Sobre los fundamentos de la identidad nacional mexicana contemporánea: los debates en torno del mestizaje

Abstract

From 16th to 19th century, Ibero America was constructed on the basis of the establishment of a segregative social system juxtaposed to two identified ethnic organizations: the so called lndians Republic and the Spaniards one. All those that were not fi·amed within these legal borders, «mestizos» or «mulatos>>; in spite of enjoying the freedom, did not benefíts of any legal cxistence. In Mexico, if independence go to collapse this colonial legal building, by the way quickly disconnected of all reality, it actually did not mean the disappcarance ofthe established partner-racial borders from centuries back. Nevertheless, the independence favored, throughout 19th century, a debate around the conformation ofthe new nation, forcing to think the miscegenation. With the Revolution, this debate ended with an apotheosis ofthis racially mixed reality, process in which the work of.José Vasconcelos, very specially La Raza Cósmica (Cosmic Race), marked a true landmark.