Hybridity and Its Discontents: Considering Visual Culture in Colonial Spanish America

Overview

• Authors: Carolyn Dean & Dana Leibsohn
• Published in Colonial Latin American Review, 2003
• Focus: Examination of hybridity in visual and material culture in Colonial Spanish America, with a political lens.

Key Concepts

Hybridity

• Defined as the mixing of cultural forms and practices due to contact between European (Spanish) and indigenous cultures.
• Visible in daily life and cultural artifacts, often naturalized or overlooked by contemporaries.
• Modern scholarship tends to highlight hybridity due to its visibility and political implications.

Historical Context

• Example: Dona Isabel Uypa Cuca's household in Cuzco combined Spanish and Inka cultural elements.
• In colonial Latin America, cultural mixing was a norm but only certain mixtures were remarked upon or named.

Hybridity in Academic Discourse

• The term 'hybridity' emerged from postcolonial studies, emphasizing power dynamics.
• Often used to describe cultural by-products of European expansion.
• In Latin America, terms like mestizo, syncretism, and convergence have been used to describe cultural mixing historically.
• Political and ideological implications of these terms are significant.

Visual Culture and Hybridity

Casta Paintings

• Depict racial mixtures and social hierarchies through visual representations.
• Highlight anxieties about racial purity and mixing in New Spain.
• Serve as a commentary on status and cultural origins.

Art Historical Perspectives

• Art history often focuses on the origins and distinctiveness of visual features in cultural artifacts.
• This focus sometimes conflicts with historical contexts where mixing was unremarkable.

Invisibility and Misrecognition of Hybridity

• Hybridity is often visible in objects but can also be invisible, depending on production processes and audience assumptions.
• Misrecognition occurs when modern scholars impose contemporary values on historical artifacts.
• Example: Misattribution of Juan Gerson’s murals due to their European style.

Political Implications

• Hybridity can serve as a tool for both colonial and subaltern strategies.
• Recognizing hybridity should be a political act, acknowledging the colonial processes that produced cultural mixing.
• Visual and material culture offers insight into historical power dynamics and cultural exchanges.

Conclusion

• Hybridity is not inherent in objects but is perceived based on historical and contemporary contexts.
• The examination of hybridity reveals underlying power structures and challenges normative cultural narratives.
• The discourse on hybridity is complex, involving visibility, politics, and cultural interpretations.

Further Reading

• References and further discussions are provided by the authors, touching on topics such as transculturation, syncretism, and colonial identity.

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These notes provide a high-level summary of the transcript focusing on key themes and scholarly arguments regarding hybridity in colonial Spanish American visual culture.