Passing in sixteenth-century Castile

Abstract

This article explores passing as a way to gain insights into the multiple ways that processes of identification of enslaved individuals could occur in Castile, the heart of the Spanish empire. In a court case that began in 1552, the pressing matter at hand was whether Beatríz/Violante was, in fact, an india. Impersonations of freed persons did occur, and slave owners purposefully misidentified their slaves or conflated them with other, deceased slaves – a practice that became more widespread as imperial laws placed restraints on indigenous slave-owning practices in Castile. If, however, Beatríz/Violante was not an india but a mulatta, why did she think it was worth taking such a calculated but dangerous risk to gain her freedom? Through an examination of how early modern subjects comprehended the entangled and globalized nature of their changing world, we can gain a better understanding of notions of difference and practices of discrimination that were key to imperial governance and colonial rule.