Mestiza(s), Mestizo(s)
Working Definition:
This descriptor, stemming from the Spanish colonial period and utilized during the American colonial period, was used to denote individuals and groups of mixed race. A clear example of its usage appears in The Report of the Philippine Commission, Vol. 3, Paper No. VII: Ethnography (Dec. 1900), in which races are designated as “pure,” “mixed (mestizo),” “Indonesian Tribes (Pure of nearly pure),” “Malayan with Negrito Blood,” “Malayan with Chinese Blood,” and “Malay-Moros,” and ascribed to various locations across the Philippine archipelago.
Related Terms:
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Report of the Philippine Commission, Vol. 3, Paper No. VII: Ethnography (Dec. 1900); Paul A. Kramer, The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006).