Black Spain: Empire and Afro-Iberian Culture

Catalog description

This course explores Black Spain through 16th and 17th century historiographical and literary sources. "Black Spain" refers both to the darker myths and troubling realities of the Spanish Empire,a period marked by the Inquisition, religious wars, early racism, the rise of global capitalism, and the invention of genocide and the transatlantic slave trade. Black Spain also refers to the history of the Afro descending communities that lived in Iberia, an often-neglected chapter of the African diaspora. From the 15th century onward, these communities left an indelible mark on the arts and literatures of a period known as the Spanish Golden Age. Black Spain is often at the center of current debates about Spanish national identity-discussions that, until recently, largely excluded Afro-descendant men and women. This course is conducted in Spanish.