2024/08/16 by Mendiratta, Sidh Losa · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Historical Studies on Spain #Historical Art and Architecture Studies #Medieval and Early Modern Iberia
paper · doi:10.1525/jsah.2024.83.3.268
In his meditations about Peruvian architecture a century after that country’s independence, the twentieth-century architect, urbanist, critic, and historian Emilio Harth-Terré intertwined notions of identity, modernism, and—unlike most of his contemporaries—race.1 Harth-Terré penned his words before postcolonial theory emerged. Since then, there have been efforts to decenter the field, although amid abiding epistemological challenges. Most of the architectural histories of the American, Asian, African, and European territories of the Iberian world in the period around 1400 to 1800 have centered on canonical architecture and buildings designed by perceived “white” European architects. The implementation of official languages, urban design regulations, and cartography—or the way the world was represented and understood—consistently tried to efface both racial and religious minorities.2 Blood purity statutes established segregation between Old Christians and New Christians, the latter being former Jewish or Muslim people forcibly converted to Catholicism. These statutes had a tremendous impact on regulations across the Iberian world.3 Contributors to this roundtable demonstrate that a nuanced analysis of race and architecture in this period in the Iberian world must also encompass identity, religion, and culture, as distinctions were not always grounded in skin color.4The Iberian world was composed of vast, contrasting geographies and regions, and steeply hierarchical societies; the building trades were indeed hierarchical social structures as well. Legislation that required the segregation of European populations from “other” residents in cities and that prohibited racial and religious minorities from partaking in the building trades across many locales in the Iberian world had important reverberations for these groups, but also projected imperial ambitions. Recent scholarship on Mexico City and Quito, for example, has demonstrated that Amerindians and their descendants actively participated in and sometimes dominated the building trades.5 Similarly, contributors to this roundtable also show that prevailing views on the lack of primary sources about the role played by racial and religious minorities in the building trade have been overestimated. Nevertheless, the task ahead is not without difficulties, as the names of Indigenous, Black, and Brown architects, master masons, carpenters, and stonemasons were purposely silenced in the records.6The greater challenge, however, is epistemological, as the social histories of architecture have privileged a biographical model and the artist–patron relationship, and above all have insisted on placing Europe as the umbilicus mundi of architectural production. With the global turn, the study of the circulations of architectural knowledge, or how designs traveled, has become a popular analytical lens. At the same time, this model risks perpetuating the notion of “expansion” by focusing on how so-called European images and designs reached “peripheral regions” of the world. Plenty of evidence challenges this model of studying architecture in a connected world. The architecture of many cities across the former Spanish and Portuguese Empires, from the seventeenth century, sometimes earlier, developed in parallel ways.7 Thus, we need to rethink how we engage with the many regions with rich architectural cultures that preceded the arrival of the Portuguese and Spanish in colonial settings, which also means reconsidering existing traditions in the Iberian Peninsula. Complex architectural traditions preceded European contact, and sophisticated architectural cultures thrived beyond the feeble boundaries of the Iberian world. Furthermore, we need to dispel the notion that only some places, some people (those of particular descent, lineage, identity, or religious background), certain forms of built architecture, and certain kinds of generated knowledge are worth studying.This roundtable presents eleven essays, organized in roughly chronological order, that engage with existing debates and challenge long-held myths. Barbara E. Mundy demonstrates that imperial ideals of urban spatial segregation did not correspond to the lived realities of colonial Mexico City, Lima, and Manila. Other contributors address the memorialization of architectural spolia in Oaxacan churches and period writings of Islamic and Visayan architecture in postconquest Spain and the Philippines (Pilar Regueiro Suárez and Juan Luis Burke, Antonio Urquízar-Herrera, Amy Y.T. Chang). Scholars in this roundtable also study how architects, engineers, and patrons of African and Indigenous descent emerged in Goa, Brazil, and Havana (Sidh Losa Mendiratta, Miguel A. Valerio, Rosalía Oliva Suárez and Karen Mahé Lugo Romera, Alice Santiago Faria). Essays about the significant contributions of African and Indigenous builders, carpenters, and smelters and their descendants in Angola, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Lisbon showcase research methods for a social history of architecture that bring us closer to the realities of the built environment of the time (Sandra M. G. Pinto, Francisco Mamani-Fuentes, Crislayne Alfagali). Authors of this roundtable demonstrate that research on the intersections of race and architecture is not only pressing but can also fundamentally shift our understanding of how architecture emerged and functioned at the time.The Spanish Habsburgs centered political control in a vast network of cities and towns. In these places, they attempted to segregate residents of Spanish descent from others, be they Indigenous, Black, or Asian. Some scholars have focused on these policies as the primary mechanism which were and was the a lived of cities as a to the Mexico City, Lima, and evidence that lived the City was the and most important for the urban was in the in the the of between and The latter were to be by Indigenous and represented by of European descent were to in the the of which were by many of the were to for the in the they their on urban that to and a spatial segregation between and was in Mexico City, a the century, Indigenous residents and about the had of Indigenous Juan and Santiago the names of the with of and their in the of Indigenous and in the postconquest and of all and the urban had been the of the Indigenous for the to urban Indigenous residents were a urban Santiago With around a a Some of the residents had to the but were to the by which Indigenous religious was established on by and Indigenous the residents of the were the people of descent, but Spanish that they with to their by the as and the as and in they that the is Spanish existing in to the around have the of Mexico City as a for Spanish The same has been of at the of the as a for to the the need for Spanish that were In the of Lima, the of residents at the time of the all of lived the of their of a urban In Mexico City, the urban and Indigenous have been with Spanish and of the their not of the Spanish lived the of a with a Spanish a a of a In the seventeenth century was by by residents of descent, by a In Lima, the Spanish a around the in for but have been to in of and a by in Mexico City in the was to Indigenous residents from a in the of the with is in the above the Spanish of the with at urban at a Spanish of in and the that was the that was the of the in the of a us to a notion of race and the of as religious and were in the of in these the of a is to some of the of the colonial order, as they were on urban the by and their is to the that from that of that cities have in the and in urban of the of the or is a the of the of of the the of the names of the and the to become The for the of in to the notion of which in and across regions of the Iberian world New Christians and minorities from and show that had the to become a master on that to the trade and most of the in the not the for the the to the that many master and master were The same show that the masons, although not to the the to was his was a master was not the his from a the Francisco was from in and to a that from or Old all are New master and of their in to being to the same as the the not be or Thus, the were not on the but on their and as to or Jewish their been in or their to the did not that be and master significant in the of and the latter the only of the period in of which were his the by the beyond the of from the of that his had Jewish a about his being his and and was that a from a had been at the or by the and social the of and in Old Christians with were to and also the were for and in of and New Christians and minorities to the of their trades as building and significant architectural or in with the regulations of the Lisbon on religious and minorities in the In a in Brazil, prohibited and from and have that the most and in building trades in the analysis of a to the social history of these trades evidence of racial and religious but also that minorities and New to the of their In this the of and as that of the of can on the social of of in a and imperial that the century was for and with of New Spain social and in The of forcibly Indigenous populations to urban they were to their forms of were by which the Indigenous the with of social in the Furthermore, by the of European and the of colonial the of and social Indigenous residents of the forms of in to that were intertwined with the built and the of from in the of churches the of European scholars have the of Indigenous spolia as a of and a of research that this was Indigenous to from the of on this architectural which the of Indigenous knowledge and with the Spanish of Santiago built in in the has a with a the a or The latter in the of and has that was Indigenous to to the of the lineage, to the the was established the of and The is to have at which is the is The the lineage, and the that this colonial building and the with of this of the as of a and building of how spolia can be to to architectural to as of The was built between and in the and was a century by the of the the on of a Indigenous from the with and which they in the of the this the spolia are a of for in the designs of at the many spolia at a a the did the the Indigenous to these spolia theory is that the was to Indigenous and images of they the of spolia on the as a to bring the closer to the The these as of identity, and social In this the spolia can be as Indigenous the of colonial and and that spolia in certain colonial churches have a mundi for that a for both and a of social and the between Indigenous and significant some of which were to The and of spolia in churches for Indigenous Thus, spolia were not they were of a the role by Indigenous as of and of realities in the of a colonial the the of the of the of in In the are of with by on to and the the after their as the is has been as the but Portuguese scholars architecture The is as that a by the Portuguese the colonial of as a model of and on the of and was a built in the of The of Francisco the is to understanding the in which this building was the century, as to most of they in the and to the to was to the but this and the of was in on the of a a the seventeenth century, most in were to the of was the in a the of the Indigenous were in the of Old but were in by the Portuguese of the to challenge this racial was to and from the by and their and their his on the notion of a of at both the Portuguese in and the the the seventeenth century, many Old Goa, to the a of of the to be by the Portuguese and from as did a and of a that on to the of of on the of in of from the of was a and his in to with the of also his in of in on the of to his architectural was built both in of and in with the churches in Old to the churches in as they were the to the of the The a for the of of the Portuguese of was by the in of of The is by a with a in by the in their of of The in the at the and a of and architecture and projected the for the of a the century, as the of the and the of their churches were or and the was his in in a master from that us to the have had with as to of the of the of the of in and African and their descendants in the former of the is to about the role of these in the between and were by the of the for the Indigenous by by or by the of the and the names of the with some about their and their race or the master had to the in the trade and in of and The had to the and from or the to of the At the of the the be with the to by the to become a was not always on many and Indigenous the trade or were of of or in from by European to the trade in to the of the of which and the Indigenous and African and and their descendants the trade in example, in a for his to the of the Spanish master in In in Indigenous the of Juan a In Indigenous from with a Spanish in were also as that of from for to be to Indigenous in in In from with a as between a Juan and a the was in in that were of on a the history of architecture in colonial that challenges the notion of a of knowledge from European to have evidence of the of certain of for Indigenous the study of African to has only have emerged as sources for the study of the social history of we can racial and and at and on the architectural history of the that the of Peru, Peru, Bolivia, and colonial and built churches and from the did with their as both and colonial were architects, and builders, and many were also we only a by all of or as in and in for in the the as his was to us with the only of a of that the people and the also their most and to and their churches and In for example, of the the from to design their before in These churches us to the that people of African descent played in colonial have been as and to colonial they have not been of as patrons and these show that did to the colonial built environment as both patrons and architects. these churches demonstrate how for in a world was by the In these about their and to the that was the of the churches were built in the or European from Portuguese which was in by Nevertheless, these churches and the of churches their of which the to the the in The of in has to the of churches in the that many scholars have that the not and architecture, or have to be has that the scholarship has to engage with the of in Brazil, which was in the of the in the on the the churches are of this from the of churches built by their is the of their that the by of colonial and architects, as the the Antonio Francisco as and these and the of colonial in the the of these churches from the scholarship on is as these religious the and that their and how the their In the vast of and and have Thus, these churches are the of forms of evidence about colonial the of a of a to the of the of the of The a former had significant that to The were descendants of forcibly converted to in and their the and architectural of the former a sources of the time the but the between Islamic architecture and the of the words racial is worth the on the of the architecture of the period had beyond the religious and this race in Spain at the The of race was to to on and religious the that race in in a intersections of religion, and In the for of skin with many as “white” or latter in to the of the and sometimes the were in the of the period to the as to Islamic and also architectural traditions by that were sometimes as as the and seventeenth has the of Islamic architecture and many and in the building the of in the building and trades were to a of regulations in in were not to the master on of the In the of the many had been and had been converted The of a and the architectural the of the histories of these Old Christians that the of and the of were built by to a Spanish and for these buildings that their in In the a of to that the did not with and the Spanish connected the Muslim architecture to the converted and the of in the Iberian Peninsula. that time, had after the of the and some all around In after the of the master of were tried by the were from Spain of about their religious and to the racial of the in with a has these as by and religious of the time did not race in to they the the of which from the understanding of as to in the period sources the had lived in were as a with the and In the of building that in Spain and in from to his to the architecture of the but did not a racial with the and The sources a of in people on skin the sometimes to These the of identity, religion, culture, lineage, and that to be in this architecture, for the Spanish on has debates have to the of the as this be to the that in Spain about the and their architecture to the Spanish Furthermore, that before the a of the were a the of Islamic architectural designs and in the Iberian is In the same this research the between and so-called in his Francisco the and that is to a of building that had in the Spanish of the Philippines the and that this and In that this architecture to be and of the were for their Indigenous architecture, and there had not been architecture before and architecture the of and evidence from the Spanish colonial important but from which to the scholars of the of the in to colonial architecture and for on the to and Luis the after to architecture that had been in to the which a Indigenous with a of the to this as a by the century, the of most Spanish colonial by in the to not as but as in the a in the of for architecture, which to on and in and building emerged as of and Spanish of cities the Spanish built that were to by and and of to building with and from the of as they had been to by the the to or to must have been a of the architectural for of the colonial the were to the in the there were only a of the of was to be to with a of represented by to the with their in a was in with or to of feeble they were to the built environment from a we the of the greater of buildings in the that to the colonial for of a of and architectural from which we can that social and were in and as as of In the history of his about the of that were to be in the they and the on which they be also their to with to in the building of and and that building in was in with being without only by and that from the time of or and some had been to to the as builders, there was a not and all but the of a in which in and were forms of knowledge for social In his us to how social and were in and architectural then, for and on a architectural and we can to of and from the before they were colonial was from trade was and and the of in of and the required building a of and the of methods in with that from the world that had been in were by African and Francisco was to the to the smelters and were a that was rich in of the of European a to the to to all regions of the and Thus, the and to for the the that the of had been as as the and for the of all trades and In the of the a was built for the to this was all the was “other” a of the architectural the time to was not built with on the of the the was the only of this African were there and African in has been by the the and smelters the with and to of and across the Portuguese from to also between and to of to the of African also built the and of the of The on the design of the has focused on the contributions of the engineers, the and the but the after was by at were African people were to the of the The had many and his carpenters, and The as they were and These in way correspond to the to which the were show from the the were of the they and the of the also a of and from to and The of the prevailing racial the with to the perceived of the as a to and evidence of their of and as and evidence has that the only of the period was the by the by the Portuguese and to the contributions of to the building of The of the Portuguese most of the was that they did not the of the African as a with the same as they the contributions of was by means the only that of the the the showcase how they the by to with European African and smelters demonstrated their and by the of the Portuguese in to control and their The with the the of the and smelters to as they there is way to were not as or as the had with with was of the cities and a for trade from the to the The was for the of and the role that played in the of people in the the of about that is on the architecture and of and is The of the was of the of The many of of names were to the racial and social segregation across locales in the Spanish a closer study of of the from the and seventeenth that and their descendants across the a Francisco his study of a building the of the the which a of on that architecture, and on a the building in the century and as architectural to In and played the and racial social and and show that the of architectural for the buildings in the was at the of the seventeenth century the of the In the of the and without and as the to all and the and a in which they both also in the as as and the social of in Havana has been the of that from of the the that have in that and have and for before being and after that has and The also that the was built and with on a in of the of the of the and a from the and the that the a building of to of and The as the was on the and the on the The was with a and the in many buildings in the the has time, the boundaries of the can be the show that not only but also master and for architectural in and in the and actively with the of Havana the of the urban to their In and both to of was this the a which for and is of the buildings of architecture, as in his of the history of has that a lived in the century and to the of in colonial In with to the architectural and urban that in and Old as a to the of architecture and in colonial across the Portuguese from to Angola, and from the The role of the and the of the of the have been in the with of architectural and in the of Goa, which had the of knowledge, and architecture that the built environment of the former Portuguese imperial The to be in to with was The from which that the for in the on of the as the of the be to in In the this but the from and the lack of about us to that architecture in are at the of the of the that was in territories of the Portuguese to were and in particular places, in and of The of the be people of Portuguese or Portuguese and Indigenous Thus, these colonial represented a between colonial and across the former Portuguese were of the and were the Portuguese from The of the by Lisbon in were the had converted to the of architecture and in did not was established in with the of the descendants of Portuguese people in and at the and in the and the descendants they of and their across the Portuguese in the and of but also the descendants to of in the of the Portuguese in and the of the the of the to the a significant and in and across the the of and a network of and in a significant role in the built environment across regions of the former Portuguese in the the urban of and were for the design of the of churches and buildings the as the in the buildings in and and the in in of the from for across the and had important hierarchical in imperial also the in a in between and the in as as the hierarchical social of the and the also in Lisbon and reached in his was of of and from to and designed and built the in and the in only and in from to as and for is in and as is only in Goa, but had across the Portuguese between and designed and built the in Angola, and the at also in all the territories Thus, the study of the of these and can the of knowledge and social and racial in the Portuguese in the