“Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain” written in 1811 by American, Alexander von Humboldt, explores issues of race from yet another perspective. As an American, and particularly based out of New York, Humboldt has a frame of reference for coexistence (or lack there of) with both free blacks and respective indigenous groups. In this excerpt, Humboldt focuses mostly on the legal implications of the caste system in Mexico and corroborates other primary sources in claiming that the elites perpetuate the degradation of the Indian and mixed-races by consciously exempting them from society. Humboldt remarks on how society works against non-white people and uses the excuse that they are uncivilized, but the incivility they speak of is largely due to the oppression of these groups and “that in the actual state of things the moral improvement of the Indian is impossible, if the obstacles are not removed which oppose the progress.” Similar to Ward, this suggests that there are ulterior motives for the elite European or Creole classes. As the smallest visible group owning the most land, it is beyond evident that they manipulated society in their favour by using propaganda to spread myths of other groups or denying access to unfiltered information in order to marginalize people of colour, ultimately, forcing people of colour to live in the lie the elites created.

He suggests that in the United States and elsewhere, similar power imbalances exist, but suggests that it is more noticeable in Mexico (of which he is speaking on specifically) because of the intermediaries or the people of mixed origin, who do not fit with either group entirely. Because of their more racial fluid identity, mixed-race people may experience inconsistent prejudice from their non-white peers. The manufactured intricacies of the caste system prove to be ineffective when individuals can look like any variation of their racial makeup. In America he describes the fate of an individual as more polarized claiming one is “rich or miserable, noble or degraded, by the laws or the force of opinion.” Discussing the experience of those of African ancestry in New Spain he reveals an imperative admission of the fundamental faults in the system. The mixed races are among the largest obstruction to the system as they “from their colour, their physiognomy, and their cultivation, might be confused with the Spaniards.” Humboldt reflects on the animosity this causes between the groups, understandably, as this most obviously reflects on the triviality of the system.

http://dcc.newberry.org/collections/caste-and-politics-in-mexican-independence

This section of Ward’s text explicitly discusses, with an inherently British bias, the particularly Mexican casta system and general race relations and social motives. The perspective he contributes to this phenomenon is particularly interesting because he is not himself apart of the system by any account and therefore able to offer a more honest analysis. Ward compares the classification of castes before the Revolution in which he identifies the three pure races and remarks that any combination of the three were “sub-divided, ad infinitum, by names expressing the relation borne by each generation.” The language he writes in expresses doubt and possibly mockery of the system. In explaining race from a geographic perspective, Ward is able to indirectly add to the confusion of his audience. In effect, he is able to inject doubt into the merit of a manufactured classification of coloured people under the premise of: who really knows? His skepticism continues in trying to quantify each group, he admits it is truly “impossible to ascertain… [and that of the mixed breeds]… nothing certain is known” which if accepted would illegitimize the system entirely.

An important aspect of this text and this time-period as a whole is the idea that these groups, with “the great mass of the population [having] some mixture of Indian blood,” are completely unique to the colonized New World. Ward explains how the pure races have “multiplied… in an extraordinary manner; by intermarriages… and now form a mixed breed, admirably adapted to the Tierra caliente, but not possessing in appearance, the characteristics of the New World, or the Old;” not entirely Indigenous, European, or African. He emphasizes that anyone in the middle and certainly the lower classes could scarcely exempt themselves from some Indian heritage. Ward remarks that the extensive establishment of racial distinctions was “the policy of Spain to promote a constant rivalry between the different classes on inhabitant in her colonies” in an effort to prevent unity among a outcast group that would together form a social majority. He continues that race became synonymous with status to the extent that the King of Spain used “whiteness” to be appointed as equivalent to decreeing nobility upon a distinguished individual by remarking “let him be considered white.” Ward himself being white, I find it interesting that he places most of his doubt in the Spanish style of governing and colonialism. The trivialness of these classifications is brought to light during the Revolution when the Creoles, as Ward describes “were obliged to court the alliance of the mixed classes” effectively wiping the intricacies of the Casta system entirely.

This chapter illustrates how mass communication brought “power to the people” and effectively unified people, who had always been inherently similar, but lacked access to understand the extent of their similarities. Dawson explains how radio changed the previous dynamic, where crowds were formerly “unable to sustain movements that went much further than the village boundary for any length of time.” Populist movements gained momentum because working-class people were finally able to connect with their peers in other parts of the nation; they could feel familiar with their leaders in a more intimate way; and finally, the working-class had an unprecedented influence on popular culture and therefore mass culture. Music and popular culture quickly became either a platform for politicians, who were able to manipulate it to their advantage, or alternatively, a detriment to those who could not.

Evita stands out as the most intriguing figure through this lens of history of Latin America. President Juan Perón and wife María Eva Duarte de Perón “Evita” unquestionably made use of mass communication in both radio and the loudspeaker and microphone to a new extreme, drawing crowds speculated at up to one million people. In Evita’s “town hall” speech it is evident that she uses “Fatherland” to be synonymous with Argentina (“The Peronist Version of the Speech” includes the phrase 19 times). This is especially interesting as post-colonial nations are rarely so uniquely identifiable that those born there recognize a single identity.  In history, similar titles are more readily attatched to a Republic’s founding “mother country” or a political force, for example; Germany is commonly referred to as The Fatherland and Russia the Motherland. While this title is fluid, it is undoubtedly associated with power and strength. With this perspective, it is evident why Evita was so magnetic to the working-class; she empowered them like never before. Unlike her husband, she really was one of them. The women, men, and children she affectionately referred to as “descamidos” were her people who she addressed from the presidential balcony.

Interestingly for the time, she mentions her gender several times in her speaking, but scarcely mentions how incredible and unique it was, especially considering Argentina’s delay in giving women the vote, that the people were so desperate to her in office. Around the world, a woman in a democratically elected position was extremely rare. As I began to wonder whether or not she appreciated the magnitude of such events, “The Renunciamiento as Compiled from Newsreel and Archival Footage” records her saying, off-script; “that this moment is very important for a woman just as any other citizen.” On the topic of gender, she is also an intriguing figure because for someone with so much power and influence she relies heavily on her traditional role as wife of the President.