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Race versus Reality: The Creation and Extension of the Racial Caste System in Colonial Spanish America
Schroer, Haley
Schroer, Haley
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Date
2016
Additional date(s)
2016-05-19
Abstract
Latin American social stratification during the colonial period represented a unique system of racial socioeconomic castes. Domination by the Spanish Crown in colonial political affairs and peninsular prejudice against American-born Spaniards caused tension between Spanish elite and their American counterparts. As colonial dissatisfaction with the subordinate status to peninsular Spaniards grew, key beliefs inherited from Reconquest Spain directed colonists towards the implementation of a racial hierarchy. This caste system placed Spanish colonists as the dominating class, while relegating Indigenous and African populations to the most inferior social standing. As racial miscegenation increased, mixed races overpowered colonial society. By the eighteenth century, the high number of citizens of mixed heritage pushed colonial elite to institute strict legislation against racially mixed castes and to promote propaganda against socio-racial equality. Despite regulation, movement between lower castes occurred, suggesting several loopholes for social mobility. Lower classes often ignored public laws, such as sumptuary legislation that limited certain clothing to the elite classes, and rural society blurred racial distinctions. However, the most legal route to social mobility occurred through documentation known as gracias al sacar, petitions to the Spanish Crown for a legal change of race. If approved, a gracias al sacar elevated one's racial status and, thus, socioeconomic standing. Ultimately, the exclusivity of the gracias al sacar documents suggests that, while formal social mobility existed, it did not provide a solution to the majority of residents in colonial society.
Contents
Subject
casta
race
New Spain
colonialism
Spanish America
race
New Spain
colonialism
Spanish America
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Description
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Department
History