This round table event focuses on the racial and linguistic 'encuentro' that came to shape Mexican society beginning in the 16th century when Spaniards, Indigenous peoples and Africans met and mixed in New Spain. Acknowledging that 2017-2021 mark the 500th anniversaries of some of the key events of the Spanish colonial project in the Americas as described in Bernal Diaz del Castillo's True History of the Conquest of New Spain, our round table looks at these events through the frames of race, race mixture and linguistic application and changes. We will hear from three specialists describing these encuentros from the Spanish, Indigenous and African points of view. The symbol of our meeting which we label 'the Mexican Color Line' comes from the colonial codex Codex Azcatitlan depicting Hernan Cortes, La Malinche, an African soldier among other members of the Spanish conquering army. Finally, the round table will be an extraordinary opportunity to celebrate the World Book Day (April 23rd).
Keynote Speakers: Davíd Carrasco (Harvard University), Kathryn Sampeck (Illinois State University), Juan Antonio Frago (Universidad de Zaragoza).
In English and Spanish