Final answer:
Casta paintings were a genre of painting in the 1700s that depicted racially mixed people in New Spain and aimed to establish a person's place in society based on their race. They conveyed a perception of racial superiority and promoted certain racial mixings as more positive than others.
Step-by-step explanation:
Casta paintings were created in the 1700s in New Spain and were part of a genre of painting that depicted racially mixed categories of people between Spaniards, the Indigenous population, and African slaves. These paintings were used to reflect the social hierarchy of the time and to establish a person's place in society based on their race and socioeconomic position. The paintings aimed to convey a perception of racial superiority and to promote certain racial mixings as more positive than others.