The Heterogeneous Isthmus: Transnationalism and Cultural Differentiation in Panama

This article addresses understandings of race and ethnicity within L atin A merican research by examining and arguing for an increasingly transnational interpretation of identity through an analytical engagement with the changing politics of difference in P anama. Applying historiographical and ethnographic approaches, we interrogate ethno‐racial differentiation from a transnational perspective, concluding that dominant national discourses on identity in P anama have shifted in response to transnational alliances and pressures, and that a monolithic nationalism driven by the narrative of panameñismo (a national political discourse in Panama predicated upon the concept of a monolithic and singular Panamanian culture) has given way to an ethno‐racial climate in which the politics of identity and representation are approached more pluralistically and arguably more equitably.