title: [The creation and changing definitions of demographic knowledge: the case of mestizos in the indigenous communities of the Valle Bajo of Cochabamba, Bolivia].
abstract: "In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Spanish officials and members of the Catholic church created a series of race-based caste terms designed to identify and categorize the peoples of mixed ancestry. The Spanish American caste system relied on the assumed ability of a census-taker or priest to define the blood lines of an individual based on skin color and physical characteristics. However, the demographic knowledge created from the caste system was imprecise, and changed over time.... There were also long-term shifts in the meaning of terms and the definitions of status caused by socioeconomic changes. An example is the rapid rate of apparent mestizoization in the...indigenous communities of the Valle Bajo of Cochabamba, Bolivia.  The rapid increase in the number of mestizos was related to changing definitions of the status and identity of indigenous peoples, and was not strictly caused by racial mixture." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas; D001838:Bolivia; D019352:Censuses; D002965:Classification; D003469:Culture; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D005006:Ethnicity; D007843:Latin America; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D012106:Research; D012923:Social Class; D012942:Social Sciences; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013020:South America; D009626:Terminology as Topic
keywords: Americas; Bolivia; Census; Census Methods--EV; Classification--EV; Cultural Background; Demographic Factors; Demography; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; Ethnic Groups; Historical Demography; Historical Survey; Indigenous Population; Latin America; Population; Population Characteristics; Population Statistics; Research Methodology; Social Class; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic Status; South America; Terminology