{{Short description|Term describing a type of mixed race person}} {{Italic title}} [[File:Castas 07tornatras max.jpg|thumb|Spanish father and ''Albina'' mother, torna atrás child. Miguel Cabrera, 1763 Mexico]]

'''''Torna atrás''''' ({{IPA|es|toɾnaˈtɾas}}) or '''''tornatrás''''' is a term used in 18th-century ''casta'' paintings to portray a ''mestizo'' or mixed-race person who showed phenotypic characteristics of only one of the "original races", such as European or Amerindian ancestry.<ref name="RAE">{{cite web|url=http://dle.rae.es/?id=a64p6qK|title=Definición de tornatrás|publisher=Real Academia Española|access-date=21 September 2016}}</ref> The term was also used to describe an individual whose parentage was half white and half "albino".<ref name="RAE"/>

==Spanish America== [[File:De Mulato y Mestiza.jpg|thumb|De Mulato y Mestiza, produce mulato es torna atrás. Attributed to Juan Rodríguez Juárez, ca. 1715. Private collection]] [[File:IX. From Spaniard and Albino, Return Backwards (De espanol y albina, torna atras) LACMA M.2011.20.2 (5 of 5).jpg|thumbnail|Casta painting of a Spanish father, albino mother, and torna atrás child. Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz (Mexico, circa 1760)]] [[File:De Albina y Español, Torna atrás (Juan Patricio Morlete).jpg|thumb|''De Albina y Español, Torna atrás''. Attributed to Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz (1701-1770)]]

The term ''torna atrás'' (in English, similar in meaning to "throwback" or "harken back to") could also refer to the appearance of racial characteristics not visible in the parents. An example is the child of a white person and a light-skinned person of partial African ancestry (''albino''){{ref label|reference_name_A|a|1}} born with darker skin than their African-descended parent.

The term ''torna atrás'' does not appear as a legal category in colonial documentation, but it is often shown in families portrayed in casta paintings in eighteenth-century Mexico.

{| |- valign="top" | align="center" | '''Miguel Cabrera, 1763'''<ref>Katzew (2004), ''Casta Painting'', 101-106. Paintings 1 and 3-8 private collections; 2 and 9-16 Museo de América, Madrid; 15 Elisabeth Waldo-Dentzel, Multicultural Music and Art Center (Northridge California).</ref> | align="center" | '''Andrés de Islas, 1774'''<ref>Katzew, Ilona. Program for ''Inventing Race: Casta Painting and Eighteenth-Century Mexico'', April 4-August 8, 2004. LACMA</ref> | align="center" | '''Luis de Mena, ca. 1750'''<ref>Cline, Sarah. "Guadalupe and the Castas: The Power of a Singular Mexican Colonial Painting". ''Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos'' Vol. 31, Issue 2, Summer 2015, pages 218–247.</ref> |- valign="top" | *De Español y d'India; Mestiza *De español y Mestiza, Castiza *De Español y Castiza, Español *De Español y Negra, Mulata *De Español y Mulata; Morisca *De Español y Morisca; Albina<ref>Christopher Knight, "A Most Rare Couch Find: LACMA acquires a recently unrolled masterpiece." ''Los Angeles Times'', April 1, 2015, A1.</ref> *'''De Español y Albina; Torna atrás''' *'''De Español y Torna atrás; Tente en el aire''' *De Negro y d'India, China cambuja. *De Chino cambujo y d'India; Loba *De Lobo y d'India, Albarazado *De Albarazado y Mestiza, Barcino *De Indio y Barcina; Zambuigua *De Castizo y Mestiza; Chamizo *De Mestizo y d'India; Coyote *Indios gentiles (Heathen Indians) | *De Español e India, nace Mestizo *De Español y Mestiza, nace Castizo *De Castizo y Española, nace Española *De Español y Negra, nace Mulata *De Español y Mulata, nace Morisco *De Español y Morisca, nace Albino *'''De Español y Albina, nace Torna atrás''' *De Indio y Negra, nace Lobo *De Indio y Mestiza, nace Coyote *De Lobo y Negra, nace Chino *De Chino e India, nace Cambujo *De Cambujo e India, nace Tente en el aire *De Tente en el aire y Mulata, nace Albarazado *De Albarazado e India, nace Barcino *De Barcino y Cambuja, nace Calpamulato *Indios Mecos bárbaros (Barbarian Meco Indians) | *Española + Indio, Mestizo *Mestizo + Española, Castizo *Castiza + Espanol, Española *Español + Negra, Mulato *Mulato + Española, Morisca *'''Morisca + Español, Albino Torna-atrás''' *Mestiza + Indio, Lobo *Lobo + India, Indio |}

==Philippines== The term ''tornatrás'' was also used in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era from the 16th to 19th century, to describe persons of mixed Austronesian (referred to in Spanish as ''indio''), Chinese (referred to in Spanish as ''Sangley''), and Spanish ancestry (referred to in Spanish as ''español'' (or ''kastila'' in Filipino/Tagalog), specifically either ''filipinos''/''insulares'' (Spaniard born/raised in Spanish Philippines) or ''americanos'' (Criollo born/raised in Spanish America) or ''peninsulares'' (Spaniard born/raised in Iberia) ), or just mixed Chinese and Spanish ancestry.<ref name="Mallat">{{cite book|last=Mallat|first=Jean|title=Les Philippines; histoire, géographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie Vol. 2|date=1846|publisher=Arthus Bertrand|page=135}}</ref><ref name="Macdonald">{{cite book|last=Macdonald|first=Roderick|title=Open and Closed Economies Lessons from the Philippines and Vietnam|date=2021|publisher=Springer International Publishing|isbn=9783030795344|page=71}}</ref>

Although tornatrás was originally used to describe a descendant of mestizos, albinos, and Europeans, in the Philippines they were commonly known as those born from a Spanish father and a ''mestiza de Sangley'' (mixed native and Sangley Chinese) mother; they can be born to any mixed native and Spanish parent and any mixed native and Chinese parent. Most tornatrás who were mostly middle-class people in Spanish Philippines used Spanish as their primary language multilingually with Philippine languages, and in many cases converted to the Catholic faith. Examples of famous tornatrás persons in colonial history are José Rizal, Andrés Bonifacio, and Manuel L. Quezon.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

==See also== * Castas * Filipino mestizo * Miscegenation * Morisco * Mulato * Atavism * Passing (racial identity) * Sandra Laing

==Notes== * {{note label|reference_name_A|a|1}} Should not be confused with Albinism

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Miscegenation in Spanish colonies}} {{Miscegenation in Spanish Philippines}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tornatras}} Category:Ethnonyms Category:Spanish words and phrases Category:History of the Philippines (1565–1898) Category:Multiracial affairs * *