Mindset: Alert

Ok, in response to my previous post. As it was obvious, it was highly contradictory the way in which (as I translated) some of the results from the newspaper on the scientific article, were presented. For instance, whilst they say that 93% of the population was found to be mestizo. Yet, they say that the research found that in Campeche 70-75% of the population is indigenous, and 17.2% of the population in Veracruz has black ancestry. How, from these numbers, did we get to the 93% of mestizos? I know, I'm barking at the wrong tree here.

Right, so unfortunately, I could not access the original journal article because my university does not have access to it, wooooo, i know. Shame on it.

Anyway, at least I read the abstract that states mestizos form 93% of the Mexican population. Well, this makes me wonder about the veracity from the people who wrote the newspaper article (in El Universal), who reported that the research concluded that 93% of the Mexican population is mestizo based on their genetic research. The two sentences I present here are completely different; and the latter, being the one in the Mexican media -reaching most of the people-, is totally misleading! Beware, I'm saying this solely based on reading the abstract to the paper.

So, based on that information i decided to go to the obvious original source, INEGI, the Mexican statistics institute. If i don't remember wrongly, in Mexico the indigenous population is calculated according to self-reporting knowing/speaking an indigenous language. Yes, this is how the Mexican government calculates, and therefore reports, about the indigenous population in the country. Indeed, this is a highly debatable topic; and, in my opinion totally anti-ethical. For example, if I have a mother and father who are Nahua (a current group originated from different ancestries); but, if I was not taught Nahuatl (language), I am not indigenous. Well, well, well...

Anyway, coming back to the main point. The INEGI carried out a population calculation in 2005, and the report shows that indeed, the population that does not speak any indigenous language forms 93%, therefore these are the mestizos. Those who speak an indigenous language form almost 7%, therefore these are the indigenous. This, on such a superficial level, solves my issue of this morning. If you speak Spanish, let me know and I'll send you the file with the INEGI's tables on this subject.

At the end, I am very disappointed at the newspaper article because it is not transparent at all, and unfortunately it influences many people who believe in the mass media.