Patterns of Race in Colombia

Abstract

America is a standard feature in the comparison of black-white relations, past and present, in the two regions (Harris, 1974; Degler, 1971; Hoetink, 1973; Toplin, 1981). It stems from the fact that in the USA two overall categories are recognized, black and white: mulattoes and other black-white mixtures are included with the blacks to the extent that even people with more white than black heritage are assigned a black identity.1 In Latin America, a much more continuum-like classificatory scheme exists which has two polar categories of black and white with a whole range of mixed types in the middle. Hence only relatively unmixed negroids would be identified as blacks and a person that to North American eyes would be classed as black is seen as non-black: hence the 'Negro that no longer exists'. Looked at in a historical perspective, this simple contrast in racial classifications has become a complex question of why in the USA a two-level system developed in which all negroids were included in one definitely bounded racial category and, at the same time, were mostly enslaved, with only a very small proportion being 'free people of colour'.2 In contrast, in Latin America a three-level system evolved, with the middle level being occupied by a large, mixed, free population. Various attempts have been made to resolve this question3 and it is not my aim to review all the arguments here. Instead, my concern is to illuminate the development of the Latin American free hybrid group by examining the theory put forward by Marvin Harris (1974) to account for it, in the light of three regional case-studies from Colombia. I will briefly outline Harris's argument for both North and South America. Stated baldly, Harris postulates that north-western European emigration to North America, spurred by enclosure laws and population growth, estab? lished a large, poor, non-planter white group there, even before the major influx of blacks. These whites could fulfill menial economic roles not suitable for slaves (for security reasons) and avoided by planters; at the same time, these whites were in competition with the blacks and feared the prospect of black-white equality. They were thus co-opted into the planters' racist ideology and violently opposed attempts by blacks to escape their status as