To challenge the dominant Mexican narrative of racial democracy that traditionally invisibilizes and delegitimizes those who have been affected by racism, it is imperative to deconstruct the discourse on mestizaje as a central component of Mexican national identity. The notion of México as a racial democracy is accepted throughout México, and is most evident in the nation’s culture and politics. To acknowledge that racism exists in México is essential, since it is impossible to work with a claim that people do not see, dismiss, or do not believe exists. Mestizaje has long been the promise of racial equality, but this uncritical and unexamined positioning of mestizaje ignores or trivializes the colonial and present day baggage that accompanies the term. The uncritical celebration of mestizaje needs to be supplanted with a reexamination of colonialism and capitalism, both of which influenced ideological theories and racial formation from the late sixteenth century through the twentieth century in the Americas.

Corolaire de l'exode rural et de l'industrialisation, une attention au patrimoine local et à l'espace régional se fait jour en France à la fin du 19e siècle. Cet intérêt se manifeste en particulier à travers le renouvellement et le dynamisme de revues destinées à de nouvelles catégories sociales aspirant à une activité culturelle. Préfiguration du magazine, ces revues contribuent au sein des espaces français à définir des identités régionales. Elle permettent d'élargir les critères de patrimonialisation, auparavant cantonnés à l'histoire, à la littérature et à la philologie, et à démocratiser par la mise à l'honneur des traditions populaires, de la pratique personnelle des espaces (tourisme, environnement) et de leur approche esthétique. Elles tendent aussi à individualiser un rapport jusque-là communautaire aux territoires. Elles marquent enfin le renouvellement d'une vision du patrimoine à base d'héritage et d'atavisme, au profit d'une notion plus moderne de patrimoine d'élection, notamment dans le cadre de l'évasion par rapport au quotidien. / Corollary of the rural exodus and the industrialization, a focus on the local heritage and on the regional area emerges in France at the end of the 19th century. This concern manifests itself through the regeneration and the dynamism of journals intended for new social groups yearning for cultural activities. Prefiguration of the magazine, these journals contribute, inside of French Regions, to the definition of the regional identities. They enable the expansion of the making of heritage, previously limited to history, literature and philology, and its democratization, thanks to the valorization of popular traditions, to the private practice of the areas (tourism, environment) et to its esthetical approach. They also seek the individualization of a so far communal relation to territories. Finally, they rejuvenate a conception of heritage based on legacy and atavism, in favor of a more modern concept of chosen heritage, especially in the context of escaping daily life.