|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Latin America's human variety is endless. The region has been one of the world's great meeting places of gene pools since Africans and Europeans joined indigenous Americans in the 1500s. Indeed, the "modern" idea of race, by which I mean the one familiar in the United States in the twentieth century, arose partly because of the Spanish and Portuguese experience in the Americas. Imperial governments sought to categorize and monitor the populations they controlled, populations with distinct rights and obligations in the imperial scheme of things, populations that—despite imperial wishes—always showed a proclivity for mestizaje (mixture), impeding imperial administration. Mestizaje, one could say, has been the "lead story" of race in Latin America since colonial times. It has been a story variously interpreted. For most colonial administrators, mestizaje was a social ill because it confounded the system. Nativist independence movements reacted against the colonial system, making mestizaje patriotic, so to speak, but that spirit soon faded after independence was attained. Through most of the 1800s, race mixture was viewed among educated Latin Americans through the lens of European scientific racism, which means it was viewed with horror and dread, because most racist doctrines of white supremacy interpreted mestizaje as degeneration. In the twentieth century, however, nationalist movements throughout the region made mestizaje central to state ideologies. The result was a resounding triumph over official doctrines of white supremacy, but problems remain. The shadow of old caste hierarchies remains undeniably present in people's thinking and behavior. As a state ideology, therefore, mestizaje falsely suggests that problems of racial discrimination have been solved. Furthermore, alternative racial identities, such as that expressed by indigenous people who wish to remain themselves, appear unpatriotic when viewed through the official lens of mestizaje.
Research topics for students interested in race:
Research topics for students...
|
|
|
W. W. Norton | Credits | Site Feedback | Technical Support | Print This Page