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The Mestiso identity is perhaps the best known of the casta
identities and the most complexly layered with meanings, both positive
and negative. From the story of Malinche and Cortes to the struggle for
Mexican independence in the 19th Century, the Mestiso has been marked as
the new and defining identity of New Spain.  However,
though the independence movement heralded mestizaje as the core of a new
nation, real Mestisos faced a much less valorized position in colonial
New Spain. Before the Spanish solidified their control in New Spain, the
ethno-racial identity of a Mestiso child was determined by whether or not
his or her father recognized him/her as legitimate. If he did, the child
would be seen as Spanish. If not, the mother and the child returned to
their Native life. However, after the Spanish hierarchy was firmly established,
Mestiso identity appeared and became problematic for the Spanish rulers.
Mestisos didn't fit into the carefully divided worlds of Native and Spanish.
They were described as unruly and ill-mannered. The Spanish passed new
laws to control the Mestisos and create a niche for them. That niche provided
the Mestisos with neither the legal protection afforded to Natives, nor
the rights given to Spaniards. They were, however, free to work wherever
they chose and were exempt from Native tribute payments. |
Mulatto
Morisco
As
seems to be usual, the man is Spanish and the woman Native. While some
Casta Paintings of Mestisos show a Native man and Spanish woman, the Mestiso
paintings seem to be one of the few instances in which the gender of the
Spanish partner is almost always male. This fairly stable combination of
Spanish man, Native woman, and Mestiso child could be an echo of the myth
of the Native woman Malinche and the Spanish Hernan Cortes. It could also
be a recognition of a social reality, especially among the upper classes,
in which men could afford to "marry down" while women could not.