Andres Mesa | University of St Andrews (original) (raw)

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Papers by Andres Mesa

Research paper thumbnail of Motors of production or voracious usurers. The conflicts between the Genoese colonist and Castilian authorities regarding landownership and sugar production in the Canary Islands (1489-1516)

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2023

This paper studies the conflict between Genoese merchants on the one hand, and Canarian local aut... more This paper studies the conflict between Genoese merchants on the one hand, and Canarian local authorities and Castilian colonists on the other, regarding the alleged Genoese hoarding of land in the Canary Islands at the end of the fifteenth century. It shows the roots of the conflict and the veracity of the claims made in the 1490s by neighbors of Gran Canaria, who stated that the Genoese owned over half of the land available for growing sugar cane. Also, it studies the apparent Genoese success in Macaronesia, as it relates to the movement of Mediterranean institutions, such as slavery and the plantation economy, to the Atlantic. It shows that the Genoese were crucial in the introduction of the plantation economy in the Canaries. They dominated the local market thanks to their international commercial networks and their success in joining the production aspects of sugar cane growth and its transformation into sugar. Their plantations and mills operated with an imported workforce of enslaved people and Portuguese sugar masters. Nevertheless, their success came to an end when the plantation economy that they had created exhausted itself. In turn argues that the source of conflict corresponds to the way Castile responded to the economic reality in the Canaries, the measures were directed against social symptoms and not the underlying cause of the social unrest against Genoese success.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘El todo-amor’: Philosophy, Literature, and Love in Macedonio Fernández’s Museo de la novela de la Eterna

Crossways Journal , 2017

This paper analyses the aspects of Macedonio Fernández's reflections on love, pointing to similar... more This paper analyses the aspects of Macedonio Fernández's reflections on love, pointing to similarities and differences between his theory and his novel Museo de la Novela de la Eterna. Love is a marker of personal identity construction and destruction that mediates private relationships between individuals. Macedonio's love is a mystical, none erotic, and misogynist affection that is supposed to unite the lovers and triumph death. It is divided into three stages: sympathy, fission, and chiasmus. His work and narrative are generally regarded as philosophical literature. Museo speaks of love moving from monologue to dialogue, yet no romantic action is truly represented. The movement of the narrative from a monologue to a dialogue, will be argued, can correspond with the stages identified in Macedonio's philosophy. The lack of an erotic nature in the novel and philosophy translates into a lack performativity, which results in the failure of the theory and of love in the story. Macedonio's goal to triumph death drives him to think a relationship where the beloved's body is not necessary. Yet the novel takes on many characteristics of maternal and physical beauty to represent the beloved. The tensions and contradictions, the omission of the erotic nature of love, as well as his demonstration of misogynist attitudes in the Museo, generate paradoxes and incoherence that dooms his theory of 'todo-amor' to be a failed love story and philosophy.

Research paper thumbnail of Cities, Territories, and Conflict: Narrative and the Colombian City in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This article offers a reading of the debates on Colombian literature and the ‘City’, and the comm... more This article offers a reading of the debates on Colombian literature and the ‘City’, and the commitment of Colombian authors in the late twentieth century to represent and discuss the settlement patterns and social dynamics in the cities. By focusing on the problem of truth and the hegemonic code of representation of the ‘city’ and the ‘individual’, one will study how the development of Colombian cities in the late XX century was based in a history of conflict and inequality, which articulated in the politics, economy, security, and its subsequent representation. The essay will examine what textual strategies are used to convey this articulation, and what perceptions of space and self, what conceptions of the city and the intellectual, inform the texts. Starting on theory and analysis of autobiography and self fiction, I propose to read in Manuel Mejía Vallego’s Al Lado de la Ciudad (1958), Fernando Vallejo’s Virgen de los Sicarios (1994), and the movies La Vendedora de Rosas (1998) and Rodrigo D: No Future (1990) by the Colombian director Víctor Gaviria, the history of the city and the dynamic of its population and the importance of literature as a social force in Colombian politics and population.

Research paper thumbnail of La Verdad Historica, un recorrido historico por el concepto de verdad en la obra de Paul Ricoeur

Research paper thumbnail of The Search for the Past Through Material Remains in Renaissance Italy Protoarcheology in the travel narratives of Petrarch, Pedro Tafur, Cyriaco de Ancona

Research paper thumbnail of Health and Disease in the Colombian Civil Wars of the 19th Century The 1000 Days War

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2023

Conference Presentations by Andres Mesa

Research paper thumbnail of The Diaspora of a Diaspora, The Cassana and Rivarolo Family Network in the Atlantic (1450-1530

Economic History Society Annual Conference, 2020

This paper aims to question the nature of Genoese family networks in the Atlantic, at the end of ... more This paper aims to question the nature of Genoese family networks in the Atlantic, at the end of the fifteen and early sixteen century. The canonical understanding of these networks argues three things: that a family network is highly codependent; that it is centralized; and, that Genoa was the centre of operations for all Genoese. Hence, the problem is the generalization and the homogenization nature of these ideas. My research shows a multitude of sceneries. Also, the historical context in the Iberian Peninsula suggests different answers. By taking the case study of the Rivarolo-Cassana family network, I show that these Genoese functioned more in terms of cooperation, pluricentric, and in a Sevillian based terms. There are many reasons for this. As the title suggests, the economic endeavours of these merchants were amidst a complex migration process. Thus, their trading activities coincide with the interests of permanent settlement and naturalization. Genoese merchants choose cities in the Iberian peninsula as their home and centre of operations. Cities like Lisbon, Seville, and Valencia had a significant permanent Genoese population who were in the process of naturalization into the Spanish or Portuguese kingdoms. In turn, some of the families that dominated the economic landscape in the XV and XVI centuries disappear in Genoa. Yet, their descendants still appear in Portugal and Spain with the alteration of their old Ligurian last names into Castilian or Portuguese. The most significant arguments this study makes against the canonical understanding of the Genoese family network are economical. The data collected shows that most of the day-to-day trade happens outside the family network, and the legal binding with partners also extended significantly beyond relatives. The structure of private property ownership is connected to new interests and new markets, inevitably linked to the discovery of new lands. Accordingly, The Genoese adopted a new model based on owning the means of production for the goods they traded, particularly soap, wheat, and sugar. Finally, I argue that the economic ties between families, even family members, did not always translate into a share of business responsibility or welfare. The relationships and partnerships functioned in terms of very particular historical and geographical contexts. The contracts were between 'individuals (Societas) to share losses and gains.' Thus, liability was an individual matter despite the use of factors and proctors most of the time.

Research paper thumbnail of "The Genoese and the Canary Islands: from the Fortunate Isles to the Sugar plantation (1478-1510)

Leeds Virtual International Medieval Congress, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Motors of production or voracious usurers. The conflicts between the Genoese colonist and Castilian authorities regarding landownership and sugar production in the Canary Islands (1489-1516)

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2023

This paper studies the conflict between Genoese merchants on the one hand, and Canarian local aut... more This paper studies the conflict between Genoese merchants on the one hand, and Canarian local authorities and Castilian colonists on the other, regarding the alleged Genoese hoarding of land in the Canary Islands at the end of the fifteenth century. It shows the roots of the conflict and the veracity of the claims made in the 1490s by neighbors of Gran Canaria, who stated that the Genoese owned over half of the land available for growing sugar cane. Also, it studies the apparent Genoese success in Macaronesia, as it relates to the movement of Mediterranean institutions, such as slavery and the plantation economy, to the Atlantic. It shows that the Genoese were crucial in the introduction of the plantation economy in the Canaries. They dominated the local market thanks to their international commercial networks and their success in joining the production aspects of sugar cane growth and its transformation into sugar. Their plantations and mills operated with an imported workforce of enslaved people and Portuguese sugar masters. Nevertheless, their success came to an end when the plantation economy that they had created exhausted itself. In turn argues that the source of conflict corresponds to the way Castile responded to the economic reality in the Canaries, the measures were directed against social symptoms and not the underlying cause of the social unrest against Genoese success.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘El todo-amor’: Philosophy, Literature, and Love in Macedonio Fernández’s Museo de la novela de la Eterna

Crossways Journal , 2017

This paper analyses the aspects of Macedonio Fernández's reflections on love, pointing to similar... more This paper analyses the aspects of Macedonio Fernández's reflections on love, pointing to similarities and differences between his theory and his novel Museo de la Novela de la Eterna. Love is a marker of personal identity construction and destruction that mediates private relationships between individuals. Macedonio's love is a mystical, none erotic, and misogynist affection that is supposed to unite the lovers and triumph death. It is divided into three stages: sympathy, fission, and chiasmus. His work and narrative are generally regarded as philosophical literature. Museo speaks of love moving from monologue to dialogue, yet no romantic action is truly represented. The movement of the narrative from a monologue to a dialogue, will be argued, can correspond with the stages identified in Macedonio's philosophy. The lack of an erotic nature in the novel and philosophy translates into a lack performativity, which results in the failure of the theory and of love in the story. Macedonio's goal to triumph death drives him to think a relationship where the beloved's body is not necessary. Yet the novel takes on many characteristics of maternal and physical beauty to represent the beloved. The tensions and contradictions, the omission of the erotic nature of love, as well as his demonstration of misogynist attitudes in the Museo, generate paradoxes and incoherence that dooms his theory of 'todo-amor' to be a failed love story and philosophy.

Research paper thumbnail of Cities, Territories, and Conflict: Narrative and the Colombian City in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

This article offers a reading of the debates on Colombian literature and the ‘City’, and the comm... more This article offers a reading of the debates on Colombian literature and the ‘City’, and the commitment of Colombian authors in the late twentieth century to represent and discuss the settlement patterns and social dynamics in the cities. By focusing on the problem of truth and the hegemonic code of representation of the ‘city’ and the ‘individual’, one will study how the development of Colombian cities in the late XX century was based in a history of conflict and inequality, which articulated in the politics, economy, security, and its subsequent representation. The essay will examine what textual strategies are used to convey this articulation, and what perceptions of space and self, what conceptions of the city and the intellectual, inform the texts. Starting on theory and analysis of autobiography and self fiction, I propose to read in Manuel Mejía Vallego’s Al Lado de la Ciudad (1958), Fernando Vallejo’s Virgen de los Sicarios (1994), and the movies La Vendedora de Rosas (1998) and Rodrigo D: No Future (1990) by the Colombian director Víctor Gaviria, the history of the city and the dynamic of its population and the importance of literature as a social force in Colombian politics and population.

Research paper thumbnail of La Verdad Historica, un recorrido historico por el concepto de verdad en la obra de Paul Ricoeur

Research paper thumbnail of The Search for the Past Through Material Remains in Renaissance Italy Protoarcheology in the travel narratives of Petrarch, Pedro Tafur, Cyriaco de Ancona

Research paper thumbnail of Health and Disease in the Colombian Civil Wars of the 19th Century The 1000 Days War

International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of The Diaspora of a Diaspora, The Cassana and Rivarolo Family Network in the Atlantic (1450-1530

Economic History Society Annual Conference, 2020

This paper aims to question the nature of Genoese family networks in the Atlantic, at the end of ... more This paper aims to question the nature of Genoese family networks in the Atlantic, at the end of the fifteen and early sixteen century. The canonical understanding of these networks argues three things: that a family network is highly codependent; that it is centralized; and, that Genoa was the centre of operations for all Genoese. Hence, the problem is the generalization and the homogenization nature of these ideas. My research shows a multitude of sceneries. Also, the historical context in the Iberian Peninsula suggests different answers. By taking the case study of the Rivarolo-Cassana family network, I show that these Genoese functioned more in terms of cooperation, pluricentric, and in a Sevillian based terms. There are many reasons for this. As the title suggests, the economic endeavours of these merchants were amidst a complex migration process. Thus, their trading activities coincide with the interests of permanent settlement and naturalization. Genoese merchants choose cities in the Iberian peninsula as their home and centre of operations. Cities like Lisbon, Seville, and Valencia had a significant permanent Genoese population who were in the process of naturalization into the Spanish or Portuguese kingdoms. In turn, some of the families that dominated the economic landscape in the XV and XVI centuries disappear in Genoa. Yet, their descendants still appear in Portugal and Spain with the alteration of their old Ligurian last names into Castilian or Portuguese. The most significant arguments this study makes against the canonical understanding of the Genoese family network are economical. The data collected shows that most of the day-to-day trade happens outside the family network, and the legal binding with partners also extended significantly beyond relatives. The structure of private property ownership is connected to new interests and new markets, inevitably linked to the discovery of new lands. Accordingly, The Genoese adopted a new model based on owning the means of production for the goods they traded, particularly soap, wheat, and sugar. Finally, I argue that the economic ties between families, even family members, did not always translate into a share of business responsibility or welfare. The relationships and partnerships functioned in terms of very particular historical and geographical contexts. The contracts were between 'individuals (Societas) to share losses and gains.' Thus, liability was an individual matter despite the use of factors and proctors most of the time.

Research paper thumbnail of "The Genoese and the Canary Islands: from the Fortunate Isles to the Sugar plantation (1478-1510)

Leeds Virtual International Medieval Congress, 2020