Racial Identification of Black Mexicans and its Effects on Measurements of Population Size and Ethno-racial Inequality

• In Event: 2271 - National and International Perspectives on the Perceptions, Management, and Social Construction of Blackness

Abstract

In 2015, Mexico’s National Statistical Office (INEGI) conducted an Inter-Census Survey (EIC) which included a question on black self-identification and thus represents the first time official data has been collected on blacks in Mexico. In 2016 INEGI conducted another survey on social mobility (MMSI) which also asked about ethno-racial identification and included a black/mulatto option. Data from these recent government surveys provide an unprecedented opportunity to examine the issue of black identification in Mexico. Moreover, because the two official surveys had distinctive question wordings and response options, we were able to assess the consequences of different kinds of state-sponsored ethno-racial identification measures on estimations of the size of Mexico’s black population and ethno-racial inequality. Moreover, because the EIC also includes a separate question on indigenous self-identification, we are able to investigate the (very large) population of individuals who identify as black and indigenous. We find that the EIC’s question, which defined black identity largely in cultural terms, resulted in a much smaller population estimate, and suggested that Afrodescendants in Mexico have similar socioeconomic levels to the average Mexican, which is inconsistent with the high levels of skin color inequality found in Mexico and with evidence of socioeconomic disadvantage of Afrodescendants in many other Latin American countries. In contrast, the MMSI data indicate a larger black population and show consistent black disadvantage across all regions of the country. Our results suggest that question formulation strongly affects measurement of self-identified blacks in Mexico, a country with extremely porous ethno-racial boundaries and which has only recently officially recognized the existence of a black population, and has significant implications for measurements of population size and ethno-racial inequality.

Authors

• Christina Alicia Sue, University of Colorado-Boulder

• Fernando Riosmena

• Edward E. Telles, University of California-Santa Barbara