The Sistema Casta was a complex system in which Spanish colonizers attempted to make distinctions between as many different interracial combinations as possible. Casta paintings were a way of putting these distinctions in an easy to understand the different classifications. What I found interesting was how far they went to classify each group. As the lecture said, the united states made it easy and just classified people as black for one drop of black blood or by using arbitrary rules such as the brown paper lunch bag rule. I wonder why the Spanish took a completely different route to go so far as to determine that someone who is 60% español, 20% negro and 20% indio isa salta atrás (and that’s far from the most complex racial classification they had). Today, most Latin Americans see themselves as mestizo, though there is bound to be more racial combinations than just español and indio. Maybe the cast system just became so diluted at the point that it didn’t have enough social consequence to be upheld. I think that the history of this system is why race still plays such a determining role in one’s life outcome in Latin America, and why the idea of “mejorar la raza” is still evident.
What really struck me upon viewing the castas, is how they represent family life. I always thought that, unless both the parents were from the same race, it would be unlikely that the parents would live together, yet alone be in a consensual marriage. What you see from many movies and depictions of colonial times, there wasn’t a lot of love. For example, in 12 Years a Slave, we see Edwin Epps, a cruel slave master, have an obsession for Patsey, one of his young slaves. That relationship is far from consensual. I always imagined that most mestizo or mulatto babies were born from an unequal union in which the female was left with the child. I’m sure that there must have been some occasions of interracial unions in which there was love between the two partners. In the caste paintings, however, they always depict a mother, father and child as a happy little trio (though there are some exceptions though this was mostly based on racist views).
How do you think family life actually was? Did the different races live together in familial bliss or were there very few cohabiting interracial families? Or is the reality more nuanced
XimenaDiazLopez
September 18, 2017 — 10:27 pm
Hello! In response to your views about interracial unions, I believe they were different in latin american countries. I am under the impression that there was more “racial mingling”. In the US, these couples were not encouraged and would have had a big difference between the way each partner treated each other. In the case of Mestizos I think the difference would have still been there but it would not have been as prominent as in the states. Maybe mestizos are more similar to the metis in Canada? I am not really sure. It would be interesting to look into it.
Matilda
September 19, 2017 — 7:57 am
Hi 🙂
I know that in the US it was actually illegal to marry someone outside of your race up until the mid 60s; so I’m not sure that I agreed that there was more “racial mingling” in the states. Also from what I know, the US still didn’t have as complex a system for racial classification. They only recently allowed people to choose multiple ethnicities for their census in 2000. I’m not well-educated on the Metis population in Canada; were they accepted in either the white or First Nations community? I’m not sure but I think the Canadian Metis population is similar to the half-white, half-black population in the US; they were treated as better than blacks (in this case First Nation) but still not good enough to be afforded the opportunities of a white person.
Poole Katherine
September 18, 2017 — 10:43 pm
I find your question very interesting. I don’t think they actually lived as a family. From what I recall in my history classes of the conquest, most of the times the colonizers used the women and were not responsible for the children. I think it was very unlikely for a colonizer to actually marry and live with an indigenous women, simply because it was seen as unholy.
But there were other cases in which they did stay together.
That is why I find your question interesting because it would be something that has to be researched in order to further understand the social structure of the colonial period and to understand the significance of the Casta System in terms of how it could have been a tool to further discriminate and separate the population.
elan cross
September 20, 2017 — 9:11 pm
I found it interesting, too, to see that all members of the family seemed (for the most part) to be happy. I believe the artists were attempting to render the “ideal” for each racial mixture. I get the sense that the artists wanted everyone to accept their place in the hierarchy, and so were depicting happy families in every combination. There are exceptions, but for the most part the painting seem to be idealized.