Imperial Ways of Knowing Blackness: Colonial Legacies of Demographic Visibility from Eighteenth-Century New Spain and New Granada

Juan D. Delgado, University of Michigan

This paper develops a comparative historical analysis of racial classification practices within Spanish colonial America, focusing on the demographic visibility of people of African descent in eighteenth-century New Spain (Colonial Mexico) and New Granada (Colonial Colombia). This study reveals how the Spanish monarchy's efforts to classify its colonial subjects were deeply intertwined with broader imperial goals of coercion and extraction, influenced by Spain's competition with Britain. The research highlights how the Spanish monarchy institutionalized “pure” and “mixed” Blackness categories to enforce demographic divisions, revealing significant intra-imperial variations in the institutionalization of ethnoracial classifications. In New Spain, the distinction between 'mixed Blackness' (e.g., pardo, mulato) remained, while “pure Blackness” categories disappeared from records. Conversely, in New Granada, “pure Blackness” became more predominant, overshadowing mixed classifications. By tracing the genesis and evolution of imperial classificatory practices, this paper offers insights into the historical roots of modern racial constructs, highlighting the persistent influence of colonial legacies on the contemporary process of ethnoracial classification, inequality, and mobilization in Mexico and Colombia.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 28. From Nomadic Imperialism to Imperial Patronage: Rethinking Power Dynamics in Historical Contexts