Paper short abstract:

Examining Spanish and Tarascan documentos (1530-1680), three cultural concepts present in indigenous documents --quahta (‘house’), minguare (‘dominion’) and siruqua (‘linage’)— are identified through misunderstandings concerning property and kinship based rights associated with these concepts.

Paper long abstract:

In Central Western Mexico the Tarascan State was 'pacifically' occupied by the Spanish but the process of colonial state formation involved interactions between two very different cultural ensambles operating in equally contrasting forms of organizing social power. The differing concepts of property, kinship based rights and obligations, and nobility produced numerous misunderstandings between the Tarascan ruling class and the Spanish. These misunderstandings often have been treated historiographically as strategic deceptions or textual distortions or confusions but may well point to important cultural concepts in contact and in conflict. The linguist Michael Silverstein has developed the idea of cultural Concepts as an analytical tool in pragmatic discourse analysis. Silverstein has proposed that such cultural concepts can be identified in their indexical evocation in discursive interactions and, also, in their denotation in words.* In this paper we will argue that cultural concepts can also be identified through the misunderstandings registered in documents during the first Century and a half of colonial state formation in Mexico under the Spanish Empire. By examining both Spanish and Tarascan documentos from this period (1530-1680) we present three cultural concepts present in Tarascan indigenous documents --quahta ('house'), minquare ('dominion') and siruqua ('linage')—and examine the misunderstandings concerning property and kinship based rights associated with these concepts.

* Michael Silverstein, 2004, "Cultural" Concepts and the Language-Culture Nexus, Current Anthropology, Vol. 45, Núm. 4, 621-651.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper I hope to demonstrate the importance of colonial rivalries in assessing Portuguese attitudes towards the planned Anglo-Spanish Match between prince Charles, son of King James I, and the Infanta Maria, daughter of King Philip III and sister of King Philip IV, in the period 1617-1624.

Paper long abstract:

Building upon the findings of my PhD research, in this paper I hope to demonstrate the importance of colonial rivalries in assessing Portuguese attitudes towards the planned Anglo-Spanish Match between prince Charles, son of King James I, and the Infanta Maria, daughter of King Philip III and sister of King Philip IV, in the period 1617-1624. By looking at traces of an independent Portuguese opinion regarding the marriage negotiations and the administration of the colonial empire, I will demonstrate the extent to which Portuguese opinion has often been overlooked given the fact that in the 1620s Portugal was under the same crown of the Spanish Habsburgs. In the first part of the paper I will look at Portuguese accounts and mentions in Portuguese correspondence regarding the Anglo-Spanish match. In the second part of the paper I will take into consideration a specific episode in the colonial competition between England and Portugal which is the British attack on Ormus in 1622, at the same time of the marriage negotiations. Indeed, as one of the major empire-builders of the seventeenth century, Portugal kept on having an opinion of its own both in the administration of its colonial empire and concerning the planned match between England and Spain. Such independent opinion was needed in order to maintain the Portuguese identity within the Spanish 'great scattered body'.

[If the scientific committee will consider this paper as belonging to one of the accepted panels, I will be happy to be included in one of them]

Paper short abstract:

Contrary to common belief, the first reports about Brazilian Indians had repercussions in Europe’s cultured circles. An early 16th century painting kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris, until now virtually ignored by specialists, shows the figuration of a Brazilian Indian as one of the Magii.

Paper long abstract:

Contrary to common belief, the first reports about Brazilian Indians had repercussions in Europe's cultured circles. An early 16th century painting kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris, until now virtually ignored by specialists, shows the figuration of a Brazilian Indian as one of the Magii.

Altough not of a Portuguese, but certainly connected to Portuguese imperialism, this captivating body says something about the power of images and the way they circulated in early 16th century Europe. How is it related to the Portuguese activities and presence around the globe? What does it reveal about the political, social, and economic interests that were at play in Central Europe by then? The aim of this paper is to try to shed some light on these fascinating questions.

Paper short abstract:

In adapting churches to hot climates, Anglican missionaries looked to architectural models in Portugal. This paper will discuss this strategy, considering how it grew out of an appreciation of architectural concepts that were tested over two-hundred years earlier in the Portuguese empire.

Paper long abstract:

For a long time the empires of Portugal and Britain have occupied largely unrelated historiographies. Although these empires rose and fell at different moments in history, operating to and motivated by distinct cultural and political traditions, it does not necessarily follow that there was no cross-fertilisation of ideas. This is particularly true with respect to architecture and urbanism.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, at the relative height of British imperial power, the Church of England sought to extend its cultural and religious influence in a far more systematic manner than had hitherto been the case. This project concerned the erection of new and more imposing churches, right across the empire. Part of the problem was adapting ecclesiastical buildings to climatic conditions that were entirely different from those experienced in the British Isles, including tropical—or what were referred to as 'torrid'—zones.

In looking around for potential solutions to this problem, English ecclesiologists seized upon Southern European traditions in ecclesiastical architecture, including those of Portugal. This extended to considering how Portuguese missionaries adapted their churches architecturally to cope with tropical and sub-tropical conditions. In doing this Anglican ecclesiologists were looking for a set of planning and construction principles that might aid them in erecting churches in similar environmental conditions throughout the British empire. This paper will trace the thinking behind this strategy and how it grew out of and is related to an appreciation of architectural models that had been tested over two-hundred years earlier in the Portuguese empire.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will focus on the phenomenon of slavery in 17th century Manila, concerning not only the volume and routes of the slave trade, but also the incorporation of slaves into urban life and social networks.

Paper long abstract:

The study of Early Modern Manila and its crucial role in the development of sustained global interactions has gathered sustantial scholarly attention over the last two decades. Today we have a much clearer picture of the movement of goods through the Manila Galleon, in particular regarding the exchange of American silver for Chinese silk and other Asian commodities. However, the full implications of this global trade at a local and urban level are still to be determined.

In this paper I would like to focus on a relatively neglected aspect of Manila's history: the phenomenon of urban slavery during the 17th century. Despite the prohibition of enslaving the native population of Luzon, slavery was pervasive in Manila. According to a report written in 1621 by the archbishop Miguel García Serrano, there were almost 2,000 slaves within Manila's Intramuros, out of a total population of 6,110. Brought by Portuguese traders from all over the Indian Ocean, captured during wars with the Muslim sultanates of the Southern Philippines or transported from New Spain, slaves were an integral part of Manila's urban landscape.

Any account of slavery implies more than determining its volume, ethnic origin or routes of arrival; it involves, more than anything, understanding how slaves related to the wider society. Through a close reading of the extant sources, I will try to show their integration into households, economic networks and city life, thereby contributing to a fuller and more complex analysis of Manila's social composition.