CFP:  MLA Forum of Colonial Latin American Literatures. 131st Annual Convention of MLA in Austin, Texas, 7-10 January 2016. Two regular guaranteed sessions for the MLA, and a non-guaranteed session. Paper proposals are due to prospective panel chairs on March 01, 2015. If you have any questions, contact nwey@caltech.edu, or Ivonne del Valle, idelvalle@berkeley.edu

SESSIONS: FORUM OF COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURES

Colonial Texts and Communities of Readers Chair: Mónica Díaz, University of Kentucky. Engaging with the presidential theme for MLA 2016, “Literature and Its Publics,” this panel focuses on the material history of the production of texts – in both manuscript and printed forms – and of their public reception throughout Latin America’s colonial period. We are especially interested in papers that address specific communities of readers, for example religious communities or ethnic communities. Some relevant questions that could be posed are: what were the politics of production, circulation, and preservation of texts? Who could have access to them and for what purposes? How has the public reception of colonial texts changed with time? Please send one-page CV and 200-word abstract by MARCH 1st to Mónica Díaz: monica.diaz@uky.edu.

The Economics of Empire in the Early Modern Iberian World. Chair: Nicolás Wey Gómez, California Institute of Technology. Describing the first bartering activity between his crew members and native peoples in his letter to Luis de Santangel (1493), Columbus was quick to formulate the economic logic that, no doubt in his view and the Spanish crown’s, justified European presence in the Indies: the natives were to “give us those things they have in abundance and which are necessary to us.” The letter announcing the discovery also makes it instantly clear that the exchange between what one had in abundance for what one ‘wanted’ reached far beyond material goods: while Europeans allegedly had religion, government, and customs to give to the Indians, native peoples were to supply labor and raw and manufactured goods to the Europeans. Columbus was certainly not the first colonizer in history to construe economic exchange this broadly. Such an inclusive understanding of economics had even been theorized in antiquity by Aristotle himself, who, in his Politics, saw the reciprocal exchange between differently ‘wanting’ members of families, villages and city-states as the very key to human survival. Columbus was merely extending this logic across the Atlantic in the interest of colonial empire. This panel invites papers that examine not only this logic of empire, but also the myriad economic exchanges imagined by colonial authors across time. Please send one-page CV and 200-word abstract by MARCH 1st to Nicolas Wey-Gomez: nwey@caltech.edu.

NON-GUARANTEED SESSION: Paradoxes of the Enlightenment and the Liberal Revolutions: Sugar and Coffee over Freedom? Chair: Ivonne del Valle, U.C. Berkeley. Respondent: Ana Hontanilla, The University of North Carolina Greensboro. The debates of the radical Enlightenment and the liberal revolutions promoted ideas of equality, independence, and freedom contrary to slavery, an institution that, nevertheless, lasted until late 19th century in the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico. This panel seeks papers that address the legacies of the Enlightenment and Liberalism on the ideas regarding the African races, the labor they were forced to perform, and the social space they were supposed to occupy. What ideological and rhetorical tools were used to broach the contradictions around slavery as a practice by 18th and 19th century thinkers across Spanish territories? How were these tensions present not only in their writings but in everyday practices? We seek papers that illuminate ideological and pragmatic changes brought about by the Enlightenment or the liberal revolutions as well as papers that elaborate on how African descendants actively participated in these processes. We also welcome contributions that address: 1) the anti-slavery and pro-slavery dialogues that took place in the larger context of 19th century abolitionist movements, and 2) the possibility of a radical Enlightenment thinking on slavery and the obstacles these ideas might have faced. Please send one-page CV and 200-word abstract by March 1st to Ivonne del Valle: idelvalle@berkeley.edu.

“The Enlightenment in the Colonies” (Guaranteed session)

General consensus locates the Enlightenment in a secularized18^th-century, when reason and order appeared to take at least partial control over multiple areas with the objective of improving them—knowledge, urbanism, hygiene, population control, etc. Nevertheless the need to know and administer the colonies acquired as early as the 16^th century required a significant effort to understand the new populations and natural environments and the correct manner of dealing with both. Questions about the beliefs and ways of life of the people to be converted into Christians and efficient laborers, of the uses of plants and animals never seen before, and of territories that were sometimes strikingly different, called for a rigorous compilation of information and of new systems for knowledge organization that even if informed by religious concerns sometimes went beyond them. Were these efforts systematic and secular enough to be considered “enlightened” or precursors of the Enlightenment? Were they something altogether different? Was the 18^th century experience of the Enlightenment different in colonial territories? This panel looks for papers that think beyond the question of empiricism and propose novel ways of understanding the ideas and practices behind rational systems implemented in the colonies. Please send one-page CV and 200 word-abstract by March 15 to Ivonne del Valle (idelvalle@berkeley.edu).

“Indigenous Texts and the Colonial Experience” (guaranteed session)

Native American voices and related subject positions have been recognized as an integral part of colonial Spanish American culture. The cultural and spiritual authority of Amerindian traditions maintained its relevance in colonial times through diverse formulations and symbolizing activities that merit our attention. Colonial-era indigenous texts give us access to the diverse systems of thought and expression that come together in reformulations of native experience. When studying Amerindian cultural production, however, we confront the challenges of cultural difference and colonization as a condition of access to these texts. What are the most appropriate approaches and key theoretical questions to study indigenous texts? How can we wrestle with issues of cultural translation when working with this type of materials? What cautions do we need to take into account when working with indigenous texts? How can we be mindful of indigenous perspectives? Papers on case studies that address questions such as these will be welcomed. One-page CV and abstract by March 15 to Cristian Roa (roa@uic.edu).

Collaborative Session with APSA (American Portuguese Studies Association) (Non-Guaranteed): “Connecting Spanish and Portuguese Empires”