International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA); Bogotá, Colombia

Conference: International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2024 in Bogotá, Colombia
June 12 – 15, 2024

Presentation: “Creole Antiquarianism: The Case of Juan Flórez de Ocáriz’s Library”

Conference Report:

On June 14th, I presented my paper “Creole Antiquarianism: The Case of Juan Flórez de Ocáriz’s Library” at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2024 in Bogotá, Colombia on June 12 – 15, 2024. The presentation is a short extract of one of my dissertation chapters regarding the antiquarianism practice of a Creole-lettered subject at the end of the seventeenth Century in Colombia. The presentation allowed me to present at a specialized conference in my field of study to present a first dissertation advancement in front of other Colonial Latin American studies colleagues.

Discussion:
The discussion and questions regarding my paper were useful in understanding three things: firstly, how to continue researching and writing my dissertation. Second, it highlighted the importance of my archival research, especially regarding the inventories of intellectual Creole subjects in the Spanish American world during the Early Modern period. Third, it also sparked an interest in how the archival study regarding the uses of material culture is important while studying Latin American Cultural productions during the colonial era.

Networking:
One of the most beneficial aspects of this conference was the network I built with other professionals in Colonial Latin American studies. For example, Dr. Kevin Sedeño Guillén, assistant professor of Literature and Linguistics at the University of Cartagena, Colombia, gave me references regarding documents and archives that could be useful for my dissertation. For the moment, I’m interested in planning a visit to the rare and special collections of the library Mario Carvajal at the University del Valle, Cali, Colombia. In the library, there is a seventeenth-century copy of the Genealogies of the New Granada Kingdom (1674) annotated by the Afro-Cuban intellectual Manuel del Socorro Rodríguez (1758-1819). This document could be indispensable for my dissertation because it would allow me to explore topics such as race and human development during the late colonial period in Colombia.