The Material Text in Latin America: Local Traditions and Intercultural Dialogue

The goal of this session is to explore textual materials that have originated or been adapted for use in one or more Latin American cultures. The interplay between cultures, including relationships between different Latin American cultures or between Latin American and other cultures, will be a particular focus. Papers that address any period up to 1914, including pre-contact materials and their post-contact transformations, will be prioritized. A variety of media will be considered, including painted pottery, carved stone, molded stucco, coins and other metalwork, and manuscripts or printed materials. Examples include the use and reuse of items bearing Indigenous or European scripts; the reinterpretation of imagery from elsewhere to illustrate Latin American texts; the early European historiography of Indigenous Latin American ideographs and pictographs. While attending to the specificity of local traditions, the session will consider the significance of these artifacts in intercultural and historiographic perspective. The geographical definition of “Latin America” is open.