Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico

Recommended by Mariela Noles Cotito, 2024-25 Custer Visiting Scholar with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

In “Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico,” Ben Vinson explores the often-elusive link between caste, Blackness, and mestizaje in Latin America. Although there is much written about the Latin American racial formation projects — and mestizaje in particular — from the perspective of its colonial dynamics and current consequences, Vinson delves into its particularities during colonial times and some of its nuances to then revisit our current understanding of racial mixture in the region.