Ana Sabau, "Riot and Rebellion in Mexico: The Making of a Race War Paradigm" (U Texas Press, 2022)

New Books in Indigenous Studies · Sep 14, 2022 · 1h 34m

Many scholars assert that Mexico’s complex racial hierarchy, inherited from Spanish colonialism, became obsolete by the turn of the nineteenth century as class-based distinctions became more prominent and a largely mestizo population emerged. But the residues of the colonial caste system did not simply dissolve after Mexico gained independence. Rather, Ana Sabau argues, ever-present fears of racial uprising among elites and authorities led to persistent governmental techniques and ideologies designed to separate and control people based on their perceived racial status, as well as to the…