Critical Mestizaje and National Identity: Discourse of Difference in Americo Paredes

Abstract

This article analyzes the theoretical contributions of Mexican American scholar Américo Paredes to the concepts of mestizaje (race mixture), the nation state, nationality, and nationalism through a discourse of difference. The study examines Paredes's groundbreaking works, including his novel George Washington Gómez and poetry collection Between Two Worlds, as well as his scholarly articles from the 1960s. The paper argues that Paredes's theories on critical mestizaje and cultural production, such as the Mexican/Chicano corrido or ballad, emphasize discourse of difference linked to ethnic and racial categories. This work investigates how Paredes's concepts antedate later theoretical paradigms articulated by Homi Bhabha, Benedict Anderson, Chela Sandoval, and Gloria Anzaldúa. The author contends that Paredes's early works provide a rich vein of theoretical formulations that emphasize the cultural clash between Mexican Americans and Anglo American colonizers. This article demonstrates how Paredes's theories are an early precursor to borderland theories popularized in the late twentieth century.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)