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Mestizaje and Public Opinion in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Edward Telles  and
Denia Garcia
Edward Telles
Affiliation:
Princeton University
Denia Garcia
Affiliation:
Princeton University
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Abstract

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Latin American elites authored and disseminated ideologies of mestizaje or race mixture, but does the general population value them today? Using the 2010 Americas Barometer, we examined public opinion about mestizaje in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru using survey questions that modeled mestizaje both as a principle of national development and as tolerance for intermarriage with black or indigenous people. We found that most Latin Americans support mestizaje, although support varies by country and ethnicity. Across countries, we find partial evidence that the strength of earlier nation-making mestizaje ideas is related to support for mestizaje today, and that strong multicultural policies may have actually strengthened such support. Ethnoracial minorities showed particular support for the national principle of mestizaje. Finally, we discovered that the national principle of mestizaje is associated with more tolerant attitudes about intermarriage, especially in countries with large Afro-descendant populations.

Resumo

Resumo

Las elites latinoamericanas crearon y diseminaron ideologías sobre el mestizaje o la mezcla de razas, pero ¿qué tanto valora la población en general estas ideologías en la actualidad? Usamos la encuesta Barómetro de las Américas 2010 para examinar la opinión pública sobre el mestizaje en Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, República Dominicana, Ecuador, Guatemala, México y Perú. Las preguntas de la encuesta definen al mestizaje como un principio de desarrollo nacional y como tolerancia hacia el matrimonio con negros o indígenas. Encontramos que la mayoría de los latinoamericanos apoyan al mestizaje, aunque esto varía según el país y la identidad étnica. Encontramos evidencia parcial de que la importancia de las ideologías del mestizaje durante el periodo histórico de la fundación de la nación está relacionada con el apoyo al mestizaje en la actualidad y que las políticas multiculturales pueden haber aumentado este apoyo. Las minorías étnico-raciales muestran niveles más altos de aprobación hacia el mestizaje. Finalmente, el principio nacional del mestizaje está asociado con mayor tolerancia hacia los matrimonios interétnicos especialmente en los países con poblaciones afro-descendientes significativas.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , 2013 , pp. 130 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

This article is part of the Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA), a multinational social survey based at Princeton University. We thank the Ford Foundation and Princeton University for funding the ethnicity module of the 2010) Americas Barometer of the Latin American Public Opinion Project. We also thank Stanley Bailey and three anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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