The mocked party. Aristocratic Identities in colonial Venezuela (18th century)

Abstract

A prosperous province on the fringes of the overseas empire, 18th-century overseas empire, eighteenth-century Venezuela is the scene of a of a myriad of assertions and redefinitions of identity. and redefinitions of identity. The local elites, but also the world of the mestizos, tended to occupy mestizos, tended to occupy the ceremonial and festive space in rituals of transgression in rituals of transgression whose symbolism is not lost on their actors. to its actors. Beyond the rites of inversion or evasion - which the fiesta traditionally lends itself to to which the colonial festival traditionally lends itself, this article This article looks at the consequences and the achievements of this transactional universe influenced by a highly original culture of appearances, its most original expression culture of appearances, the most outstanding expression of which was the so-called Mantuan the so-called Mantuan aristocracy, named after the mantas worn by the nobles worn at the time by Creole noblewomen.