"Limpieza de sangre" ¿Racismo en la edad moderna?

Resumen

Taking the sixteenth century as a starting point for research on racism might be considered as absurd, given that most studies dealing with this phenomenon start off with the beginnings of anthropology in the eighteenth century. Although the concept of purity of blood in early modern Spain, created by theological dogmatists, is a metaphor, through early modern Spain, the concept of purity partially displaces religion as a criterion of differentiation and emphasizes, for the first time in the European history, two fundamental criteria for social exclusion: race and stained blood. Regarding this point, the article presents a new hypothesis: Purity oscillates between theological and proto-scientific axioms, and it is for that reason that it is an oxymoron, in other words, the first racist anti-Judaism in history. The concept of race in early modern Spain does not allow us to state a causal relationship between purity and contemporary scientific racism. However, by observing its function of exclusion, the historical continuity of this idea is made evident. This leads the author to compare the concept of race with a chameleon surviving by mimesis, in other words adapting itself throughout time to the chimerical spheres of knowledge and truth and at the same time fulfilling its alienating function.