When examining the reading about Garifuna foodways I was particularly interested by the fact that British separated and imprisoned slaves with the darkest skin while releasing the lighter skinned ones. This reality reminded me of a class in Latin American studies that I took in my first year at UBC where mixed latinos who were mostly white could be considered Spanish, or Africans under certain circumstances could be considered free men. Furthermore, the description of how the British separated the indigenous peoples from “pure Indians” to “Zambos” is a great example of what European colonial powers did when arriving in the western world and Africa. Peoples were characterized by looks and were placed in different “ethnic groups” and hierarchies in which the European settlers were at the top of these hierarchies.

The Casta Paintings keyword provided me with a few personal perspectives. In my view, the Casta paintings were made by the Spanish to a degree to characterize what is acceptable and unacceptable in colonial Latin American society, as people of abundant mixes of minority races or the absolute minority races themselves, were considered peasants. Furthermore, the purpose of illustrating the abundance of ethnicities in Latin America was to compare the skin, social status and mannerisms of everything outside ‘pure’ European. In addition, while discriminatory to  peoples, the Casta paintings do demonstrate the abundance of racial combinations that exist in Latin America today. As someone who has travelled to many Latin American countries and is mixed with Latin American heritage, I am sometimes confused regarding what my race is. Furthermore, while I wouldn’t use a name given to me by Spanish settlers or others,  I wonder how others who are mixed and Latin feel.