Mixed race in Argentina: Concealing Mixture in the "White" Nation

Abstract

In Argentina, race has been an elusive concept and a changing category. During the nation-building process of the 19th century, ruling elites implemented policies to achieve an ideal White-European national citizenry. The European migrants who arrived in great numbers between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were thought to improve the pre-existing population comprised of Blacks, Indians, Spaniards, and their mixtures. Through overlapping processes of racialization and ethnicization framed in a settler colonialism process, Argentineans developed two types of mixing ideologies: whitening, considered a positive process, and mestizaje (mixture). Unlike other Latin American countries where mestizaje and the Mestizo were celebrated by national elites, these terms carried a negative charge in Argentina, as they named the undesirable mixed (non-White) people. The permanence of the whitening ideology explains why mixed race categories are still not included in the National Census. Even though Argentina represents itself as a raceless republic, the racialization of the social class structure and the ethnicization of race made racial classifications to continue in existence, under different names. As such, mixed race categoriesn comprising racial, ethnic and social meanings found their way through alternative channels.