This project analyzes divergent forms of identity politics as signs of a potential rupture in the multicultural rights regime. Drawing on ethnographic examples from two sites of race-based resistance in southwestern Colombia, this dissertation examines the ways in which mestizo, black, and indigenous people forge new forms of autonomy in the context of racism and neoliberal development. The aim of this project is to explore the political economy of identity politics, whereby people maneuver through government supported recognition policies in order to sustain their livelihoods. Furthermore, the project will attempt to understand the conditions for solidarity in one of the most violent regions of the country. By researching a group of mestizos that identify as black in order to acquire resources and a radical interethnic platform of social movements and community organizations, this dissertation will explore how and why potentially contradictory mobilizations of identity politics emerge in response to the predicament of neoliberal multiculturalism.