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Program

Although there is an abundant literature on empire in the social sciences, the comparative study of specific empires tends to have at its analytical center particularly British forms of colonial expansion and administration. Based on these forms, various comparative strategies have recently been proposed for the consideration of Iberian centers of imperial power (i.e., Castile, The Crown of Aragon, and Portugal). What would a study of Iberian empires on their own terms look like? In other words, how might we theorize the formation and functioning of Iberian empires outside of teleologies that foreground these empires' eventual collapse and the rise of British imperial power? To begin to identify what we mean by Iberian forms of imperial power is the focus the present congress. Some key questions include: What motives did Iberian empires have to expand? What techniques (whether discursive, theological, political, or military) did they employ? What is their territorial logic? How do they legitimate their power and imperial aspirations? What might be, to put it in Weberian terms, the imperial legitimacy of the Iberian powers? Are empires possible in the absence of political theology? How do they represent space through maps and other representations of totality? How have Iberian empires served as the inspiration for contemporary imperial expansion? What sorts of resistance formed to oppose Iberian empires? What are the links that join the rebels? What is the role of the city in the formation, maintenance, and shaping of Iberian empire? Why are some cities (such as Antwerp and Ceuta) seen as loyal to Iberian imperial power while others (such as Barcelona and Messina) are characterized as inherently rebellious and unruly? Why do some resistance movements succeed where others fail? What occurs when we place cities, previously invisible or at least in the shadows, at the center of our consideration of Iberian imperial power?