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This paper explores the puzzle of why ethnic cleavages became more salient and resulted in national political mobilization in Ecuador and Bolivia, while class-based cleavages have remained more salient for national mobilization in Peru? A comparison of indigenous mobilization in the three Andean cases provides a useful test for competing theories of ethnic identity in order to inform the debate over whether ethnic identity is different in kind from other types of identity, such as class. The paper utilizes the cases to evaluate four broad approaches to identity: Primordialism; "Thick" Constructivism, Rational Choice, and Situational. A secondary purpose of the paper is to suggest ways that the literature on ethnic identity may inform the research among Latin American scholars studying indigenous mobilization in the Andes.The paper concludes that the three cases support the "situational" view of ethnicity, which posits that ethnicity is fundamentally different from class because it is rooted in culture and relies on the symbolic use of some aspect of culture to differentiate one group from another. People organize their perceptions and various identities become more salient in different situational contexts, depending on how an issue is framed, which is why symbols are so important. The paper finds that while indigenous identity remained salient in the Peruvian highlands, ethnicity was not a particularly useful tool around which to organize mass mobilizations because it was constructed differently than in Ecuador and Bolivia, thus inhibiting a national indigenous movement. Factors such as the failure to incorporate the concept of mestizaje into the nationalization campaign of the 20th century and the tendency for indigenous symbols to be incorporated into the nationalization process and reframed to be symbols of Peruvian nationalism led indigenous peoples in Peru's highlands to redefine indigenous identity to be compatible with notions of mestizaje and its associations with modernity and socio-economic advancement. In contrast to Ecuador and Bolivia, where indigenous social movements raised ethnic banners to resist and challenge the prevalent mestizo national images, in Peru, indigenous symbols were less useful for mobilizing indigenous peoples around their struggle for socio-economic advancement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]