Racial identification in colonial Latin America: social class in the visual form

Abstract

This thesis will analyze the evolution of racial identity during the colonial period in Spanish Latin America and how Casta paintings in the seventeenth century led to the creation of a society based on social stratification originating from the mixing of races. The chapters of this thesis will track the evolution of how those of mixed racial heritage have been viewed in Latin American society. I also examine how the visual identification of "mixed race" has affected the social class or social status of people of mixed races during the Colonial period. This thesis will incorporate various literature regarding the origins of Casta paintings and their multifaceted meanings. This thesis will also examine the intersectionality of visual representation of race, gender, and religion. These visual forms of racial art set forth the foundation of a new social hierarchy based on the idea of Spanish purity of blood and the mixing of races. The aim of this thesis is to reveal how those of mixed races, especially in Latin American society, have faced oppressive social standing. I argue that many mixed-race individuals face a dual identity crisis in which they do not know which group or culture they are "supposed" to identify with or belong to. This marginalization has been inscribed and reinscribed through visual representations. Often those of mixed races are not allowed to fully participate in the advantages or disadvantages of at least one of their races. Historians and scholars have deemed this the crisis of "dual identity." With this thesis, I provide insight into the daily struggles of identifying as a mixed marginalized group in a society that emphasized racial difference and hierarchy. I also explore the intersections of this hierarchy with gender. Finally, this thesis explores the difficulties of attempting to identify as one race or another and the social struggles that emerge for people of mixed race.