Convenors:
Jorge Flores (University of Lisbon) & Giuseppe Marcocci (University of Oxford)
Description:
The main purpose of the workshop is to study the modalities and means of political and social conflict and dissent where early modern Iberian peninsular and overseas cities and communities are concerned. From medieval Al-Andalus to precolonial localities in Asia and America, the living legacy of the past intersected with the new challenges of a rapidly changing world in making Iberian societies composite sites of permanent tension and negotiation involving myriad individuals, groups, and institutions. More than simply chronicling clashes and conflicts, we are particularly interested in exploring the written and visual expressions of episodes of political and social dissent (including architecture and theatre)—which often included popular violence, religious intolerance, and iconoclasm—in their specific contexts. Questions revolving around the interplay of power, word, and image have been addressed by scholars of early modern Europe, especially England, France, and Italy. The workshop seeks to expand the geographical scope and complicate the thematic breadth of such scholarship by comparing, contrasting, and connecting Iberian imperial landscapes between 1500 and 1700.
Invited speakers include world leading scholars in the field of Iberian and non-Iberian history and history of art. Their papers will address one or more of the following questions:
Is it possible to promote a holistic study of diverse instances of dissent occurring in disparate places such as Madrid, Mexico City, Goa, or Naples?
Are the Asian and American multiple expressions of dissent simple imperial extensions of an Iberian/European phenomenon?
What is the role of native actors in such conflicts and their respective formats?
Which are the modalities, practices, and vocabularies of dissent at stake? And what responses do they elicit?
How do written, oral, and graphic languages of dissent relate to each other?
The final programme can be downloaded here. The workshop will be held with Zoom and attendance is by invitation only.
Please email iberian@history.ox.ac.uk for more information.
