DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - The difference between mestizos and indio-mestizos?

Alright guys, I know this has been a while but I'm intrigued by this thread as I've recently came across it and wanted to clear something up and am part of the "Mestizo" spectrum, although I don't like to identify as Mestizo and prefer to be called mixed, since these terms stem from colonialism. In addition, these are also terms meant to reject and assimilate our Native roots, so I consider myself mixed as a way of indigenous resistance and pride... Anyways, I say we should also be careful about making narrow generalizations of the appearance of us mixed and full or nearly full blood Natives of Mexico or the rest of Latin America as well. Because note that the Natives of Latin America can look quite different from the Natives up in Northern America (especially in what is now the U.S. and Canada) but nevertheless we all belong to the same race!

Another thing to note is that even within the same ethnic groups of Natives (Mayans for example), they still can have a great diversity of appearances and facial features! I mean, talking about Native Americans as a whole from the top of Canada all the way to the bottom of South America, you'll realize the intense diversity of features between the Native, mainly due to differences in climate and some population factors.

Now without further ado, I'd like to show some of my examples of people I found who technically belong to this "Mestizo/a" spectrum, or a similar mix at least:

Balanced Mestizo examples:

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...Render%202.jpg

^ This image is also a perfect example of a true Mestizo as she's exactly half Taino and Spanish if I remember correctly.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...Render%201.jpg

^ Now this one is half Quechua (Native Peruvian) and Irish.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/.../liladowns.jpg

^ Here is Lila Downs, who's half Mixtec and Scottish-American

http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~miturria/project/zapata1.gif

^ Here's Emiliano Zapata, and actually I'm not 100% sure if he's a true or balanced Mestizo, but considering his family has both Nahua and Spanish people, he's definitely part of the Mestizo spectrum. Keep in mind I'm also just judging by how I personally believe his features are balanced out evenly with Native and Spanish features.

Indo-Mestizo examples:

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...Render%203.jpg

^ this one is 3/4 Nahua and 1/4 Spanish/European, but I've seen other photos of this young lady who's skin is noticeably lighter. This is because this photo was taken during here being out in the summer and her other photos have fillers/effects that sometimes make her skin appear lighter.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...SizeRender.jpg

^ Then this one is just barely Indo-Mestizo as she has only one Spanish relative, which is one of her great grandparents believe it or not... She does have great cultural connection to her primary ancestry, Mixtec.

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...zeRender_1.jpg

^ And finally, this one is mostly Native Mexican of Nahua and Chichimeca Jonaz ancestry with a small amount of Spanish ancestry

BTW, if you've seen or look up the movie Apocalypto, then you'll find many examples of Indo-Mestizos and maybe even full blood Natives!

Now moving onto full-blood to almost full blood Natives in Mexico, and other Latin American countries like Guatemala. So in these examples, most of the people will be Mayan but I'll specify which ones aren't and/or where they're from...

Full blood Natives/Nearly full blood Natives:

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...a_Kan_2010.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...man31/foto.jpg

^ Here's Dr. Francisco Luna Kan, a true and completely pure blood Mayan!

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1658.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1660.jpg

^ Mayan men

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...ro-1742862.jpg

^ Armando Manzanero, a Mayan descendant

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1655.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1657.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1656.jpg

^ Mayan women and girls, including a baby

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1663.jpg
http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1662.png

^ Mayan families from Guatemala

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...1/IMG_1659.jpg

^ Mayan couples from Guatemala

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...arciacutea.png

^ Benito Juarez, a pure blood Zapotec Native

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...n31/menchu.jpg

^ Rigoberta Menchu, a Mayan from Guatemala

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...Youngblood.jpg

^ Rudy Youngnblood, half Comanche and Yaqui (Native to Mexico as well), so he should be full blood Native

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...e986b5ad62.jpg

^ And last but not least, a girl and a man who are Mexican Indian descendants too just for the hell of it