Download or read book The Mulatto in the National Narrative of Positivist Honduras, 1879-1887 written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some experiences of afro-descendants in Latin America can be determined through researching the mulatto group, the mixed-race descendants of Europeans and African slaves. During colonization in the Americas, mulattoes became a substantial presence in the region. Mulattoes participated in colonial Latin American society and sought to implicate themselves as citizens into the new nation during the independence movement. At this time, the writing of national identity and heritage began in the national narrative, which included those of Spanish, mestizo and to a lesser extent, indigenous heritages. Though those of African, or slave descent were largely excluded from new national histories, mulattoes were written into many Latin American national narratives and often became associated with national identity. This inclusion was a result of liberalism and the acceptance of those of mixed-race in the struggles of the early republic. Many prominent and influential mulattoes appeared in national narratives. However, this racial group still faced discrimination and exclusion as an extension of colonial perceptions of the slave-descended. The circulation of positivism and scientific race theory influenced and enhanced negative attitudes of Europeans and elite Latin Americans toward slave-descendants. This group was written out of national narratives to accommodate a Spanish-Indian mestizo heritage. Thus, the suppression of the mulatto group in the national narrative is very likely a result of racist attitudes and the claim to a mestizo national identity. The recovery of mulatto history may hold the key to understanding the experience of the slave-descended and the complexity of race in the national narratives of the nineteenth century. This thesis attempts to show mulatto presence in the late nineteenth-century national narrative of Honduras during positivism. Two Honduran intellectuals, Ramón Rosa and Antonio Vallejo, wrote the mulatto into the national narrative, revealing the complexity of Honduran racial identity. Rosa wrote about the mulatto military leader Francisco Ferrera, while Vallejo wrote about mulatto presence in Tegucigalpa and within the colonial racial classification system. These inclusions indicate perceptions of mulatto presence and contribution in the early Honduran republic. However, in Vallejo's 1887 Census, the mulatto group does not appear as a separate racial group. This may indicate that the mulatto was no longer seen as part of the national narrative due the influence of scientific race theory and the consolidation of a mixed-race identity. Thus, the mulatto was both included and excluded from the national narrative, complicating understandings of Honduran national identity. This thesis seeks to address contemporary issues of Honduran national identity in determining the presence and contributions of the mulatto group in nineteenth-century Honduran society.