{"id":37203,"date":"2014-08-28T20:37:49","date_gmt":"2014-08-28T20:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=37203"},"modified":"2014-08-28T20:37:49","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T20:37:49","slug":"land-of-the-cosmic-race-race-mixture-racism-and-blackness-in-mexico-villarreal-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=37203","title":{"rendered":"Land of the cosmic race: race mixture, racism, and blackness in Mexico [Villarreal Review]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Land of the cosmic race: race mixture, racism, and blackness in Mexico [Villarreal Review]<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Ethnic and Racial Studies<\/a>
\nVolume 37, Issue 10, 2014<\/a>
\nSpecial Issue: Ethnic and Racial Studies Review
\npages 1989-1991
\nDOI: 10.1080\/01419870.2014.920094<\/a><\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9s Villarreal<\/strong><\/a>, Professor of Sociology
\nUniversity of Maryland, College Park<\/em><\/p>\n

Land of the cosmic race: race mixture, racism, and blackness in Mexico<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, by Christina A. Sue, New York, Oxford University Press, 2013, xi + 234 pp., \u00a315.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-992550-6<\/p>\n

A powerful official ideology promoted by the Mexican Government since the early twentieth century glorifies the mestizo, defined as the descendant of both indigenous and Spanish peoples, as a symbol of national identity. This same ideology holds racism to be inexistent in contemporary Mexico, and negates the contribution of individuals of African descent to Mexican history and to the racial make-up of the nation. Despite the importation of many thousands of slaves during the colonial period, blacks have been essentially erased from the national consciousness. Christina Sue’s<\/a> outstanding ethnographic study uncovers how Mexican men and women work to reconcile this official national ideology which they vehemently espouse, with their own lived experiences in which individuals with a darker skin tone are routinely discriminated in everyday life, and in which African ancestry is clearly evident in some regions of the country.<\/p>\n

Research on racial attitudes in Indo-Latin American countries such as Mexico has focused mostly on the mestizo\u2013indigenous dichotomy. However, Sue convincingly argues that distinctions along a colour continuum within the mestizo population have an important effect on individuals’ life chances. Framing discussions in terms of colour rather than race allows many Mexicans to make comparisons without violating the national ideology according to which racial classifications are no longer relevant.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the official ideology of non-racism, Sue finds evidence of tremendous racial prejudice among her subjects in the coastal city of Veracruz<\/a>. Veracruzanos with a lighter skin tone enjoy preferential treatment socially and in work settings. Employers often code their preference for workers with lighter skin tones by soliciting candidates with \u2018good presentation\u2019, a term whose meaning is fully known by job applicants. Racial prejudice is also evident within family units. Family members use a variety of gatekeeping techniques to prevent the entry of dark-skinned individuals into their families through marriage. A woman interviewed by Sue reports that her mother-in-law refuses to speak to her because she is darker than her husband (94). Veracruzanos also agonize over children inheriting the phenotype of a darker parent. Reflecting the disappointment that his daughter inherited his darker skin tone, one father notes: \u2018I wouldn\u2019t have cared if she was ugly like me, but I wanted her to have green eyes \u2026 like her mother or be light like her mother. But she came out ugly like me\u2019 (74). As in other parts of Latin America, Sue finds that Veracruzanos systematically equate whiteness with beauty and higher social standing. Darker family members are routinely insulted and devalued, while lighter members receive more resources and attention…<\/p>\n

Read the entire review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Land of the cosmic race: race mixture, racism, and blackness in Mexico [Villarreal Review] Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 37, Issue 10, 2014 Special Issue: Ethnic and Racial Studies Review pages 1989-1991 DOI: 10.1080\/01419870.2014.920094 Andr\u00e9s Villarreal, Professor of Sociology University of Maryland, College Park Land of the cosmic race: race mixture, racism, and blackness in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,12,5,21,459,8,103,394],"tags":[17819,702,6169,3625,461],"class_list":["post-37203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropology","category-articles","category-book-reviews","category-latincarib","category-history","category-media-archive","category-mexico","category-socialscience","tag-andres-villarreal","tag-christina-a-sue","tag-christina-alicia-sue","tag-christina-sue","tag-ethnic-and-racial-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}