The following is an excerpt from On Our Own Terms: Development and Indigeneity in Cold War Guatemala by Sarah Foss, available wherever books are sold. Defining Indigeneity In 1945, the newly created IING sent surveys to the directors of national schools in sixteen of Guatemala’s twenty-two departments, selecting those with substantial Indigenous populations. Because a large majority of responders were ladino, the IING phrased questions to explore perceptions of what characteristics these responders used to define someone as Indigenous. Guiding all survey questions was a central preoccupation of the revolutionary government—who exactly was “an Indian”? Antonio Goubaud...