Cristian Alvarado Leyton: Die Zukunft einer kritischen Ethnologie Lateinamerikas. Ein Literaturbericht

Abstract. - People of Latin America are gaining ever more attention in the US due to their rising visibility. Two recently published comprehensive works of critical anthropologists on Latin America both reflect this occurring change and provide important insights into contemporary social processes. By focusing on four central issues – politics of identity and essentialism, groups in between whiteness and difference, violence, the experiential space “Latin America” – this review article shows that critical anthropology offers substantial contributions to the study of Latin America and to the discipline in general, while expressing the conviction that a politically committed analysis heightens anthropology’s relevance. [Latin America, critical anthropology, politics of identity, violence, experiential space]