The Mexican Perspective: Understanding Their Culture
Mexico a Small Size Melting Pot
Patrick Osio, Jr
(From Patrick Osio, Jr’s The Mexican Perspective)
Mexicans come in all sizes and colors of the greater human race. And all races are represented within the Mexican nationality. Many Americans mistakenly think that Mexican is in fact a race – it is simply a nationality. A great faux pas is committed when meeting a blond, blue eyed Mexican and uttering – “you don’t look Mexican.” This is terribly insulting to all Mexicans, but particularly to the one on the receiving end of the remark. Such a remark brings contempt and brands the person as ignorant. Such a statement can completely ruin any chance of friendship and/or business.
In the U.S. we’ve heard the expression “La Raza” used by various Mexican-American groups. The words are used as all encompassing of Latinos in the U.S. Unfortunately, the words are often misinterpreted as militant or radical expressions – kind of in your face confrontational attitude.
The issues between Mexican-Americans and the non-Mexican-American community in the U.S. should not be exported to Mexico as those issues are primarily between two (or more) U.S. citizen ethnic groups dealing with civil or other types of rights or other issues. They typically have little or nothing to do with Mexican citizens living in Mexico.
The words, La Raza, as used in Mexico, were first coined in the 1920’s by Jose Vasconcelos, a most influential scholar, writer and a great intellectual of his time. In one of his books, La Raza Cosmica, he reflected that the people of Latin America were a mixture of “old world” and “new world.” A place were Europeans, Africans, Asians, Arabs and Jews met in the “new world” Native Americans, mixing with them - created La Raza.
Thus La Raza as used in Mexico is a reflection of inclusiveness of all the various people of the world creating a unique new people befitting the “new world.”
Mexico is home to people from all the various Latin American countries, and the single largest groups of ‘foreigners’ are U.S. expatriates that now total over 1 million. Groups, other than Americans, are Germans, French, English, and of course, Spaniards as well as from all Latin American countries.
One of the best preparatory private schools in Mexico City is the German school. There are also American, English, and French schools and academies. It is a common practice to teach children descendants of each of these groups their ancestral language and provide them with cultural education as well. But in most privates schools English is taught as a second or third language. For instance, the German school teaches, German and English, as second and third languages to Spanish.
Little known to Americans, is the presence of both Chinese and Japanese Mexican communities. Here again, they are bound by their being Mexican first. However, many members of these communities still retain ancestral language and their cultural uniqueness, although, I am told, mixed with Mexican flavor. In Mexicali, bordering the state of California and the capital of the state of Baja California, the Mexican Chinese community is significant and very influential. It seems the majority of restaurants in Mexicali offer Chinese food, which is considered the regional typical food.
So that while not in the numerical numbers or variety of countries as are in the U.S., Mexico is somewhat of a melting pot as there are Mexicans tracing their ancestry to numerous countries other than Mexico.
However, a distinct difference from the U.S. is that neither the Mexican government nor Mexicans make a distinction between minority members of their society. There are no hyphenated Mexicans. Either a.) You’re Mexican, or b.) You’re not. It’s that simple.
It is importance to keep in mind that “Mexican” is a nationality not a race. The country of Mexico is a melting pot made up of all races and most ethnic groups, and there is no such thing as – “you don’t look like a Mexican” anymore than there is a “you don’t look like a U.S. citizen” remark in the U.S.
(Read the entire chapter in the: The Mexican Perspective available for electronic download purchase – read more about the book at: http://www.hispanicvista.com/sales/book_sale.htm)
- Table of Contents
- Excerpts from the manual
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- About the Author
- Patrick Osio, Jr.
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