[Xmca-l] Re: Stereotyping Latin America and Mexico at the U. of Louisville

[Annalisa Aguilar]

Martin,

What you say is very true. Unfortunately if we are going to take the construction of the Lazy Mexican at face value, and most of our contact in the US is with agricultural workers, or workers in restaurants, or nannies, and housekeepers, who don't look anything like this... then where does this construct come from? None of these people are lazy! They work! and when they work, they work hard. 

Of course many Mexican Americans are even educated and professionally successful. How about that. So are they the lazy ones?

The takeaway is Mexicans are not lazy. So where does the construct come from, and why is that construct used as a signifier of "Mexican cultural dress"?

I don't recall German immigrants being cast as lazy. Nor Vietnamese or Chinese immigrants. 

It really makes no sense. 

Kind regards,

Annalisa