Recovering History, Constructing Race

The Indian, Black, and White Roots of Mexican Americans

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies
Cover of the book Recovering History, Constructing Race by Martha Menchaca, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Martha Menchaca ISBN: 9780292778481
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Martha Menchaca
ISBN: 9780292778481
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

The history of Mexican Americans is a history of the intermingling of races—Indian, White, and Black. This racial history underlies a legacy of racial discrimination against Mexican Americans and their Mexican ancestors that stretches from the Spanish conquest to current battles over ending affirmative action and other assistance programs for ethnic minorities. Asserting the centrality of race in Mexican American history, Martha Menchaca here offers the first interpretive racial history of Mexican Americans, focusing on racial foundations and race relations from prehispanic times to the present.

Menchaca uses the concept of racialization to describe the process through which Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. authorities constructed racial status hierarchies that marginalized Mexicans of color and restricted their rights of land ownership. She traces this process from the Spanish colonial period and the introduction of slavery through racial laws affecting Mexican Americans into the late twentieth-century. This re-viewing of familiar history through the lens of race recovers Blacks as important historical actors, links Indians and the mission system in the Southwest to the Mexican American present, and reveals the legal and illegal means by which Mexican Americans lost their land grants.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The history of Mexican Americans is a history of the intermingling of races—Indian, White, and Black. This racial history underlies a legacy of racial discrimination against Mexican Americans and their Mexican ancestors that stretches from the Spanish conquest to current battles over ending affirmative action and other assistance programs for ethnic minorities. Asserting the centrality of race in Mexican American history, Martha Menchaca here offers the first interpretive racial history of Mexican Americans, focusing on racial foundations and race relations from prehispanic times to the present.

Menchaca uses the concept of racialization to describe the process through which Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. authorities constructed racial status hierarchies that marginalized Mexicans of color and restricted their rights of land ownership. She traces this process from the Spanish colonial period and the introduction of slavery through racial laws affecting Mexican Americans into the late twentieth-century. This re-viewing of familiar history through the lens of race recovers Blacks as important historical actors, links Indians and the mission system in the Southwest to the Mexican American present, and reveals the legal and illegal means by which Mexican Americans lost their land grants.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book A Law for the Lion by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Platero and I by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Women's Lives in Colonial Quito by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book The United States and the Atlantic Community by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book The Karankawa Indians of Texas by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Texas Furniture, Volume Two by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Children of Afghanistan by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book The Road to Love Canal by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Rainforest Cowboys by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Performing Mexicanidad by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Brought to You By by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book The Poetics of Appearance in the Attic Korai by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book Forging the Star by Martha Menchaca
Cover of the book The Writings of Carlos Fuentes by Martha Menchaca
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy