Latin American History Commons^™

Shifting The Colonial Narrative: Re-Examining And Reclaiming Internalized Identities Within Mestizaje, Vanessa Tenorio

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The dehumanization of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) during the colonial period has led to an internalization of colonial beliefs about ourselves informed and reinforced by settler-colonial, nation-states that continue to occupy our lands. This thesis explores how the construction of the Mexican[1] identity of mestizaje is based on the logic of racial hierarchy embedded within the colonial construct of the state and this has led to an internalized colonial mentality and inferiority complex among Mexicans. These internalized racial hierarchies have become a part of Mexican society and culture which becomes apparent in the way that we …