ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Díaz revisits “the Indian problem” by consider three critiques of indigenism in the 20th century. Díaz suggests that indigenism misdiagnoses the problem. The so-called Indian problem is not one of class, education, or individual freedom, but one of race and racism, and it persists because Indigenism is a movement by white people for white people. Rather than be asked or forced to assimilate, the Indian should be free to speak for herself and the non-Indian should not pretend to know what’s best for the other.
