University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education

Racial Democracy and Nationalism in PanamaAuthor(s): Carla Guerrón-MonteroSource: Ethnology, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Summer, 2006), pp. 209-228Published by: University of Pittsburgh- Of the Commonwealth System of Higher EducationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20456595 .Accessed: 29/06/2011 08:38

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RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND

ATLNTI OCEA >NATIONALISM IN PANAMA' ~~ ~ Cub o ~i v { ATLANTIC OCEAN

>/v Po ~~~~~~~~~~~~Lessere at CARIBBEAN SEA AnnlIeb Carla Guerron-Montero

University of Delaware

In spite of having more fluid and flexible racial boundaries than other regions of the world, Latin America continues to have racially hegemonic practices. Panama has a myth of racial egalitarianism, yet an inability to perceive that racial inequality is pervasive. This is illustrated with the paradox of race relations between Afro-Antilleans and the indigenous peoples in the Archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Intermarriage in the region and the notion that there is no racial inequality contrasts with the constant recognition of differences. Race relations and ethnic identity in this region have their origins in the competition between British, North American, and Central American interests, and have been shaped in relation to Panamanian nationalism. (Panama, race relations, Afro-Antilleans, indigenous peoples, national identity)

Racial hegemony, racial inequality, and the quest for viable identities are among the most serious world problems today (Winant 2004, Hall 2001:25). Latin

America provides no exception. In spite of the presence of more fluid and flexible racial boundaries than other regions of the world, Latin America continues to confront racially hegemonic practices. Only recently have Latin

American nations begun to respond to racial inequality through governmental policies and programs.

Several reasons account for the relative tardiness by governments and the civil society in formulating responses to racial inequality. Perhaps one of the

most important is the existence of fluid views of racial relations, and the emphasis placed on this by Latin American and North American scholars and intellectuals. The representation of Latin America as a region of nonviolent discrimination (Kronus and Solau'n 1973) and harmonious racial relations has prevailed in popular and academic contexts since the Mexican author Jose Vasconcelos wrote about la raza cosmica (the "cosmic race") (Vasconcelos 1925, Toplin 1974, Degler 1971, Harris 1964, Wagley 1965). Along with establishing that the Americas displayed an extraordinary mixture of peoples and cultures (Safa 1998), scholars have also emphasized the fluid racial definitions and distinctions that have resulted from miscegenation (Mathews 1974, Perez Sarduy and Stubbs 1995), especially in contrast with the rigid notions of race commonly held in North America.

The miscegenation characteristic of Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America took many forms, including rape, cohabitation, concubinage, and marriage, and was a common feature of European, African, and indigenous

209 ETHNOLOGY vol. 45 no.3, Summer 2006, pp. 209-228. ETHNOLOGY, c/o Department of Anthropology, The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15260 USA Copyright ? 2007 The University of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved.

210 ETHNOLOGY

peoples' encounters (Bateman 1995:29, Rojas Mix 1991). More recently, scholars and activists have warned against the dangers of emphasizing hybridity in societies clearly marked by racism, for doing so conceals acute racial problems in these societies (Friedemann and Arocha 1995, Celiberti 2003, Rahier 2003, Sanjines 2002, Sheriff 2003).

In Latin America, the myth of racial democracy is a mechanism of "invisibilization" of racially dominated groups (Celiberti 2003:252). Where this

myth exists, efforts to improve the conditions of marginalized populations have not moved forward with ease. But in Latin America, characterizations of blackness, whiteness, or indigenousness have political and economic conse quences and continue to be relevant, as they guarantee access to power and privilege to some while denying them to others. For instance, in Brazil, a country with the second largest number of people of African descent in the world, only in the 1960s, when revisionist accounts questioned the myth of racial democracy, did the government make racism a punishable offense (Winant 2004, Sansone 2003, Walker 2002); and it was not until the twenty-first century that affirmative action policies addressing racial and class inequalities were implemented (Htun 2005). In Venezuela, expressions of racial discrimination have been termed un Venezuelan (Lewis 1992). As Wright notes, "when compared to the United States and its virulent form of antiblack racism, Venezuelans thought they had a right to believe that they lived in a racial utopia, without violence or overt

manifestations of discrimination" (Wright 1990:2). Panama presents an interesting case of taking pride as a racial democracy and

having a nationalist rhetoric that portrays a particular kind of Latino2 or mestizo racial identity as normative. Panama contrasts itself with other parts of Latin

America having racial inequalities and injustices, which it claims do not exist in Panama because of its long history of miscegenation and harmonious relations. It attributes any inequalities and racism to the U.S. presence in Panama, which introduced segregation and discrimination in the Canal Zone (Bryce-Laporte 1998:103, United Public Workers of America). This portrayal represents a nationalist stance against United States intervention. At the same time, Latinos are viewed as stereotypical or the "real" Panamanian. This results in favoring some groups and fostering racial differentiation.

This essay examines race relations between Panamanian Afro-Antilleans and the Ngobe (formerly know as Guaymi) Indians. Scholars with a Western historical orientation tend to neglect the prevalence of relationships between black and indigenous peoples as an essential component of Latin American history (Whitten and Torres 1998:35). Indigenous peoples have been clearly identified since colonial times, but black populations have held a more ambivalent position (Wade 1997).

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 211

[B]lack people have more problems than most other ethnic minorities in defining themselves as a culturally distinct or politically based community. The reason for the failure of the dominant societies to legitimate black culture is the historic use of racial markers to maintain hierarchy

within specific national economies and national political systems (Sansone 1999:7).

Two important and related paradoxes shape racial encounters in Panama. One is that intermarriage underlies the notion that there is no racial inequality, despite color differences being important in the social hierarchy of the region. The second paradox is that Panamanians see their country as racially egalitarian,

when closer examination shows racial inequality to be pervasive.

RACE RELATIONS IN THE ARCHIPELAGO

As in Brazil, Panamanian racial views are part of their belief that theirs is a

"cosmopolitan" society produced through racial mixing (mestizaje) (Davis 1995), beginning with the arrival of Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Consequently, racism is assumed not to exist and social distinctions are assumed to be based solely on class and gender. Racial relations in the Archipelago of Bocas del Toro are presumed to follow this pattern, but fieldwork on the border of Costa Rica and Panama (Bourgois 1985) and my research3 show that in spite of consistent references to racial equality, deprecating language in addressing and treating ethnic groups accompanies detrimental political and economic consequences.

The Archipelago has approximately 18,000 inhabitants distributed among nine inhabited islands. Limited archaeological and archival evidence suggests that indigenous groups populated the Archipelago in pre-Hispanic times (Linne 1929, Anderson 1965, Wake et al. 2004, Cooke 2005). Historically, the

Archipelago has formed a "complex inter-ethnic hierarchy" (Freeland 1995: 182). Its population includes Afro-Antilleans, Chinese, indigenous groups (particularly Ngobe and some Kuna), Panamanian Latinos and, more recently, permanent and semi-permanent foreigners from Europe and North and South America. Phenotypic features are factors in the complex interplay of race and class in self-categorization and categorization by others, as relations between Afro-Antilleans and Ngobe illustrate.

Afro-Antilleans in Bocas del Toro

Afro-Antilleans in Bocas del Toro are descendants of slaves from the British West Indies and from more recent immigrants. They speak English, but in the Archipelago they speak a Creole known as Wari-wari (Aceto 1996:2). In the early 1800s, and possibly as early as the seventeenth century (Westerman 1980:21), the first Afro-Antilleans arrived in Bocas as slaves for the Irish,

212 ETHNOLOGY

English, and Scottish families that came from Jamaica, Barbados, Providencia, and San Andres (Heckadon Moreno 1980:9, Waisome et al. 1981:73). Afro

Antilleans may also have come to Bocas after the construction of the Panama

railroad in 1855. Between 1880 and 1890, the French Company of the Isthmus brought about 30,000 Afro-Antilleans to work on the Panama Canal; and thousands of Afro-Antilleans, originally from Barbados, Santa Lucia,

Martinique, and Jamaica, migrated to Bocas del Toro at the beginning of the 1900s to work for banana plantations (Westerman 1980:21, Gaskin 1984:7,

Guerron-Montero 2002a, 2002b). Other groups of Afro-Antilleans settled in Panama and migrated to Bocas del Toro in 1914 after the Panama canal was

completed (Gordon 1982:27, Waisome et al. 1981). Most worked for trans national agribusinesses that exported bananas and cacao or for small local businesses, or practiced subsistence agriculture and fishing.

Before 1890, there were privately owned banana plantations. From 1890 to

1900, banana production greatly increased with the appearance of the Snyder Brothers Banana Company and the United Fruit Company. It was difficult to find and keep a labor force for the plantations because the working environment of the United Fruit Company was "exceptionally strenuous and dangerous, even by the Costa Rican and Panamanian standards of the time" (Bourgois 1985:105). Conditions for living and working were less than minimal in Bocas. To avoid paying higher wages and building costly infrastructure, companies sought laborers willing to work "for subsistence wages under substandard conditions" (Bourgois 1985:106). English-speaking black populations from the Antilles and the Caribbean coast of Central America (Stephens 1987:32), Afro-Antilleans

were the most promising labor force to work on the plantations since the beginning of commercial production in Bocas. Afro-Antilleans in the Archipelago have since then assumed bureaucratic positions and engaged in subsistence and commercial fishing and agriculture.

Ngdbe in Bocas del Toro

The Ng'obe constitute the largest indigenous group in Panama, with 169,000 members (2000 Census). They inhabit the provinces of Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro, and Veraguas. In late pre-Hispanic times and during the first contacts with Europeans, the Ngobe "lived in dispersed villages or caserios, surrounded by cultivation zones, in the mountains as well as in the hills and coastal flatlands" (Linares 1987:13). Soon after the arrival of the Europeans, the Ng6be, like other indigenous peoples of the region, suffered severe and rapid depopulation.

Among the Ngobe, polygyny is traditionally "the ideal way of marriage" (Correa de Sanjur 1994:19). The number of wives a man has is a measure of prestige (Rubio 1940:26). Historical accounts present the Ngobe as primarily

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 213

farmers, who also engaged in hunting and fishing (Linares 1987:15). Currently, the most common activities carried out by the Ngobe in Bocas del Toro are turtle hunting, fishing, and agriculture.

Upon the arrival of Spanish and British colonizers, the Ngobe lived mostly in the central regions. By the 1770s, the coastal and insular areas of the province

were deserted, except for "a few English and their slaves, who worked in the timber business" (Jaen Suairez 1998:32). Ng'obe and Teribe (from Costa Rica)

migrants came to the region in the 1830s (Jaen Suairez 1998:32). From the 1920s to the 1950s, many Ngobe began settling in Bocas Town and Carenero (Del Cid

etal. 1997:111-12, 147).

Black and Indian Racial Relations in the Archipelago

The relations between Afro-Antilleans and the Ng'obe developed in the context of national and international racial hierarchies. Afro-Antilleans had a strong advantage over the Ng'obe because of their higher economic and social status. The construction of the Panama railroad and the French and United States efforts to build a canal forever transformed the ethnic configuration of the country. However, in contrast to what occurred in Nicaragua and Honduras, where indigenous peoples and blacks mixed to form distinctive groups such as the Black Carib or Garifuna (with strong ties to both their African and

indigenous ancestry) and the Miskitu (who stress their Indian rather than their African ancestry), Panamanian Afro-Antilleans and indigenous peoples in Bocas del Toro intermarried to a considerably lesser degree, and did not develop "colonial tribes." Despite some intermarriage and physical proximity in living arrangements in the Archipelago, Afro-Antilleans and the Ngobe remain separate groups.

Afro-Antilleans have a sense of superiority that derives from several elements. Where they live is "one of the few places in the world where bourgeois blacks exploit an underprivileged white minority" (Andrews 1997:17). Outbreaks of Panama disease (a soil-borne fungus) in the 1920s and the Great Depression caused the United Fruit Company to close its plantations. It reduced its payroll, and promoted Afro-Antilleans to replace U.S. citizens as clerks and supervisors.

[Afro-Antilleans] who had worked or grown bananas for the company took advantage of its withdrawalto buy parcels of land and establish small- and medium-sized family farms. The result was the creation by mid-century of a black rural middle class in the old banana zones, a complete

reversal of the impact of the export boom elsewhere (Andrews 1997:17).

The Afro-Antillean experience in the banana zones is significantly different from that of black workers elsewhere in Latin America, as they were able to capitalize on their opportunity and become a rural middle class. In close connection with

214 ETHNOLOGY

their economic ascent, their origin and education in the British Caribbean made Afro-Antilleans feel superior to Latino Panamanians, and even more so to indigenous groups, because they believed that their British upbringing made them more "civilized." In addition, Afro-Antilleans have maintained strong connections with African-American and Antillean groups who have supported their struggles for better wages, working opportunities, and education, particularly in the forner Canal Zone.

Although Afro-Antilleans, as well as Indians and Latinos, endured conditions of quasi-slavery on the banana plantations, some Afro-Antilleans who were slaves for the British enjoyed privileges that other populations lacked. This was also true for some Afro-Antilleans who worked for the United Fruit Company in Bocas del Toro in the 1890s. Because of previous work experience, Afro Antilleans were considered to be hard-working and responsible. In addition, their command of English facilitated communication with North Americans and gave them visible advantage (Andrews 1997:16). Thus, Afro-Antilleans were bicultural, "sharing major aspects of the national cultural code with the dominant class, and sharing the [Afro-Antillean] code with other [Afro-Antilleans]" (Stutzman 1974:126). This dual competence, although varying individually and

markedly different between urban blacks and rural peasants, gave a degree of power for the Afro-Antilleans.

Another reason for distinctiveness is the relatively recent settlement of the Ngobe on the more populated islands in the Archipelago. Before the migrations of the 1920s-1950s, cases of miscegenation between Ngobe and blacks were infrequent due to the Ngobe stress on the importance of polygyny and endogamy.

As residence is patrilocal, the need to maintain harmonious relationships is more easily attainable when the man's wives belong to the same ethnic group. Also, sororal polygynous marriage, if not preferred, is considered easier to accomplish and maintain (Young 1971:179).

Negotiating Terms of Inequality

These historical circumstances explain Afro-Antillean social and economic status and leadership roles, and the existence of two distinct ethnic groups despite some miscegenation. The systematic consequences of these inequalities are experienced in every aspect of social relations, including access to economic resources, social status, and education. How, then, are interactions between Afro

Antilleans and Ngobe negotiated? The relationship between Lewis Archibold (Afro-Antillean) and Ricardo

Taylor,4 whose lives have been interwoven for over 40 years, provides an illustration. Lewis was not a member of the black bourgeoisie in Bocas. Born in

Bocas del Toro of Jamaican parents, he never learned to speak Spanish, did not

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 215

attend school, and never worked for the United Fruit Company. On a small plot of land, he grew bananas, yams, and occasionally cacao for personal consump tion. He did different work throughout his life (turtle catching, fishing), but

mostly making charcoal for 42 years, one of the hardest and lowest paying jobs in the area. Lewis was 89 years old and a childless widower at the time of the research. Ricardo is a Ngobe raised by Lewis. Around 50 years old when we met, he was married to a Ngobe woman and had five children. Mainly a fisherman, Ricardo also was a part-time night watchman, did manual labor occasionally, and farmed.

Lewis met his wife of more than 60 years in Bocas, where they lived and engaged in subsistence agriculture and charcoal production. The couple took in Ricardo when he was seven years old. This "adoption" was not considered a filial relationship. Lewis said that he and his wife raised Ricardo as a worker rather than as a son. Lewis explained, "I bought Ricardo to help me with my chores, and I raised him." From the perspective of Ricardo's parents, however, living with an Afro-Antillean man was beneficial for all. They lived in a small coastal town without schools or employment opportunities, and could do only sub sistence agriculture. His parents assumed and expected that Ricardo would go to school in Bocas and learn a trade that would allow him to improve his and his

parents' living conditions. Although both Afro-Antilleans and Ngobe perceive him as indigenous,

Ricardo had little knowledge of his own culture because of his upbringing. He spoke some Ng6bere, but was more acquainted with an Afro-Antillean lifestyle and spoke Wari-wari fluently. However, he chose to marry aNgobe woman, who

spoke Ngobere and was raised in Ngobe ways. At age 24, Ricardo left Lewis and established his family in the inland area of the island, but the two maintained

occasional contact. More than 20 years later, when his wife fell ill and could not care for Lewis, he invited Ricardo to settle on his property. Ricardo did, and built a comfortable house near Lewis's shack, where he still lives. Although neither Ricardo nor Lewis disclosed any feelings of affection for each other, it was clear that their relationship was one of trust and mutual respect. Ricardo related:

I can tell you practically everything about Lewis' life, because I have been most of my years with

him.... I know how he lived, I know what his wife did.... I am living five years with him now; I used to live inland... then his wife [got] sick and could not take care of the kitchen so he called

me. His wife died of old age (she was six years older than him).

Ricardo's wife cooked for Lewis and took care of some of his needs. Lewis promised Ricardo title over his land before he died, in order to prevent distant relatives who did not deserve to own the land from taking advantage of Ricardo.

It is common for Afro-Antillean rural bourgeoisie in Bocas del Toro to foster or adopt Indian children. This practice is viewed and understood differently by

216 ETHNOLOGY

Afro-Antilleans, Latinos, and the Ngobe. For Afro-Antilleans and Latinos, indigenous people "sell" their children for selfish reasons. Luis, an Afro

Antillean construction worker said:

[H]ere in Bocas, it may be because we live among very different people that they see you with evil eyes and call you abusive, and things like that if you give up your children. But among Indian

people, there is nothing wrong with that. Even in the past ... Guaymi parents usedto negotiate and even sell their children, they would exchange them for cattle and other things.

Ngobe parents deny ever selling their children to a mestizo or black family. Their understanding is that the children benefit from the arrangement by attending school, and being educated in the "proper" manners of society, so that they will not become workers for low wages. A Latino elementary school teacher who has worked with Ngobe children for years agreed that indigenous people want their children to become better persons by learning to read and write. "Then they come back and teach the other children what they have learned, how to read and write, how to work the land and do other jobs."

Actually, Ngobe children have been subjected to the desires of the families that receive them. In some cases, the relationship is that of boss and worker, as happened with Lewis and Ricardo. In others, the child becomes part of the family, as in the case of Genaro Lange, who was legally adopted by the Lange family. They received him when he was six years old.

They raised me and they liked me so much that I never saw my [biological] father again. He left

me here and I stayed. My [biological] mother died when Iwas born, so the only mother I know

is Mrs. Lange. They took me to a farm and because I worked so hard, theyliked me very much and they adopted me, and ... I am registered at the Registry Office as a Lange.

The fact that Ngobe families willingly send their children to live with Afro Antilleans, whether the latter are comfortably well-off or are uneducated and poor, indicates that the Ngobe perceive Afro-Antilleans as having higher social status, better access to socioeconomic resources, and can provide opportunities for upward mobility to Ngobe children. Indeed, not only is it widely believed in the Archipelago that Afro-Antilleans are better educated and hold bourgeois social status, but other blacks who were not able to achieve this status benefit from that image.

In his memoirs (Reid 1987), Carlos Reid, an Afro-Antillean of the black bourgeoisie, indicates that in the early twentieth century, indigenous men would not allow their women to talk to a colored man, but in recent times the social distance has begun to disappear and there is intermarriage. Roberto, the son of a Mestizo woman and a Ngobe man, held a similar view:

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 217

In the past, there were many problems among Indians and blacks, many differences and separations. Now, this does not occur, now the black man likes the Indian woman, and the black

woman likes the Indian man, and they mix, to improve the race, to improve the color.

In recent years, tourism and better educational opportunities have created a steady migration of Ng'obe Indians from coastal towns to the Archipelago (ANAM 1999:7). They are often trilingual (speaking Ngobere, Wari-wari, and Spanish), and together attend middle and high school on the island and, more recently, the National University of Panama. Many indigenes have acquired cultural practices considered to be Afro-Antillean. For instance, some attend Protestant religious services, favor spicy dishes over the tuber-based diet more common in indigenous areas, and participate in town festivities and celebrations. In Bocas, Ngobe women exchange their naguas (long "Mother Hubbard" type dresses) for Western clothing. Some men and women perm their hair and style it in ways that make it less evident that they are indigenous. An elementary teacher who spent many years teaching Ngobe children regards them as highly intelligent, adding that indigenous students tend to have the highest GPAs.

Nonetheless, Afro-Antilleans and local foreigners perceive them as less intelli gent, and they are treated as such. The derogatory terms buchi and bushman have a meaning similar to the American "hillbilly" or "hick" and are mostly applied to indigenous people who supposedly have never left the mountains. They are also used to refer to anyone who is unaware of modern technological devices. Generally, indigenous people are viewed and treated as inferior.

Pablo, whose father is Afro-Antillean, claimed to identify more with his mother, a Ngobe, because he was raised by her. But socially he wanted to be taken as black because "black people are smarter, and Indians are less developed; they live in the past just surrounded by mangrove." Since he looks black like his father, people considered him as such. In Panama, there are complex terms for addressing different racial combinations, but Afro-Antilleans have a clear idea of what an Indian should look like. "You can distinguish an Indian because of his physical appearance: they are wide, with long and straight hair, round face and almond-shaped eyes." For a black woman born in Panama, "an Indian is a person

who has very straight hair and a different face; some of them are tanned by the sun. Very few are tall." The son of a Jamaican Afro-Antillean man and a Teribe

woman was sensitive to linguistic nuances, saying, "there are many people who do not notice the difference between a Teribe Indian and a Guaymi Indian, but they are not the same. Even when speaking, Guaymi Indians 'eat' the words

more than Teribe Indians do." ( "Eating words" refers to speaking in incomplete sentences and not enunciating words clearly when speaking.)

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Race and Color Terms

Roberto's comment regarding misegination between blacks and Indians "to improve the race, to improve the color" points to an essential component of racial relations common in Bocas del Toro and other parts of Latin America. Many

Afro-Antilleans, particularly in Bocas Town and Carenero, have indigenous ancestry. A classificatory term commonly used by Afro-Antilleans for people

whose parents are black and indigenous is culiso (a man) or culisa (a woman). A culiso is identifiable by "refined" facial features, cafe au lait skin color, and hair that is not hard (duro), but is straight. However, the notion that black "blood" is very strong is a common belief in the Archipelago. One informant observed that "even if the woman is white, if she has a large behind and big hips, I know that there is some black blood in her." In the words of a light-skinned

Afro-Antillean woman, "the black race is really strong; even if people mix, the black race comes in our children and will continue to come who knows until when, because it is in the genes." This notion of the strength of black blood contrasts with the Brazilian notion that "in case of racial mixing, the white blood cancel[s] out the 'negative quality' of the black blood" (Rahier 2003:44, cf. Sheriff 2003:90). This difference might be because black populations in the Archipelago are in a position of advantage, while in Brazil blackness tends to be despised.

The higher social status of blacks sometimes causes light-skinned people to assert an Afro-Antillean identity. A man born in Bocas, and who had lived in different parts of the country and abroad, said, "I am Antillean, although people here say that I am not black, but I see myself as blacker than blacks." When asked why people in Bocas say he is not black, he replied,

Some people say that my family is not entirely black because my last name is Galindo and my father's family is white. Then, my maternal grandfather, his father was German, my aunts are

white, but my maternal grandmother was black with straight hair. When I was a child, my friends in school used to make fun of me because I was so light. Now I am less light because of the

outdoor sports I have played. I identify with my black side; I feel Afro-Antillean.

Racial mixing can also result in personal confusion, as with the daughter of a black woman and a Latino man from Panama.

I feel that I belong to the black race, but people who are part of the black race don't think so. So, I ask myself, what am I? I am not white, I am not culisa because my hair is not straight. I am

black, but people who are black don't see me as black. Here in Bocas, they tell me my last name

is not black, it is Italian. But the Italians that come here tell me, "you are not Italian, you are black."

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 219

Afro-Antilleans in Bocas del Toro give greater importance to physical appearance than to ancestry. People are aware that miscegenation has been so intense in the Archipelago that no one could deny their black, indigenous, Latino, or other mixed ancestry. People say, "everyone in Bocas is a Zulu'," which means

having African ancestry but also emphasizes Panama as a melting pot (crisol de razas); it is a call for remembering that race should not matter. However, race

matters in Bocas del Toro, and people focus on the distinctions of appearance that denote mixing. Being too Indian or too black places an individual at a

disadvantage. People's skin color and hair texture is important for daily identifications through the use of specific "race-color terms" (Sheriff 2003). Traits such as fair skin, straight hair, a narrow nose, and thin lips are considered beautiful, yet a voluptuous body and a tanned skin are also desired. Although Latinos in Panama see the Afro-Antilleans as a homogeneous group, Afro Antilleans and other ethnic groups in the Archipelago clearly distinguish among people based on skin color, hair texture, and facial features, and apply different terms to denote these distinctions. These elements determine whether a person is called a negro (generally, a person with dark skin, kinky hair, a wide nose, and

thick lips), a culisa (a mixture of black and Indian, mostly applied to women with brown skin and straight hair), a chombo (a term with several meanings, from

affectionate to pejorative in reference to black populations), a chombo blanco (a person with light skin color and extremely curly hair), apania (a white or Latino

person who speaks Spanish and has caucasian features and straight hair), or a

gringo/a (a white man or woman). To a certain degree, surnames are also

considered in the use of these race-color terms, but an English family name does

not necessarily imply English ancestry, as indigenous people commonly appropriated English names when working at the UFC, and as some Afro

Antilleans are descendants of blacks from the Hispanophone and Francophone Caribbean (mainly Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Martinique, and Guadaloupe). A Chinese last name, however, automatically identifies a person as Chinese.

In Latin America, local usage is what determines who is nonwhite (Andrews 2004). The race-color terms used by Afro-Antilleans are not racial categories but pragmatic referential terms which reflect the mixed ancestry of the population. They translate into behavior and social interaction toward those categorized as different only to a limited degree because members of the same family may be

classified differently. Although white phenotypical characteristics are preferred, Bocatoreneans do not emphasize their German or French ancestry to identify as white; rather, they do so to identify as mixed. By acknowledging this biological mixture, they point out that passing as white is simply not possible, but being conspicuously black is viewed negatively. Therefore, Afro-Antilleans define themselves as black and use the term situationally, especially for political

220 ETHNOLOGY

affirmations. To sum up, in Bocas there is a complex interplay of self identification and identification by others that takes account of, and gives variable weight to, physical features and socioeconomic position.

WHITE TOURISTS, MIXED HOSTS

The arrival of white expatriates and tourists to the area has produced new dynamics in the racial relations of the Archipelago. Foreign expatriates and tourists from countries around the world settled in or visited Bocas in larger numbers during the 1990s, and their presence has altered relations between blacks and indigenes. Afro-Antilleans say that what they find appealing about the white tourists and expatriates is their money rather than their origin or skin color. Bocatoreneans view white tourists and expatriates as a means for helping them out of poverty, or at least providing them with a few days of enjoyment or entertainment by giving them access to places and activities that are denied to locals (cf. Gregory 2003). In short, these white women and men are preferred because of their wealth. However, there is an important distinction: while local men seek white women for entertainment, local women look for white men as a possible long-term partner (cf. Brennan 2004). One Afro-Antillean woman married to an Afro-Antillean man commented on the changes following the arrival of tourists to the island:

Women see that the tourist that comes from the outside can serve them better than the native men

on the island and vice versa. . . going out with a woman, they treat her better than Latin men do. I am not saying that every Latin man does, because there are native islanders who treat their

women very well in every sense, but the majority do not.... These foreigners come and treat women very well, and they get attached to that, because women find what they didn't find here.... I know many women who say, "If Ihad married a Panamanian man, I would have had a dog's life," because for the Panamanian man, women are there to wash, iron, cook, and be at home taking care of the children ... and that doesn't happen with a foreign man.

The discourse of men and women emphasizes the foreigner's economic status, education, experience, personal qualities, and manners. However, impor tant components of a foreigner's attraction is white skin, straight hair, and European facial features. Ironically, the skin color, facial features, and hair texture of indigenous people give them some advantage over Afro-Antilleans.

Afro-Antilleans have a discursive admiration and respect for their dark skin color and Antillean ancestry, yet in everyday life, preference is given to lighter skin color, straight hair, and "delicate" facial features. While indigenous people are seen as inferior, ignorant, and backward, some Afro-Antillean men and women

would choose to marry an indigenous person in order to have children with lighter skin and more "manageable" hair. The construction of the ideal type in

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 221

Bocas del Toro is built upon contradictory images of indigenous people: simul taneously viewed as useless and as ideal marriage partners for the "improvement of the race."

Afro-Antilleans prefer "to put milk in the coffee" by marrying someone of lighter complexion, be it indigenous, Chinese, or Latino Panamanian. Best of all is a European or North American. As in Brazil and Venezuela, "the desire to seek lighter-skinned mates ... remains a pragmatic strategy, directed toward the hope that one's children might achieve more favorable positions in what is . . . a political economy of racial hierarchy" (Sheriff 2003:90). For example, an Afro Antillean man with very dark skin said he married a lighter woman, a culisa, because "if I had married a black woman, my children would have been hanging on the trees! ," implying they would have been called "monkeys," a common term used to refer to dark-skinned blacks.

RACE RELATIONS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY

Like Brazil and Venezuela, efforts in Panama to correct racial segregation and discrimination with origins in colonial relations and maintained by class inequality are nascent. In Panama, scholars and politicians have contributed to the idea of a "cosmopolitan" society free of racial disparities. Despite official denials, discrimination against blacks and indigenous peoples has a long history in Panama (Arau(z 1926). Racial inequalities is evidenced, among other aspects, in prohibiting migration or citizenship to specific "races," in residential segre gation policies, and work and educational opportunities (Arango Durling 1999). Nonetheless, scholars emphasize the harmonious relationships that supposedly result from the presence of many races and ethnic groups in the nation. For

instance, when in the early 1950s the concept of races ofprohibited migration was officially erased by legislation, "life among the different human groups living in the Isthmus started to be more fluid, without legal frameworks which

would limit or deter inter-ethnic relations" (Pizzumo Gelos 1999:20). This implies that after legal barriers were removed, the ethnic groups of Panama were able to coexist freely and harmoniously.

In similar fashion, Pastor Nu'-nez (1 996) states that Panama is "where diverse national societies or ethnic minorities . . . maintain relations of tolerance and

mutual adaptation" and "utilize a common physical space where they main tain peaceful cohabitation" (Pastor NunTez 1996:24). Even a renowned Afro

Antillean scholar who denounced discrimination against Afro-Antilleans throughout his career implies that racial and ethnic discrimination did not occur often, and that when they did, they were isolated incidents. He writes, "from time to time, certain evidences of racism against specific groups of the Panamanian

222 ETHNOLOGY

society because of ethnic or racial considerations have reappeared" (Westerman 1980:103). Still, racism exists in Panama (Ruiz 1988).

As in Brazil, Panama experiences "cordial racism," a veneer of racial harmony, because racism is prohibited.5 Cordial racism is a system of relations where unequal encounters between different ethnic groups develop in an environ ment of friendliness, which masks the intentions and consequences of these relationships. Racial democracy in Panama is a myth that ignores the disparate subordinate positions of Afro-Antilleans, colonial blacks, Latinos, indigenous groups, and other minorities. Since there are no practices of formal exclusion in terms of marriage and residence, Panama is perceived by Panamanians as a racial democracy.

It was only a few decades ago that Afro-Antilleans legally became Panamanian citizens in the nation's records. In fact, for approximately 54 years, since the voluntary arrival of Afro-Antilleans to Panama for various develop

ment projects (1850 to 1914), men immigrated alone because the construction companies considered them as temporary workers (Rios 1995:4). When their wives and children came to Panama, companies had to provide housing for them. "In 1904, the new Isthmian Canal Commission directed the Governor to plan a system of public schools, and in 1905 the first schools were opened. Two sets of schools were maintained: one for whites and one for blacks" (Sealy 1999:16-17). These institutionalized policies prevented Afro-Antilleans from being fully incorporated into the Panamanian nation-state. Even today, Afro Antilleans are ignored by the Panamanian government. This may occur, among other reasons, because the nation has tried to maintain a Latino heritage in response to the threat of United States domination (Niemeier 1968:256). This process differs from what has occurred in other Latin American and Caribbean nations, where blacks were more urgently incorporated into the society because of "the pressing need for national unity in the face of Spanish and Portuguese colonialism and U.S. and European imperialism" (Safa 1998:8).

Panamanians proudly claim to be cosmopolitan, yet because they fear losing their Spanish heritage in the face of United States domination, they systemati cally reject foreign influence and justify having discriminated against Afro Antillean and other minorities to protect their cultural heritage. Cultural traits with an Anglo-Saxon resemblance are perceived as a menace against the integrity of the nation-state. It should not be surprising that the most virulent attacks against Antilleans have occurred during periods of economic depression and unemployment (Davis 1995:204).

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 223

CONCLUSIONS

As in Venezuela and Brazil, racism tends to be denied in Panama, but it is

experienced daily by marginalized groups (Wright 1990, Sheriff 2003). As the Afro-Panamanian Alberto Barrow, a member of the Committee against Racism, notes, "In our society, discrimination goes beyond the imagination of those of us who suffer it" (Barrow 2001:5). Racism is present in the lack of Afro Panamanian and indigenous faces in banks and executive positions. Racism is also evident in euphemisms used by companies and places for recreation to deny employment and entrance to Afro-Panamanians, claiming the right to choose employees or customers by their buenapresencia (good appearance), and in the

minimal presence of "notable" figures of Afro-Panamanian descent (politicians, scholars, and artists) in newspapers, magazines, and the media (Mapp 2000, Lee 2002).

Blacks and indigenous peoples have responded differently to discrimination. In ways similar to what Sansone (2004) found among Afro-Brazilians, Afro Panamanians deal with discrimination by manipulating their own identities to suit the occasion, by stressing class-based inequality, and by challenging the

myth of racial democracy through organizations such as the Panamanian Committee against Racism. This group incorporates Afro-Colonials and Afro Antilleans in its membership and lobbies the Panamanian government for policies that address racism in Panama. Afro-Antilleans also stress a history beyond Panama to emphasize their pan-Caribbean ties. Indigenous peoples have responded by essentializing their identities as indigenous, organizing themselves around ethnic claims, and manipulating their identity to guarantee a position (albeit small) in the nation's imagery. The Kuna in particular have been able to

achieve beneficial results from these strategies (Howe 1998). Panamanians rarely admit to racial prejudice. When the Panama Canal was

under construction, a dual system of payment, treatment, and social control developed between white U.S. citizens and Afro-Antillean workers. Panamanian elites, who had participated to an extent in this apartheid-like system, blamed the United States for having introduced it (Conniff 1995:168). The characteristic Caribbean obsession with whitening is also expressed in Panama, and became the cornerstone of both the Panameniista movement and the Constitution of 1941. The latter "welcome[d] those immigrants who are 'capable of contributing to the improvement of the race' and call[ed] for the denationalization of the Pana

manian descendants of grandparents and parents of illegal immigration who [were] 'members of the black race whose original language was not Spanish"' (Wilson 1998:4 1). Although these racist policies were modified in an amendment to the Constitution in 1946, the current Panamanian Constitution of 2002 does not designate Panama as a multi-ethnic or multicultural nation.

224 ETHNOLOGY

Racist conceptions, name-calling, feelings of superiority, and actual confrontations between Afro-Antilleans and other blacks, between Jamaicans and other Afro-Antilleans, or between Afro-Antilleans and Ngobe or Chinese populations (in Bocas del Toro in particular) have been characteristic of the development of the Panamanian nation-state. Similar to what occurred in

Nicaragua, Panama's dual colonization created a tradition of hostile relations between the Spanish and British and their allies, which was exaggerated in the struggle between "Anglo" and "Hispanic" aims for control of this strategic territory. Ethnic identity was shaped by the competition between Britain and the

United States, and each power favored different ethnic groups (Freeland 1995:182). The consequences of these confrontations remain among the ethnic groups constituting Panama.

In Latin America, the myth of racial democracy has slowed the process of marginalized groups (mainly black, mixed, and indigenous peoples) for the achievement of racial equality. In Panama, the idea of racial mixing became the foundation of the country's cultural identities, in an attempt to impose "a homogeneous order upon a totality whose internal coherence is built vertically by the structures of power" (Sanjines 2002:39).

As the Panamanian government now makes a concerted effort to develop tourism, Afro-Antilleans are utilized as one symbol of Panamanian identity. The

Archipelago of Bocas del Toro is portrayed as a tourist destination par excellence, and Afro-Antillean architecture, cuisine, and music are displayed as essential components of Panamen-idad Afro-Antilleans have been chosen by the Panamanian government to represent to the world the black ancestry of Panamanians. This decision rests on their maintenance of many of their distinc tive cultural traditions in terms of customs, language, religious traditions, arts, etc. In this new official approach, three roots of the Panamanian nation's origin-Spanish, indigenous, and black-are given equal prominence. The potential economic advantages of multiculturalism explain this transformation. This new approach has allowed Afro-Antilleans to play a part, albeit mostly figuratively, in the life of the nation. As in many Latin American and Caribbean nations, white supremacy continues to underlie this ideology of mestizaje, in spite of its "self-proclaimed antiracism and apparent promotion of integration and harmonious homogeneity" (Rahier 2003:42).

Although there are individuals of black and indigenous ancestry rising to high levels in government and accepted in intellectual circles, Panama is dominated by a white elite. Racial attitudes have not changed as a result of the government's new agenda, and no policies have been implemented to address racial inequalities. The revisionist history that now promotes the tri-ethnic origin of the Panamanian populace has provided an opening for Afro-Antilleans and indigenous peoples to use their ethnicity for economic gains. But it has not

RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND NATIONALISM 225

increased their power relative to Panama's elite, who prefer to accept lower class Latinos who achieve higher economic or political status, but are reticent to incorporate blacks or indigenous peoples into their ranks.

NOTES

1. I thank Aletta Biersack, Lynn Stephen, Philip D. Young, Michael Whiteford, Gloria Rudolf, and Howard Johnson for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this article. The research

for it was supported by the Inter-American Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Award, the

Nippon Foundation, a University of Oregon Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, a University of

Oregon General Fellowship, an Oregon Humanities Center Fellowship, and a Regis University

Sponsored Projects and Academic Research Council Grant.

2. "Latino" is commonly used in Panama for people of Spanish and indigenous ancestry. 3. Data were collected during 22 months ( 1997-2000) in the Archipelago of Bocas del Toro and

Panama City, with further research in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

4. All names in this article are pseudonyms. 5. Panama's 1946 Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, social class, sex, religion, and other conditions, but there have been cases where Afro-Panamanians have been prohibited from entering discotheques and night clubs solely on the basis of their color. These places claim

the right to deny entrance to anyone they wish (Barrow 2001:9).

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