Contributions of Racial-Ethnic Reclassification and Demographic Processes to Indigenous Population Resurgence: The Case of Brazil

In many Latin American countries, indigenous populations have recently exhibited rapid growth. Many scholars recognize that this indigenous population resurgence is due to a combination of demographic processes, such as births, deaths, and migration, as well as changing racial-ethnic identities. However, there is little quantitative data verifying the relative importance of these two types of processes for indigenous population growth. We seek to fi ll this gap by quantifying the relative contribution of both mechanisms in Brazil's indigenous population resurgence. Our fi ndings indicate that during the 1990s, race-ethnic reclassifi cation was more im- portant than demographic processes. This varied regionally, in that identity change was most important in northeastern and southeastern Brazil. These fi ndings bear implications regarding indigenous movements, identity politics, and prospective indigenous population growth in Brazil and elsewhere.