This article explores the volatility of indigenous identity, not as inconsistency or exception but as its central explanatory principle. This research is based on ethnographic and historical examples from Mexico and Latin America. Despite general recognition that “identities are contextual,” I show that it is still relevant to dismantle the ontological register associated with identifications, whose philosophical underpinnings might be traced back to Aristotle's theory of classification. As an alternative, I develop an analytical model centered on the elusiveness of identities, based in Ernst Cassirer's theory of classification, for whom classifying means momentarily stabilizing incessantly mobile content. I also draw on theories of ethnicity and in an intellectual history framework to propose three dimensions in which the volatility of identifications can be captured: meanings, configurations, and experiences. I conclude by discussing some of the political consequences of adopting this interpretive model.

中文翻译：

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居住身份：墨西哥土著身份难以捉摸的品质

本文探讨了土著身份的易变性，不是作为不一致或例外，而是作为其核心解释原则。这项研究基于墨西哥和拉丁美洲的民族志和历史案例。尽管普遍承认“身份是语境的”，但我表明拆除与身份相关的本体论注册仍然是相关的，其哲学基础可以追溯到亚里士多德的分类理论。作为替代方案，我基于 Ernst Cassirer 的分类理论开发了一个以身份难以捉摸为中心的分析模型，对他来说，分类意味着暂时稳定不断移动的内容。我还利用种族理论和思想史框架提出了三个维度，其中可以捕捉到认同的易变性：意义、结构和经验。最后，我将讨论采用这种解释模型的一些政治后果。