Shipwrecked Identities: Navigating Race on Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast

Global identity politics rest heavily on notions of ethnicity and authenticity, especially in contexts where indigenous identity becomes a basis for claims of social and economic justice. In contemporary Latin America there is a resurgence of indigenous claims for cultural and political autonomy and for the benefits of economic development. Yet these identities have often been taken for granted.

In this historical ethnography, Baron Pineda traces the history of the port town of Bilwi, now kn...