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La Raza Cósmica

 

 
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La Raza Cósmica
 
 
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Published in 1925, La Raza Cósmica (The Cosmic Race) is an essay written by late Mexican
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 philosopher, secretary of education, and 1929 presidential candidate, José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos

Jos? Vasconcelos Calder?n was a Mexico writer, philosopher and politician of Spanish people, Italian people, and Portuguese people ancestry. He married Serafina Miranda of Tlaxiaco in the Oaxaca in 1906....
 to express the ideology of a future "fifth race" in the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
; an agglomeration of all the races in the world with no respect to color or number to erect a new civilization: Universópolis. As he explains in his literary work, armies of people would then go forth around the world professing their knowledge.






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Published in 1925, La Raza Cósmica (The Cosmic Race) is an essay written by late Mexican
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 philosopher, secretary of education, and 1929 presidential candidate, José Vasconcelos
José Vasconcelos

Jos? Vasconcelos Calder?n was a Mexico writer, philosopher and politician of Spanish people, Italian people, and Portuguese people ancestry. He married Serafina Miranda of Tlaxiaco in the Oaxaca in 1906....
 to express the ideology of a future "fifth race" in the Americas
Americas

The Americas are the region of the Western hemisphere that consists of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions....
; an agglomeration of all the races in the world with no respect to color or number to erect a new civilization: Universópolis. As he explains in his literary work, armies of people would then go forth around the world professing their knowledge. Vasconcelos continues to say that the people of the Iberian
Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
 regions of the Americas (that is to say, the parts of the continent colonised by Portugal
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
 and Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
) have the territorial, racial, and spiritual factors necessary to initiate the "universal era of humanity".

Claiming that the Darwinist
Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism refers to various ideologies based on a concept that competition among all individuals, groups, nations, or ideas drives social evolution in human societies....
 ideologies are "scientific" theories only created to validate, explain, and justify ethnic superiority and to repress others, Vasconcelos attempts to refute these theories and goes on to recognize his words as being an ideological effort to improve the cultural morale of a "depressed race" by offering his optimistic theory of the future development of a cosmic race.

Usage of phrase

The phrase, "La raza cósmica", in English "the cosmic race", embodies the notion that traditional, exclusive concepts of race and nationality can be transcended in the name of humanity's common destiny
Destiny

Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a Predeterminism future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe....
. It originally referred to a movement by Mexican intellectuals during the 1920s who pointed out that Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
ns have the blood of all the world's races (White Europeans
White people

White people is a term which is usually used to refer to Human characterized, at least in part, by the light Human skin color. It often refers narrowly to people claiming ancestry exclusively from Europe....
, Asian
Asian people

Asian or Asiatic people is a demonym for people from Asia. However, the use of the term varies by country and person, often referring to people from a particular region or subregion of Asia....
-descended Native-Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
 and Black Africans
Black (disambiguation)

Black is both a color and scientifically speaking the absence of color.Black may also refer to:*Black people*Black *Black , a coat color of horse...
), transcending the peoples of the "old world".

Vasconcelos also used the term when he coined the National Autonomous University of Mexico´s motto: "Por mi raza hablará el espíritu".

It has come, often in its shortened version "La Raza
La Raza

La Raza is sometimes used to denote people of Chicano and Mexican people descent and the Latino world, as well by mestizos who share Indigenous peoples of the Americas or national Hispanic heritage....
", to refer to the mixed race people
Multiracial

The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple race ....
 of Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
, i.e., primarily mestizo
Mestizo

Mestizo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Europe and Indigenous peoples of the Americas ancestry in Latin America....
s, mulatto
Mulatto

Mulatto denotes a person with one White people parent and one Black people parent or a person who has black ancestry and white ancestry. It is perceived as pejorative and demeaning in some cultures....
s, and zambo
Zambo

Zambo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire and continues to be used today to identify individuals in Hispanic America who are of mixed African people and Indigenous people of the Americas ancestry....
s or all three combined. Vasconcelos also used the expression, "la raza de bronce" ("the bronze race"), in this same sense.

See also

  • Chicano
    Chicano

    Chicano is a word for a Mexican American . The terms Chicano and Chicana were originally used by and regarding U.S. citizens of Mexican descent....
  • Hispanic
    Hispanic

    Hispanic is a term that historically denoted relation to the ancient Hispania . During the Modern Era, it took on a more limited meaning relating to the contemporary nation of Spain....
  • Latino
    Latino

    The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."...
  • Mexican American
    Mexican American

    Mexican Americans are United States of Mexican descent. They account for 9% of the country's population: 28.3 million Americans listed their ancestry as Mexican as of 2006....
  • Mestizo
    Mestizo

    Mestizo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Europe and Indigenous peoples of the Americas ancestry in Latin America....
  • Mulatto
    Mulatto

    Mulatto denotes a person with one White people parent and one Black people parent or a person who has black ancestry and white ancestry. It is perceived as pejorative and demeaning in some cultures....
  • Multiracial
    Multiracial

    The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple race ....
  • Race in Brazil
  • Race (United States Census)
    Race (United States Census)

    Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are Self-concept data items in which residents choose the Race in the United States or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin ....
  • Race of the Future


External links

  • (Spanish)