Quick Writing Quiz As best as you can remember from the reading for today: – What was the basis of the social hierarchy in New Spain? – Who was at the top? – Include any other details you can recall
Casta Paintings Keys to remember: Spanish society at the time of the Conquest was obsessed over race and religion due to the conflict between the Moorish Caliphate and the Xtian Kings between 700 – 1492 Large numbers of Jews had also lived in Spain due to the Muslim Caliph’s protection Part of the Reconquista involved forcing conversions to Xtianity and then preventing “backsliding” (hence the Inquisition, and ham.)
Why Casta Paintings? Keys for New Spain Mestizaje (Mestizo-dom) Patriarchy and gender assumptions Relationship of skin color to power And to the economy – That is, what was the consequence of skin color and lineage in colonial New Spain?
The Social Pyramid Peninsulares Criollos Mestizos Mulattos, etc Indios Negros All white = Land and Political power White + ? = No land, but urban jobs Non-white = Manual labor & no land
El Mestizo
De Español y Negra, Mulato, ca
El Mulatto
La Coyote
El Lobo
La Salta-patra
Un Albino
In sum To what degree was race a conscious thing in Colonial New Spain, and what was its importance?