Scholarly interest in the Latin American publishing industry has blossomed in the last decade. From studies on Cartonera publishing and experimental books to the more controversial practices of piracy, anarchist publishing, and copyleft, the Latin American publishing industry presents readers and critics alike with unique models for the production and distribution of books. In short, there is no question as to why the term bibliodiversity emerged from the culturally diverse environment of the Latin American publishing industry. As a way to open up this area of study for a broader audience, this panel seeks to understand how we study the creation and circulation of books (both print and digital) in Latin America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In particular, the three papers on this panel investigate the role of state-funding in publishing, the politics and polemics of knowledge production, and the radical methods of production that arise as alternatives to the status quo.

In terms of the specifics, Dr. Élika Ortega (“Mexican State-Funded Digital Publishing and the Influence of Independent Presses”) examines two Mexican initiatives focused on literary digital publishing to assess where the mark of independent presses can be found in state-funded editing: the iPad apps published by Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) and the Editorial of the Centro de Cultura Digital de México (CCDMx). Though both initiatives have been supported by public funding of the Mexican Secretaría de Cultura, Dr. Ortega shows how their approaches to publishing have been radically different. Thus, she argues that comparing these two organizations side by side allows us to evaluate not just the influence of independent publishing on other book industry sectors, but also the distinct effects that independent principles can have with regard to obsolescence and sustainability, digital literacy, and the digital divide. Echoing this interest in the role of state-funding in book production, Ms. Morales Osorio (“From Lists to Books and Back: Canon Formation and Materiality in Two Colombian Book Collections (1942-1958)”) analyzes the lists and the physical books that constituted a series of state-funded Colombian book collections—Biblioteca Popular de Cultura Colombiana (1942–1952) and Biblioteca de Autores Colombianos (1952–1958)—as a way to better understand how political tendencies influence and inform national canons and the circulation of information more generally. Moving from lists to specific books of the series, Ms. Morales Osorio demonstrates how many of the works in these collections function as memory devices. Or rather, they function as embodied messages from the State to “the people” about the existence of a literary citizenship they can be part of by reading it. In the final paper, Dr. Magalí Rabasa (“What is Radical Care in Book Publishing?”) draws on many of these same political concerns in publishing by looking to a small network of alternative presses in Mexico and Argentina in order to understand how a consideration of intellectual property, translation, and design opens dialogues about the role of radical care in book publishing. As Dr. Rabasa shows, studying current alternative and independent publishing projects in the Americas, and questioning what counts as feminist knowledge production, reveals the dynamics of domination, oppression, and exploitation at play in the conceptual, intellectual, creative, material, legal, and economic aspects of how ideas move in the world. When placed in conversation, the papers on this panel expose the deeper political, economic, and ethical issues at play in the Latin American book industry.

With regard to the mechanics of the session, the presider will briefly introduce the panelists, who will have 18-20 minutes to present their papers. Following the panelists' presentations, the presider will open the floor for audience discussion (15 minutes).