The Morenos of San Nicolás: A Case for Reimagining Mexican (Black) Identity (original) (raw)

Upon first glance, Chocolate and Corn Flour's title is deceiving. Anyone who comes across this book might think that it is a contribution to Mexican food history as much as to an ethnography of "Black" Mexico. The first half of the book's title is an oblique reference to champurrado, an indigenous drink made from chocolate and corn flour, but the reference to food ends there. Lewis, in fact, borrows the reference from a woman in San Nicolás who uses the word champurrado to describe the racial mixture between San Nicoladenses and Indians. While this metaphor is fitting for Lewis' larger argument about racial mixture being more multifaceted than