Resumen de Postcolonial Theory and the Traditional Castilian Lyric: The Morenita as Epidermal Stereotype

Andrew M. Beresford

• español

  Estudios de la morenita, cuya piel blanca vuelve casi negra como conse-cuencia de su exposición al calor abrasador del sol, han sido dominados tradicionalmente por factores intrínsecas a su estado. Este artículo, que examina su fortuna a la luz de la teoría postcolonial, ofrece una serie de interpretaciones nuevas del corpus de poemas sobre la morenita, enfocán-dose en la epidermalización de la identidad y la relación entre el mimetismo y la amenaza. Propone que, mientras la lírica tradicional castellana podrá aprovecharse de un encajamiento con la teoría, exploraciones teóricas de la identidad fenotípica también podrán desarrollarse a base de un análisis de la curiosa ambivalencia ontológica de la morenita

• English

  This article is the revised text of the twenty-fifth Kate Elder Lecture, delivered at Queen Mary University of London, on 27 March 2014. This lecture series com-memorates the life of Kate Elder, who died while a student at Westfield College, and is generously funded by her family.

  Discussions of the morenita, whose white skin turns almost black as a result of exposure to the searing heat of the sun, have traditionally been dominated by factors intrinsic to her status. This paper, which examines her legacy in the light of postcolonial theory, offers a series of fresh interpretations of the corpus of morenita lyrics, focusing on the epidermalization of identity and the complex relationship between mimicry and menace. It argues that, while the traditional Castilian lyric stands to benefit from an engagement with theory, theoretical explorations of phenotypic identity also have much to learn from an appreciation of the morenita’s peculiar ontological ambivalence