RETHINKING THE “CONQUEST”: CONTEMPORARY HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVES IN AND ON LATIN AMERICA
In recent decades, historiography produced in and on Latin America has profoundly renewed the study of the so-called era of the “conquest.” Various studies have questioned traditional interpretations centered on the idea of an uncontested military victory and an exclusively European protagonism, while also recovering the role played by other actors in these processes, such as women, “indigenous” peoples, or enslaved persons. Likewise, approaches analyzing political alliances, colonial violence, genocide, cultural continuities, and the multiple forms of negotiation, resistance and adaptation have gained strength, calling into question the idea of the “conquest” as a homogeneous, linear and fully concluded process.
This renewal has opened up new methodological and historiographical questions, broadening the repertoire of sources and favoring dialogue among different academic traditions. This panel calls for research examining the era of the “conquest” and its historiography from different regions, theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, with the purpose of discussing how this topic has been studied over time, weighing recent advances in the field, identifying its main debates, and jointly reflecting on the challenges and horizons of these research agendas.
