The Power of Phenotype: Toward an Ethnography of Pigmentocracy in Andean Bolivia

Abstract Anti‐Indigenous racism has predominantly been understood in Latin America through the lens of culture, epistemology, and embodied nonphenotypical traits. Phenotype‐based discrimination is an underemphasized aspect race region, especially spaces with a high Indigenous population. This article ethnographically captures distinct forms which people are racialized for phenotypical traits Andean Bolivia, special focus on three interrelated spheres: labor market, everyday social interactions, intimate relations/kinship. It reveals how phenotype‐based racialization generates representations, structures access to resources, influences processes socioeconomic mobility. Moreover, fluidity systems racial classification leads receding some contexts but resurfacing others, thereby making it more formidable. The also highlights intersection gender pigmentocratic structuring order.