A simple observation of Mexico’s current demographic statistics makes it difficult to believe that the slave population of New Spain, modern day Mexico, was the largest in the Americas at one point in time. Just one percent of the Mexican population currently identifies as being of African descent, a significantly smaller portion of the population than other former slave colonies in the Americas. This small prevalence of the Afro-Mexican population has led to a lost history of these people, especially with the Mexican government 's past efforts to create a general nationalistic identity that favors the mestizo narrative. However, the heavy involvement of the church in the story of slavery and creolization in New spain distinguishes this narrative
…show more content…
Africans in Colonial Mexico is vastly different than the typical slave narrative which narrate slavery from an economic standpoint. Placing importance on the domestic lives of the African/Creole population of modern day Mexico offers a new perspective into the life of slaves and free blacks, giving them greater depth that goes beyond the population’s relation to horrific punishment and economic systems. All in all, the narrative succeeds in narrating this history through a religious scope but could go further by touching upon cultural formation in relation to catholic influence. Bennett’s second book on the subject written in 2009 titled Colonial blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico improves upon its predecessor by doing just …show more content…
The main source of information examined remains the same as Bennett summarizes church records that revolve around marriage, inquisition, and legal conflicts. However, within these narratives, the major aspects of customs and cultural formation of Afro-Mexicans is given a greater presence. Bennett argues in the second book that the Creole identity formation revolved around strategic awareness of one 's relationship to the church, mainly through the act of marriage. While criticizing other scopes of storytelling Bennett states, “Rarely do we perceive of domesticity as the heroic stuff of history when writing about the descendants of the enslaved who made valiant efforts to define themselves by staking claims to a family life and kinship ties” (216). Through this narrative, aspects of modern Mexico in relation to the African diaspora become better
Africans in Colonial Mexico is vastly different than the typical slave narrative which narrate slavery from an economic standpoint. Placing importance on the domestic lives of the African/Creole population of modern day Mexico offers a new perspective into the life of slaves and free blacks, giving them greater depth that goes beyond the population’s relation to horrific punishment and economic systems. All in all, the narrative succeeds in narrating this history through a religious scope but could go further by touching upon cultural formation in relation to catholic influence. Bennett’s second book on the subject written in 2009 titled Colonial blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico improves upon its predecessor by doing just …show more content…
The main source of information examined remains the same as Bennett summarizes church records that revolve around marriage, inquisition, and legal conflicts. However, within these narratives, the major aspects of customs and cultural formation of Afro-Mexicans is given a greater presence. Bennett argues in the second book that the Creole identity formation revolved around strategic awareness of one 's relationship to the church, mainly through the act of marriage. While criticizing other scopes of storytelling Bennett states, “Rarely do we perceive of domesticity as the heroic stuff of history when writing about the descendants of the enslaved who made valiant efforts to define themselves by staking claims to a family life and kinship ties” (216). Through this narrative, aspects of modern Mexico in relation to the African diaspora become better