Early modern Spain and Portugal pioneered hereditary notions of bodily racial difference.

Evidence

Whereas England was in no position to go up against the Ottomans, Spain and Portugal were able to rise as imperial powers of some standing by turning to the high seas. It is in this context that we see the rise of protoracism. For perhaps the first time in human history, bodily notions of difference, which were understood to be passed on from one generation to the next, made an entrance. The purity of one’s blood or the color of one’s skin meant that conversion to Christianity no longer guaranteed acceptance. Religion, however, was still the source of such protoracism. In this sense, it was not full-blown racism but a stage in the development of irredeemable otherness and inherent inferiority. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 114

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader thesis about Islamophobia being connected to particular historical modes of empire; also parallels received ideas on blood purity / limpieza de sangre and echoes themes on pre-state institutions and how material conditions produce belief systems. — connects to: Religion served as the primary vehicle for racial difference in early modern Europe — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 187; Race was co-constituted with religion in European history. — Nasar Meer, Racialization and Religion: Race,…, 31; Blood purity laws racialized religious difference in medieval Spain. (+10 more)
• DEFINE: Distinguishes protoracism (religion-rooted, hereditary bodily markers) from full-blown post-Enlightenment racism — a useful periodization concept.

Broader Connections

• Spain’s blood purity laws constitute an early biological racism #exemplifies (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 728
• Blood purity laws racialized religious difference in medieval Spain. #exemplifies (0.88)
• Racial hierarchy and whiteness were invented inside Europe before modern capitalism #corroborates (0.85)
• Religion served as the primary vehicle for racial difference in early modern Europe #qualifies (0.82) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 187
• Race originated as a cultural-religious distinction legislated into biological heredity #qualifies (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 724
• Race was co-constituted with religion in European history. #expands (0.80) — Nasar Meer, Racialization and Religion, 31
• Race originated as a hereditary cultural-religious distinction, not physical appearance #qualifies (0.80)
• Racialism was already routine in Europe by the close of the Middle Ages #exemplifies (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1429
• Race is a modern concept tied to early global capitalism and colonial conquest. #contradicts (0.80) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 231
• Race was mobilized by Iberian states in the fifteenth century #expands (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 57
• Mixed-race populations’ visibility enabled early modern racism #expands (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 229
• Early modern moriscos held a liminal racial-religious status #expands (0.75)