Mestizo Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders (Rio Grande/Rio Bravo: Borderlands Culture and Traditions, 8)

"Mestizo is a term from the Mexican sociopolitical experience. It means "mixture" and implies a particular kind of mixture that has resulted in a blend of indigenous, African, and Spanish genes and cultures in Latin America. This mixture is not a "melting pot" experience, where all eventually become assimilated; rather, it is a mixture in which the influences of the different cultures remain identifiable but not static.

They all evolve through interaction with the others, and the resulting larger culture also evolves as the parts do. Mestizaje (the collective noun form) is thus process more than condition.".

"John Burke analyzes both American democratic theory and multiculturalism within political theology to develop a model for cultivating a democratic political community that can deal constructively with its cultural diversity. He applies this new model to a number of important policy issues: official language(s), voting and participation, equal employment opportunity, housing, and free trade.

He then presents an intensive case study, based on a parish "multicultural committee" and choir in which he has been a participant, to show how the "engaged dialogue" of mestizaje might work and what pitfalls await it.".

"Burke concludes that in the United States we are becoming mestizo whether we know it or not and whether we like it or not. By embracing the communitarian but non-assimilationist stance of intentional mestizaje, we can forge a future together that will be not only greater than the sum of its parts but also freer and more just than its past."--BOOK JACKET.