Saturday, February 13, 2016
John Carter Brown Library, Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
The writings of indigenous and mestizo authors are prone to be idealized and sometimes romanticized by contemporary historians who are directly concerned with interrogating colonial hierarchies. The aim of this colloquium is to work towards a more fundamental understanding of these sources by taking the texts themselves as the point of departure, rather than the ethnicity of their authors. What cultural presuppositions and forms of knowledge are inscribed in these works? What are their stylistic or literary models? What are their sources, and how are they transformed? To whom are these texts explicitly and implicitly addressed? How do the authors fashion themselves?
Consideration of these questions may lead to more nuanced interpretation of the ideological nature of ‘mestizo chronicles’ and of the agenda of those who produced them.
Post time: May-04-2017