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Author Twinam, Ann, 1946- author.

Title Purchasing whiteness : pardos, mulattos, and the quest for social mobility in the Spanish Indies / Ann Twinam
Published Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2015
©2015

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Description 1 online resource (553 pages)
Contents Conclusions : a century of historiography -- Introductions : alternative approaches -- Interstices : seeking spaces for mobility -- Connections : genealogical mathematics -- Benchmarks : commoditizing whiteness, Cuba and Panama -- Balances : weighing the price of whiteness -- Exceptions : the Venezuelan cluster -- Opportunities : whitening, the first year 1795-1796 -- Dissentions and discords, 1796-1803 -- Denouements, 1803-1806 -- Recalibrations : the mystery consulta and the cortes, 1806-1810 -- Evolutions : vassals to citizens? -- Retrospectives : tidbits, chunks, and conclusions
Summary "The colonization of Spanish America resulted in the mixing of Natives, Europeans, and Africans and the subsequent creation of a casta system that discriminated against them. Members of mixed races could, however, free themselves from such burdensome restrictions through the purchase of a gracias al sacar--a royal exemption that provided the privileges of Whiteness. For more than a century, the whitening gracias al sacar has fascinated historians. Even while the documents remained elusive, scholars continually mentioned the potential to acquire Whiteness as a provocative marker of the historic differences between Anglo and Latin American treatments of race. Purchasing Whiteness explores the fascinating details of 40 cases of whitening petitions, tracking thousands of pages of ensuing conversations as petitioners, royal officials, and local elites disputed not only whether the state should grant full whiteness to deserving individuals, but whether selective prejudices against the castas should cease. Purchasing Whiteness contextualizes the history of the gracias al sacar within the broader framework of three centuries of mixed race efforts to end discrimination. It identifies those historic variables that structured the potential for mobility as Africans moved from slavery to freedom, mixed with Natives and Whites, and transformed later generations into vassals worthy of royal favor. By examining this history of pardo and mulatto mobility, the author provides striking insight into those uniquely characteristic and deeply embedded pathways through which the Hispanic world negotiated processes of inclusion and exclusion."--Publisher's description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Racially mixed people -- Spain -- Colonies -- History
Race discrimination -- Caribbean Area -- History
Race discrimination -- Spain -- Colonies -- History
Racially mixed people -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Caribbean Area -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
Race discrimination
Race relations
Kolonie
Mulatten
Rassendiskriminierung
Rechtsstellung
Soziale Mobilität
SUBJECT Caribbean Area -- Race relations -- History
Subject Caribbean Area
Spain
Amerika
Spanien
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2014025471
ISBN 9780804793209
0804793204