Whiteness, Mestizaje, and social equity

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between Whiteness and Mestizaje–the idea of a ‘race made of the mixture of other races’–in the context of Mexican public administration. It argues that Mestizaje promotes a raceless or ‘color-evasive’ narrative that has historically prevented the discussion of race and ethnoracial inequalities in Mexico; sustains Whiteness in public organizations, and creates the conditions for White supremacy, as an uneven distribution of social privileges and penalties along ethnoracial lines benefitting White people. Ultimately, these three aspects of the Mestizaje ideology and its connection with Whiteness could be preventing the advancement of social equity in Mexico. Moreover, the reflections presented here are potentially insightful for other contexts in which raceless and/or color-evasive narratives are prevalent as well.