This session is the First part of the LLC 19th Century Latin-American "Race. Ethnicity, and technology in 19th century Latin America".

This panel explore how technologies shape the material and epistemological boundaries, of race and ethnicity, and intervene in different processes of racialization that reframe the meanings of the human (i.e. human/animal distinction in Western Science, etc...) from the new republics starting in 1807 to the "mature" neocolonial at the end of the long 19th century. this is also an exploration on how existence is valued, policed and corporealized through technology, and how embodied subjects navigate these boundaries.

As a committee, we decided it was appropriate to divide the session in two parts because both parts present complementary aspects to the articulations of technology, race and science in 19c Latin America. While Part I groups presentations mainly focused on the use of particular technologies (photography, measuring tools, printing press) in Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico to construct and develop ideologies about race and to promote theories about ontological differences among races, in particular for application in the contexts of criminology and medical sciences, the presentations in Part II consider two distinct yet related aspects: first a wider understanding of the meaning of "technology" in the foucauldian sense --as the sum of techniques that produce operations on bodies, minds, souls, and lifestyles in order to transform the way in they interact; second, they trace how those "technologies" discipline and manage racialized bodies in particular ways in Mexico and Cuba.

The relevance and impact of the proposed topics is clear not only given the number of submissions we received, but most importantly the fact that these reflect new avenues for scholarship in the field of Latin American studies that would complement recent workshops, symposia, and publications in the area.

Each Part brings together leading academics along advanced graduate students in the field. Each participant (four in each Part) will present for 13-15 minutes, with a presider who will moderate the discussion and the Q&A during the remaining 15 minutes.