Abstract

SALDIVAR TANAKA, Emiko. Mestiza Innocence in Times of the 4T. Estud. sociol [online]. 2022, vol.40, n.spe, pp.11-28.  Epub Sep 22, 2023. ISSN 2448-6442.  https://doi.org/10.24201/es.2022v40nespecial.2319.

One characteristic of the ideology of mestizaje is to deny racism. Racial inequality and privilege are blurred through a constant effort to validate and reclaim the hegemonic discourse which, under mestizaje, states that racial conflict has been resolved. Here I present three strategies that attest to how mestiza society responds at times when racial conflict -anti-indigenous racism in this case- becomes visible. I explore how they translate into mechanisms to achieve the “moral regulation” of social relations (Corrigan, & Sayer, 1985). The first mechanism I define as “mestizo innocence,” the second is a response from the perspective of “mestizo fragility” and I identify the third as neo-populist mestizaje, an updated version of the mestizo project of the twentieth century.

Keywords : mestizo innocence; mestizo fragility; mestizo gaze.