Racial Appearance And Income In Contemporary Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico, income and European appearance are strongly positively correlated. Racist attitudes, overt preference for the European appearance and high unemployment combine to maintain this racial economic hierarchy. Free market policies could help to reduce the racial economic inequality. These policies, however, go against the economic interests of the wealthy white oligarchy and against the prevailing political ideology of the dark skinned lower classes. Thus, the current racial economic inequality, with its negative economic consequences, is likely to continue.

From biopolitics to bioeconomies: The ART of (re-)producing white futures in Mexico's surrogacy market

“…The label ''Indian'' described and describes until today not only an ''inferior, degraded race,'' but also a ''set of circumstances-poverty, exploitation, and an internalization of the colonial norm-that shaped the lives of native peoples and informed their very understanding of their place in the imposed colonial order'' (Fisher and O'Hara, 2009: 6). Generations of race mixing made the Spanish casta system unsustainable and feudal-like ideas about blood lineage were gradually replaced by informal discourses about physical appearance (Martinez and de la Torre, 2008). In Mexico, mestizaje, referring to both biological and culture mixture, was introduced as a new ideology as part of nation-building.…”

“…After the privatization of public health care and the degradation of public health services (Fisk, 2000), only those patients who cannot afford to pay for private health insurance access public health institutions. Given the racialized nature of poverty (Martinez and de la Torre, 2008;Telles, 2014), these are mainly indigenous and rural population groups. Surrogacy programs are the latest offer in private fertility clinics through which white bodies are reproduced much more frequently than non-white bodies.…”

Reproductive geopolitics: Governing in/fertile bodies in Mexico’s past and present

“…Their blood purity did not matter to the heredity movement of the Spanish colony because their blood was a priori considered impure and inferior (Frutta, 1964). Generations of race mixing made the Spanish caste system unsustainable in the long run, and feudal ideas about blood lineage were gradually replaced by informal discourses that related race to physical appearance, education, and class (Martinez and De la Torre, 2008) The other reproductive politics to "solve the problem" of the "inferior hereditary race" and "improving the human species" was the project of mestizaje. Mestizaje, referring to both biological and culture mixtures, was introduced in Mexico as a new ideology with the aim of building a united nation.…”

“…Their blood purity did not matter to the heredity movement of the Spanish colony because their blood was a priori considered impure and inferior (Frutta, 1964). Generations of race mixing made the Spanish caste system unsustainable in the long run, and feudal ideas about blood lineage were gradually replaced by informal discourses that related race to physical appearance, education, and class (Martinez and De la Torre, 2008)…”

Fuentes bibliográficas

“…After the privatization of public health care and the degradation of public health services (Fisk, 2000), only those patients who cannot afford to pay for private health insurance access public health institutions. Given the racialized nature of poverty (Martinez and de la Torre, 2008;Telles, 2014), these are mainly indigenous and rural population groups. Surrogacy programs are the latest offer in private fertility clinics through which white bodies are reproduced much more frequently than non-white bodies.…”