  Against this backdrop, feminist reflections on race/ethnicity have sought to undermine the racism of national ideologies that have led to their subordination and marginalization. One such ideology is that of mestizaje which emerged as part of nation building projects throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Mestizaje favored the formation of a racially-mixed people but came saturated with Eurocentrism and privileged the whitening of the Americas. Mestizaje ensured structural inequalities as it racialized class differences while maintaining racism a myth. On the heels of these conditions, notable contributions to the discussion on race/ethnicity in Latin America and the Caribbean have come from Afro-descended and Indigenous women who have been systemically marginalized in these social processes. They argue that mestizaje functions as a sequel to colonialism that continues to entail subordination and marginalization in social life (Curiel 2007: 98).