We propose 'New Ethnic Studies', which aims to position wider research on ethnicity in Latin America. We reject trends that emphasise the uniqueness and homogenisation of migration history. Instead, we support an approach that emphasizes the locally and nationally conditioned circumstances of ethnic identification. In this respect, the process of becoming Italian Brazilian might resemble that of becoming German Brazilian more than Italian Chilean. Historians adopting this approach also acknowledge that the presence of groups resulting from (im)migration movements challenges the concepts of whiteness, indigenousness and blackness, impacting the construction of national identities.