Iberian blood-purity laws served a political project of class elevation and exclusion

Evidence

A series of four genocides in the “long sixteenth century” is posited as constituting the sociohistorical conditions of possibility for this transformation. The first of these was the “genocide” against the Muslims and Jews of Andalusia, who were forced to convert under the doctrine of “purity of blood.” Yet, Dussel acknowledges that by virtue of the very possibility of conversion, the Castillian project was not yet racial, for integration was still a viable, if not desirable, option. “The humanity of the victims was not in question.” — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 170 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Blood purity laws racialized religious difference in medieval Spain.; Purity of blood laws served to exclude converts and elevate Old Christians; Latin American marginalization of blackness operated informally through class rather than legislation (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Purity of blood laws served to exclude converts and elevate Old Christians #corroborates (0.95)
• Blood purity laws elevated poor Christians while excluding converts from power. #exemplifies (0.92)
• The pre-racial character of Iberian persecution rested on the availability of conversion #qualifies (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 170
• Blood purity laws racialized religious difference in medieval Spain. #expands (0.75)
• The Jesuit order excluded Jewish converts and their descendants for centuries via blood laws #exemplifies (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2131
• Early modern Spain and Portugal pioneered hereditary notions of bodily racial difference. #expands (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 114
• Latin American marginalization of blackness operated informally through class rather than legislation #complicates (0.70)
• European codes imposed colonial-style uniformity on their own legal systems #complicates (0.70)