This week, I will reflect on the words mestizaje and mestizo as I thought Ata, Ashley, Jeremiah and Claire were very insightful in how they described them.
Growing up in El Salvador, a country in Central-America, I heard the term mestizo a lot. I even remember learning about it in elementary school. To be honest with you, as a Latina, yet not member of any Indigenous group, I can only relate to how non-indigenous Latinos perceive the term. I think that just as Ata, Ashley, Jeremiah and Claire put it, I agree with Vasconcelos’ belief of “mestizaje” being a unifying term. I‘ve always viewed being mestizo as almost a sort of ethnicity of its own. As Latinos, we are neither purely indigenous, neither purely European, so I do find that putting a name to what we are simplifies things and unite us as a race. I believe that all the negative connotations of the term have slowly been erased and that the term is no longer viewed as “impure”, but rather as any other ethnicity. There’s always been that question to Latinos of “what are we?” and I think “mestizo” is the answer.
A few years ago, out of pure curiosity, I decided to take a DNA test to know more about my ancestry. And of course, the results weren’t shocking, I was about 50% European and 50% Salvadorian which in theory, is what being mestizo is. Nevertheless, I thought it was very interesting and later found, after doing a bit of research that that’s the result of most people in Latin America.
Hi! I loved your post, especially the title! Something you said really caught my attention: “There’s always been that question to Latinos of “what are we?” and I think “mestizo” is the answer.” I am not Latina so I can’t necessarily comment too much, but I think what you said is super interesting. That question of “what are we?” can be so simple and so complex all at the same time. Very interesting!
Hi Andrea, thank you for your post! I really like how you touched on the idea that “mestizo/mestiza” has had a negative connotation that is now being erased. I’m taking History of Latin America (HIST250) and we did an entire unit on racial terms and divisions, and I left that module feeling like the term “mestizo” was probably a “taboo” word given the previous political and hierarchal connotations with it. Now, from reading your post I understand that it represents much more than that – a unifying term. Thank you again 🙂
Andrea, I really enjoyed reading your reflections! I’m happy you’re discussing how mestizaje/mestizo are evolving in their meaning and becoming more of a positive term. I talked about this in my reflection as well, and though I certainly am not in any position to say whether this word is considered positive or negative – because I’m not from Latin America and am not mestizo – I’m glad to see members of the community using it as a unifying/proud term!
I was browsing through the different posts, and I found yours. I really liked how you explore the word “mestiza”. Your reflection really resonated with me. I also learned about the word in school, and I remember my teacher telling us that we were most likely all mestizos. I have always identified as mestizo. I have wanted to take the DNA test, but I haven’t done it yet. I started overthinking why I wanted to know my ancestry and started wondering if knowing my DNA ancestry would change anything in my life.