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Mestizage Una de las lecturas de esta semana fue de un escritor mexicano, José Vasconcelos. Quizá para algunos la primera impresión de esta lectura fue que era sumamente racista. Para entrar en contexto con la lectura primero debemos conocer algunos…

I found the Cosmic Race to be a bit offensive in the way it categorizes people by their color and stresses the mixture as something intrinsically important. Mostly it just seemed out of touch with what is real and off base with it’s presupposition that…

I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel like we’re reading some form of magical unrealism this week. I have a ton of problems with a lot of what he says, but I think we’re supposed to try and understand the idea of mestizaje he’s proposing. If that’s the case, I hope it […]

Mestizaje in my opinion is one of those things that most people refuse to talk about because they are afraid that they may offend someone. For the most part, these people are right, race in Latin America is still a very sensitive issue and racism is very much alive. Going trough some responses, for […]

Originally when I started reading this weeks reading I was completely frustrated. The first reading I found very degrading and racist… I couldn’t see the point in reading it. Why were we studying this dominating ideological discourse and what purpose…

The Cosmic Race (by José Vasconcelos) and Rethinking Mestizaje (by Peter Wade)Starting with ‘The Cosmic Race’ the approach to the history of human civilization back to the Atlantean built a coherent thought of how dominant societies raise and collapse…

Throughout the first reading, it was apparent that Vasconcelos viewed the indigenous cultures as inferior to the Europeans and the mestizos. Much of his writing is devoted to predicting the formation of a ‘fifth race’, one that is the product of th…

Mixture theories: Mestizaje. I found both articles quite interesting but I think it should be noted that they are completely polar opinions. Despite disagreeing with most of the text from "The Cosmic Race" I found it very invigorating and passionately argued. I was not completely surprised by what they author had to say, even though it is very controversial. Jose Vasconcelos race thoughts could be the topic of many debates, but I enjoyed how much he had to say about it. He claims that Latin’s, who got their name from Spain and Portugal, are actually more Anglo-Saxon. Page five is a prime example of his even more out there thoughts, when he talks about the Christianity as being the civilized. One of his more passive looks at the sphere of race appears on page nine, when he talks about the 5th race coming. Jose believes that 4 races are prevalent in the world and that a new one that is a hybrid of the 4 is soon to come. This hopeful look at the world shows that he is optimistic on the future studies and realities of race.

Jose does focus on one race in particular, his own. He believes that the Latinos must come together and reclaim their unity to lead this push for this ultimate race. He says that in order to do this you do not have to destroy the dominate race but instead amalgamate them. He uses LA as a prime example of a homogenized city. Mixture, since colonization, has been a fundamental building block for much of Latin America as well as Latino’s, so this is why they should lead the brigade to create this synthesized race. Despite saying that because Latin’s are trying to destroy race, there is a clear undertone in Jose’s writing that give the feel of Latin American superiority. He says that Latin’s are the only race to have integrated all the races together, which is easily contestable or deniable.

I enjoyed the approach of the second reading more. I think that it is true that we need to talk about race as not a black or white picture but as a complex system. I also found it quite interesting the Mexico example the author gives. In which the indigenous people of South America are often left out of the national body, until the government finds use or excuse to put them into it.

After this week’s readings, I find myself asking, "what is our definition of race, anyway?"  I’m well aware that as conscientious university students we are not supposed to make judgments about people based on racial difference, but no one can tell me that assumptions about race don’t exist on UBC campus…not when I hear people raving about the success of Obama’s election or joking about having to compete with all the "Asian intellectuals."  So what is our definition of race? According to many academics, race is a social construct, not a biological truth–so why do we cling to it so fervently?  

The first article, "The Cosmic Race" by Jose Vasconcelos was surely shocking for many people.  I personally had a difficult time choking that article down, yet I think that it says a lot of important things about the way that we view race in contemporary times–after all, it was only written roughly 60 years ago.  Throughout Vasconcelo’s many disturbing generalizations about racial identity and biological difference I caught glimpses of underlying trends that I believe permeate our thoughts and  speech today.  One of the initial items that piqued my interest was the author’s assertions that the "red race" or the indigenous people of the Americas have degenerated from the "extraordinary flourishment" of "Atlantean" (whatever that is…) culture to the Aztec, Inca, Maya and, later, contemporary people today and are "totally unworthy of the ancient and superior culture" (9).  Wow, what a comment…But really, this concept of indigenous people persists in the minds of many scholars and laypeople today.  How many times have we heard of the "Maya decline" from the Classic period–deemed so based on the prevalence of writing, painting and other cultural symbols so valued by the West?  Or what about Vasconcelo’s assumptions about the inherent industriousness and "clarity of mind that resembles his skin and his dreams"(22).  Can we not see later vestiges of this in mid-twentieth century development theory which assumes that the economic domination of Europe and the U.S. over states in the Global South is due to a more "developed" or advanced (white) civilization?  While I found Vasconcelos’ article incredibly strange and a little difficult to stomach, I can’t say that his opinions reflect those of a fanatic, nor that they have left no legacy for future generations.

Which brings me to the second article we read by Peter Wade. I found Wade’s analysis of mestizaje very interesting, especially his arguments regarding the difference between academic/ideological mestizaje and the "lived experience" of mestizaje.  While I’m not sure if I totally agree that the discourse of mestizaje has so much potential for social inclusion, I do feel that this is an aspect that has generally been ignored.  And while I appreciate Wade’s use of the "mosaic" metaphor to describe national identities, I feel that this is too often the ideal and not the reality: again I refer back to my own experiences of racial discourses on UBC campus.  I’ve heard the "ethnic mosaic" line used to distinguish Canada’s approach to immigrant assimilation (in contrast to the "melting pot" of the U.S.) and I’m not really sure I buy it.  Anyway, I feel that there’s a lot more to say on this subject that could be included here, but I have a feeling that class discussion on the topic will open up all kinds of different perspectives, so I’ll leave it at that.  
 

The idea of a cosmic race seems very appealing.  The blending of the many different “races” to create one with a common goal seems almost like wishful thinking.  This entire idea seems impossible, but it has been happening for hundreds of years (many…

 This weeks topic of mestizaje was very interesting to read. I enjoyed both Jose Vasconcelos and Peter Wade’s essays. The topic alone of mestizaje is one of emotion and strong opinion and thought for many people. In Vascolcelos paper i found the facts…

The readings for this week are about mestizaje, an ideology of mixture in Latin America. The first one is old and obviously a little-outdated while the second is more recent and brings many of the questionable, naive arguments of the latter into a mor…

Mixture of cultures has been present since the earliest civilizations, and it seems that the mixture between similar races gives a better and more beneficial effect than the mixture of different races., for example the United States and Argentina are a…

Before reading the text, I only consider the positive side of the term « mestizaje ». Indeed, I think that term implies that the two cultures are considered as equal and that their specificities are recognized. Nevertheless, throughout my reading, I understood that the term « mestizaje » is more complex. In fact, the mixing of people also implies […]

Theories of mixture I: Mestizaje In the first reading Jose Vasconcelos writes about different issues related to “race”. At the beginning he explains that even though the Latin American countries got their independence from the “Latins”(Spain an…

Before starting, I have to say that I found these two articles extremely interesting although they clearly arguing in favour of two very different opinions. Despite there are numerous points which I do not agree with, The Cosmic Race wri…

I’ve covered the topic of “mestizaje” in my previous Latin American Studies course, and what I got out of previous discussions was that this idea of mestizaje is a complex topic. My perceived complexities of mestizaje were furthered confirmed after rea…

I do not know why but posting comments on your blog seems impossible. I don’t know if someone succeeded already but you should check if there is any blocking option or something! ThanksI really had the same difficulties than you while reading these leg…

Apesar de que la lectura fue bien larga y me tomo bastante en terminar de leerla, la lectura de esta semana me parecio interesante ya que toco muchos aspectos de lo que es la cultura popular en latino america. Me gusto como el autor hablo sobre las cul…

Vexation. “Where and What is the moral of this legend?!” – Was a question I had the honour of asking myself four consecutive times, once for each of Asturias’ tales. In Greek myths and legends such as Daedalus and Icarus, Narcissus, and Sisyphus, the m…

The Folk, when I think of folk for the most part I think of “low culture”, is this wrong? Probably yes, after reading the four short stories for the week, I realized that if these are considered “folk”, then “folk” isn’t what I presumed it to be, and it definitely isn’t low culture. Now for […]

I still do not fully understand what Popular Culture is. I could probably explain it to another university student, but I cannot imagine trying to explain it to myself as if I were 8. My economics teacher said that “if you can explain the stuff we are …

A ser sincera, a pesar de que me gustaron las lecturas de esta semana, tengo que decir que la lectura de las leyendas fue un tanto difícil; sin embargo el leer una leyenda siempre será una forma de conocer un poco del reflejo de cierta cultura, como …

In comparison to last weeks chapter of epic length, I found these tales much easier to get through and was captivated by the imagery presented. I’m not very familiar with magical realism and am eager to discuss these stories in class and get a better u…

The stories in “The Mirror of Lida Sal” by Migel Angel Asturias were difficult to follow yet enjoyable to read. The subtext of the title was “Tales based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends.” My unfamiliarity with Guatemalan folk culture showed as I attempted to pick apart his meanings in these short stories. While I […]

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