Hidden behind the colonizer perspective : an analysis of Miguel Cabrera's 1763 casta portraits in comparison to Mexico City marriage records

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Authors
Wachs, Abigail
Advisor
Alves, Abel A.
Issue Date
2020-12-19
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (M.A.)
Department
Department of History
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Abstract

This study has investigated historical documents in comparison to Miguel Cabrera’s 1763 Casta portrait series. Historiography regarding marriage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries provides context to this study about early marriage choice and how this began to change within the culture of the Sistema de Castas. Primary evidence was gathered from marriage records between 1762 and 1763 from a Mexico City parish. This evidence argues that the population of eighteenth century Mexico City did not represent realistic marriage patterns as portrayed in Cabrera’s portraits. Further, the evidence from the Matrimonios de Castas suggests that marriage occurred with little hindrance from Spanish colonizers and clergy. This, therefore, acknowledges the presence of a small, patriarchal group who commissioned and viewed Casta portraits at the time they were being created. In this regard, Casta portraits created by Miguel Cabrera portrayed the Sistema de Castas as they had originally been intended to exist in the private and public spheres of Mexico City by their Spanish colonizers. Therefore, the evidence from marriage records, in comparison to Miguel Cabrera’s 1763 Casta series, proves that by the eighteenth century marriage became a way for the Sistema de Castas to transcend the racial and class boundaries of the colonial racial hierarchy.

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