Land of the Cosmic Race: Race Mixture, Racism, and Blackness in Mexico

by Christina A. Sue

Land of the Cosmic Race is a richly-detailed ethnographic account of the powerful role that race and color play in organizing the lives and thoughts of ordinary Mexicans. It presents a previously untold story of how individuals in contemporary urban Mexico construct their identities, attitudes, and practices in the context of a dominant national belief system. The book centers around Mexicans' engagement with three racialized pillars of Mexican national ideology - the promotion of race mixture, the assertion of an absence of racism in the country, and the marginalization of blackness in Mexico.

The subjects of this book are mestizos - the mixed-race people of Mexico who are of Indigenous, African, and European ancestry and the intended consumers of this national ideology. Land of the Cosmic Race illustrates how Mexican mestizos navigate the sea of contradictions that arise when their everyday lived experiences conflict with the national stance and how they manage these paradoxes in a way that upholds, protects, and reproduces the national ideology. Drawing on a year of participant observation, over 110 interviews, and focus-groups from Veracruz, Mexico, Christina A. Sue offers rich insight into the relationship between race-based national ideology and the attitudes and behaviors of mixed-race Mexicans. Most importantly, she theorizes as to why elite-based ideology not only survives but actually thrives within the popular understandings and discourse of those over whom it is designed to govern.

Genres: Race

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[RYAN PHAM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laminated hardcover

Loved every minute of this book. It takes a look at blackness in Mexico and the overall state ideology of mestizo, or the idea that Mexico is post-racial and that everyone has mixed ancestry stemming from European colonization and indigenous tribes. It is a great idea to ensure racial harmony, but it does not work out in practice. Most people in this Veracruz study were obsessed with whiteness and wanted to distance themselves from blackness or indigenous roots as much as possible. When their personal biases, dating history, or racial composition of friend groups are pointed out, respondents will say that they are not racist. They simply love, have chemistry with, and have personal preference for black people. Also, they will say that black skin smells... Alright... It is like a eugenics program down there. The participants want to stay white as possible and "better the race" by marrying people who are as white as possible. They have a fixation on the skin color of future children and that is something that comes up a lot in discussions. They have a fear that their children will be dark and will be bullied. One women had a father or grandfather who was dark and had her husband learn this fact after having one child. The husband requested not to have further children due to the risk of having black skin inherited by a potential second kid. Family members will go out of their way to bully black kids in their family. It's kind of messed up.

[Marcela · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book I've seen that really addresses Afro-Mexican influence and challenges the assertion that there is no racism in Mexico. Rigorous ethnographic work but very easily readable by a lay person.

[Josephine Espelage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow start, but definitely interesting observations!

[Niral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, rigorous work.