Monthly Archives: April 2014

Recording the Native Americas

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Indigenous Speech, Representation, and the Politics of Writing

Newberry Library Consortium American Indian Studies ~ Graduate Summer Institute
Monday, July 7, 2014 to Friday, August 1, 2014

Led by Profs. Ellen Cushman and Rocío Quispe-Agnoli, Michigan State University

State of Sequoyah. Political lapel pin, circa 1905.

State of Sequoyah. Political lapel pin, circa 1905.

 

Chief Charles Hicks' syllabary 1825.

Chief Charles Hicks’ syllabary 1825.

Departing from typical constructions of systems of communication and the notions of “literacy” at large, this seminar examines the relationship between Indigenous languages of the Americas and the politics of their writing before and after the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. This seminar explores scholarship in native Americas, indigenous language, and studies of colonialism with three questions in mind: (a) how has the acquisition of alphabetic script impacted (Latin) American indigenous communities, primarily its effects on identities, languages, and cultural institutions;(b) what knowledge is produced today about these communities and their changing responses to what they consider local and global languages and identities; and (c) how have indigenous communities used global networks to advance their own ideas regarding cultural maintenance and language preservation?

Inca Quipu (15th-16th c)

 

Framed in ongoing discussions of decolonizing thought, we discuss several forms of writing, record keeping and representational systems, tracing the long history of meaning making in the Americas. We pay special attention to Andean and Iroquoian systems of representation as examples of key moments of resistance to the alphabetic influence and the civilizing force of the letter. Along the way, we highlight the methodological difficulties of removing an alphabetic lens to see writing systems in their own right.

While primarily drawing upon the Newberry’s extensive collections, especially the Edward Ayer and the Everett Graff collections, we will also visit the Field Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, to contextualize Americas Indigenous writing and literacy in the larger America and global contexts of the history of writing.

We encourage applicants interested in indigenous meaning making practices no matter the discipline: Humanities students can find ample opportunity to study visual, material, and symbolic representations; History students can explore the tensions of colonial and indigenous struggles for making and disseminating knowledge; and archeology and Anthropology students will be introduced to a wide range of material forms of representation and will explore their value; students of English, Linguistics, American Studies, and Latin American Studies will have the opportunity to study visual and written rhetorical expression of Indigenous authors across the hemisphere and find overlooked links among their works.

Students will propose and undertake research using the Newberry’s collections (and, if applicable, artifacts from the collections of the museums mentioned above) and will write an original research paper to be presented in a conference at the conclusion of the seminar. Participants will be encouraged to either incorporate their findings in the dissertation projects and/or to revise their papers for publication in academic journals of their field.

 

Chaski (messenger carrying a quipu). Guaman Poma de Ayala (1615)

Chaski (messenger carrying a quipu). Guaman Poma de Ayala (1615)

Cost and registration information: 

Each NCAIS institution is entitled to one slot to the summer institute, which will have a maximum of eighteen participants. The selection process of each member institution’s NCAIS Summer Institute participant is according

to the individual program needs and existing protocols of the member institution. Housing will be provided for free at Canterbury Court Apartmentsand a maximum of $500 travel expenses will be reimbursed to all participants. Students will also receive $500 stipend. Students should apply directly to their NCAIS Faculty Liaison by April 4, 2014.

 

LASA 2014 (Chicago) – Colonial Section, Saturday May 24

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Saturday, May 24, 8:00 to 9:45am

Urban Space, Spectacle and Race I. Sponsor: Colonial Section. Session Participants: Session Organizer: Mónica Díaz (Georgia State University). Chair: Mónica Díaz (Georgia State University).

  1. “Passing under the Triumphal Arch,” Rolena Adorno (Yale University)
  2. “‘To Correct these Detestable Luxuries’: Funerary Rites and the Limits of Selfhood in Late-Colonial Lima, Peru,” Tamara J Walker (University of Pennsylvania)
  3. “After the Execution: Mapping African Experience of Colonial Mexico City,” Savannah L Esquivel (University of Chicago)
  4. “Unruly Mexicans and Spaniards in the ‘Pearl of the Orient’: Convict Labor, Bourbon Urban Reforms, and Racial Discourse in Late Eighteenth-Century Manila,” Eva M Mehl (University of North Carolina/Wilmington)

Abstract: This interdisciplinary session will look at cities and their inhabitants in colonial Latin America. Of particular interest is the relationship between the planning and building of cities in the colonial space, the performance of festivals and spectacles, and the presence of a multi-ethnic and multi-racial society.

Textual Geographies of Colonial Latin America. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Clayton L McCarl (University of North Florida). Chair: Rubén A Sánchez-Godoy (Southern Methodist University)

  1. “Contested Cartographies: (Re)imagining the Frontiers and the Centers of the New World,” Rocio Quispe-Agnoli (Michigan State University)
  2. “Christopher Columbus as Heroic Cosmographer in Luis Zapata’s Carlo famoso,” Jason McCloskey (Bucknell University)
  3. “At the Calendric Crossroads: The Textual Production of Cuzco in the Inca Garcilaso and Bernabé Cobo,” Sara Castro-Klaren (Johns Hopkins University)
  4. “Los espacios incógnitos del Epítome de Antonio de León Pinelo,” Clayton L McCarl (University of North Florida)

Abstract: In recent years, scholars have considered maps of the colonial world not merely as attempts to represent physical space but as complex cultural discourses and ideological projections. In this panel, we examine not visual but rather geographies, analyzing ways that authors employ the linguistic recreation of space to advance or undermine colonial projects. Rocío Quispe-Agnoli of Michigan State University contrasts the use of cartographic writing as a method of colonization by Spanish authors with an embrace of geography to fashion decolonizing discourses by indigenous writers. Studying the epic poem Carlo famoso (1566) of Spanish author Luis Zapata, Jason McCloskey of Bucknell University analyzes how a poetic description of the geography of the West Indies is used to position Colombus as a hero in the classical mold. Sara Castro-Klarén of Johns Hopkins University examines the textual construction of Cuzco in the writings of Inca Garcilaso and the Friar Bernabé Cobo, taking into account notions of imperial space in the classical and Andean worlds. Lastly, Clayton McCarl of the University of North Florida reads the Epítome de la biblioteca oriental y occidental, náutica y geografica (1629) of Antonio de León Pinelo as a frustrated imperial project that reveals the precarious nature of geographical knowledge in the seventeenth-century Hispanic world.

Memorias, voces y discursos indígeno-coloniales. Lecturas interdisciplinarias de la identidad. Sponsor: Afro-Latin and Indigenous Peoples. Session Organizers: Ana Maria Presta (Universidad de Buenos Aires/PROHAL) and Gladys M Ilarregui (University of Delaware). Discussant: Ana Maria Presta (Universidad de Buenos Aires/PROHAL)

  1. “Narrating Collective Memory in Sixteenth-Century New Spanish Chronicles,” Heather J Allen (University of Mississippi)
  2. “La memoria como resistencia a la colonialidad: Popol Wuj,” Carlos M López (Marshall University)
  3. “Memorias reconfiguradas en discursos homogeneizados. Probanzas, genealogía y legitimidad cacicales en los Andes meridionales, Siglos XVI-XVII,” Ana Maria Presta (Universidad de Buenos Aires/PROHAL)
  4. “Memoria en la sangre y en la tierra. Liderazgo, sucesión y acceso a la tierra en el sur andino, (Pacajes y Omasuyos, 1570-1650),” Ariel J Morrone (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
  5. “Andean Constructions of Identity: The contradictory voices of native escribanos,” Alcira Dueñas (Ohio State University)

Abstract: El estilo de relaciones establecidas después del asentamiento europeo en las Américas produce un nuevo mapa social en donde los pueblos indígenas deben conformar su identidad dentro de nuevos modelos administrativos y culturales. La discursividad para representar, reclamar y corregir la visión del nativo se abre como un océano impresionante a lo largo y lo ancho de los siglos XVI y XVII. El registro de esas memorias en pugna invita a nuevas lecturas y reflexiones, una vez que se ha hecho patente el modelo de “extracción-violencia” que domina la primera fase de esos encuentros. ¿Cómo recuperar, reclamar y subrayar la memoria indígena y su interioridad dentro del territorio ahora ocupado por un poder hegemónico? Este panel busca responder a estos interrogantes enfocándose en el mundo andino y el mundo mesoamericano posconquista indagando en probanzas, prácticas de colectivos étnicos, presentaciones cacicales, el oficio de escribano indígena y en el contenido de una crónica del siglo XVII. Se trata aquí de contribuir desde el pasado a una reflexión profundamente unida a los factores políticos y sociales del presente indígena que, desde la colonia, pugna por recuperar y ver resurgir su epistemología en ruinas, al tiempo de manifestarse en su profundo reclamo de las políticas agrarias y educativas en Latinoamérica.

Of Monsters, Warriors and Visions—Print Culture and the Press, 1780s-1930s. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Chair: Carlos F Tapia (Global Language Translation, Inc).

  1. “Prensa política y libertad de expresión en la provincia de Córdoba –Argentina- a finales de la década de 1870: normas, principios y prácticas,” Laura Cucchi (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
  2. “El papel de la prensa en la demonización del Dr. Francia,” Stéphane Bédère (Aquinas College)
  3. “‘The Patria as the Nuptial Bed’: Print Culture and the Imagined Ranchero as Warrior and Gendered Patriot of Mexico, 1862-1935,” Eugene M Moreno (Columbia Basin College)
  4. “Tyranny, monsters and barbarians,” Marcelo Somarriva (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez)
  5. “Visões e projetos de “Brasil”: soberania e cidadania nos impressos dos séculos XVIII e XIX,” Alice S Guimarães (NETSAL-UERJ).

Saturday, May 24, 10:00 to 11:45am

Urban Space, Spectacle and Race II. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Mónica Díaz (Georgia State University). Chair: Mónica Díaz (Georgia State University).

  1. “A Space at the Margins: Lima’s Cercado and the Reinscription of Indigenous Power,” Karen B Graubart (University of Notre Dame)
  2. “Corporal Spectacle as Religious Agency: Women’s Public Displays in Colonial Lima,” Stacey Schlau (West Chester University)
  3. “Black Criollos: Race, Place, and Colonial Belonging in Mid Nineteenth-Century Havana,” Guadalupe Garcia (Tulane University)
  4. “Las ciudades indígenas a través del discurso etnográfico colonial. Desposesión, salvajismo y asimilación cultural,” David M Solodkow (Universidad de los Andes)

Saturday, May 24, 12:00 to 1:45pm

Visuality and Space: Texts and Maps in the Geographical Imagination. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Session Organizer: Marta Josefina Sierra (Kenyon College)

  1. “Como Mapear una nueva República: George Thompson, José Cecilio del Valle y la Federación de Centro-América,” Jordana Dym (Skidmore College)
  2. “Scientific Vision: Maps, Photographs and Other Visual Devices in the Diplomatic Dispute over the Andes as a Natural Border (1900),” Carla Lois
  3. “Geographical Imaginations: Mapping the margins in Adriana Varejão,” Marta Josefina Sierra (Kenyon College)
  4. “Visualizing the underground in late colonial Latin America,” Heidi V Scott (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Abstract: In recent years, visual materials gained importance as sources for conducting research in the humanities, and have replaced approaches exclusively centered on texts. An important debate around the methodological role of images in the social sciences also developed in recent years. In Cultural Studies, this interest on visuality produced a “visual turn” in different areas of knowledge. This panel examines different disciplinary approaches to the complex relationship between visuality and space and geographical and imagination. The presentations offer examples from history, geography, literature and the arts as to how visual materials define space and how visuality can be defined from different disciplines. In particular, it centers on maps and mapping processes as ways of representing cultural negotiations.

Slavery and Race in the “Black” Atlantic, 1780-1900. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Chair: Carlos F Tapia (Global Language Translation, Inc).

  1. “Acting Boçal: Performance, Language, and Freedom in the Illegal Brazilian Slave Trade (19th c.),” Yuko Miki (Washington University in St. Louis)
  2. “Emiliano Mundurucu, race and politics in 19th century Pernambuco,” Vitor Izecksohn (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro)
  3. “Living beyond one’s means. Sugar planters, ‘black’ capitals and Atlantic traders: Havana, 1780-1820,” Jesus Bohorquez Barrera
  4. “Pedro Salgado Filho: estratégias e lutas pela liberdade no Pós- Emancipação,” Joana D Oliveira
  5. “Slavery and Abolition in a Transnational Perspective: Brazil and United States,” Clícea Maria A Miranda

Saturday, May 24, 2:00 to 3:45pm

Jesuit Globalization I: Foundations. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Anna H More (University of California/Los Angeles). Chair: Kristin L Huffine (Northern Illinois University).

  1. “The Foundation of Jesuit Mission Science: New World Knowledge and Strategies for Indigenous Cultural Reform in the Writings of José de Acosta,” Kristin L Huffine (Northern Illinois University)
  2. “Trade, Communication and Evangelization in Jose de Acosta and Francisco de Vitoria,” Orlando Nelson Bentancor Trebino (Barnard College)
  3. “Two modalities of colonial labor: José de Acosta and Alonso de Sandoval,” Anna H More (University of California/Los Angeles)
  4. “Un momento decisivo dentro del debate esclavista colonial: Diego de Avendaño y sus reflexiones sobre la esclavitud,” Rubén A Sánchez-Godoy (Southern Methodist University)

Abstract: Combining frontier missions and urban education, faith and finance, the Jesuits have long been seen as a crucial institution for understanding Latin American colonization. Recently more attention has been paid to the global reach of the Society of Jesus from its inception through the eighteenth century. As the early Jesuit Jerome Nadal wrote, “the world is our home.” More could be done, however, to link these two facets of Jesuit studies: how did the Society of Jesus, in its global extension, mimic, compete, or overlap with Iberian states? What forms of governance, administration, subjectification did the order practice and how were these practices related to those of other mendicant orders? How did Jesuits contribute to the ideological armature of Iberian empires in tensions around Christian universalism and racial stratification? Which contemporary theoretical approaches could benefit from studying the deep Jesuit influence in Latin America? And finally, how might globalization itself be retheorized through a reflection on the relationship between knowledge, institutions and networks brought together in Jesuit global practices?

Saturday, May 24, 4:00 to 5:45pm

Jesuit Globalization II: Practices and Policies. Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Anna H More (University of California/Los Angeles). Chair: Orlando Nelson Bentancor Trebino (Barnard College).

  1. “A Controlled Speech: José de Acosta, Mestizos, and Language Policy in Colonial Peru,” Andrés Ignacio Prieto (University of Colorado/Boulder)
  2. “Early Modern Magic and the Company of Jesus: The Role of Magic in the Development of Imperial Science,” Jessica Rutherford (Ohio State University)
  3. “Ranking Barbarians: Considering the Guarani Reductions in Light of the Mission to Japan,” Ann L Cole (University of Arkansas-Fayetteville).

A Critique of Decolonial Reason: Readings and Interrogations. Sponsor: Culture, Power and Political Subjectivities. Session Organizer: Abraham Acosta (University of Arizona). Chair: Abraham Acosta (University of Arizona). Discussant: Samuel A Steinberg (University of Southern California).

  1. “Theoretical Constructs: Indigenous Populations and the Colonial Question,” Ivonne Del Valle (University of California/Berkeley)
  2. “Kusch and Truth,” Charles D Hatfield (University of Texas at Dallas)
  3. “Ontologies of the Present and the Decolonial Episteme, On Castro Gómez’s Foucault and Consequences,” Jaime Rodríguez-Matos (University of Michigan)
  4. “The Popular Question,” Karen Benezra (Cornell University)
  5. “Post-colonial/decolonial thought: a paradigm?” Sergio R Villalobos-Ruminott (University of Arkansas)

Abstract: Decolonial theory emerged as a prominent analytic approach for the study of Latin America, both past and present, and heralded as the philosophical paradigm for epistemological emancipation of formerly colonized cultures from Western modes of knowledge and power. Given, however, its rise in popularity at academic institutions worldwide, as yet no real study or investigation has been assembled that places Decoloniality’s theoretical framework and central claims under close, rigorous, scrutiny. Through readings and analyses of some of its most seminal texts, this panel reflects upon and offers critical insight into Decolonial thought’s promise as an intellectually and politically revolutionary method.

Saturday, May 24, 6:00 to 7:45pm

Paradigm Shift: New Theories and Methodologies in the Study of Colonial Latin America. Sponsor: Colonial Section. Session Organizers: Magali M Carrera (University of Massachusetts), Raul Marrero-Fente (University of Minnesota). Chair: Raul Marrero-Fente (University of Minnesota).

  1. “Una metáfora aristotélica para un dios desconocido: Pachacamac en el Inca Garcilaso,” Esperanza López Parada (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
  2. “Diffusion and Circulation of Images: a Theoretical Critique of the Models of Cultural Contact in the Art of the New Spain in the Sixteenth Century,” José Luis Pérez Flores (Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí), Sergio A González Varela (Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí)
  3. “Colonial Archipelagoes: Reimagining Colonial Caribbean Studies,” Yolanda M Martínez-San Miguel (The State University of New Jersey)
  4. “Early Modern Globalism and Colonial Latin American Studies,” Raul Marrero-Fente (University of Minnesota)

Abstract: A quick review of the curricula of undergraduate and graduate degrees in the various disciplinary fields of Latin American Studies reveals that ‘theory and methods’ courses are standard requirements. Likewise, scholarly presentations at conferences often begin with a brief overview of the disciplinary and cross-disciplinary theoretical perspectives that guide the researcher’s inquiry within a content area. This panel aims to provoke an interdisciplinary exchange on the diverse theoretical paradigms that operate across colonial Latin American Studies. The papers included focus on new theories and methodologies and reflect on the contemporary challenges and impact of theory on colonial studies.

Cultura jurídica y desarrollo institucional: entre el orden colonial y las nuevas repúblicas. América Latina, siglos XVIII-XIX. Sponsor: Law, Jurisprudence and Society. Session Organizer: Eduardo A Zimmermann (Universidad de San Andrés). Chair: Eduardo A Zimmermann (Universidad de San Andrés). Discussant: Brian P Owensby (University of Virginia).

  1. “El concepto de autonomía provincial en el desarrollo constitucional argentino del siglo diecinueve,” Alejandro Agüero (Conicet-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba)
  2. “El derecho de petición y el sistema representativo mexicano,” Beatriz Rojas (Instituto Mora)
  3. “La especialidad colonial: leyes, hombres e instituciones para una ‘administración complicada’ (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Filipinas, 1850-1898),” Julia Solla (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
  4. “Consulta y opinión. La construcción del consentimiento, Colombia 1826,” Teresa Calderón (Universidad del Externado)
  5. “La profesión legal en la Lima del temprano siglo XVIII, 1700-1730,” Renzo R Honores (High Point University)

Abstract: Si bien durante mucho tiempo han transitado por caminos separados, la historia jurídica y la historia social relacionada con las prácticas políticas e institucionales han comenzado a experimentar los beneficios de la convergencia de sus respectivos enfoques. La noción de cultura jurídica proporciona un apropiado nexo conceptual para aunar investigaciones que desde una y otra disciplina han abordado diversos problemas relacionados con las estructuras políticas, el orden territorial, la dinámica judicial, etc. Así, por ejemplo, han sido exploradas fructíferamente temas como la autonomía de las ciudades coloniales, la reubicación de la soberanía y la justicia en la crisis atlántica, la configuración de los mecanismos procesales y de representación. También desde esa perspectiva se ha podido analizar con mayor profundidad el impacto de los posteriores procesos de construcción estatal y codificación del derecho de fines del siglo XIX y primeras décadas del XX. Con estas perspectivas, el objetivo de esta mesa es proporcionar un punto de encuentro para historiadores sociales e historiadores del derecho, donde se puedan intercambiar herramientas de análisis y experiencias de investigación en trabajos que aborden temas vinculados a la cultura jurídica como elemento estructurador tanto de prácticas sociales como de la praxis de gobierno y justicia, en el contexto de transición hacia la formación de los nuevos órdenes republicanos.

Politics, Ethnography and the Paradoxes of Empire. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Session Organizer: Paula Alonso (George Washington University).

  1. “Benjamin Constant, a história e a política brasileira,” Silvana M Barbosa (Federal University of Juiz de Fora)
  2. “Comparative Perspectives on Spanish Colonialism in Latin America and the Philippines,” Christine Beaule (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
  3. “Early Modern Ethnography as Critical Discourse: Utopian Paradox in Motolinía’s Memoriales (1527-1541),” Jaime Marroquín Arredondo (George Washington University)
  4. “Indigenous Martyrs in the Early Modern Spanish World,” Jason C Dyck (Trent University Oshawa)

LASA 2014 (Chicago) – Colonial section, Friday May 23

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Friday, May 23, 8:00 to 9:45am

Women’s Stories. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Pablo Javier Ansolabehere (Universidad de San Andrés)

  1. “Doña Manuela Tupac Amaru: Visual and Textual Fabrication of Inca Nobility in Late Colonial Peru,” Sara V Guengerich (Texas Tech University)
  2. “El mal histérico que llaman latido: la divulgación médica y la idea de un orden social en la Nueva España del XVIII,” Sofia Calzada-Orihuela (University of Maryland/College Park)
  3. “Las delicias de la hacienda: lo femenino opresor en Luz y sombra de Ana Roqué de Duprey,” Juan C López (University of Texas/Austin)
  4. “Re-writing the foundational fiction: Acosta de Samper’s Una holandesa en América,” Kristen Meylor (University of Pennsylvania)

Friday, May 23, 10:00 to 11:45am

Tlaxcalan Colonial Spaces: Economics, Social Class, and Textuality. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Session Organizer: Juan Jose Daneri (East Carolina University). Chair: Kelly S McDonough (University of Texas at Austin). Discussant: Jeanne L Gillespie (University of Southern Mississippi)

  1. “‘The Passing unto All Humankind’: Columbus, Isis and the Conquest of Tenochtitlan in Descripción de la ciudad y provincia de Tlaxcala,” Jannette Amaral-Rodríguez (Columbia University)
  2. “Financial Consolidation and Socio-Political Attainment: The Muñoz Camargo Family of Tlaxcala,” Juan Jose Daneri (East Carolina University)
  3. “Where is the Love? Nahua Narrations of Socio-Political Change in Seventeenth-Century Tlaxcala,” Kelly S McDonough (University of Texas at Austin)
  4. “Escribanos, tradición escritural y negociación política. Los Anales tlaxcaltecas, s. XVI – XVII,” Lidia E Gómez García (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla)

Abstract: The purpose of this panel is to revisit and expand the relevance of Tlaxcalan cultural products in the late 16th and 17th centuries. The panel explores issues of coloniality as related to three spaces (financial, socio-ethnic, textual) in three different but significantly and chronologically adjacent periods (height of ‘Indian’ cabildo rule, decline of hegemony of local nobility, social disorder and institutional disruption). The presentations examine coloniality as a local as well as a regional phenomenon, and utilize a variety of primary sources that have not been fully incorporated into critical studies, such as European mythographic manuals, archival documentation, and chronicles in Nahuatl.

Friday, May 23, 12:00 to 1:45pm

(Re)Envisioning Colonial America: Aesthetic Strategies for New Political Realities. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Alberto Villate Isaza (St. Olaf College). Chair: Jonathan P O’Conner (St. Olaf College)

  1. “Representations of Liberal Ideology in Felipe Pérez’s ‘Huayna Capac’ and ‘Atahuallpa’”, Alberto Villate Isaza (St. Olaf College)
  2. “Ignacio Merino and the Pictorial Reconfiguration of ‘Lima por dentro y fuera’,” Dexter J Hough-Snee (University of California/Berkeley)
  3. “Rewriting the Conquest: The Female Protagonists of Matilde Asensi’s ‘Tierra firme’ and Isabel Allende’s ‘Inés del alma mía’,” Jonathan P O’Conner (St. Olaf College)

Abstract: Through the analysis of the literary and the pictorial, this panel explores the way in which artists appropriate and re-characterize the colonial past of Latin America in order to respond to their political present. The works addressed by this panel use a variety of strategies to comment on countries’ political instability or to reconcile a problematic past with modern democratic ideals. This panel discusses the ideological motivations behind the different strategies used by the authors and artists to reflect on the past, and considers their important role in Latin America’s cultural production and their relation to changing political realities.

Friday, May 23, 2:00 to 3:45pm

Remembering the Archive: Transhistorical Approaches to Archival Narratives in Latin America. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Germán Campos-Muñoz (Young Harris College). Chair: Jose J Alvarez (South Dakota State University). Discussant: Anna H More (University of California/Los Angeles).

  1. “Breaking Records: The Huarochirí Manuscript as Synchronic Archive,” Caroline R Egan (Stanford University)
  2. “At the Constellation’s Center: The Archival Presence and Absence of Gregório de Matos,” Micah Donohue (Pennsylvania State University)
  3. “Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo and the Elasticity of the Archive,” Germán Campos-Muñoz (Young Harris College)
  4. “Diagnosis and Detection. The Mechanics of the Archive in Eduardo Holmberg’s La bolsa de huesos,” Jose J Alvarez (South Dakota State University)

Abstract: Operating as primary foundation for enactments of cultural memory, archives are also the origin of authority and witnesses of political action. This panel seeks to interrogate different figurations of the archive produced in Latin American literature, from early colonial accounts through 19th-century narratives, with the purpose of comparing different archival models, hypothesizing genealogies of this phenomenon, and interrogating the theoretical apparatuses (i.e. Derrida, Foucault, González Echevarría, etc.) that have recently explored the problem of the archive. Paper topics include: the Huarochirí Manuscript; works by Gregório de Matos, Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo, and Eduardo L. Holmberg.

Friday, May 23, 6:00 to 7:45pm

El poder femenino bajo el control discursivo: ejemplaridad, disciplina y transgresión femenina en la producción textual y visual de la colonia hispanoamericana. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizers: Ana Maria Diaz-Burgos (Emory University) and Yolopattli I Hernández-Torres (Loyola University Maryland).

  1. “Éxtasis visual: Rosa de Lima y la experiencia visionaria en la colonial,” Jimena Castro
  2. “Cotidianidades de la decadencia: vicios, crímenes y contrición femenina en la Historia de la Villa Imperial de Potosí,” Ana Maria Diaz-Burgos (Emory University)
  3. “Niños de nadie, niños de Dios: La función de la Casa de Niños Expósitos en la colonia tardía novohispana,” Yolopattli I Hernández-Torres (Loyola University Maryland)

Abstract: De manera similar a la metrópolis, en las colonias españolas, la ejemplaridad y la disciplina se convirtieron en formas de control social preventivas que pretendían bien incentivar los motivos que se tenían para acatar las reglas establecidas por los sistemas legales y religiosos, bien erradicar aquellos motivos que llevaban a su transgresión. Este panel propone analizar las dinámicas sociales desarrolladas a partir de los diferentes procesos utilizados por las instituciones oficiales como el estado y la iglesia para adoctrinar, inquirir o ajusticiar a los sujetos coloniales. Además, busca explorar casos de ejemplaridad, disciplina y transgresión que dan cuenta de las múltiples facetas de estos sujetos desde perspectivas judiciales y cívicas en casos legales, así como en periódicos, crónicas, narrativas de viaje, y representaciones iconográficas. En este panel se explorarán preguntas como: ¿Qué tipo de comportamientos sociales se pretendía emular y cuáles erradicar desde ámbitos religiosos, morales y/o legales? ¿Qué tipo de contravenciones sociales eran castigadas legal, moral y/o religiosamente y cómo se llevaban a cabo los castigos? ¿Quiénes eran protagonistas este tipo de casos? Estas preguntas serán el punto de partida para cuestionar el funcionamiento y el atrofiamiento de los modelos religiosos, morales, y legales que circulaban en las colonias españolas y que determinaron el comportamiento de los sujetos coloniales que intentaban ajustarse a ellos, evadirlos o transgredirlos.

Friday, May 23, 7:30-9:30

 Colonial Section Reception, Tanta Peruvian restaurant

LASA 2014 (Chicago) – Colonial Section, Thursday May 22

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Thursday, May 22, 8:00 to 9:45am

Paper Trails: The Materiality of Documentation in the Spanish Empire. Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Session Organizers: Aaron M Hyman (University of California/Berkeley), Matthew Goldmark (University of Pennsylvania). Discussant: Joanne Rappaport (Georgetown University)

  1. “Blank pages in 16th century Mexico City,” Barbara E Mundy (Fordham University)
  2. “Papereality and Branding: The Materiality of Governance and Sixteenth-Century Indigenous Slaves,” Nancy E van Deusen (Queen’s University)
  3. “Of Signatures and Status: Andrés Sánchez Gallque and Painters in Early Colonial Quito,” Susan V Webster (College of William & Mary)

Abstract: The Spanish Empire ran on paper. In addition to its role in colonial administration, paper punctuated lives; at charged moments people turned to pieces of paper in acts of remembrance, obligation, and contestation. This panel explores the materiality of this paper: how these sheets came to function as objects in their own right. The turn towards materiality and objects in colonial studies need not be opposed to text. As such, panelists explore how imperial subjects engaged paper as a concrete object and not merely a blank space for the registration of abstracted ideas.

Discurso religioso y cultura colonial. Sponsor: Literary Studies: Colonial and 19th Century. Session Organizer: Pablo Javier Ansolabehere (Universidad de San Andrés)

  1. “Espacio académico y defensa de la educación criolla en los sermones a San Antonio de Juan de Espinosa Medrano,” Juan M Vitulli (University of Notre Dame)
  2. “La construcción del concepto de ‘plebe’ en textos jesuitas del siglo XVIII quiteño,” Carla E Flores (Tulane University)
  3. “Writing Violence on the Colonial Frontier: Franciscan Historiography in 17th Century Yucatan,” Alejandro Enriquez (Illinois State University)
  4. “¿Catecismo para leer a Las Casas? Dos recientes biografías del obispo de Chiapas y nuestro quehacer intelectual,” Luis Fernando Restrepo (University of Arkansas)

Language, Economy, and the Animal: Interdisciplinary Reconsiderations of Andean Literature. Sponsor: Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Session Organizer: Manuel J Del Alto (University of California/Irvine)

  1. “‘Pues soy indio’: Voice, Language, and Authority in Inca Garcilaso de la Vega’s Comentarios reales de los incas,” Manuel J Del Alto (University of California/Irvine)
  2. “Many Andean Voices: A Comparative Study of the Colonial Quechua Dramas ‘Ollantay’ and ‘The Tragedy of Atahualpa’”, Lisl Schoepflin (University of California Los Angeles)
  3. “Underground Value: Counterfeiting and Precious Metals in Clorinda Matto de Turner,” Lisa R Burner (University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign)
  4. “The Indigenista Question of the Animal in Enrique López Albújar’s El fin de un redentor,” Carolina Beltran (University of California/Los Angeles)

Abstract: This panel questions existent approaches to canonical Peruvian texts and authors by offering interdisciplinary perspectives that problematize established notions of Andean literature and cultural identities. Considering colonial texts that interrogate the tensions and limitations between Spanish and Quechua as competing linguistic and identitarian discourses, this panel examines the importance of the voice and performance in the portrayal of the indigenous for European audiences within traditional forms. Juxtaposed with modern Andean literature, this panel on the one hand re-reads critiques of Church abuses in dialogue with anxieties around monetary fraud and on the other it recasts indigenista debates that rely on anthropocentric depictions of the relationship among Indians, animals and technological modernity.

Thursday, May 22, 10:00 to 11:45am

Maps, Urban Spaces and Population: Latin American and Caribbean Cartography and History (18th- 20th C). Sponsor: History and Historiographies/Historical Processes. Session Organizer: Delia González de Reufels (Universitaet Bremen). Chair: Magali M Carrera (University of Massachusetts)

  1. “Cartography, Identity, and Revolution: Francisco José de Caldas at the Frontier,” Santa Arias (University of Kansas)
  2. “The Post-Road from Buenos Ayres to Potosi 1816: The Relationship of a Map to British Commercial Interests and Travel Writing,” Anthony P Mullan (Library of Congress)
  3. “The Popular and the Populace in Pictorial Mapping of Mexico,” Delia A Cosentino (DePaul University)
  4. “Mapping Population Growth: The Case of Haiti,” Delia González de Reufels (Universitaet Bremen)

Abstract: Maps change over the centuries to reflect social and political shifts, the development of new scientific disciplines and technologies and the demands for new forms of presenting information. Latin American cartography has responded to these needs and possibilities since late colonial times. With the appearance of the independent nation state, a notable shift in cartographic thought took place: maps no longer just depicted and thus constructed the national territory, but also organized, analysed and displayed data on urban spaces and population in unique ways, which will be examined in this interdisciplinary panel.

Thursday, May 22, 2:00 to 3:45pm

Theories on the Colonial Latin American Archive. Sponsor: Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Session Organizer: Olimpia E Rosenthal (Indiana University). Chair: Olimpia E Rosenthal (Indiana University).

  1. “El Inca Garcilaso y el archivo prehispánico. Apuntes para una reconceptualización de la noción de archivo colonial,” Enrique E Cortez (Portland State University)
  2. “Historizicing Race: Slavery & the Archive in Colonial Mexico,” Olimpia E Rosenthal (Indiana University)
  3. “‘Aquí hay puro pedrerío’: colonialidad, archivo y tradición en San Andrés Mixquic, México,” Mario A Rufer (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimico)
  4. “‘Doctrina y enseñanza de los Reyes Incas’: Biopolitics, Illiteracy, and the Latin American Colonial Archive,” Abraham Acosta (University of Arizona)
  5. “The Digital Contextualization of the Dispersed Colonial Latin American Archive,” Albert A Palacios (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract: The aim of this interdisciplinary panel is to create a forum for the discussion of different hermeneutical approaches to the Colonial Latin American Archive. As a repository of knowledge, the Archive is a site of tension between history and its narration, memory and epistemic violence, archiving and its effects on historiography. By bringing together differing perspectives from literature, cultural studies, and history, this session reevaluates current theorizations of the Colonial Latin American Archive (drawing on works by Foucault, Derrida, Guha, González-Echevarría, and Taylor), it provides reflections on the praxis of archival research and archiving, and it offers a renewed dialogue on the limits of discursive representation (including the place of orality, colonial semiosis, and performance).

The politics of slavery and freedom in the revolutionary Atlantic. Sponsor: Afro-Latin and Indigenous Peoples. Session Organizer: Fernanda Bretones Lane (Vanderbilt University) and Bethan R Fisk (University of Toronto). Chair: Jane G Landers (Vanderbilt University). Discussant: Ana Lucia A Araujo (Howard University).

  1. “The politics of conversion: conquest, reform and free people of color in late 18th century Caribbean New Granada,” Bethan R Fisk (University of Toronto)
  2. “Silencing the memory? Slavery in the Cuban press in the early 19th century,” Fernanda Bretones Lane (Vanderbilt University)
  3. “Afro-descendencia, esclavitud, ciudadanía y género. Interrogando el discurso literario a través de la historia,” Evelyne Laurent-Perrault (New York University)
  4. “Slavery, free labor, and the Coro Rebellion of 1795,” Enrique Rivera

Abstract: This panel explores some of the many political visions of slavery and freedom articulated by the state, the press and people of color in the revolutionary Atlantic world. We consider contrasting, yet connected discourse surrounding slavery, anti-slavery and freedom during the revolutions and political reform of the Americas following the fall of the colonial Empires (1750 – 1890). Papers included in this panel are related to the memory of slavery in the printed press and in novels as well as the reaction of the state and elites in face of growing size, mobility and political activity of people of color.

Thursday, May 22, 4:00 to 5:45pm

Geografía inventada: poder y colonialidad en las islas atlánticas. Sponsor: Culture, Power and Political Subjectivities. Session Organizer: María Hernández-Ojeda (City University of New York/Hunter College). Discussant: Benita Sampedro (Hofstra University)

  1. “La cartografía ficticia de las Islas Canarias,” María Hernández-Ojeda (City University of New York/Hunter College)
  2. “‘Cuba es un paraíso!’: La invención de las Américas y sus secuelas cubanas,” Rolando Perez (Hunter College)
  3. “Ilustración colonial: sobre las mediaciones atlánticas, vascas e insulares de una Iberia imperialista,” Joseba Gabilondo (Michigan State University)

Abstract: La Modernidad comienza con la invasión de América, como afirmaron Enrique Dussel y otros. Este momento representa la apertura geopolítica de Europa, la “invención” de un sistema colonial que definiría el poder político y económico del mundo. Por ello, desde 1492, la maquinaria económica europea comienza un proceso de cambio que tiene lugar en los encuentros atlánticos. En este panel “Geografía inventada: poder y colonialidad en las islas atlánticas” se explorará el atlas geográfico de los archipiélagos atlánticos como un lugar de percepción espacial donde se reformulan las conexiones entre orillas y culturas, tal y como sugiere Graham Huggan, en lugar de entenderlo como un medio de organización sistemática, establecido desde el siglo XV por el discurso más oficialista del poder colonial.

Enlightenment and its Afterlives I: What did Enlightenment look like in Spanish America? Sponsor: Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Session Organizer: Ana Sabau Fernández (Princeton University)

  1. “Minerva americana: figuraciones del conocimiento en el intelectual dieciochesco,” Jose F Robles (Colgate University)
  2. “Syphilis Enlightened: Spanish American Colonies, Disease and Healing,” Juan Carlos González-Espitia (University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill)
  3. “From idols to antiquities: building the National Museum of Mexico, 1820s,” Miruna Achim (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana)
  4. “El eclipse de la elegía en las ruinas aztecas de José María Heredia,” Carlos Abreu Mendoza (University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill)

Abstract: Este panel tiene como objetivo abrir un espacio de reflexión y debate sobre lo que significó el fenómeno y concepto de “ilustración” en las Américas. El panel estará constituido por dos sesiones complementarias: la primera, destinada a un estudio de las ideas ilustradas de finales del siglo XVIII y principios del XIX, abordándolas desde una mirada que busque resaltar las continuidades en el proceso de transición hacia el período post-colonial, así como también favoreciendo una comprensión de la emergencia de estas ideas desde un marco que enfatice la compleja compenetración entre intercambios globales y contribuciones locales detrás de ellas. La segunda sesión estará abocada a indagar las secuelas del pensamiento ilustrado durante el siglo XIX , a través de una exploración de los discursos sobre pedagogía y políticas públicas que proliferaron en las esferas letradas de las repúblicas emergentes. Se prestará particular atención a las tensiones y choques sociales que los variados procesos de democratización trajeron consigo.

Thursday, May 22, 6:00 to 7:45pm

Enlightenment and its Afterlives II: Sequels of Enlightenment in the Americas: pedagogy and theater. Sponsor: Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Session Organizer: Ana Sabau Fernández (Princeton University).

  1. “Spectacular Enlightenment in Early 1800s Montevideo and Buenos Aires,” William G Acree (Washington University/St. Louis)
  2. “Aurora Cáceres and Cecilia Acosta de Samper on Virtue and Feminist Biography,” Ronald D Briggs (Barnard College)
  3. “Juana Manso, pedagogía Inter-Americana y metodología popular,” Alejandra J Josiowicz (Princeton University)
  4. “The Yucatán in Enlightened Eyes: Justo Sierra O’Reilly and the Anxiety of Circulating Untruth,” Ty H West (Vanderbilt University)
  5. “Por una política de la ignorancia: una exploración retórica de la Guerra de Castas,” Ana Sabau Fernández (Princeton University)

Women, Gender and Religious Alterity. Sponsor: Religion and Spirituality. Session Organizer: Virginia Garrard-Burnett (University of Texas/Austin).

  1. “Catequese e magia: uma análise da idolatria nas crônicas da Nova Espanha do século XVII,” Ana Carolina Machado de Souza
  2. “Old World Magic in a New Religious World: Cures, Divination, and Curses in Colonial Brazil,” Carole A Myscofski (Illinois Wesleyan University)
  3. “Decolonializing Virgin Mary? Costa Rica´s La Negrita and Hierarchies of Race, Gender, Religion and Class,” Elina I Vuola (University of Helsinki)
  4. “La mujer cubana y la religion de origen africano en Cuba,” Ariel Luis Aguilar Reyes (Havana University)
  5. “Latin@s, Faith and Political Power: Re-envisioning the Faith that Does Justice,” Jeannette G Henriquez (Graduate Theological Union)

Thursday, May 22, 8:00 to 8:45pm

Colonial Section – Business Meeting