Indio Demystified: Do we use it to deny our blackness?

In minds of many it would seem that Dominicans use an evasive term to Negro/Moreno called "Indio" which in the United States circles has become a bit of a justapoxing story. An island of very black Afro-descendants who say they are native-americans (Indios). This couldn't be further from the truth. I came to this realization one morning in Los Minas, Santo Domingo. Talking to my grandmother and when asking her about her heritage she said one of her lines was "Guajiro, gente de raza India" (Native-looking of the indian race). So I couldn't help but ask "Is this the same as being called indio" she said NO! "color indio, y raza india son dos cosas diferente" (Indian color and Indian race are two different things)

The Origin of the term Indio:

Indio at the begining of colonial times was used as a racial term, and over time it evolved into only being attached to color, when this happened exactly is not well documented however there are colonial documents that make references to the color indio without associating it with race. One theory may be that the race Indio and the color Indio begin to split when the actual Taino/Aboriginal population of the island began to plummet in numbers, leaving isolated villages of mixed indian families. While it is a myth that the native population was decimated by the 1600s, it is true that it was highly reduced by the 1700s, precisely when we start to see the color "Indio" appear.

1700s Documents with INDI@:

NEGRO INCOGNITO - 1791: "Los Negros y la esclavitud En Santo Domingo" P. 100 - Carlos Larrabazal Blanco 
In the late 1700s there was an alleged series of murders done by a supposed "Negro Incognito" (Anonymous Black Man), who was supposed to be an escaped African who was enslaved and took out his rage by mutilating and killing random people in the countryside of the north of the island. In one of his descriptions he is described:

 We haven't' found out his African ethnicity. Only that he can be of the Blacks of the gold coast (Ghana), because we have taken a pot from him filled with women's jewelry and other random things covered with parrot's feathers. I now don't see him as cruel and fierce. However the comegente (people eater) is not a simple black man. In fact his color is undetermined: "This monster is a anonymous black man of a very light color, that appears Indian, hair like other black men but very long". His ethnicity is complicated. 

1805 Ynes Zorilla de color "indio" being given her freedom

In this example we see that this individual was clearly seen not only as a black man, but as a recently arrived continental African from modern-day Ghana, with customs from this region. However the color "indio" is used to describe his skin, dictating that in 1791 one could be Black/African of race and "Indio" "light brown" of color. For this to have been a term used in 1791 it means that it had likely been present for some time in order to have diffused.

"I have a slave named Ynes Zorilla of 35 years of age of Indian Color who is of my property...."

Here we see the use of the term "color indio" in 1805 in El Seibo where Juan de Oliaga who was from Basque Country in spain liberates his former slave a lady by the name of Ynes Zorilla, he clearly describes her color as "indio". Similar to the above document. 

 

Definition of Indio by families of Taino identity:

Throughout the island there are pockets of once isolated families that hold on to a tradition of Taino identity, this exists in all 4 corners in the island and expanding through both nations. These families very often have stories of being taken under the water by Indian people (Tainos), and are often practitioners of Division Agua Dulce, which is the water-based Taino-Arawak division of Vodou. My grandmother and a friend of mine Jorge Estevez's grandmother belong to this cluster of people who did retain a higher then usual set of Indigenous traditions, beliefs, stories and identity.

Jorge Estevez Grandmother:

Jorge Estevez and his maternal family are all from Laguna salada and comprise of the Estevez, Chavez families of the area. His grandmother was born in the late 1800s in Laguna Salada and Jaibon.

Jorge: Hey Grandma, what kind of people lived in Jaibon/ Laguna salada when you were a young girl?
Jorge's Abuela: there were Indios, blancos and gente color Indio. Very few negros
Jorge: but what is the difference between indio and color Indio?
Jorge's Abuela: Indio son gente neta de raza, color indio son gente trigueňa , algunos tienen pelo lacio otro no, pero ello no son indio.I always considered my grandma smart but not academically educated. That day i understood that she had a clearer grasp of indio vs color indio than i imagined

My grandmother Viviana, native of Los Amaceyes. She was born in the 1930s in this town and her maternal family was from Juan Becerro, Santiago Rodriguez, not far from where Jorge's family is from in Laguna Salada and Jaibon.  

Me: Abuela what type of people where around in your mother's hometown since you always say there where alot of indios.
Her: There where all types of people, white (blanco), moreno (black), Indians (Indios) , and Indian colored (Color Indio)Me: Whats different about Indio and color IndioHer: Indio can be anyone, as long as their skin is you know Indio, brown, and that can be very light close to white or very dark, close to moreno. While people of the indian race there werent very many but my maternal family has an ancestor who was of the indian race, which was also called "guajira".

Residence Permits with the term Indio:

Here we see a Residence Permit from the time of Trujillo of an individual from Antigua who is renewing his residency, and it says Color: Indio, Race: Black. Which would go against the idea that Indio is disassociated with blackness. 

Why not Mulat@ instead of Indi@? 

This is a very good question, for now the evidence is only suggestive as during slavery the term "mulato" was often used as a descriptor of bondage, similar to Negro. Mulato also had its privileges and advantages as a term since it differentiated between Negros and Morenos, but Mulato was not associated with freedom as Moreno was, you could be a mulato and be in bondage. This association of mulato would bondage could have influenced people to have the term fall out of favor in the general populace.

DO Archivo General de la Nación Archivo Real de Higüey / 01 // 27R-127 (Archive of Higuey) 1806:

Venta de un mulato nombrado José Rijo, de 14 años de edad, otorgado por José Rijo en favor de Antonio Pene, francés, por la cantidad de 200 pesos fuertes. 

Sale of a mulato named Jose Rijo, 14 years of age, sold by Jose Rijo to Antonio Pene, french man, for the amount of 200 pesos.

Dominican ID's with skin color.

Here we see a collection of different terms being used for skin color. Which rightfully is the best way to put it as the island's notion of skin color is stronger then race. In other words a person who has Albinism would be "blanco" to many peoples, even if they are West African. The popular Dominican notion of color is very literal versus based on Darwinian concept of race. So for Dominicans color is quite literally color. The system of ID's was introduced in the government of Trujillo who was very well known to be racist and self-hating, however the result of what skin color people got on their death, birth or living ID's are based on the eye's of the person in the place who is taking down the details. Also these terms where around before Trujillo gained power, as far back as the late 1700s.

Given the unimportance of a persons perceived skin color in their ID, this is no longer present in the new ID's as of 2014. So no Dominican ID has skin color as a field as of 2014.

Piel India:



Piel Morena:



Piel Negra:



Piel Blanca:



Is Dominican society native-centric:

This is questionable as we all know there is a term that says "tu crees que  yo soy indio" which translates to "do you think i'm stupid". Indian is assocaited with savagery and infantile behavior and no right-minded person would associate themselves with this.

Now this doesn't mean that in the same eurocentric mindset that the rest of the diaspora has due to colonialism that some Dominicans may say "I am not Moreno I am Indio". The truth is that we have the same euro-centric colonialism in our society as it is in most other Afro-diasporans.

Now previous governments, specially in Trujillo and balaguer's reign tried to downplay the African element and create anti-black racial notions. With books by balaguer such as "la isla alreves" and school books of the time that contained very little to no content on Africa but rather a deeply eurocentric set of historical events. In the world of euro-centrism lighter skin is seen as better and this mis-education is what has plagued Dominican society much like the rest of the diaspora.

I would say that Dominican society is more euro-centric leaning, with a similar pattern to other diasporans and not necessarily native or afro-centric.


Conclusion:

While from an etymological stand-point Indio is not a good term to describe a visibly mixed Afro-descendant person, it did become cemented in the island since the late 1700s, the reason for this is still not documented as most of the people in these times could not read or write their own stories, was it a resistance to the term mulato? Which might have been associated with slavery? Perhaps. In the end its current value is that it is used as a descriptor for mid-toned skin or a person of mixed heritage.

Many may ask, why can some people be "dark" and call themselves Indios. This has alot to do with the immediate family and people they are around. Generally and you can do this same survey, if someone has much darker siblings, they may seem themselves as the "indio" or the mid-toned one. The same applies for all other self-identification terms, they rely heavily on the persons immediate surroundings, to be Moreno in a pred. Black community is not the same as to be Moreno in a pred. White community.

There is also a strong overlap between Indio and Moreno because of the reason stated above, to one person a certain skin tone is considered Indio, to another its Moreno. The same happens on the lighter side of the spectrum that to someone an individual can be Indio and to the other Blanco.

Thankfully this however has changed, and will continue to change in the public education system, as the only real way to get rid of self-hate is education. In the end we would benefit from having a society that is proud of its African roots alongside its Indigenous native roots as some families have also fought for that identity for centuries.