An assessment of the Latin Americanization thesis

Abstract

In 2004, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva published an article in which he proposed a provocative thesis – he argued that the US system of race is beginning to resemble that of Latin America. Despite the attention received from the US side, there has been no response from scholars of race in Latin America. This article is a critical reply to Bonilla-Silva's Latin Americanization thesis. In the article, I move the debate forward by introducing a Latin American perspective. I begin by outlining and addressing various claims made by Bonilla-Silva regarding the Latin American system of race. I then discuss how his thesis is put to the empirical test and briefly comment on the model's ability to explain the future of race in the United States. I conclude with a discussion of how the racial terrain is rapidly changing in Latin America and the implications that this has for Bonilla-Silva's theory. Finally, I suggest ways in which the Latin Americanization thesis can be improved.