Abstract

LOMNITZ, Claudio. Los orígenes de nuestra supuesta homogeneidad: Breve arqueología de la unidad nacional en México. Prismas [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.1, pp.17-36. ISSN 1852-0499.

How did the idea of a national race come to be a credible and widely spread notion in Mexico? This essay frames the question comparatively, by noting that the racialization of national identity, that is, the naturalization of national difference, is a common strategy, particularly when a state is too weak to impose collective identity by way of equality before the law. The Mexican case, however, is peculiar with regard to the success of a racialized idea of national identity because of its border with the United States, a situation that makes Mexico unique in the Americas. The essay demonstrates with historical detail and primary sources that the border dynamic that emerged in the late 19th century is the key to understanding why Mexicans in the 20th century represented themselves as members of a unitary race. The paper offers a close historical description and argument that tracks the consolidation of the "Mexican race" as a figure that had real and convincing experiential referents.

Keywords : Frontiers; Race; National character; Nationalism; México.

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