Colonial materiality: everyday objects in early-modern Spanish America

Session Submission Type: LASA Section Presentation

Abstract

Material culture is generally studied as the reflection of a social a priori; little emphasis is placed on things qua things, and the possibility that they themselves might be indispensable constituents of the social fabric under scrutiny. This multidisciplinary session explores the role of every-day objects in the constitution and development of colonial societies in Latin America from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, with particular emphasis on objects and technologies that intersect ethnic divides.

Sub Track

• Section Presentation

Session Organizer

• Pablo García Loaeza, West Virginia University

Chair

• Pablo García Loaeza, West Virginia University

Individual Presentations

• Coca, Bread, and Wine: Plebeian Links and Connections with the Countryside - Leo J Garofalo, Connecticut College

• Infrastructure and Race in Colonial Mexico - Daniel Nemser, University of Michigan

• Putting the Saints on Trial: Miracle Accounts and Image-Objects in 18th Century Peru - Caroline A Garriott, Duke University

Discussant

• Pablo García Loaeza, West Virginia University