Language of Blood

John M Nieto-Phillips, himself a nuevomexicano, argues that Spanish-American identity evolved out of a medieval rhetoric about blood purity, or limpieza de sangre, as well as a modern longing to enter the United States's white body politic. He is associate professor of history and Latino studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

"[John] Nieto-Phillips details the history and evolution of the 'Spanish fantasy heritage' of New Mexico as both useful nostalgia and a racial curse that won't go away. Nieto-Phillips's work is an excellent start to the study of New Mexico identity politics." - Journal of the West "For those growing up in the United States, there is often a response by some 'Hispanics' that their family has never mixed with indigenous races.... [Nieto-Phillips] focuses on the myth of 'blood purity,' and how and why generations of New Mexicans insisted that they were descendants from the Spanish explorers and settlers of the region.... [He] explores how this belief came about and its relation with New Mexico gaining its statehood." - Chicanos "... first-rate scholarship.... vibrant with firsthand accounts drawn from primary documents that enliven the depiction of race relations at any given time...." - Southwestern American Literature"