Week 3 Response
This week's readings had many elements I feel we should discuss for this weeks class. The main topic we clearly have to discuss is the transition for the Spanish kingdom to become a colonial power and how they dealt with the indigenous peoples of Mexico and beyond, and also the labor force which would become slaves. So, ultimately our discussion should entail how the Spanish dealt with a multiethnic society in New Spain.
The two readings were very interesting as both seemed to indicate the origins of the Spanish's depiction of the American Indian as "other" and also "barbaric" in comparison to Western Civilization. In the Pagden reading, I found it fascinating that in the beginning of chapter 2 he discusses that, Aristolean thinking which has impacted Western thought since the time of the Greeks, is the origin of the idea of the "barbarian" as interpreted by later Medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas. (15) From that point of the reading onward, it was notable that he explains how this thinking influenced the Spanish in dehumanizing other peoples to benefit the New Spanish empire. The Davis reading focused more on the origins of Slavery than the Pagden reading and I found it interesting how he discusses how "there were the strong sanctions for slavery in the West's religious and philosophical heritage extending back to the Hebrew and Christain Bibles and to classical literature of the Greco-Roman era."(78) He discusses this philosophical foundation to the creation of Slavery in the New World. So I feel for this week we should discuss how the Spanish's thinking contributed to the eventual race depiction in the New World.
The two readings were very interesting as both seemed to indicate the origins of the Spanish's depiction of the American Indian as "other" and also "barbaric" in comparison to Western Civilization. In the Pagden reading, I found it fascinating that in the beginning of chapter 2 he discusses that, Aristolean thinking which has impacted Western thought since the time of the Greeks, is the origin of the idea of the "barbarian" as interpreted by later Medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas. (15) From that point of the reading onward, it was notable that he explains how this thinking influenced the Spanish in dehumanizing other peoples to benefit the New Spanish empire. The Davis reading focused more on the origins of Slavery than the Pagden reading and I found it interesting how he discusses how "there were the strong sanctions for slavery in the West's religious and philosophical heritage extending back to the Hebrew and Christain Bibles and to classical literature of the Greco-Roman era."(78) He discusses this philosophical foundation to the creation of Slavery in the New World. So I feel for this week we should discuss how the Spanish's thinking contributed to the eventual race depiction in the New World.
Columbus's describes cannibalism in the islands that he discovered. Although there was not then and has never been since any evidence that the people of the Caribbean islands ate human flesh, it was a potent justification to make conquest and exploitation morally legitimate by the Spaniards. Vitoria's analysis is noteworthy and should be discussed within the context of dehumanization of Native Indians.
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