ABSTRACT

In the 1980s and 1990s, a wave of multiculturalism swept across Latin America, following long-standing ideologies of mestizaje which glorified the region’s biological and cultural mixture and asserted that such mixture precluded the existence of racism. A decade or so later, countries in the region enacted another set of reforms focused on combatting ethnoracial discrimination and inequality. Whereas many view these changes as indicating the downfall of mestizaje ideologies, others argue that they may not be as distinct from mestizaje as it may appear. I reflect on this question in the context of Mexico, drawing on data from recent government and private surveys to assess the current state of Mexican national ideology, both at the national level and in a local site of blackness. I provide novel findings about the kinds and prevalence of various forms of black identification, the extent of black-indigenous boundary crossing, and the strength of attitudes about mestizaje and racism. Ultimately, I show how ideologies and discourses associated with mestizaje, multiculturalism, and racial equality are absorbed at the popular level in ways that suggest that at least some parts of the ideology of mestizaje are enduring or evolving to accommodate these new ethnoracial projects.

摘要

在 1980 年代和 1990 年代，一股多元文化主义浪潮席卷拉丁美洲，追随长期存在的混血意识形态，美化该地区的生物和文化混合，并断言这种混合排除了种族主义的存在。大约十年后，该地区的国家实施了另一套以打击种族歧视和不平等为重点的改革。尽管许多人认为这些变化表明混血意识形态的垮台，但其他人则认为它们可能不像看起来那样与混血不同。我在墨西哥的背景下思考这个问题，利用最近政府和私人调查的数据来评估墨西哥民族意识形态的现状，无论是在国家层面还是在当地的黑人场所。我提供了关于各种形式的黑人认同的种类和普遍性、黑人与土著边界跨越的程度以及对混血和种族主义的态度强度的新发现。最后，我展示了与混血、多元文化主义和种族平等相关的意识形态和话语是如何在大众层面被吸收的，其方式表明混血意识形态的至少某些部分正在持续或发展以适应这些新的种族项目。