Nuevomexicano culture extends far beyond Spanish colonialism
Ihave grown up with both Mexican and Nuevomexicano families. But at age 11, when I was first exposed to New Mexico history and culture, I was mesmerized to learn about New Mexico’s “Spanish” past.
Like many Nuevomexicanos, I believed that I held direct ancestral ties to Spain because of New Mexico’s history. Years later I studied our history more extensively for my bachelor’s degree and still read on it today. I’ve learned that Nuevomexicano culture extends far beyond Spanish colonialism and that our adherence to it is exaggerated, artificial, and an antiquated manner of clinging to “the Spanish Myth.”
While New Mexico’s “Europeanization” began in the late 16th century, there are many generations of history before and after. Indigenous pueblos made many contributions to Nuevo Mexicano language and culture.
The famous “Spanish Conquistador” Don Juan de Oñate himself was not “Spanish,” he was from the Mexican province of Zacatecas. His famous entrada came from neighboring Chihuahua, Mexico, not from Spain.
Most of the families who came with him were of mixed ethnic background, and another handful were Indigenous. Over many following generations, inter-ethnic mixing and marriage created a regional ethnicity distinct from Spanish or even Mexican ethnicity.
Importantly, other countries south of the border comprise a similar history yet they don’t claim a “Spanish” heritage.
This claim has its roots in 19th century race relations. New Mexico became a U.S. territory during the same period as Jim Crow and violent segregation.
Skepticism of New Mexico’s largely Mexican and Native American population raised doubts among U.S. politicians for admitting New Mexico as a state.
To counter these racist arguments, Nuevomexicanos of the political and business class began to lay claim to a “Spanish” ethnicity as a way to distinguish themselves from the harshly-named “mongrel” and “greaser” Mexican and Indigenous majority. They boasted our “Spanish” past to American politicians and the growing tourist industry.
Thus, efforts to promote and “preserve” our “Spanish” history sparked and continue to perpetuate this myth.
The vast epic of New Mexico history in the 200-plus years since the end of the Spanish colonial period is about as long as the Spanish colonial period itself (1598-1821), and growing.
In 1821, New Mexico fell under the rule of a newly independent Mexico. New Mexicans shared a unique experience and developed a unique regional identity akin to those of Chihuahuenses, Tejanos, Californios, etc.
Nuevomexicano ethnicity and heritage has been extensively studied by historians and anthropologists.
Linguistic studies conducted on the New Mexican Spanish language, for example, disprove it from being “Old Castillian” Spanish, and even genetic studies disprove the myth that Nuevomexicanos have “pure Spanish” ancestry.
We have a truly unique heritage to embrace that isn’t stuck to Spanish colonialism, a history and culture that are more closely related to regional Mexican than to Spanish peninsular.
Many Nuevomexicanos’ heritage is linked to working farmers and ranchers of a remote Mexican province. This is nothing to be ashamed of. In the modern world, we strive to embrace cultural diversity.
To continue adhering to claims of “Spanishness” doesn’t remotely scratch the surface of our real history and heritage. It flies in the face of generations of people who themselves didn’t even conceive of it. It is long outdated, breeds contention, and needs to be put to rest.