¿Mayanización, indigeneidad o mestizaje? Clasificaciones étnicas y diversidad en Guatemala

Abstract

The last Guatemalan national census, the census of 2002, introduced new classifications in line with national and international changes on indigenous representation. These new classifications revealed an ethnic complexity that previous censuses had ignored. Based on an analysis of these data, dialogue with other authors and ethnographic data obtained in the western highlands of Guatemala, this article reflects on the changes, usages and meanings of concepts as important to the country as Indigenous, Mayan and Ladino. Could the data revealed by the 2002 census suggest a Mayanization or Indigenization of the country similar to other countries in Latin America? Or should we consider another category, absent from the census, such as Miscegenation?.