Comprised of newly commissioned chapters, this defining reference volume on Latin America introduces English-language readers to the debates, traditions, and sensibilities that have shaped the study of this diverse region.Contributors include some of the most prominent figures in Latin American and Latin Americanist anthropology. Offers previously unpublished work from Latin America scholars that has been translated into English explicitly for this volume. Includes overviews of national anthropologies in Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, and Brazil, and is also topically focused on new research. Draws on original ethnographic and archival research. Highlights national and regional debates. Provides a vivid sense of how anthropologists often combine intellectual and political work to address the pressing social and cultural issues of Latin America.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Part I Locations
• 1 Argentina: Contagious Marginalities
• 2 Bolivia: Bridges and Chasms
• 3 Brazil: Otherness in Context
• 4 Colombia: Citizens and Anthropologists
• 5 Ecuador: Militants, Priests, Technocrats, and Scholars
• 6 Guatemala: Essentialisms and Cultural Politics
• 7 Mexico: Anthropology and the Nation-State
• 8 Peru: From Otherness to a Shared Diversity
• Part II Debates
• 9 Race in Latin America
• 10 Language States
• 11 Legalities and Illegalities
• 12 Borders, Sovereignty, and Racialization
• 13 Writing the Aftermath: Anthropology and “Post-Conflict”
• 14 Alterities: Kinship and Gender
• 15 Vinculaciones: Pharmaceutical Politics and Science
• 16 Agrarian Reform and Peasant Studies: The Peruvian Case
• 17 Statistics and Anthropology: The Mexican Case
• Part III Positions
• 18 Indigenous Anthropologies beyond Barbados
• 19 Afro-Latin American Peoples
• 20 Reconceptualizing Latin America
• 21 Places and Academic Disputes: The Argentine Gran Chaco
• 22 Disengaging Anthropology
• 23 On the Frontlines: Forensic Anthropology
• 24 Collaborative Anthropologies in Transition