From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest

The racialization of Mexican Americans in northern Mexico, that is, the U.S. Southwest, following the Anglo-Americanization during the second half of the nineteenth century, is an excellent case study of the historical formations of Anglo-American and Spanish American racial orders. Both racial orde...

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Main Author: G. Reginald Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-04-01
Series:Genealogy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/2/28
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author G. Reginald Daniel
author_facet G. Reginald Daniel
author_sort G. Reginald Daniel
collection DOAJ
description The racialization of Mexican Americans in northern Mexico, that is, the U.S. Southwest, following the Anglo-Americanization during the second half of the nineteenth century, is an excellent case study of the historical formations of Anglo-American and Spanish American racial orders. Both racial orders were based on a hierarchy that privileged Whiteness and stigmatized Blackness. Yet Spanish America’s high levels of miscegenation resulted in ternary orders allowing for gradation in and fluidity within racial categories, in addition to the formation of multiracial identities, including those of individuals with African ancestry. Anglo-America was characterized by restrictions on miscegenation and more precise definitions of and restrictions on racial categories. This prohibited the formation of multiracial identities while buttressing a binary racial order that broadly necessitated single-race (monoracial) identification as either White or nonWhite, and more specifically, as White or Black, given their polar extremes in racial hierarchy. Within this order, hypodescent applies most stringently to those with African ancestry through the one-drop rule, which designates as Black all such individuals. This article examines monoracialization through historical processes of Mexican–American identity formations. Over the twentieth century, this shifted from White to Brown, but without any acknowledgment of African ancestry.
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spelling doaj.art-1ff564971ea44a2089d8102bd7b623d12023-11-23T16:46:06ZengMDPI AGGenealogy2313-57782022-04-01622810.3390/genealogy6020028From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. SouthwestG. Reginald Daniel0Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USAThe racialization of Mexican Americans in northern Mexico, that is, the U.S. Southwest, following the Anglo-Americanization during the second half of the nineteenth century, is an excellent case study of the historical formations of Anglo-American and Spanish American racial orders. Both racial orders were based on a hierarchy that privileged Whiteness and stigmatized Blackness. Yet Spanish America’s high levels of miscegenation resulted in ternary orders allowing for gradation in and fluidity within racial categories, in addition to the formation of multiracial identities, including those of individuals with African ancestry. Anglo-America was characterized by restrictions on miscegenation and more precise definitions of and restrictions on racial categories. This prohibited the formation of multiracial identities while buttressing a binary racial order that broadly necessitated single-race (monoracial) identification as either White or nonWhite, and more specifically, as White or Black, given their polar extremes in racial hierarchy. Within this order, hypodescent applies most stringently to those with African ancestry through the one-drop rule, which designates as Black all such individuals. This article examines monoracialization through historical processes of Mexican–American identity formations. Over the twentieth century, this shifted from White to Brown, but without any acknowledgment of African ancestry.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/2/28multiracialmixed racemestizajemiscegenationhypodescentMexican Americans
spellingShingle G. Reginald Daniel
From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
Genealogy
multiracial
mixed race
mestizaje
miscegenation
hypodescent
Mexican Americans
title From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
title_full From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
title_fullStr From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
title_full_unstemmed From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
title_short From Multiracial to Monoracial: The Formation of Mexican American Identities in the U.S. Southwest
title_sort from multiracial to monoracial the formation of mexican american identities in the u s southwest
topic multiracial
mixed race
mestizaje
miscegenation
hypodescent
Mexican Americans
url https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/2/28
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