Monday, June 18, 2012

Nicaragua: Race


In Nicaragua, there is a direct correlation between skin tone and income level.  The lighter your skin tone, the richer you are, the darker your skin tone, the poorer you are.

Unlike countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, or Bolivia, Nicaragua does not carry the burden of an indigenous underclass.  Native American minorities (and in Bolivia’s case, majority), and their accompanying distinct ethnic identities, historic traditions, cultural practices, and surviving languages, do not exist in Nicaragua. Nor did the African Diaspora leave a mark on Nicaragua as it did the in the Caribbean nations, Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador. (At least not on the western side of the country, where the majority of the population lives.  Significant indigenous and black-African minorities and majorities do exist in the geographically segregated and sparsely populated Caribbean coast. In this post, however, I will deal exclusively with the western half.)

Nicaraguans are a homogenous bunch, in so far as they can all be described as Spanish-speaking Mestizos.  But within this Spanish-speaking Mestizo category there is an immense variety of skin-tones, accents, and social classes.  In this post I will explore the racial dynamics of a country where there are technically no racial minorities, but where skin-color still plays an important role historically and in the day-to-day life of the average Nicaraguan.

Lets begin by stating that Nicaraguans, perhaps due to this lack of a festering racial minority, are incredibly open and blunt about the skin color of their friends, relatives, and casual acquaintances.  I already discussed bluntness in Nicaragua as it regards to physical attributes, but what I did not mention is that skin color is by far the most popularly used distinguishing descriptor for a person.  Chele (loosely meaning whitie, but without the racist implications) and Negro (loosely meaning blackie but, again, without the racist implications) are the two most common nicknames in Nicaragua.  They are not only nicknames, they are also used in situations where a person needs to get the attention of a light-skinned or dark-skinned stranger or when a person decides to give a friendly “Hello” to a random passer-by.  Americans, such as myself, are well acquainted with “Oe, chele” (“Hey, whitie”), the salutation every gringo receives from any passing stranger. (Rural folk are especially friendly, as one would expect from people who live in tiny towns and are used to greeting anyone that walks by.  They will undoubtedly offer up a “Oe, chele” any time they cross your path.)

As I argued in my previous post, such openness can help defuse potential grievances and prejudices that arise due to differences between people (any difference: income, nationality, language, race).  By directly acknowledging differences in skin color, we get closer to accepting it as normal.  While the practice of pretending it doesn’t exist, inevitably leads to a secretive and conspiratorial exaggeration of its importance and a view that it is abnormal (like in any ban, the extremist fringes begin to dominate the scene).  The sickening obsession with race that one encounters in the United States, is largely absent in Nicaragua (partly due to different racial realities, but I would argue that also partly due to the unhealthy way in which people in the US discuss race).

Which is not to say that this bluntness has eradicated racism in Nicaragua.  Far from it.  In Nicaragua, there is a direct correlation between skin tone and income level.  The lighter your skin tone, the richer you are, the darker your skin tone, the poorer you are.  On the top, you find Nicaraguans that could pass for what people call “Westerners.” They have such light skin that they would be called “white” in the States, and some have blue eyes and blond hair.  These Nicaraguans tend to live (or at least work) in the capital, speak fluent English, get paid in dollars, and own a nice car.  You can find them at the McDonald’s in business attire, playing with the latest in smart phones.  On the bottom, you find subsistence farmers, and coffee pickers.  People who work out in the fields, under the sun all day, and live in mud huts, with no electricity or running water.  They have darker skin, and usually indigenous features.

This is Nicaragua’s institutional racism.  Bigger than the well-intentioned beliefs of any one person, just as the income level and incarceration rates of African Americans in the US are independent of the ideologies of any one individual in that country.  But does this institutional racism suggest some level of bigotry on the part of the individual Nicaraguan?  When it comes to “Indigenousness” or “Indianess,” institutional racism and individual bigotry go hand in hand.

Indio” (Indian) is one of the harshest insults that exists in Nicaragua.  That one word carries the weight of an entire racist conception.  To tell someone they are an indio is to say they are poor, dirty, ignorant, and ugly.  Nobody wants to be an indio in Nicaragua.  Nobody wants to look like an indio either.  Indigenous features are considered incredibly unattractive.  And these ideas survive, ironically, even as there is a unanimous and vocal condemnation of the Spanish conquest and all the pain it inflicted on the continent and its (many times idealized) population.  The fact that it is due to the Conquistadors’ racism that today being indigenous is still denigrated, does not seem to cross many people’s minds.

But it is not only the indio that is considered ugly.  Blackness in general is considered an unfortunate physical flaw, on par with being overweight or extremely pale in the United States.  Things you should not be surprised to hear in Nicaragua are: “Oh, your baby is so cute.  He’s so white!” and “That woman has a beautiful daughter.  Oh, no, not the black one.  She has another one. Milky white skin. She is beautiful.”  White and black, when referring to people, are pretty much synonyms for pretty and ugly.  Whiter women, even rather plain or outright ugly ones, are prized mates, while beautiful, voluptuous darker women with indigenous complexions get a “Really? You like her?!” reaction.

As a result, people avoid the sun at all cost in Nicaragua.  Walking around under the sun on a hot day without running for shade, is looked at with the same curiosity as someone walking around under a downpour without running for cover.  Tanning is unheard of, even for those with the lightest skin tones (especially for those with the lightest skin tones).  While in United States people tan themselves orange, in Nicaragua dark-skinned women are known to powder their faces ghost grey before a party.

The question is whether viewing darker skin as less attractive constitutes racism.  There is definitely a difference between the terms “black” and “Indian.”  “Black” is not an insult, while “Indian” is the mother of all insults.  “Black” does not connote ignorance, poverty, and backwardness; “Indian” does.  “Black” is simply, “That is what your skin color is, and, unfortunately, for whatever reason, it is accepted as an unattractive attribute.”  “Indian” is “You are like an ethnic group that I believe is less sophisticated than another (my) ethnic group.”

Whether considering darker skin tones as unattractive is the social norm due to a national history of racism against darker skinned people, I don’t know.  It’s an argument; one that is easy enough to make.  But one could also argue that people are attracted to that which is in short supply.  A twist on opposites attract (they attract because opposites are harder to come by).  What is foreign and different, will always be viewed as sexier than what is widely available.

Another argument is that social status, rather than race, is the determining factor.  Centuries ago, royalty would powder their faces as white as possible, because being “tan” implied working outside.  Working outside meant working in the fields.  And working in the fields meant you were poor.  Today, in the United States, being pale means you don’t have enough time and money to go on vacation to a beach.  It means you spend your day inside toiling away.  The rich have tans, the poor do not.

In Nicaragua, that which applied to European royalty centuries ago still applies today.  Being “tan” or darker skinned means working outside.  And working outside means you are poor.  Maybe racism is just a veil for what people really hate underneath it all: different lifestyles.

4 comments:

  1. Super neat and right on. Did you know that people in Pearl Lagoon in Nicaragua are known for their own form of racism against the majority Mestizo population. "Paña" is the derrogotory term used their for non-afro-descendent Nicaraguans.

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  2. In Nicaragua as in the Spanish world money trumps everything! Our great Spanish poet Quevedo in the late 1500's told us that "powerful gentleman is Mr. Money" and can everything including love!

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  3. In Nicaragua as in the Spanish world money trumps everything! Our great Spanish poet Quevedo in the late 1500's told us that "powerful gentleman is Mr. Money" and can buy everything including love!

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  4. Please spell Colombia properly as you are discussing Latin America! Its not Columbia.

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