Mexico and Mexicans: Collective identities of origins

Abstract

We present some results from a study whose objective was to determine whether the origins associated with Mexico and Mexicans were the same. We assumed that there was a certain connection between these two ideas, but we recognized the presence of a constant contradiction between the predominantly positive characterization of the country and the tendentially negative characterization attributed to Mexicans. In short, we sought to approach the problem of Mexican identities through an approach that differed from the dominant trends that propose long lists of inventories in which the Mexican way of being is documented or sought to be documented. Thus, we turn to history and myths about origins in search of understanding: how these beliefs are forged and what form they take in the collective memory. Here we present our progress in the study, which corresponds to the ideas and opinions of different groups regarding the origins—history and myths—of Mexico and Mexicans. We present the results of a questionnaire administered to 38 social psychology students at the UAM-I and 38 university workers at the same university. We also present the results of 18 interviews conducted with workers, street vendors, and professionals in the Iztapalapa district. The results allow us to recognize two distinct “profiles” in the organization of responses associated with the origins of Mexico and Mexicans: one to characterize the origins of Mexico and another to characterize the origins of Mexicans. They also allow us to propose a hypothesis about the existence of collective representations around each of these origins. In short, they allow us to raise new questions and chart new paths in the study of an always controversial issue: the identity of Mexicans.