POST-SANDINISTA ETHNIC IDENTITIES IN WESTERN NICARAGUA

The meanings of the ethnic labels Indian and mestizo in Latin America are often treated as stable, bounded, and clearly marked by anthropolo gists, nationalists, and indigenous intellectuals alike. In Nicaragua, the post-Sandinista emergence of a discourse of indigenous identity i n the western region, where successive state elites have considered th at identity erased, underscores the dynamic mutability of both indigen ous and mestizo ethnicities. This reconsideration derives from dialogu e between anthropological analysis and an indigenous intellectual invo lved in organizing in the western region.