Review
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"Beginning with a two-part historiographic and methodological
introduction, Twinam guides readers through concepts of social
mobility in the Spanish Indies from the arrival of African slaves
until the Bourbon reforms . . . This book is an impressive
methodological study for uncovering the voices of nonwhite
colonial society . . . Recommended." (S.B. Opperman CHOICE)
"Scholars of colonial Latin America will certainly appreciate the
extensive archival work of this book. Ann Twinam demonstrates the
making of gracias al sacar, or the purchase of whitening, in
colonial Spanish America, specifically through its
institutionalization, which makes her effort not just noteworthy
but critical to advancing the field....Twinam's attention to
detail, and her insistence on the correct versus incorrect
interpretation of royal rulings, reveals an attention to the
official narrative and a monumental institutional study, or a
history of a policy." (Rachel Sarah O'Toole Hispanic American
Historical Review)
"This meticulously researched, elegantly written book examines
casta mobility....Twinam is the first to have described why the
gracias al sacar appeared and what it meant. In accomplishing
this herculean task, she did much more than analyze the whitening
case histories, by telling the story of countless other castas
who informally passed and struggled to provide a better life for
their descendants. For anyone interested in understanding this
process throughout the Americas, Purchasing Whiteness is
essential reading." (David M. Stark New West Indian Guide)
"Quite simply, the author knows more about this subject than
anyone else ever has. Her research is thorough, original, and
imaginative. Above all, she demonstrates the larger relevance of
what might first seem a narrow topic. These whitening petitions
are valuable because they throw a sharp light on long-term,
largely submerged processes of casta mobility. Some of the most
interesting passages describe her detective work in tracking down
whitening cases and uncovering the life stories of the
petitioners." (R. Douglas Cope Brown University)
"This is a massive, hefty piece of work, both in terms of length
and depth of scholarship. I admit that I was rather daunted by
its prospect, but once I started reading I was soon fascinated by
the topic and the way it is presented. It'll win prizes. It's
important." (Matthew Restall Pennsylvania State University)
"Ann Twinam's long anticipated study of royal dispensations from
the "defect" of African descent (gracias al sacar) proves well
worth the wait . . . At over four hundred pages, this book will
not find a place in the undergraduate curriculum, but it should
be essential reading for graduate students and scholars of both
Latin America and the history of race more widely. Twinam guides
readers with clear chapter summaries, while also enticing them to
keep turning pages to follow her detective-like investigations of
both personal dramas and political debates." (Sarah C. Chambers
American Historical Review)
"Purchasing Whiteness is quite simply, a magisterial tour de
force that will be received as a significant contribution to the
historiography of race in colonial Latin America. It exemplifies
the very best of historical research. Twinam's groundbreaking
methodology that connected previously unknown gracias al sacar
documents aing to some thousands of pages underlines the
increasing importance of digital resources to historical
research...Twinam writes with a striking immediacy, in a language
that is accessible to undergraduates and advanced scholars alike,
and I suspect that Purchasing Whiteness will rightfully become a
core textbook on the complicated yet fascinating history of race
in colonial Spanish America." (Cecily Jones H-Caribbean)
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About the Author
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Ann Twinam is Professor of History at the University of Texas at
Austin. She is the author of Miners, Merchants, and Farmers in
Colonial Colombia (University of Texas Press, 1982) and of Public
Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and
Illegitimacy in Colonial Spanish America (Stanford University
Press, 1999). This latter book won the Thomas F. McGann Prize and
was runner up for the Bolton Prize.
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