INTERNATIONALWORKSHOP

COLORSOFBLOOD,SEMANTICSOFRACE
RacialCategoriesandSocialRepresentations:AGlobalPerspective
(FromthelateMiddleAgestothe21stCentury)

CasadeVelzquez,Madrid,December15162016.

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the outset of the European expansion
considerably increased the contacts betweenculturallydifferent peoples. Beginning
in southern Europe, this process rapidly reached more distant regionsof the globe
which were increasingly falling under the Western sphere of influence. This
phenomenon transformedthe communitiesaffectedbythatexpansion,andevenled
to the formation of new fractal societies. These were not only multiethnic
communitiesin which Old Christianslivedtogether withNewChristians(asinthe
Iberian Peninsula), or European colonizers associating with indigenous colonized
peoples (beyondthe boundariesoftheOldContinent),orelitesofEuropeandescent
withsubalternmasses,butfrequentlyalsoextremelymiscegenatedsocieties.

During the early modernity, the socioracialrelations were very much influenced by
the medieval notion of blood, according to which the quality of individuals was
strongly associated with their honor. Those relations were, in addition, influenced
byaperception ofothernessmarked byreligiousintolerance,aswellasbyaracial
perspective associated with the ethnic profile and the place oforigin, ornation, of
the individuals.Thesecriteriarapidlyadaptedtothenewrealities,aimingtoestablish
a hierarchic order following the ancient regimens modelof society a complextask
considering the elevated levels of ethnic diversity, of illegitimate children, and of
culturalandbiologicalmiscegenation.

The combination of all these elements, adapted to the particular socioethnic

background of the local populations concerned and placed in relation to the local
forms of production, generated a whole myriad of socioracial categories, most of
which were unprecedented. Severely regulated by the legislation of the time, and
internalized from an identitary point of viewby social actors, thesecategories gave
specificity,both unique andcommon, tothe societies that made useofthem.Those
categories mainly defined the racialized status of individuals,often adding linguistic
complements in order to provide more specific definitions. Their sources of
inspiration were very diverse: the color or the tonalities of the skin, the type or
degree of biological miscegenation, the level of transculturation, the stereotyped
appearance of other peoples, the features of certain animals, and words borrowed
fromnonLatinlanguages.

As the social transformations consolidated, other complements and semantic

variations begin to appear. Following a simultaneous process of classification and
creolisation, those linguistic aggregates mainly aimed to further underline the
differences ofstatus among individuals belonging tothesamesectorsand,attimes,
to give meaning to the oddest mixtures. There were also efforts to define the
individuals who lived in the borderlands, as well as to categorize the workforce
according to the new forms of servitude, the introduction of the plantation
complex, the modernization of the slave and indentured systems, and the
developmentofthetransnationalslavetrade.

Since the 18th Century,andespeciallyover the course ofthe19th andmuchofthe

20th, the democratic revolutions, the abolitions of slavery, the process of
decolonization, the impact of scientific racism, the consolidation of skin color as a
racial catalyser, the massivemigrations,the expansion of U.S.popularculture, and
the racialization of poverty and of criminality, among other phenomena, had an
enormous impact on the systems of representation and, consequently, on the
semantics of socioracial categorization. Nowadays, in spite of the collapse of
apartheids, of the seeming consecration of democracy as the dominant model of
government worldwide, and of the fortunate downfall of the scientific paradigm of
race, certain categories (mainly pejorative) have continued to be evoked in the
former colonial and metropolitan territories, and even beyond, in other parts of the
world. This amazing longevity seems to put in evidence the continuityovertime of
the socioracial representations that began to take form more than fivehundred
years ago, when Europe beganexpanding its perceptions of othernessthroughout
theworld.

Taking asastartingpointtheMediterraneanandtheAtlanticWorldinthelateMiddle
Ages,andcontinuingwith the colonial regions of thewiderworld during themodern
age, andthose territoriesin which socioracial categoriescontinue tobe usedinthe
contemporary period, the present colloquium aims to shed new light on the
construction ofthesecategoriesbystudyingthemfromalonguedureperspective.
Accordingly, we propose to focus on the perceptions developed by social actors
within the different spaces of experience in order toexplain,on theone hand, the
semantics thatgave formtothecategoriesthat constituteourobjectofstudyand,on
the other hand, the different sociocultural, socioeconomic and sociocognitive
dynamics that over timehave contributed tothe emergence,perpetuation and even
to the disappearance of the representations that those same categories reflected.
We will also be interested in studying the links of these variables withthe different
racialized notions ofselfidentification, as wellastheappropriations,transmissions
and semantic redefinitions between societies structured differently and/or culturally
different. Attention will also be paid to from below analytical approaches, in
particular if they cover the perceptions of autochthonous and other marginalized

populations, as well as those of the subaltern sectors, including slaves, intermsof

identitary appropriation, of linguistic resistance and of their own
categories/representations.

These lines of reflection are not exhaustive, as we will also consider proposals
regardingother geohistorical contexts, orofferingtheoreticalformulationsthat could
enrichdiscussionsfromatransdisciplinaryperspective.

Those interested in attending should send their proposals in .doc or .pdf format to
the following email address:
couleursdesang@gmail.com Proposals should include
name, contact details, institutional affiliation, a short CV, title, and an abstract not
exceeding one page in length (about 350 words).
The deadline for consideration
is September 10th, 2016
. Successful proposals will be announced in
midSeptember. There will be no inscription fees and theorganizing committee will
cover travel costs and accommodation for invited participants. Presentations of
papers should not exceed
30minutes
. Thelanguagesof the workshopareEnglish,
French, Spanish, and Portuguese. A selection ofpaperspresentedat the workshop
willbepublishedinapeerreviewededitedvolume.

ScientificandOrganizingCommittee
AntniodeAlmeidaMendes(UniversitdeNantes,CRHIA)
AlejandroE.Gmez(UniversitSorbonneNouvelleParis3,CRICCAL)

This workshop is part of the activities organised by STARACO (STAtuts, RAce et

COuleurs dans lAtlantique), Universit de Nantes, Rgion Paysdela Loire et
PRALT(PRAtiques de lALTrit),theCasa deVelzquez
andtheCRIAL/CRICCAL
(UniversitSorbonneNouvelleParis3)
.