Racialization in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Spanish Empire: The cases of Castile and New Spain (mostly Mexico)

For this episode I reviewed María Elena Martínez’ Genealogical Fictions: Limpieza de Sangre, Religion, and Gender in Colonial Mexico as a starting point to discuss racialization in the Spanish Empire. More concretely, I explain a couple of key points regarding limpieza de sangre (blood purity) statutes and the colonial caste system. The conclusion consists of a couple of open questions – It’s an invitation for you to reflect on the topics of the episode by yourself!

P.S.: In minute 19, I said the colonization of the Americas wasn’t state-led. This isn’t exactly false, but what I meant was that the conquest wasn’t state-led.