Land of the Cosmic Race: The Review

Christina A. Sue is a very intelligent woman who has done countless hours of research on race and ethnicity as well as immigration. She received her Ph.D form UCLA in !!" and is now an assistant sociology #rofessor at the University of Colorado. $er %oo& which is entitled Land of the Cosmic Race was #u%lished in !'(. This %oo& was classified as an ethnocentric %ody of wor& in which she e)#lores the racial mi) the *e)ico has and the life of the different #eo#le that #o#ulate the country. +eracru, is filled with many different #eo#le such as #eo#le of -uro#ean descent. African descent. and *e)ican descent. /ith all these races and ethnicities in the same #lace. there is %ound to %e friction %etween the different social classes. Sue %rought to the attention of her readers the fact that the #olitical leaders of *e)ico %elieve that racism does not e)ist in their country. 0n the introduction of the %oo& on #age ". Sue states that there is a color hierarchy in *e)ico that consists of a wide #o#ulation of #eo#le from different heritages. Throughout the %oo&. Sue %rings the term mestizaje into her arguments. *esti,a1e is a term that means the #erson is mi)ed with -uro#ean and 2ative American decent. /ith the #o#ulation %eing very vast. you would thin& that the #eo#le who live in this area would live in #eace and harmony with each other. That is not the case in *e)ico even though the country tries to #ortray that no racism e)ists. 3ne thing 0 %elieved that Sue did well in the %oo& was identifying the different ty#es of racism that was evident in *e)ico. 3ne that stuc& out to me was the use of race humor. 0 never

noticed how some #eo#le viewed racial 1o&es until Sue made it evident in her wor&. /hether you notice or not. everyone has used racial humor not &nowing how it would affect someone of a different race. Another #oint that Sue %rought to my attention was the ideology of accusing the accuser. The #eo#le of *e)ico have %een &nown to associate the dar&er #eo#le of +eracru, to mon&eys. This may have not %een a %ig deal to them %ut when #eo#le of other nationalities seen this. they were a##alled. /hen confronted a%out this s#ecific incident. the #eo#le of #ower in +eracru, didn4t see a #ro%lem with it. They often mentioned that the U.S. was a country of racism %ut not *e)ico. The #eo#le of +eracru, would #oint the finger to %lame someone else %ut not ta&e res#onsi%ility for their wrong doings. 3ne thing 0 did not li&e a%out the %oo& was the fact that she used so many different stories as evidence. 5or me #ersonally. it %ecame hard to follow each story %ecause of how many she used. -very story was su##orted and well wrote %ut 0 %elieve the same message would have %een made with less stories. This %oo& was very uni6ue in my o#inion %ecause it gave a #oint of view that a lot of #eo#le cannot relate with %ecause they have not %een in this situation or have not done the research a%out this #articular su%1ect. This %oo& shed light on the life of #eo#le that live in +eracru, and the o%stacles that the #eo#le of the lower class went through while the individuals with #ower thrived. Social hierarchy #layed a large #art in how +eracru, was and in some instances still is today.