Indigenous Peoples and Imperialism
Who are the indigenous people of Latin America?
From the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), it was estimated that by 2010, about 46 million Indigenous people lived in Latin America, accounting for 8.3% of the region's population. Bolivia stands out with a notably high Indigenous population, making up 62.2% of its total population, or roughly 6.2 million people. Similarly, Guatemala’s Indigenous population comprises about 41% of its total population. There are also approximately 826 recognized Indigenous groups across Latin America, with Brazil having the largest number of distinct Indigenous groups at 305, while Bolivia has the largest total Indigenous population in the region.
I, Rigoberta Menchu an Indian Woman in Guatemala (2nd edition)
Rigoberta Menchú
Novel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchú, reflects on her life as an Indigenous woman living in rural Guatemala. She’s had to suffer injustice and hardship early in her life, but through it all she became involved in social reform in her teens and was prominent in the women’s right movement.
Rigoberta Menchú
The autobiography picks up where the first installment ends, Menchu fleeing from Guatemala to Mexico City. The book follows her political campaign after leaving her country but returning as a representative of the opposition in exile. The book follows themes of violence, trauma, and persistence with perseverance.
An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States for Young People
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz discusses how both settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide plated in forming the country’s identity. The original text is adapted for middle grade and young adult readers.
An Indian Among Los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir
Ursula Pike
At the age of twenty-five, Ursula Pike went to Bolivia and began her service in the Peace Corps. She’s a member of the Karuk tribe and sought to make connections with the people in La Paz. But she arrived with trepidation as well as excitement, 'knowing I followed in the footsteps of Western colonizers and missionaries who had also claimed they were there to help. In the following two years, as a series of dramatic episodes brought that tension to boiling point, she began to ask: what does it mean to have experienced the effects of colonialism firsthand, and yet to risk becoming a colonizing force in turn?
We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People
Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson
Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s. She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened. Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She’s united many indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon in a battle against Big Oil, which has protected over a half a million acres of rainforest.
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