Pure Blood, Pure Lineage? Genealogical Racism in Early Modern Iberia / Reines Blut, reiner Stammbaum? Genealogischer Rassismus auf der Iberischen Halbinsel in der Frühen Neuzeit (bilingual)

Description

The ideology of purity-of-blood (“limpieza de sangre”) divided early modern Iberian society into two different classes: Old Christians and New Christians. New Christians, i.e. Conversos (converted Jews) and Moriscos (converted Muslims), but also their offspring, were thought to be inferior Christians and always tending towards apostasy, which means in this case the abandonment of the Catholic faith. Due to the purity-of-blood statutes New Christians were barred from obtaining exalted positions and dignities. At the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century an increased interest in bodily markers to proof the presumed inferiority of the so-called New Christians can be observed. The lecture will focus on the question how the apologists of the purity-of-blood statutes used the idea of inherited bodily markers to promote a genealogical racism in early modern Iberia.

Period	14 Nov 2019
Event title	OLIve Lecture Series. Open Learning Initiative 2019
Event type	Lecture series, colloquium
Location	Wien, AustriaShow on map