Papers by Thomas Franke
Essay in Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and North America.
Conference Presentations by Thomas Franke
This paper focuses on the slavery and captivity of black people—referred to in contemporary docum... more This paper focuses on the slavery and captivity of black people—referred to in contemporary documents as “negres”—in Valencia, Spain during the first half of the sixteenth century. Specifically, it examines documents called “presentacions de catius,” or the presentations of captives, recorded in Valencia between 1501 and 1524. These documents were meant to legitimize the enslavement of those being sold and recorded data including the names, ages, and places of origin of the enslaved. Over one thousand presentations exist from this period recording the entry of almost five thousand captives into Valencia, of which over seventy percent were labelled “negres.”
Analyzing these documents sheds light on two aspects of the enslavement of black people in Valencia this period. Firstly, by taking these sources and the data they contain at face value, this chapter attempts to reconstruct a broad picture of the different lifepaths, experiences, and origins of enslaved people categorized as negres. Doing so highlights the diversity of experience of captive negres and elevates the voices of the enslaved by centering their testimonies. Secondly, by interrogating the absences in these documents—the data they omit—this chapter argues that the officials recording presentations were more concerned with efficiency more than with accuracy. The result was a set of strategies meant to streamline the process of the presentacion. While many of these strategies were modeled on rhetoric developed to justify the enslavement of Muslims, or moros, the result was the distortion or erasure of the histories of a majority of the black captives who were brought to Valencia in this period.
In my research I aim to explore race, racism, and racialization (or their premodern analogues) in... more In my research I aim to explore race, racism, and racialization (or their premodern analogues) in late medieval and early modern Spain. To this end, I focus specifically on the Kingdom of Valencia which, by the later Middle Ages, was home to one of the most ethnically diverse populations in Western Europe. In the course of my research my method has been to focus on ostensibly distinct minority groups and examine the ways in which they were “racialized” by white, Christian Spaniards. Today, I will be offering some brief glimpses into what I have found for two of these groups: Valencia’s late thirteenth century population of Muslim converts to Christianity and its sixteenth century Black African population. In examining these two historically and ethnically distinct minority groups, I hope to make a few broad points about how racialized identities were constructed in the specific realm of legal matters in these cases. Firstly, what we might understand as “racial difference” was not a given in these proceedings, but was something that white Christian litigants had to actively point to and construct. Secondly, these constructions occurred in contexts where status—and particularly the superior social status of Spanish Christians—was perceived to be in flux or threatened. Thirdly, and lastly, these constructions were fragile, contested, and often undermined in court.
Edited Volumes by Thomas Franke
Holy Monster, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States, Jul 27, 2018
Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States examin... more Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States examines the intersection of religion and monstrosity in a variety of different time periods in the hopes of addressing two gaps in scholarship within the field of monster studies. The first part of this book—running from the medieval to the Early Modern period—focuses upon the view of the monster through non-majority voices and accounts from those who were themselves branded as monsters. Overlapping partially with the Early Modern and proceeding to the present day, the contributions of the second part of this book attempt to problematize the dichotomy of secular/religious through a close look at the monsters this period has wrought.
Book Reviews by Thomas Franke
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Papers by Thomas Franke
Conference Presentations by Thomas Franke
Analyzing these documents sheds light on two aspects of the enslavement of black people in Valencia this period. Firstly, by taking these sources and the data they contain at face value, this chapter attempts to reconstruct a broad picture of the different lifepaths, experiences, and origins of enslaved people categorized as negres. Doing so highlights the diversity of experience of captive negres and elevates the voices of the enslaved by centering their testimonies. Secondly, by interrogating the absences in these documents—the data they omit—this chapter argues that the officials recording presentations were more concerned with efficiency more than with accuracy. The result was a set of strategies meant to streamline the process of the presentacion. While many of these strategies were modeled on rhetoric developed to justify the enslavement of Muslims, or moros, the result was the distortion or erasure of the histories of a majority of the black captives who were brought to Valencia in this period.
Edited Volumes by Thomas Franke
Book Reviews by Thomas Franke
Analyzing these documents sheds light on two aspects of the enslavement of black people in Valencia this period. Firstly, by taking these sources and the data they contain at face value, this chapter attempts to reconstruct a broad picture of the different lifepaths, experiences, and origins of enslaved people categorized as negres. Doing so highlights the diversity of experience of captive negres and elevates the voices of the enslaved by centering their testimonies. Secondly, by interrogating the absences in these documents—the data they omit—this chapter argues that the officials recording presentations were more concerned with efficiency more than with accuracy. The result was a set of strategies meant to streamline the process of the presentacion. While many of these strategies were modeled on rhetoric developed to justify the enslavement of Muslims, or moros, the result was the distortion or erasure of the histories of a majority of the black captives who were brought to Valencia in this period.