Rereading the Black Legend

The Discourses of Religious and Racial Difference in the Renaissance Empires

Edited by Margaret R. Greer, Walter D. Mignolo, and Maureen Quilligan

Edited by Margaret R. Greer, Walter D. Mignolo, and Maureen Quilligan

Cloth $75.00 ISBN: 9780226307213 Published January 2008

Paper $30.00 ISBN: 9780226307220 Published January 2008

E-book $7.00 to $30.00 About E-books ISBN: 9780226307244 Published September 2008

The phrase “The Black Legend” was coined in 1912 by a Spanish journalist in protest of the characterization of Spain by other Europeans as a backward country defined by ignorance, superstition, and religious fanaticism, whose history could never recover from the black mark of its violent conquest of the Americas. Challenging this stereotype, Rereading the Black Legend contextualizes Spain’s uniquely tarnished reputation by exposing the colonial efforts of other nations whose interests were served by propagating the “Black Legend.”

A distinguished group of contributors here examine early modern imperialisms including the Ottomans in Eastern Europe, the Portuguese in East India, and the cases of Mughal India and China, to historicize the charge of unique Spanish brutality in encounters with indigenous peoples during the Age of Exploration. The geographic reach and linguistic breadth of this ambitious collection will make it a valuable resource for any discussion of race, national identity, and religious belief in the European Renaissance.

Review Quotes

Davíd Carrasco, Harvard Divinity School

“This book will be a major contribution to rereading not only the Black Legend but in navigating the very busy intersection of empire and racial and religious difference. The authors deepen our understanding of how modern Western European practices of racialized discrimination developed in nuanced, nearly unimagined ways. Rereading the Black Legend, with its diverse essays, is about the formation of the world we live in today.”

William J. Kennedy, Cornell University

“Rereading the Black Legend is a superbly organized collection that boldly traverses early modern imperialisms of Spain in the Americas, of the Ottomans in Eastern Europe, and of the Portuguese in East India and China. As a guide and critical reference work, it will be useful to undergraduate students and advanced scholars alike. I know of no comparable work currently available in academic publication, and I think it truly innovative in plan, scope, and approach.”

Teofilo F. Ruiz | International History Review

"The book is particularly strong on its superbly documented study of the appropriation of racial and religious categories in the New World. As such, this courageous and most worthy scholarly volume makes signal contributions to our understanding of the links between race, religion, and imperial projects within the painful transition into the early modern world."

Shankar Ramen | Renaissance Quarterly

"A welcome addition to the growing range of texts that critically explore the enduring legacies, desired and undesired, of a past that continues to shape our present."

Lisa Vollendorf | Clio

"[The editors] have put their talents to work in assembling a volume that will have a significant impact on early modern studies. This reader was humbled by the display of analytical prowess and the sheer volume of information on the interstices of race and religion in different settings throughout the early modern world. . . . An exceptional book that can and should be read by scholars and students of east and west, north and south, minority and dominant cultures."—Lisa Vollendorf, Clio

For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu

Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology

Culture Studies

Geography: Cultural and Historical Geography

History: British and Irish History | Discoveries and Exploration | European History | Latin American History

Latin American Studies

Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature | Romance Languages

Medieval Studies

Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion

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