Racial Discrimination In Casta Paintings

Colonial Latin American society in the Seventeenth Century was undergoing a tremendous amount of changes. Society was transforming from a conquering phase into a colonizing phase. New institutions were forming and new people and ideas flooded into the new lands freshly claimed for the Spanish Empire. Two remarkable women, radically different from each other, who lived during this period of change are a lenses through which many of the new institutions and changes can be viewed. Sor Juana and Catalina de Erauso are exceptional women who in no way represent the norm but through their extraordinary tales and by discovering what makes them so extraordinary we can deduce what was the norm and how society functioned during this era of Colonial

Matthew Restall, a Professor of Latin American History, Women’s Studies, and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. He also serves the Director of the university’s Latin Studies. Throughout “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest,” he discusses many false truths that have been passed down through history. For instance, he discusses, “The Myth of Exceptional Men.” “The Myth of Spanish Army,” and “The Myth of Completion.” For the sake of time, I will discuss three myths that correlate with class lectures and serve as the topic of this paper, “The Myth of Exceptional Men,” “The Myth of the King’s Army,” and the “Myth of the White Conquistador.” It should be noted that Restall speaks to his audience assuring us that his “...his purpose is not to degenerate this technique of historical writing completely...Nor do I mean to create a narrative in which individual action is utterly subordinated to the larger structural forces and causes of social change.” (4). He states that his intentions are to react to more than just the works of Columbus, Pizzaro, and Cortez.

Ramon Gutierrez’s When Jesus Came, The Corn Mothers Went Away is an exploration of the merging of Spanish, Franciscan and Pueblo Indian cultures throughout Spain's “frontier” in its colonial American empire before Anglo contact. Gutierrez builds a foundation for his analysis by discussing Pueblo Indian life prior to outside contact, Franciscan theology, and the class structure of Spanish communities in each of its respective book sections. He examines meanings of the cultural interactions of gift exchange, ownership, trade, sexual rights, labor, kinship, social status, religious beliefs, and honor among many others using marriage as a window. His interpretation of the complex cultural meanings of marriage illustrates the ways in which the

As I was looking through the never-ending list of artists on the PBS program “Art21,” there was only one name that really captured my attention. That name was Marela Zacarías. I think one of the main reasons as to why I was so intrigued to click on this artist was because her name sounded Spanish and being Hispanic has always been something I have been proud of. What made my choice even better was when I selected on Marela Zacarías’s name and began reading I found out she was Mexican just like me. At that point, there was no doubt I was going to do this assignment based off one of her artworks. When I began researching Zacarías and her art, I was hoping to love her work. Not only did I end up enjoying most of her art but ended up loving the piece called Mannahatta. Without a doubt, it became one of my favorite sculptures right away.

Myths of Harmony by Marixa Lasso is a harrowing account of racial tension and deceit in the Age of Revolution in Colombia. The main theme of the book is that racial harmony is a myth that was cultivated during Colombia’s fight for independence (9). The author states that the lower classes were not any better off after the Revolution than before (4). The culture was known for caciquismo (patron-client relations) and fraudulent elections. These claimed racial equality, but in reality discriminated against certain races (4). Lasso discusses the role of the pardos - free Africans - community as a whole and their role in the political landscape. Racial identities were formed during the Age of Revolution by the struggles of the time period (152). The colonial wars during the Age of Revolution shaped the racial identities of numerous nations. Through racial visionaries, these nations chose a racial identity.

From Reséndez’s foundation of European enslavement and its far-reaching impact on Native American populations, Reséndez examined racial components in the southwest. It is impossible to separate racial tension from the study of Indian slavery. Christopher Columbus’s journals as contemporary letters show the Spanish perception of

The word Chicano involves more than just a cultural identification. There has been a continuity of a discussion of its origins, it meanings, its purpose and its affirmations throughout generations. Through oral history, scattered essays, Chicano studies courses and personal relationships, I have evolved my usage of the word Chicano, as many in history have. Through experience I have learned that social, geographical and economical elements have twisted and turned the meaning according to the moral judgments of the class or national origin. I will utilize my knowledge and life experience as a Chicana to the word Chicano. I did this to illustrate the assignment's topic, in that outside factors have a significant effect on the usage and

Chapters three and four in Wolf Tracks, argues that despite the cultural elites dismiss the black influence on Panama and ignores its significance, they still relate the work to represent Panamanian culture, all while the black society attempts to shatter the false allegations that they do not exist in the idea of mestizaje. African art takes on a theatrical form in the shape of the red devil buses that contradict the old traditions of the ideas of mestizaje and order. The images illustrated in Chapter three, confirm the notion that the black influence is taking charge and trying to break down barriers by forcing everyone to experience and interact with the Afro-Caribbean culture.

Where as Mexico and Mexicans are described in another light with references to a holocaust and “violent and traumatic.” Spaniards were “brutal and callous,” and Spanish law a “chaotic jumble” (7, 10, 13).

The Black Legend and White Legend: Relationship Between the Spanish and Indians in the New World

This tolerant attitude led to a wide range of “race classification.” According to how much “white” a slave had, their value in the eyes of society increased. Slaves could be black, octaroon or mulatto to name a few. Thus this led to a classification based on one’s degree of white blood. In the United States no such classes existed. If a slave was born to a black mother, that slave was black. In essence, Latin America judged based upon the degree of “blackness” while the South saw only two races, black or white. Outward appearance, the color of the father or anything else deviated the classification in the United States. It has been said, half-facetiously, that Southerners are color blind, in the sense that individuals, despite their racial composition, are considered to be either white or black, while Latin Americans recognized degrees of blackness and whiteness.

The prevailing attitude of white supremacy was the justification Americans used to “rescue the wilderness from backwardness, indolence, and disorder”(De Leon 65). Mexico in its earliest days was primarily Indian, but the infusion of both Spanish and black blood made it harder to define Mexicans. White Anglo-Americans believed “their contrast to ‘white’ and salient kindred to ‘black’ and ‘red’ made Mexicans subject to treatment commensurate with the odious connotations whites attached to colors, races, and cultures dissimilar to their own” (De Leon 6).

Throughout Mesoamerica, we’ve noticed a common thread throughout the various civilizations, which include; divine kingship, common deities, and similar rituals. As well as, many civilizations looking back at civilizations that came before for inspiration, which means many of the pieces found were placed and served in a different context that they were intended to be used. The two pieces that stopped me in my tracks as I viewed the collection was the Seated Female Figure found in Nayarit and the Standing Male Figure from Ixtlán del Río, Nayarit. Both of the works of art partake in many similarities but have an underlying difference that could give us an insight to the social hierarchy of this civilization.

When it comes to the artwork in question of being displayed I don’t think that the mayor can prohibit the work from appearing in the show. For example, from a legal standard he would be violating the artist’s free right of expression. As a person who resides in the city it is the artist’s right to express his vision in his artwork as he pleases as long as he isn’t offending anyone. In preventing the artist from displaying his work he can also be showing that he is only troubled by the painting because the people in the painting are black causing a controversy of racism. The only reason that the mayor would call the painting “sick” and “disgusting” is because he probably feels personally offended but tries to hide behind the nudity aspect that

Firstly, Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry is a quintessential and accurate representation of America’s Melting Pot personality. Painted in 1933, this magnificent masterpiece takes up twenty-seven panels and can be found at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Additionally, this Mexican artist’s work can be seen as frescoes, which he describes as, “paintings done rapidly in watercolour on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colours penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries” (Rivera Court 1). His artwork depicts laborers