Vasconcelos and La Raza Cósmica, (The Cosmic Race) : Picture of The Cosmos

Vasconcelos and la raza cósmica,
(the cosmic race)
Picture of the cosmos

José Vasconcelos
• Mexican statesman and philosopher (1882-1959)
• Minister of Public Education (1921-24)
• Historical context: rebellion against dictatorship of
Porfirio Díaz in 1910 to establish a democratic
republic. Mexican Revolution lasted ten years.
After the revolution President Obregon (1920-24)
launches education and land reforms and laws
protecting workers’ rights.
• Vasconcelos: What is Mexico and what is its path?
La Raza Cósmica
• In this essay, Vasconcelos embraces mestizaje,
long looked upon as an impediment to forming
a strong and prosperous nation, and frames it
as an asset.
• Presents all of Latin America as unique and
privileged due to its mixture of ethnicities.
• He maintains that this cosmic race will come
into being in Latin America – that it is in
process.
La Raza Cósmica
• Vasconcelos emphasized “an ethnic and
spiritual fusion of peoples” (Miller 30).
• The title, “The Cosmic Race,” emphasizes the
spiritual, an aesthetic order achievable through
blood mixture.
• Declares that Christian love is a core value of
the cosmic race. Saw the Latin American people
as a “chosen people” to produce the cosmic
‘race.’
La Raza Cósmica
• Vasconcelos criticized the U.S. for violently
erasing ethnicities in the quest to form their
national identity: Latin America (the Spaniards
and Criollos/ Creoles), instead, assimilated
ethnic groups throughout history. Therefore,
Latin America offers “a thousand bridges…
available for the sincere and cordial fusion of
all races” (Miller, 30-31).
La Raza Cósmica
• Latin America’s history of mestizaje and
climate of love is conducive to the
development of a “synthetic race, the
integral race, made up of the genius and
the blood of all peoples and for that
reason, more capable of true
brotherhood and of a truly universal
vision” (Miller 32).
La Raza Cósmica
• Vasconcelos is heralded for his celebration of
mestizaje, and for declaring Latin America as
the chosen place for the Cosmic Race.
However, there are parts of his essay that
indicate a favoring of the European component.
• He cites his travels to Brazil and Argentina in
the essay, and praises Argentina for being the
most civilized and European of all of Latin
America. (pp. 32-33 in Miller)
La Raza Cósmica
• A careful reading of the work reveals that his vision
of the Cosmic Race was based upon the evolution of
a more prominent European presence and a
diminished presence of other ethnicities over time.
His vision “assumes that acculturation can and
should proceed in a guided, enlightened fashion,
retaining the positive (European) and discarding the
negative (other ethnicities). The people themselves
will make the choice to breed/ move toward a more
European racial mixture/ representation.
How la Raza Cósmica is
Perceived Today
• La Raza Cósmica is associated with Latino/a pride and
awareness. There is little focus on the passages that show
a privileging of the European presence over the
indigenous, African, and other ethnic presences.
• “Against the backdrop of the ideology of white supremacy
and superiority in Europe and the United States,
Vasconcelos’ comments were radical and innovative….His
idea of a cosmic race… provided a therapeutic response”
to assertions that mixed-ethnicity peoples were inferior
(Miller 34). His words were, and continue to be, a source
of hope and unity.
Miller’s reflection
• “Vasconcelos left in his wake a Latin
American racial discourse that
remains “a continuing paradox of
harmony and struggle….” (44).
Criticism of the Cosmic Race
• What about the people who identify as
indigenous, black, or as part of another
ethnic community and who seek to
preserve their cultural autonomy and
political agency? Are they expected to
‘disappear’?
• See Gates quote p. 89
Exploring mestizaje
• Alan Knight: “Racism can be driven
underground (not necessarily very far
underground); it can shift its premises …
without that ideological shift substantially
affecting a daily practice; and daily practice
may even acquire added virulence as a result
of official attempts at positive discrimination”
(Miller, Cult of Mestizaje, 4)
José Vasconcelos and the murals
• Minister of Public Education, 1921-24
• Before the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), it is
estimated that 20% of the Mexican population
was literate.
• Education was parochial – Catholic schools.
• Vasconcelos launched a massive expansion of
access to public, secular (non-religious)
education and expanded access to secular
schools in rural areas.
José Vasconcelos
• La Raza Cósmica – a new mestizo “race.”
• Gave funding and space to the “big three”
muralists: Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and
David Siqueiros. Their mission: break from
imitation. Teach Mexicans about their unique
past and instill pride in Mexico.
• Vasconcelos: “Mexico must be spiritually and
culturally independent” (Burns 20).
Exploring the Murals of the Big Three
• https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/history-of-
mexico-in-murals/
Doña Marina/ La Malinche
• Conquistador Cortés’ “lover,” an
indigenous young woman given to Cortés
as a slave. She served as an interpreter
between Cortés and the Aztec and Maya
peoples. She bore a mestizo son, Martín.
Some see her as having betrayed Mexico.
Others see her as the mother of the
mestizos, the Mexican people.

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Vasconcelos and la raza cósmica,

(the cosmic race)

Picture of the cosmos

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