The myth of mestizaje

During our past days in class the other students and I have been reading from others such as Jeffrey Gould and Mirna Cunningham to learn more about the colonization and multi-cultural dimensions of Nicaragua...
Yesterday I finished writing a reflection paper on some of this reading and I found myself agreeing very strongly with the thesis that mestizaje is a myth.
So there is the word "mestizo" which means "mixed races" and then "mestizaje" signifies the process of becoming mestizo.
This theory of mestizaje came out of colonial times, specifically speaking about Latin America, when the Spanish and British came and colonized. Of course, before colonization indigenous people inhabited the lands (and remained but had their land taken away). African presence came about when escaped slaves (and then-current slaves during the African Slave Trade) came to Latin American. So when these cultures began connecting, "inter-mixing" (as the words associated with mestizaje often say), new generations began having multiple heritages.
Basically the concept of mestizaje de-values and delegitimizes the holding on to one's cultural uniqueness. Rather than specifically identifying from one's roots, one is given the title of mestizo in order to generalize and group a people.

To articulate these issues more I will post my paper that I wrote because I feel as though I´m not explaining the topic as well as I should, in order to give it full justice.
More to come, then...