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The Demography of Race and Ethnicity of Mexico

  • Chapter
The International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 4))

Abstract

Mexico is a country in North America with a rich social, cultural, economic, and political history that is comprised of thirty one states and one Federal District. Racially and culturally, Mexico is the product of advanced Pre-Columbian civilizations (the Aztec, the Maya, the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, and the Zapotec), as well as Spaniard and African immigrations, and more recently, Asian, Caribbean, and European. Unfortunately, even when the complex socio-cultural history of Mexico is subject of admiration, because of Mestizaje, the richness of its racial and ethnic demography is often unacknowledged. Specifically, the demographic dynamics are determined by the characteristics of the Mexican population, including its racial and ethnic characteristics. Regrettably, because Mexico’s racial and ethnic diversity has been reduced to ethnicity alone, the critical study of the demography of race and ethnicity in Mexico encounters some conceptual and methodological limitations. In this chapter, the conceptual and methodological shortcomings are overcome by presenting a historical analysis of Mexico, by engaging in the social deconstruction of mestizo—which may be considered the foundation of Mexican nationalism, as well as by addressing the importance of the validation of non-mestizo identities to develop effective public policy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Afrodescendent is a term that was adopted in the International Conference Against Racism and Xenophobia by the black organizations to differentiate themselves from blacks in the United States (Hoffman and Pascal 2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and the Chicano/Latino Studies Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    María Isabel Ayala Ph.D.

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  1. María Isabel Ayala Ph.D.
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Correspondence to María Isabel Ayala Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Policy and Department of Demography, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Rogelio Sáenz

  2. Loyola University Chicago Dept. Sociology, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    David G. Embrick

  3. Dept of Sociology and Population Research Centre, The Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Néstor P. Rodríguez

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Ayala, M.I. (2015). The Demography of Race and Ethnicity of Mexico. In: Sáenz, R., Embrick, D., Rodríguez, N. (eds) The International Handbook of the Demography of Race and Ethnicity. International Handbooks of Population, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8891-8_4

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