Race and ethnicity in Latin America

There is no single system of races or ethnicities that covers all modern Latin America, and usage of labels may vary substantially.

In Mexico, for example, the category mestizo^[1] is not defined or applied the same as the corresponding category of mestiço in Brazil.

In spite of these differences, the construction of race in Latin America can be contrasted with concepts of race and ethnicity in the United States. The ethno-racial composition of modern-day Latin American nations combines diverse Indigenous American populations, with influence from Iberian and other Western European colonizers, and equally diverse African groups brought to the Americas as slave labor, and also recent immigrant groups from all over the world.

Racial categories in Latin America are often linked to both continental ancestry or mixture as inferred from phenotypical traits, but also to socio-economic status. Ethnicity is often constructed either as an amalgam national identity or as something reserved for the indigenous groups so that ethnic identity is something that members of indigenous groups have in addition to their national identity.

Racial and ethnic discrimination is common in Latin America where socio-economic status generally correlates with perceived whiteness, while indigenous status and perceived African ancestry is generally correlated with poverty, and lack of opportunity and social status.