The 128th Convention of the Modern Languages Association (Boston, January 3-6, 2013) featured two guaranteed sessions organized and led by the Division of Colonial Latin American Literature, and additional sessions on different topics and approaches such as the impact of natural disasters on colonial societies and ideologies, the Baroque as a defining force of identities in colonial Mexico, Peru and Brazil, the examination of rhetorical genres as the petition, and the human body as a metaphor of the nation and its citizens. A list of these sessions and their participants can be found at the end of this note. All sessions were very well attended and sparked discussion that continued in the hallways of the Hynes Center after the session’s time was out.
The Division also organized the Colonial Happy Hour at Tapeo, a Spanish-Latino venue in downtown Boston that serves sangria along with Spanish tapas. This event took place on Friday January 4, from 5-7 PM, and it was very well attended by members and friends of Colonial Latin American literature. It gave us all a great opportunity to come together in an informal setting.
Christian Roa de la Carrera (Univ of Illinois, Chicago) has been elected to serve in the Division for five years (2013-2018). He joins Stephanie Kirk (Washington Univ, St. Louis, 2014), Rolena Adorno (Yale Univ, 2015), Anna More (UCLA, 2016) and Nicolás Wey-Gómez (CAL-Tech, 2017). Rocío Quispe-Agnoli (Michigan State Univ) finished her term with the 2013 MLA convention.
The Division will organize two guaranteed sessions for the 2014 MLA convention in Chicago (January 9-12, 2014). Themes were discussed in the Division’s meeting and announcements will be made shortly in the Division’s forum at www.mla.org and by email to all MLA members of the Division.
We hope to see you in Chicago 2014!
Guaranteed sessions organized by the Division
Natural and Moral Chaos in Colonial Latin America: Saturday, 5 January, Organizer and Presiding: Rocío Quispe-Agnoli, Michigan State Univ.
1. “Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl and the (Super)Naturally Ordained Mesoamerican Ruling Dynasty,” Kimberly Borchard, Randolph-Macon Coll.
2. “‘Under the Sign of Gemini or Love’: Explaining Natural Catastrophes through European and Amerindian Archives in Chimalpahin’s Seventeenth-Century Historical Annals,” Ann Elizabeth De León, Univ. of Alberta
3. “Foundational Ruins: Earthquakes and the Discourses of Creole Consciousness in Colonial Peru,” Sara Vicuña Guengerich, Texas Tech Univ.
4. “Peralta Barnuevo’s Desvíos de la naturaleza: Monstrous Births and Natural Catastrophes in Vice-Royal Peru,” Victor Manuel Pueyo Zoco, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Baroque Forces: Sunday, 6 January, Organizer and Presiding: Anna H. More, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
1. “Colonial Baroque: Violence as History,” Ivonne del Valle, Univ. of California, Berkeley
2. “Festive Forces in Potosí,” Lisa Voigt, Ohio State Univ., Columbus
3. “Sigüenza y Vico,” José Francisco Robles, El Colegio de México
4. “The Baroque Voice: Syncretic Afro-Catholic Performance and Power in the Visions of Early Modern Brazil’s Rosa Maria Egipçiaca,” Rachel Spaulding, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Special sessions on Colonial Latin American topics
Providence as Metanarrative: The Orders and Social Change in Colonial Spanish America: Thursday, 3 January. Organizer and Presiding: Cristian Roa, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
1. “Saving the Indians from the Plagues of New Spain: The Franciscan Colonial Project in Motolinia’s Memoriales,” Jongsoo Lee, Univ. of North Texas
2. “From Providence to Nature: Discourses on Epidemics and Evangelization in Colonial Mexico,” Cristian Roa
3. “De la condena a la salvación: Las erupciones del volcán Pichincha en el discurso religioso de Pedro Mercado,” Clara Veronica Valdano, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana
4. “Divine Punishment and Moral Changes at the Santa Clara Convent in Quito,” Catalina Andrango-Walker, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ.
Agency, Identity, and the Petitionary Genre in Colonial Latin America: Friday, 4 January. Organizer: Domingo Ledezma and Felipe Ruan. Presiding: Felipe Ruan, Brock Univ.
1. “Agencia, identidad y construcción del conocimiento en la carta de Isabel de Guevara a la princesa Juana (1556),” Raul Marrero-Fente, Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
2. “Y porque estoy pobre y necesitado . . . suplico a vuestra alteza me haga merced de una canonjía,” Catalina Andrango-Walker, Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ.
3. “Indian Petitioners and Legal Rhetoric in Colonial Mexico,” Mónica Díaz, Georgia State Univ.
4. “Performing Indigenous Nobility: The Petition of an Inca Noblewoman in Eighteenth-Century Perú,” Rocío Quispe-Agnoli, Michigan State Univ.
For primary sources, abstracts, papers (long versions), discussion board, and forum, visit petitionarygenre.wordpress.com/ after 28 Nov.
Poetics of Disaster: Writing the Ends of the Earth in Colonial Latin America: Saturday, 5 January. Organizer: Rocío Quispe-Agnoli (Michigan State Univ). Presiding: Jason McCloskey, Bucknell Univ.
1. “The Disastrous Strait of Magellan in Colonial Epic Poetry,” Jason McCloskey
2. “Stormy Seas: (De)Moralizing Journeys in Colonial Mexico,” Sara L. Lehman, Fordham Univ., Bronx
3. “Journey to the End of the World: Apocalyptical Terrors in Seventeenth-Century Peru,” Beatriz Carolina Peña, Queens Coll., City Univ. of New York.