Ethnic Survival in a Heterogeneous Society

Abstract

Ethnic Survival in a Heterogeneous Society The Mexican Aristocracy: An Expressive Ethnography, 1910-2000 Hugo G. Nutini Texas University Press, 2004 Author Nutini has produced an enlightening ethnographic study, based on numerous interviews, of the role of group consciousness in areas such as race and class, urban and rural society, political participation, and economic success. The result is a book that is not only interesting but has potential significance for futurologists: it traces the survival of racial identity as a socially-valuable attribute in a society that has for centuries been racially mixed, despite the 1910 revolution which deprived its European ruling class of both political and economic power. It is a study of a racially mixed society, comprised of a small number of persons of European descent, a large number of pure American Indians, and an even larger proportion of persons of mixed European and Indian descent - some with part Negroid ancestry. It focuses on the small number of families descended from the former Mexican aristocracy which, by marrying endogamously and maintaining close kinship links, have retained not only their racial identity but also - despite the revolutionary egalitarian ideals to which Mexico publicly aspires - a surprisingly high social status. Everyone is aware that like Brazil, which also has a racially-mixed population, Mexico is essentially free from racial tensions. Nevertheless, also like Brazil, its population is stratified into social groups that reflect not merely different shades of skin color but also the degree to which facial features reflect European ancestry. Where mating is concerned, the evidence of racial preference is not so demonstrably public as in India, where advertisements touting the attraction of would-be brides commonly stress lightness of skin as a favored quality, but upper and middle class Mexicans are nevertheless very conscious of race when selecting marriage partners. Racial exclusivity has been the major factor serving to keep aristocratic Spanish-Mexican families, descended from the pre-1910 hacienda-owning class, distinctively European in appearance. Wealth no longer distinguishes these survivors of a former ruling class, but their European features are envied and their elegant manners are emulated by members of the much wealthier upper-middle-class of successful business men and entrepreneurs who tend to seek their society - but with whom (until recent years) they have only occasionally intermarried. Nutini believes that the aristocratic families have succeeded in retaining their distinctive identity by being united by bonds of what he says amounts to sacralized kinship. As a result of preserving strong ties to blood relatives, they are effectively organized into a number of relatively tight kindreds, of which he detected some 700, with possibly a further 300 made up of families that he describes as marginal because they have intermarried with plutocratic families that were not aristocratic. Each kindred is a network of related nuclear households, which may vary in number but can amount in some cases to as many as 90. The activities of a kindred network center primarily on weddings, baptisms, confirmations, first communions, and until recently, coming out balls for girls. It may constitute a breach of etiquette if a member of the kindred is not invited to one of these functions. In addition, kin members tend to be invited to less formal entertainments, such as dinner parties, cocktail parties, and numerous social and cultural events such as birthday and anniversary celebrations, all events involving the consumption of food and drink, usually accompanied by music and adorned by elaborate decorations. The colorful nature of Mexican history obviously plays a major role in preserving respect for the aristocratic families among the more educated classes. Not only do most of these families claim descent from the Spanish conquistadores, but they have carefully preserved a refinement of manners and courteous behavior that earns them respect in a society that, despite nearly a century of rule by allegedly socialistic, revolutionary politicians, nevertheless retains adherence to the manners and customs of the European ancien regime - more so, in many ways, than its neighbors to the north, the United States of America and Canada. …