The perception of the other does not constitute an original phenomenon, rather we can say that in a certain sense it is derived or constructed, created. This essay presents the results of a study concerning certain historical and social figures who, for various reasons have ended to symbolize the prototype of the other in the Spain of the Golden Ages, that is moros, moriscos, turcos and renegades. The representation of these figures always follows well-defined procedures, several specific other coincident but in all case functional. The corpus of works examined, a great number of relaciones de sucesos, seems to indicate an overall negative characterization, although in the case of the renegade the judgment must be made a little smoother because the representation is dual, flexible. Particularly, the essay reveals the mechanisms of construction of alterity which, according to Amartya Sen, occurs through operations of selection and disparaging reduction. Through eluding, hiding, distinguishing without taking into account the plurality of attributes forming the real identity of a person, but rather selecting those negatives as exclusive and totalizing of the personality, one obtaines a levelled and reduced image. The process of reduction becomes persistent and general, agglutinating histories and identities, until the homogenization of moros, moriscos, turcos and renegades according to predetermined clichés is obtained.
Procedimientos denigratorios, de homologación y de enaltecimiento en la construcción de la otredad (moros, moriscos y renegados)
PABA, ANTONINA
2009-01-01
Abstract
The perception of the other does not constitute an original phenomenon, rather we can say that in a certain sense it is derived or constructed, created. This essay presents the results of a study concerning certain historical and social figures who, for various reasons have ended to symbolize the prototype of the other in the Spain of the Golden Ages, that is moros, moriscos, turcos and renegades. The representation of these figures always follows well-defined procedures, several specific other coincident but in all case functional. The corpus of works examined, a great number of relaciones de sucesos, seems to indicate an overall negative characterization, although in the case of the renegade the judgment must be made a little smoother because the representation is dual, flexible. Particularly, the essay reveals the mechanisms of construction of alterity which, according to Amartya Sen, occurs through operations of selection and disparaging reduction. Through eluding, hiding, distinguishing without taking into account the plurality of attributes forming the real identity of a person, but rather selecting those negatives as exclusive and totalizing of the personality, one obtaines a levelled and reduced image. The process of reduction becomes persistent and general, agglutinating histories and identities, until the homogenization of moros, moriscos, turcos and renegades according to predetermined clichés is obtained.
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