![]() Very few words of the indigenous Hispano-Iberic language remain in use. (1) The Spanish people speak a totally borrowed language, a dialect or branch of Italo-Latin mixed with many thousands of Arabic words. Spain is, clearly, far more of a mestizo nation (if that term is ever properly to be used) than is Mexico. Now, is this mestization of the Mexican-Chicano people a concrete social reality or is it primarily the Europeans’ imposition of alien descriptive categories upon the Mexican-Chicano masses? Let us look at the situation of Spain and Mexico with this question in mind. It is very clear that Anglo scholars (and the Mexicans and Chicanos influenced by them) regard the very essence of the Mexican-Chicano people as mestizo (except for the perhaps ten percent of the Mexican people who are regarded as indio). North American Anglo-Saxon scholars, in particular, delight in using the mestizo and Indo-Hispano concept when discussing Mexico and Chicanos (persons of Mexican background in the United States). North American social scientists and intellectuals and the ruling elite of Mexico commonly seem to agree that Mexico is a mestizo nation, that not only are most of its people racially mixed but that its dominant culture is also mestizo. To place this discussion in proper perspective, let us contrast the situations in Mexico and Spain. Peoples categorized as “half-caste” or “mestizo” tend to have several characteristics in common: they reside in areas subjected to recent European colonialism and imperialism they seldom possess the power or resources to determine their own destiny (either political or intellectual psychological) their existence is usually a direct byproduct of European imperialism and colonial policy and they are primarily people with both European and non-European ancestry, almost never with mixed European national backgrounds. Today, virtually all of the peoples who are categorized as half-caste or mestizo live in zones where European imperialism has been active during the past several centuries (the South Pacific, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam, India, Singapore, South Africa, and throughout Anishinabewaki). The first usage does not concern us here to any great extent, but the other three are of critical importance to the current status of native peoples in Anishinabe-waki. (4) As a cultural concept, referring to a mixture of customs, ways of behaving, and so on. (3) As a strictly biological concept, referring only to mixture through sexual reproduction (2) As a kind permanent ethnic or caste categorization- a person, or a group, who is not only of mixed background but whose ethnic nature, or social status, is also mixed (1) As a simple description- a person, or a group, who possesses a recent mixed background It should be kept in mind that there are several distinct ways in which the term mestizo is used: The concept of mestizo has also been introduced into the United States scholarly literature and is becoming accepted among anthropologists and sociologists as a technical term replacing half-breed and similar words.įor the purposes of this article the word mestizo will be used as the equivalent of all such words. In Brazil, caboclo, mameluco and a variety of other terms are used, along with mestizo. From Mexico through Argentina mestizo (“mixed”) is the standard term, but cholo, ladino, coyote, and other words are also commonly used. In Canada, people of mixed European and Anishinabe background are ordinarily referred to as metis, that is, “mixed.” In the United States, terms such as half-breed, half-blood and quarter-blood are most commonly used but, mustee (derived from mestizo) and even mulatto have been used in the South. ![]() The terms mestizo and metis (as well as such comparable words a half-caste, half-breed, ladino, cholo, coyote, and so on) have been and are now frequently used in Anishinabe-waki (the Americas) to refer to large numbers of people who are either of mixed European and Anishinabe (Native American) racial background or who poses a so-called mixed culture. The Mestizo Concept: A Product of European Imperialism
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