{"product_id":"mastering-the-law-ricardo-ral-salazar-rey-9780817320669","title":"Mastering the Law: Slavery and Freedom in the Legal Ecology of the Spanish Empire","description":"\u003cb\u003eExplores the legal relationships of enslaved people and their descendants during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Spanish America\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Atlantic slavery can be overwhelming in its immensity and brutality, as it involved more than 15 million souls forcibly displaced by European imperialism and consumed in building the global economy. \u003ci\u003eMastering the Law: Slavery and Freedom in the Legal Ecology of the Spanish Empire\u003c\/i\u003e lays out the deep history of Iberian slavery, explores its role in the Spanish Indies, and shows how Africans and their descendants used and shaped the legal system as they established their place in Iberoamerican society during the seventeenth century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ricardo Ra l Salazar Rey places the institution of slavery and the people involved with it at the center of the creation story of Latin America. Iberoamerican customs and laws and the institutions that enforced them provided a common language and a forum to resolve disputes for Spanish subjects, including enslaved and freedpeople. The rules through which Iberian conquerors, settlers, and administrators incorporated Africans into the expanding Empire were developed out of the need of a distant crown to find an enforceable consensus. Africans and their mestizo descendants, in turn, used and therefore molded Spanish institutions to serve their interests.Salazar Rey mined extensively the archives of secular and religious courts, which are full of complex disputes, unexpected subversions, and tactical alliances among enslaved people, freedpeople, and the crown. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The narrative unfolds around vignettes that show Afroiberians building their lives while facing exploitation and inequality enforced through violence. Salazar Rey deals mostly with cases originating from Cartagena de Indias, a major Atlantic port city that supported the conquest and rule of the Indies. His work recovers the voices and indomitable ingenuity that enslaved people and their descendants displayed when engaging with the Spanish legal ecology. The social relationships animating the case studies represent the broader African experience in the Americas during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ricardo Ra伃 Salazar Rey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0817320660\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817320669\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Alabama Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/17\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2021","brand":"Ricardo Ra伃 Salazar Rey","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43947334140159,"sku":"9780817320669","price":49.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_122cb0a7-1843-4bf6-9207-75525c762c4c.jpg?v=1681518105","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/mastering-the-law-ricardo-ral-salazar-rey-9780817320669","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}