Intra-Racial and Ethnic Othering among the Mexican-Origin Population in the Southwest

Abstract

This dissertation observes Mexican Othering to demonstrate the influencing characteristics of intra-racial and ethnic tensions among the Mexican-origin population in the Southwestern U.S.-Mexico Border. While acknowledging the systematic sociopolitical and economic relations that participate in the formation of racial paradigms, I argue that Mexican intra-racial and ethnic tensions sustain and manifest towards the formation of the Other. I consider three main study themes and their respective texts: 1) phenotypic factors (such as skin color, physical appearance, indigeneity, and whiteness) in Malintzin’s Choices: An Indian Woman in the Conquest of Mexico (2006) by Camilla Townsend, and The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) by Oscar “Zeta” Acosta; 2) class-consciousness (such as language, education, mobility, and politics) in Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (1982) by Richard Rodriguez; 3) national and regional ideologies (such as border politics, migration, Americanness, and Mexicanness) in Macho! (1973) by Victor Villaseñor, the ethnographic study of “Fight Words: Latina Girls, Gangs, and Language Attitudes” (1999) by Norma Mendoza-Denton, and YouTube video of “Ana Gaines Racist Mexicana” (2009) by Carlos Galindo. Furthermore, I observe that Mexican intra-racial and ethnic tensions invoke a search for belonging that can be traced to several epochs. These eras date from the 16th Century during the Spanish invasion of Mexico, the 20th Century during the Anglo American invasion of the Southwest, and the 21st Century of current interactions. I consider an interdisciplinary approach and recollect from important historical occurrences such as the Spanish-Indigenous contact and the arrival of Hernán Cortés (1519); the Mexican-American War (1846-1848); World War II (1939-1945); and the Chicano Movement (1960). This dissertation contributes to the broader conceptual framework in understanding the complex ways racial and ethnic attitudes form and persist among the Mexican population. This study will provide further knowledge of differences to understand intragroup relations, political behaviors, and subjective processes. Additionally, it contributes to the literature on Othering and its formation by emphasizing the contextual transformative nature of social constructs.