João Cezar de Castro Rocha. "Weak visibility": cultural consequences of slavery

The political and economic consequences of slavery are usually represented as measurable or at least highly visible. On the contrary, the cultural consequences of slavery are sometimes difficult to seize, once they are intertwined within different historical contexts. In this lecture, two case studies will be discussed in order to bring to the fore cultural residues of slavery in Mexico and Brazil. On the one hand, the pictorial genre of “castas”, developed in Spanish colonies in Latin America. On the other hand, the complex and multifarious “vocabulary of colors,” engendered in Brazil. The two case studies have fostered the concept of “weak visibility,” which will be proposed in this lecture.