixture of individuals and cultures (Gruzinski 2002, 18). Yet, as some critics claim, sweeping distinctions under the rug may lead to generalizations, giving way to essentializing Latin American identities as homogeneously “hybrid” and free of internal conflicts (Cornejo Polar 1998, 7–8). Taking Jossianna Arroyo’s preceding chapter on the history of the term “transculturación” as a point of departure, my aim here is to tease out nuances among these concepts. By comparing these terms, this chapter seeks to underscore the silent but persistent conceptions of race and culture that still frame some of the critical discourses deployed in cultural analyses on Latin America.