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IMC 2020: Sessions

Session 1140: Race and Its Historiography in Medieval Iberian Studies

Wednesday 8 July 2020, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Nadia Altschul, School of Modern Languages & Cultures (Hispanic Studies), University of Glasgow
Moderator/Chair:Nadia Altschul, School of Modern Languages & Cultures (Hispanic Studies), University of Glasgow
Paper 1140-aSpain Is Not Spain: On Difference, Américo Castro's 'Casta', and Eugenio Asensio's 'Raza'
(Language: English)
Juan Escourido, Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures East Carolina University
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1140-bGilberto Freyre: A Transcultural Mudejar Inheritance for Hispanic America
(Language: English)
Pablo González Velasco, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Universidad de Salamanca
Index terms: Anthropology, Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1140-cRace and Its Historiography in Medieval Iberian Studies
(Language: English)
Nadia Altschul, School of Modern Languages & Cultures (Hispanic Studies), University of Glasgow
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract

Paper -a
For Américo Castro, the notion at the basis of the perpetual conflict that the signifier Spain designates is that of 'casta'. Castro avoids the use of 'raza' although it is the term used by those that he criticizes. What are the implications of this lexical choice? And why does 'raza' reappear in Eugenio Asensio, the most influential criticism of Castro written in Spain, when broadly designating Castro's 'casta'?

Paper -b
This paper explores similarities between Freyre and Américo Castro, and examines how Freyre's agreement with Angel Ganivet's notion of Spain as both European and African became the core of a transcultural Mudéjar inheritance for Hispanic América.

Paper -c
Nadia Altschul discusses examples of Iberian historiography on racial matters. Seeks to address imbalances not through attention to the lack of engagement with Iberian materials but through attention to the field's neglected but long theoretical consideration of these critical discussions.