Blood and Boundaries

Book excerpt: Spain and Portugal's policies of exclusion and discrimination based on religious origins and genealogy were transferred to their colonies in Latin America. Schwartz examines the three minority of groups of moriscos, conversos, and mestizos. Muslim and Jewish converts and their descendants posed a special problem for colonial society: Their conversion to Christianity seemed to violate stable social categories and identities. This led to the creation of cleanliness of blood regulations that discriminated against converts and other parts of the population. These groups often found legal and practical means to challenge the efforts to exclude them, creating the dynamic societies of Latin America.