Afro Mexican Identity Development in Family Structures in America Article
"This is the country of my ancestors. It includes the fandango—music that takes Spanish instruments and plays them with African way, songs similar 'La Bamba' that trace their fashion dorsum to slavery and still influence music today, and a Mexican president with both Spanish and African ancestry. This is my history, but no i is talking to us nigh it," wrote Daniel as he reflected on the Afro-Mexican unit our course had just completed.
Several months before, I was searching for a way that my Castilian speakers form could support African American Heritage Calendar month activities at our school. At De La Salle Due north in Portland, Oregon, students organize month-long activities to celebrate and critically consider the histories of the many heritages represented in the student torso. I wanted to support these educatee-led projects with lessons in my classroom, only how? Driving home one night, the solution striking me: Nicholas Marshall.
Nicholas was a memorable student from my first year of teaching. Ane day he looked at me, eyes wide, and said: "Wait, Señorita! In that location are Blackness people who speak Spanish?"
"Yes," I had said. "There most definitely are." I developed a whole unit for my Spanish World Language form based on Nicholas' question. I decided to adapt that unit of measurement to meet the needs of my current students. I hoped that, by the terminate of the unit of measurement, they would exist able to identify ways that enslaved Africans and their descendants shaped Mexican culture, and draw the historical and political forces that led to Afro-Mexican invisibility. I wanted students to complicate their narratives near Mexican identity and realize that Afro-Mexican resistance weaves through the fabric of that heritage.
My students at De La Salle were heritage language speakers. Heritage students accept both a cultural and a linguistic connectedness to a linguistic communication other than English. Our class of 23 juniors and two seniors each shaped the definition of heritage Castilian speaker in their own style. For case, Marta didn't consider Spanish her native linguistic communication—she favored English, although she spoke Spanish with her parents. Ana Maria emigrated from Mexico at the historic period of x. She learned to read and write in Castilian, and then learned to do the aforementioned in English. Daniel grew upwards in the United States but spoke Spanish at home and frequently with his friends. Itzel was from Guatemala and English language was her third linguistic communication, subsequently Mayan and Spanish. Alex's begetter was from Ecuador and his female parent from Republic of chile, so his Spanish was peppered with words that differed from those of his peers.
They all spoke, read, and wrote with loftier levels of fluency in Spanish, yet they weren't "native" Spanish speakers because almost of their formal schooling had been in English. They switched betwixt cultures and languages and, in Daniel'southward words, sometimes felt "stuck between two countries I'thou not wanted in." In that sense, the definition of a heritage speaker is non but about linguistic communication; information technology also includes socio-emotional factors.
Where Did the Africans Go?
On our first mean solar day, I announced that we would be uncovering the history of Black Mexicans. "Does anyone already know annihilation about this topic?"
My students' faces were blank.
"When I was preparing this unit for you, I found out that many people believe the first Africans arrived with the first conquistadores. By the 16th and 17th centuries, one out of every two Africans who were enslaved and taken to the so-chosen "New Globe" was sold in United mexican states. In fact, until 1650, the number of African-heritage Mexicans equaled the number of Spanish-heritage Mexicans. Yet today, no one seems to know much about the story of Afro-Mexicans and their descendants. So where did they all go? How did they go invisible?"
"Maybe they left the country," Josué called out.
"Information technology'south possible," I replied. "Any other ideas?"
"Possibly they got kind of mixed," Lalo ventured.
I pulled out my trusty teacher phrase: "Tell me more."
"You know, Ms. Nicola, the birds and the bees, and and so the kids got lighter peel or something." The grade laughed.
"You may be on to something, Lalo. I desire you to continue these ideas in the dorsum of your minds throughout the unit. Keep asking the question: How does a history, a culture, and a people become invisible? I want you lot to collect stories of things you lot didn't realize had a connection to Africa, but that are deeply rooted in African cultures and that take shaped what we think of as 'Mexican.'
"Now take hold of your bags," I said. "We're going to the estimator lab."
Once in the computer lab, I gave my students a slice of newspaper with the URL for the Afropop Worldwide website "La Bamba: The Afro-Mexican Story" (see Resources). "Chicos," I called out, moving to the center of the lab. "Think that even though the website is in inglés, your notes need to exist en español." Although I wanted our class to read, write, retrieve, and speak in Spanish 100 per centum of the time, the reality was that my students don't live in a 24/7 Castilian-speaking world. Besides often, I ended upwardly resorting to English language-language resources.
The website contained a wealth of information, and I wanted to requite students the autonomy to explore what they found interesting. So the only instruction I gave them was to spend time reading and writing downwardly what they constitute interesting. At the cease of the unit of measurement, students would need their notes for their essays, but I didn't carp them with that detail for the moment. Instead, I gave them time to allow their curiosity atomic number 82 the exploration. Every bit they clicked from page to page, I wandered around the room, checking on their notes and gathering snippets of their conversations.
"Whaat? The fandango is African?" I heard Eduardo exclaim.
"Eduardo, don't forget to write downward what you are learning," I reminded him.
"Estamos hablando de cómo el son jarocho tiene raices africanas (We're talking about how son jarocho music has African roots)," Evelyn commented to me as I walked past.
"Maestra, what is this well-nigh the 'third root'?"
"Bueno, Alex, read it and you will meet. That part is important, so write it downwards."
Alex jotted notes on la tercera raíz (the 3rd root). In 1992, equally role of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Castilian in the Americas, the Mexican regime officially acknowledged that African culture in the country represented la tercera raíz of Mexican culture, forth with Spanish and Indigenous peoples. Since so, many Mexicans (specially those living on the westward declension) accept reconnected with their African heritage through dance, theater, radio, and political mobilizations.
Daniel chosen out to me. "I'chiliad interested in this guy Vicente Guerrero. He was a hero in the war for independence, and it says hither that he was Mexico's first Afro-Mexican president—the Barack Obama of 1829!"
I smiled. My students were already rethinking some of their ideas virtually Mexico. They were collecting stories of things that they had taken for granted every bit "merely Mexican" and uncovering a more complex version of those stories.
By the fourth dimension we had finished our kickoff lesson exploring the Afropop site, students were hooked and energy was high. It was a good launching pad for our side by side question: If Afro-Mexicans have been living in United mexican states since the days of the slave trade, why wasn't anyone talking virtually it?
The Black Grandma in the Cupboard
If the goal for the start role of the unit was to claiming students to rethink Mexican identity, and specifically Black Mexican identity, parts two and three were well-nigh discovering the historical and political forces that led to the invisibility of Afro-Mexican roots, and the activism and resistance that occurred throughout history and into the present.
I decided to evidence an episode from the Henry Louis Gates series Black in Latin America titled "Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet." Gates documents the ways that Black Mexicans were oppressed and fabricated invisible, and how they have fought against Spanish oppressors and modern-twenty-four hours bigotry. I gave students lots of freedom to explore the Afropop Worldwide website however they wished, but I took a dissimilar tack for this next action.
"Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet" is full of data about why we don't often hear near Black Mexicans. Earlier students viewed the documentary, I created a note-taking template and so they could work together to capture the relevant facts. I listed important names, dates, and ideas in the guild they were mentioned in the documentary. Then I chose iv items for each 15-infinitesimal segment of the documentary. I fabricated a copy of the note-taking template for each student, and had students go into groups of four.
"OK, clase, vamos a ver el documental," I said, moving almost the room. "Nosotros've already discussed some ideas about why no one knew the African roots of the fandango, or that United mexican states had of import armed forces and political leaders who were Black. Josué suggested maybe all the Afro-Mexicans left the country, and Lalo talked well-nigh interracial relationships. Now nosotros're going to dig a little deeper and see what Mexican anthropologists and historians have to say. You tin see on your papers that important terms from the documentary are divided into sets of four. Each person in your group will exist responsible for taking notes on just one term. When we've heard all four terms, I'll terminate the documentary and every bit a grouping you will write 1 summary that includes all of those terms. OK?"
Students decided how they wanted to divide the terms and ideas among themselves, and I hitting play. By the time we finished, I was happy with my determination to accept students share the piece of work of understanding and synthesizing the reasons behind Mexico's hidden Black civilization. They collectively gathered and analyzed more than information than students working on their own. And, considering each person was responsible for one term per video segment, everyone had a responsibility to listen and share.
In one of their summaries, Lalo, Ana Maria, Itzel, and Evelyn wrote: "Tlacotepec is the metropolis where the documentary opens. They say that if the 'one-drop' rule were practical to this city, everyone would exist Black! The fandango uses Spanish instruments merely played in an African fashion. The documentary says that slaves were singing 'La Bamba' in 1683!!! (So, does that mean that Ritchie Valens broke copyright? LOL)"
Marta, Alex, Daniel, and Miguel wrote: "Vicente Guerrero, Mexico's get-go Black president (1830), said, 'The country comes first,' a common saying in United mexican states. After that, they abolished racial categories on birth certificates and other official documents."
This human action, though progressive in purpose, contributed to the systematic erasure of Afro-Mexican history. The simple act of eliminating racial categories did not eliminate racism, and some present-day activists are seeking to reinstate racial categories into the Mexican census and so that Afro-Mexicans tin can benefit from public policy. Miguel in particular was uncomfortable with the idea that a reintroduction of racial categories would fix the problem: "Father Hidalgo started our nation'south independence with El Grito de Dolores, and he believed that we should not accept racial categories. Activists similar State of israel Reyes, a teacher in Mexico, are trying to boost Afro-Mexican pride with their radio shows and activism to reintroduce racial categories. I remember the radio show is a good thought, but new demography categories will divide the people."
Eduardo'south group focused on the story of Sagrario Cruz Carretero, professor of anthropology at the University of Veracruz. Cruz Carretero did not find that she was Black until she was 19, when she traveled to Cuba and started recognizing herself and her family in the faces of the Cubans she met. The foods they made were the same foods—similar fufú—that Cruz Carretero's grandma fabricated, foods that tin can be traced back to Africa. When she returned to United mexican states, she asked her gramps why he had not told the family that they were Blackness. Her grandfather responded that they were non Black, they were moreno. According to Cruz Carretero, "This happens in most families—you hibernate the Black grandma in the closet."
Camila, Sofia, and Adán wrote: "Yanga is a town and a man. The town of Yanga is named after a slave who freed himself and lived for 30 years in the mountains fighting off the Spanish and defending his community. If the TV show Survivor had existed in the 16th century, he definitely would have won. And he did win against the Spanish—in 1609 they finally grew tired of fighting him and gave him the land. Yanga became ane of the commencement towns in United mexican states where Blacks could live free!"
Lalo snapped to attention when the pic started talking about interracial relationships. The Catholic Church allowed matrimony betwixt races and so, from early on, Africans, Europeans, and Indigenous Mexicans mixed bloodlines. The Castilian already had a heritage that was more open up to interracial relationships than other European countries, thanks to the centuries-long dominance of the Moors in Spain, so those relationships weren't as taboo every bit they were in the United States. Interracial marriages continued over time, to the betoken that one's African roots could only exist heard in the dropped d from the word helado, a sure hue in skin tone, or the taste of an old family recipe. "Run across?" Lalo said with a smug smile. "I told you they were making babies."
Pros and Cons of Racial Statistics
By at present, I had a caste of guilt about the resource I was providing them with—our two main sources had been in English. I needed to become my students back to reading in Spanish. And then next we looked at Afrodescendientes en México, past the Consejo Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación (National Council for Preventing Discrimination).
This document describes the problems, including the difficulties connected with the lack of racial statistics in Mexico, and offers concrete deportment that both the Mexican government and its citizens should have to counteract this history of invisibility and oppression. Specifically, information technology calls for more enquiry and a way to document the numbers and experiences of Afro-Mexicans.
Once again, I had a resources full of of import information that I wanted my students to capture. Therefore, I annotated the text earlier making copies for my students. I starred principal ideas, wrote definitions and synonyms for high-level vocabulary in the margins, added footnotes with questions for students to consider. I noted a few questions that I had while reading. Some students did not need this actress support, and for easier texts students would do this notation piece of work themselves. However, because this was a complicated government document, I wanted to make sure all my students had access to the information presented.
Then I divided the grade into heterogeneous groups so that students could assistance each other as needed. I told them that each group would decide who would be the reader, summarizer, director, and question-asker.
"One person is going to read aloud," I explained. "Some other is going to write a summary of the principal ideas from the text. The director is in accuse of watching the clock, and also making sure that everyone speaks and no 1 dominates the conversation. The question-asker will jot down questions that the group has while reading."
Students got busy reading and writing, and I walked around the classroom, listening in and answering questions.
Questions such as "Maestra, ¿qué es el racismo interiorizado? (Teacher, what's internalized racism?)" were an indication that students were existence exposed to a broader understanding of systems of oppression.
The text did not have hard data in the course of statistics on accomplishment gaps, poverty, or access to services—how could they provide this when the Mexican demography had no system for identifying those of African heritage? But the authors described the myriad ways that the ideology of racial superiority has spread into the language, didactics policy, and throughout Mexican lodge.
Mateo focused in on Memín Pinguín, a popular cartoon from the 1940s based on racist caricatures that could be compared to Sambo in the United states. The text reinforced information we had learned in the documentary. Mateo took notes on how the government had issued a commemorative postage stamp featuring Memín Pinguín in 2005 that had acquired such an international stir that Jesse Jackson flew to Mexico City to speak with and so-President Vicente Fox. Mateo told me that he wanted to write his final essay on this character.
Sofia and Camila were curious about the experience of Afro-Mexican women. They began to write downward questions almost how basing beauty standards on lo blanco (whiteness) affected women. They were also struck past the data that Afro-Mexican women are the nigh vulnerable targets of racism in Mexico, to the point that many of them leave the state, primarily heading to the United states.
Miguel called me over. "They're saying that they want to reintroduce racial categories in Mexico. I think that will split the people more." He shook his head. Miguel, a senior, had often encouraged the juniors to footstep out of their comfort zone and hang out with students of other races at our school. I admired his willingness to claiming his peers and the text. I also wanted him to consider multiple perspectives earlier solidifying his view.
"Miguel, I hear your concern virtually dividing people, but tin can you think of whatsoever ways that Blackness Mexicans would benefit from reintroducing racial categories? What does the article say?" Miguel returned to the text, searching the certificate for answers.
My students were asking of import questions, and it was fourth dimension for them to give phonation to what they were learning. For their finish-of-unit project, I asked them to write an explanatory essay, either highlighting an unsung Afro-Mexican historical figure or explaining how African beginnings has shaped the United mexican states of today.
Eyes Broad Open up
Before this unit of measurement, my students had little to no knowledge of the African presence in United mexican states. Past the terminate of the unit, students were asking of import questions about race, defining racial categories, and what it really means to exist Mexican. Many walked abroad with a different view of their family's country of origin, one whose history and cultural identity was infinitely more circuitous than they had previously imagined. Their final essays demonstrated that nosotros had met our goals of rethinking identity, identifying ways that Afro-Mexicans helped shape the nation, and reflecting on the present-day implications of Afro-Mexican invisibility.
"Many people do non know the history of Afro-Mexicans," wrote Ana Maria, "but it's cheers to them that we have various walls, cities, nutrient, and dance. Information technology may exist that you have to await with eyes wide open up to see information technology, but their presence is there for those who wish to run into it."
Miguel'southward paper was a response to the position of Afrodescendientes en MŽxico. He decided to stay truthful to his original stance: "I fear that reintroducing racial categories in Mexico will have the opposite event of what they desire. I don't think that they should divide people in this way because they may commencement to divide the country."
Every bit sometimes happens, this six-week unit evolved into about ten weeks of learning. At that place were a few things that I ended up cut, and others that I will do differently next time. For example, I'll build in more fourth dimension for small group discussion, and plan for students to struggle with the questions present-twenty-four hours activists are facing: how to undo the legacy of invisibility and oppression. In add-on, I would provide some more than journaling fourth dimension for students to self-reflect. For high school students deep in the throes of identity development, extra time for journaling may have allowed them to question assumptions they had about themselves, and the groups they identify with.
There is more work to practise—more counter-stories to offering, more questions to inquire, Afro-Latina/o history from countries other than Mexico to explore. Yet, my students began to empathize that national identity is something nosotros construct together and that, just like in our classroom, everyone has something to contribute.
Resources
- Afropop Worldwide. 2013. "La Bamba: The Afro-Mexican Story." Public Radio International. afropop.org.
- Velázquez, María Elisa, and Gabriela Iturralde Nieto. 2012. Afrodescendientes en México: Una historia de silencio y discriminación. Consejo Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación.
Source: https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/rethinking-identity-afro-mexican-history/
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