Paper Technologies: The Materiality of Empire & State Formation in Latin America (RBS-Mellon Conference)

Date: 4 May 2017 – 5 May 2017
Time: Times vary
Location: Wesleyan University and Yale University
Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School, the Wesleyan University Department of History, the Wesleyan University Center for the Americas, the Wesleyan University Program in Latin American Studies, the Beinecke Library, and the Yale University Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies

This two-day conference at Wesleyan and Yale Universities examines the material dimensions of empire and state formation in Latin America. It works to understand the political, legal, and cultural processes of empire and state formation in relation to concrete quotidian practices of inscription. Through the creation of artifacts such as printed books, manuscripts, passports, and other kinds of technologies, Iberian empires and post-colonial states took on tangible forms as they worked to regulate social relations on the ground. At the same time, subjects actively shaped empire and state making by engaging with paper in pursuit of their own hopes and dreams. By bringing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working on the colonial and national periods, our conference examines the continuities and transformations of practice and form that cross traditional historical periodizations while identifying moments when technological, legal, or political change provoked disjunctures or ruptures in the material methods of statecraft

The conference is open to the public and features panels of pre-circulated papers and keynote lectures. Please consult the program for further information, and click here to register for the conference.

See the conference website for additional details.