plotted to escape by sea with slaves and and the 1564 “Turkish” “Antônio” “Pedro”; attempt of the and two other So when gelofe “Antônio” “Turks,” equally unsuccessful.23 de Pedraza says that Juan Latino was born in this is Bermūdez Berberia (“Barbary”), entirely possible. The Portuguese and Spanish were of course well acquainted with Muslims, a diverse assembly of differentiated unequals that included Arabs, Berbers, Arabo-Berbers, and West Africans. Together, they comprised the unwieldy and heterogeneic category referred to as by Europeans. Spanish use of the term Moor in the sixteenth “Moors” century, therefore, was not necessarily a reference to as it is currently understood “race” or employed. Indeed, Berbers and Arabs had had such extensive with “contact Negroes” that they had a considerable amount of and at times a dark-skinned “absorbed color,” Muslim presumed to have hailed from subsaharan Africa would be referred to as a negro Rather, it is more productive to view the term Moor as referring to a (as alárabe. casta opposed to a designation that not intend to imply a racial factor but rather a nación), “did cultural characteristic - Islam.”24 But foreigners could occupy other cultural identities, as was the case with the author of the who transitioned from his identity as Juan de Sessa, which Austrias carmen, emphasized his servile status, to that of Juan Latino, in recognition of his linguistic achievements and as initiated by classmates. But the term was commonly used to ladino refer to individuals, especially of African descent, who had acquired facility in Portuguese or Spanish, but who also often had connections to Senegambia or Islam, or both. It was therefore not uncommon for the descriptive term of to occupy the ladino place of a surname, distinguishing the individual from Moors and but also from moriscos
plotted to escape by sea with “Turkish” slaves “Antônio” and “Pedro”; and the 1564 attempt of the gelofe “Antônio” and two other “Turks,” equally unsuccessful.23 So when Bermūdez de Pedraza says that Juan Latino was born in Berberia (“Barbary”), this is entirely possible. The Portuguese and Spanish were of course well acquainted with Muslims, a diverse assembly of differentiated unequals that included Arabs, Berbers, Arabo-Berbers, and West Africans. Together, they comprised the unwieldy and heterogeneic category referred to as “Moors” by Europeans. Spanish use of the term Moor in the sixteenth century, therefore, was not necessarily a reference to “race” as it is currently understood or employed. Indeed, Berbers and Arabs had had such extensive “contact with Negroes” that they had “absorbed a considerable amount of color,” and at times a dark-skinned Muslim presumed to have hailed from subsaharan Africa would be referred to as a negro alárabe. Rather, it is more productive to view the term Moor as referring to a casta (as opposed to nación), a designation that “did not intend to imply a racial factor but rather a cultural characteristic - Islam.”24 But foreigners could occupy other cultural identities, as was the case with the author of the Austrias carmen, who transitioned from his identity as Juan de Sessa, which emphasized his servile status, to that of Juan Latino, in recognition of his linguistic achievements and as initiated by classmates. But the term ladino was commonly used to refer to individuals, especially of African descent, who had acquired facility in Portuguese or Spanish, but who also often had connections to Senegambia or Islam, or both. It was therefore not uncommon for the descriptive term of ladino to occupy the place of a surname, distinguishing the individual from Moors and moriscos but also from