Lecture Prof. Dr. Jorge Flores (University of Lisbon): Of Statues, Portraits and Distaffs. Visual Dissension Across the Early Modern Iberian World
Organized by the Dr. K. H. Eberle Research Centre "European Cultures in a Multipolar World", the Mediterranean Platform and the Constance Latin America Forum
July 8, 2024, 18:15 – 19:45, University of Constance, Bischofsvilla (Otto-Adam-Straße 5 , 78467 Konstanz) + Online
Zoom- Login: https://uni-konstanz-de.zoom.us/j/95482395559
Meeting-ID: 954 8239 5559
The lecture considers diverse visual expressions of political dissent across the overseas Iberian world between the late sixteenth and the mid-seventeenth century. In this period, a number of incidents consisting of the destruction of statues, display of mock effigies, and removal of portraits and centered on the figures of contentious viceroys and governors took place from Mexico City and Lima to Goa and Manila. “Of Statues, Portraits and Distaffs” looks into these incidents against the backdrop of Iberian history proper – its historiographical trends, thematic interests and methodological challenges –, but likewise seeks to reflect about atemporal and “universal” phenomena like damnatio memoriae, political obliteration, social death and popular politics. The lecture concludes with the exploration of a brief case study concerning the use of the distaff (spinnrocken) as a commensurable object of insult across early modern cultures.
Moderation: Pavel Kolář