Group	Mestizos
Caption	Notable Mestizos: Inca Garcilaso de la Vega · Porfirio Díaz
Popplace	Latin America
Langs	Predominantly Spanish, (with a minority of other languages), while Mestiço speaks Portuguese, and Métis speak French; English in the United States, Kriol and English in Belize; and English
Rels	Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic, with a minority of Protestant); and other religions.
Related	European (mostly Spaniards, Portuguese, French) and Amerindian people

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent. The term originated as a racial category in the Casta system that was in use during the Spanish empire's control of their American colonies, it was used to describe those who had one European-born parent and one who was member of an indigenous American population. In the Casta system mestizos had fewer rights than European born persons called "Peninsular", and "Criollos" who were persons born in the new world of two European born parents, but more rights than "Indios" and "Negros".

During the colonial period, mestizos quickly became the majority group in most of Latin America; and when the colonies started achieving independence from Spain, the mestizo group often became dominant. In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, the concept of the "mestizo" became central to the formation of a new independent identity that was neither wholly Spanish nor wholly indigenous and the word mestizo acquired its current meaning of mixed cultural heritage rather than racial descent.

Etymology

The Spanish word Mestizo is from the Romance / Latin word mixticius, meaning mixed. This term was first documented in English in 1582.

Cognates

Mestizo (Spanish), Mestiço (Portuguese), Mestiezen (Dutch), Metis (French), Mestee (Middle English), and Mix (English) are all cognates of the Latin word mixticius.

History

During the Spanish colonial period, Spaniards developed a complex caste system based on race, which was used for social control and which also determined a person's importance in society. There were four main categories of race: (1) Peninsular - a Spaniard born in Spain, (2) Criollo (fem. criolla) - a person of Spanish descent born in Mesoamerica, (3) Indio (fem. India) - a person who is a native of, or indigenous to, Mesoamerica, and (4) Negro (fem. Negra) - a person of African slave descent. During this era, a myriad of other terms (such as mulatto and zambo) were used to differentiate racial mixtures.

A person's legal racial classification in colonial Spanish America was closely tied to social status, wealth, culture and language use. Wealthy people paid to change or obscure their actual ancestry. Many indigenous people left their traditional villages and sought to be counted as mestizos to avoid tribute payments to the Spanish. Many indigenous people, and sometimes those with partial African descent, were classified as mestizo if they spoke Spanish and lived as mestizos.

Often, but only early on, the term mestizo was associated with illegitimacy; The term also has a pejorative use about something that is not "pure". However, it evolved in the ensuing centuries. According to historians Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman, early in the 16th century Spanish colonial usage of the term, mestizo "was almost synonymous with bastard" (illegitimate child).

Because the term had taken on a myriad of meanings, the designation "Mestizo" was removed from census counts in Mexico and is no longer in use. Cultural policies in early post-revolutionary Mexico were paternalistic towards the indigenous people, with efforts designed to "help" indigenous peoples achieve the same level of progress as the rest of society, eventually assimilating indigenous peoples completely to Mestizo Mexican culture, working toward the goal of eventually solving the "indian problem" by transforming indigenous communities into mestizo communities .

The term "Mestizo" is not in wide use in Mexican society today and has been dropped as a category in population censuses, it is however still used in social and culural studies when referring to the non-indigenous part of the Mexican population. The word has somewhat pejorative connotations and most of the Mexican citizens who would be defined as mestizos in the sociological literature would probably self-identify primarily as Mexicans. In the Yucatán peninsula the word Mestizo is even used about Maya speaking populations living in traditional communities, because during the caste war of the late 19th century those Maya who did not join the rebellion were classified as mestizos. In Chiapas the word "Ladino" is used instead of mestizo.

Sometimes, particularly outside of Mexico, the word "mestizo" is used with the meaning of Mexican persons with mixed Indigenous and European blood. This usage does not conform to the Mexican social reality where a person of pure indigenous genetic heritage would be considered Mestizo either by rejecting his indigenous culture or by not speaking an indigenous language, Furthermore, the categories carry additional meanings having to do with social class so that the term indigena or the more pejorative "indio" (Indian) is connected with ideas of low social class, poverty, rural background, superstition, being dominated by traditional values as opposed to reason. Commonly, instead of the term Mestizo, which also has a somewhat pejorative usage, the term "gente de razón" ("people of reason") is used and contrasted with "gente de costumbre" ("people of tradition"), cementing the status of indigeneity being connected to superstition and backwardness. For example it has been observed that upwards social mobility is generally correlated with "whitening", if persons with indigenous biological and cultural roots rise to positions of power and prestige they tend to be viewed as more "white" than if they belonged to a lower social class. The Counts of Miravalle, residing in Andalucía, Spain, demanded in 2003 that the government of Mexico recommence payment of the so called 'Moctezuma pensions' it had cancelled in 1934.

The mestizo historian Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, son of Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and of the Inca princess Isabel Chimpo Oclloun arrived in Spain from Peru. He lived in the town of Montilla, Andalucía, where he died in 1616. Also, the mestizo children of Francisco Pizarro were also military leaders because of their famous father.

Starting from the early 1970s and throughout all of the 1980s, Europe saw the arrival of thousands of Chileans, many of whom were mestizos, seeking political refuge during the dictatorial government of Augusto Pinochet. Today, there is a growing number of mestizo immigrants in Western Europe, primarily from Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

Former Spanish East Indies

Philippines

In the Philippines, "mestizo" is a term used to denote Filipinos of mixed native (Austronesian/Malay/Malayo-Polynesian) and non-native ancestry. Although not to be confused with Latin American Mestizo person with (European and Native American) ancestry, which look very differently from Asian Philippians.

Guam and Northern Mariana Islands

In Guam and Northern Mariana Islands, the term "Mestizo" was borrowed from the American colonies and was formerly used to identify people of mixed Pacific Islander and Spanish ancestry; however, as the United States gained control of these islands after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the term "Multiracial" replaced "Mestizo". Mestizos/Multiracials currently form a small minority of the population. Because most Guamanians and Northern Mariana Islanders were also given Spanish surnames during Spanish colonial times, persons of white American and other non-Spanish European descent with Spanish surnames may be mistaken as having such descent.

Related concepts

Mestiço - Brazil

In Brazil, the word mestiço is used to describe individuals born from any mixture of different ethnicities. Individuals that fit the specific case of having Portuguese and Native American parents are commonly known as caboclo or, more commonly in the past, mameluco. Individuals of European and African ancestry are described as mulato. Cafuzos (known as zambo in the English language) are the production of Native American and African ancestors. The Mixed Race Day (June 27) is a official date in States of Amazonas, Paraíba and Roraima.

Métis - Canada

, Canadian Métis.]] French Colonial empire in Canada, the Métis are regarded as an independent ethnic group. This community of descent consists of individuals descended from marriages of First Nation women, specifically Cree, Ojibway, and Saulteaux with Europeans, usually French, English, and Scottish laborers or merchants employed in the North American Fur Trade. Their history dates to the mid 17th century, and they have been recognized as a distinct people since the early 18th century.

Traditionally, the Métis spoke a mixed language called Michif (with various regional dialects). Michif (a phonetic spelling of the Métis pronunciation of "Métif", a variant of Métis) is also used as the name of the Métis people. The name is most commonly applied to descendants of communities in what is now southern Manitoba. The name is also applied to the descendants of similar communities in what are now Ontario, Quebec, Labrador, and the Northwest Territories, although these groups' histories are different from that of the western Métis. In Northern Manitoba some communities spoke Bungee, a combination of Gaelic, Orcadian, Cree, and Ojibwe. Bungee is now extinct.

Estimates of the number of Métis vary from 300,000 to 700,000 or more. In September 2002, the Métis people adopted a national definition of Métis for citizenship within the "Métis Nation." Based on this definition, it is estimated that there are 350,000 to 400,000 Métis Nation citizens in Canada, although many Métis classify anyone as Métis who can prove that an ancestor applied for money scrip or land scrip as part of nineteenth-century treaties with the Canadian government. However, Labrador, Quebec, and even some Acadian Metis communities are not accepted by the Metis National Council and are represented nationally by the "Congress of Aboriginal Peoples."

The Métis are not recognized as a First Nation by the Canadian government and do not receive the benefits granted to First Nation peoples. However, the 1982 amendments to the Canadian constitution recognize the Métis as an aboriginal people, and have enabled individual Métis to sue successfully for recognition of their traditional rights such as rights to hunt and trap. In 2003, a court ruling in Ontario found that the Métis deserve the same rights as other aboriginal communities in Canada.

See also

Casta

European colonization of the Americas

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Viceroyalty of New Spain

Publication

Batalla, Guillermo, and Philip Dennis. Mexico Profundo: Reclaiming A Civilization. Univ of Texas Pr, 1996. ISBN 978-0292708433

Wang S, Ray N, Rojas W, Parra MV, Bedoya G, et al. (2008) Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos. PLoS Genet 4(3): e1000037. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000037

Science Daily">"Genetic Study Of Latin Americans Sheds Light On A Troubled History" - Science Daily

Duno Gottberg, Luis, Solventando las diferencias: la ideología del mestizaje en Cuba. Madrid, Iberoamericana – Frankfurt am Main, Vervuert, 2003

References

External links

The 1921 Mexican Census

The Construction and Function of Race: Creating The Mestizo

Bolivia: Indigenous and Mestizo Power Flexes Muscles

Día Mundial del Mestizo Brazilian Mestiço Movement

Métis National Council

Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America 1520-1820

Category:Spanish words and phrases Category:Ethnic groups in Argentina Category:Ethnic groups in Belize Category:Ethnic groups in Bolivia Category:Ethnic groups in Chile Category:Ethnic groups in Colombia Category:Ethnic groups in Costa Rica Category:Ethnic groups in Ecuador Category:Ethnic groups in El Salvador Category:Ethnic groups in Guatemala Category:Ethnic groups in Honduras Category:Ethnic groups in Mexico Category:Ethnic groups in Nicaragua Category:Ethnic groups in Panama Category:Ethnic groups in Paraguay Category:Ethnic groups in Peru Category:Ethnic groups in Venezuela Category:Latin American culture Category:Latin American caste system Category:Ethnic groups in Central America Category:Ethnic groups in the United States Category:Ethnic groups in Latin America Category:Ethnic groups in North America Category:Ethnic groups in South America Category:Multiracial affairs

Joe Bataan (also spelled Bataán) (born 1942 in Spanish Harlem, New York City) is a Filipino-American Latin R&B; musician from New York. He was born Bataan Nitollano and grew up in the 103rd St. and Lexington Ave. part of East Harlem where he briefly lead the Dragons, a local Puerto Rican street gang, before being sent to the Coxsackie Correctional Facility to serve time for a stolen car charge.

Upon his release in 1965, he turned his attention to music and formed his first band, Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers. Bataan was influenced by two musical styles: the Latin boogaloo and African American doo-wop. Though Bataan was neither the first nor only artist to combine doo-wop-style singing with Latin rhythms, his talent for it drew the attention of Fania Records. After signing with them in 1966, Bataan released "Gypsy Woman," in 1967. (The title track is a Latin dance cover of "Gypsy Woman" by The Impressions.) He would, in full, release eight original titles for Fania which included the gold-selling "Riot!". These Fania albums often mixed energetic Latin dance songs, sung in Spanish, with slower, English-language soul ballads sung by Bataan himself. As a vocalist, Bataan's fame in the Latin music scene at the time was only rivaled by Ralfi Pagan and Harvey Averne.

Disagreements over money with Fania head Jerry Masucci lead Bataan to eventually leave the label. While still signed to Fania however, Bataan secretly started Ghetto Records, a Latin music label which got its initial funding from a local gangster, George Febo. Bataan produced several albums for other artists, including Papo Felix, Paul Ortiz and Eddie Lebron.

In 1973, he helped coin the phrase "salsoul," lending its name to his first post-Fania album. Along with the Cayre brothers, he co-founded Salsoul label, though later sold out his interest. He recorded three albums for Salsoul and several singles, including "Rap-O Clap-O," from 1979 which became an early hip hop hit. After his 1981 album, "Bataan II," he retired from music-making to spend more time with his family and ended up working as a youth counselor in one of the reformatories he himself had spent time in as a teenager. In 2005, Bataan broke his long hiatus with the release of "Call My Name," a well-received album recorded for Spain's Vampisoul label.

Bataan is also the father of Asia Nitollano, winner of the

In the 2006 video game, Driver Parallel Lines, Joe Bataan's song Subway Joe was included in the soundtrack.

In early 2009, Joe Bataan was featured in the Kenzo Digital-produced "beat cinematic" City of God's Son. Bataan was featured as the narrator of the story, paying the part of an older Nas reflecting upon his youth in the street with cohorts Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah, Biggie and Raekwon.

Discography

1967 Gypsy Woman (Fania 340)

1968 Subway Joe (Fania 345)

1968 Riot! (Fania 354)

1969 Poor Boy (Fania 371)

1970 Singin' Some Soul (Fania 375)

1971 Mr. New York & The East Side Kids (Fania 395)

1972 Sweet Soul (Fania 407)

1972 Saint Latin's Day Massacre (Fania 420)

1972 Live From San Frantasia (unreleased, Fania 432)

1973 Salsoul (Mericana)

1975 Afro-Filipino (Salsoul/Epic Records)

1980 Mestizo (Salsoul)

1981 II (Salsoul)

1997 Last Album, Last Song (Bataan Music)

2004 Call My Name (Vampisoul)

2009 King of Latin Soul (Vampisoul)

External links

Joe Bataan official site

Joe Bataan interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' July 2009

http://ukvibe.org/index.php/interviews/joe_bataan Interview by Michael 'The Dood' Edwards 'UK Vibe' June 2009

RBMA Radio On Demand - Melbourne Marvels - Joe Bataan (Suss'D)

Joe Bataan article in the LA Weekly, 15 December 1999

Joe Bataan interview

Joe Bataan interview, from APEX Express radio program, KPFA FM, Berkeley, California (MP3)

TheSoulGirl.com

Light in the Attic

Joe Bataan - Call My Name on AnthologyRecordings.com

City of God's Son

Part one of a Video Interview with Joe Bataan on Salsa-Central.com

Joe Bataan Live in Europe

See also

Filipino hip hop

Category:1942 births Category:African American singers Category:American musicians of Filipino descent Category:Fania Records artists Category:Living people Category:Rappers from New York City