Mind the Gap: A Machiavellian Lesson in Anti-Racism

Abstract

This article analyzes the development of race alongside Machiavelli’s writing on difference and his theorization of the relationship between truth and appearances. I focus on the rise of blood purity statutes in early modern Spain, showing how racialization responded to anx-ieties regarding the ability to discern subjects’ true identity. Whereas race functioned to cover over the potential gap between truth and appearances, I argue that Machiavelli insisted upon the impossibility of bridging this gap. He thus offers us a theory of subjecthood that resists racialization.