The latest book by Kellogg faculty fellow Carlos A. Jáuregui and co-author David M. Solodkow, published at the end of 2024, is now available as an open-access text.
Bartolomé de las Casas y el paradigma biopolítico de la modernidad colonial (Madrid, Frankfurt: Iberoamericana-Vervuert y Ediciones Uniandes, 2024) examines las Casas’s early writings (1515–1521) through the lens of colonial biopolitics. It explores his efforts to intervene in, sustain, and govern indigenous life as an object of political economy amidst the catastrophic depopulation of La Española and the Greater Antilles. However, his projects were ultimately undermined by the inherent contradiction of attempting to preserve life while simultaneously subordinating it to colonial exploitation.
"I am deeply indebted to Kellogg generous support, which was instrumental in making this project possible," shared Jáuregui. "I am also pleased that the book is now available in an open access format, allowing for a wider audience and greater impact."
Jáuregui has been a professor of Latin American literature and anthropology at the University of Notre Dame since 2011. He is a participating member of the IP- R&D Project "On the Edges of the Archive, I: Peripheral Writings in the Viceroyalties of the Indies" and has authored numerous books and other publications in colonial and transatlantic studies. This academic year, he is a Fulbright-García Robles US Scholar at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).