Indigenista Criminology: A Latin-American Phenomenon?

• In Event: Indigenismo and its contested legacy in Latin America (I)

Abstract

The term “Indigenista criminology” was coined by Deborah Poole in her 1990 article “Ciencia, peligrosidad y represión en la criminología indigenista peruana”, in which she used this term to analyze the encounter that took place in Peru during the first half of the 20th century between the criminological discipline and the indigenista discourse. This encounter presented the “Indian criminality” as a phenomenon of its own, characterized by particular causes, and accordingly it constructed an image of the “Indian criminal” to uphold the notion that Indians needed special and even separate treatment by the criminal justice system. In this paper I would like to raise the question whether that Indigenista criminology was a local phenomenon, restricted to Peru of those years, or rather a term applicable also in broader contexts of the indigenismo as a Latin-American field? The Mexican case examined here will provide us with some (partial) answers. Like in Peru, during the heyday of indigenismo, various features of “Indian criminality” also gained the attention of many Mexican scholars and writers. However, in Mexico, this attention did not form, in my view, an indigenista criminology but rather was only one aspect of what I would call a much broader “indigenista project of knowledge” that had no Peruvian counterpart. Moreover, I will argue, the differences between the Peruvian indigenista criminology and this Mexican "indigenista project of knowledge" also contributed to the divergence between Peru and Mexico on the legal status of Indian offenders in their criminal legislations.

Author

• Lior Ben David, Tel Aviv University