Jeffrey Erbig | University of California, Santa Cruz (original) (raw)

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Papers by Jeffrey Erbig

Atlantic Studies, 2023

This study analyzes intersections between penal deportation and Indigenous captivity in southeast... more This study analyzes intersections between penal deportation and Indigenous captivity in southeastern South America during the eighteenth century. Via records on Lincompani, a cacique taken captive in the southern borderlands of Buenos Aires and exiled to the Malvinas Islands alongside other prison laborers (presidiarios), it highlights the scale of penal deportation within the early Americas and connects the practice to the formation of geopolitical borders. As colonial officials banished purported criminals to borders, rather than across them, and banished male Indigenous captives from one borderland to another, these forced migrations reinforced territorialized spatial logics and contributed to Indigenous land dispossession. Drawing upon a half century of records from Malvinas, the article also analyzes convicts' and captives' experiences of penal deportation, highlighting instances when their shared status as presidiario may have superseded or been subordinated to ethnic distinctions, considering the gendered logics that shaped their banishment, and reflecting upon the narration of their actions via colonial records.

Boletín Americanista, 2022

Las obras de Félix de Azara han sido unas de las principales fuentes coloniales para la etnohisto... more Las obras de Félix de Azara han sido unas de las principales fuentes coloniales para la etnohistoria en el Río de la Plata y Paraguay, pero también han contribuido a la despolitización indígena en los imaginarios coloniales y poscoloniales. El presente artículo compara la carrera de Azara en la región con el contenido de su historia natural. Demuestra que, mientras que Azara buscó la desposesión o la desaparición indígena en sus labores y sus obras, sus escritos también revelan acciones políticas de agentes indígenas que no encajaban en la lógica naturalista.

Félix de Azara’s writings have been some the most cited colonial sources
among ethnohistorians in the Río de la Plata and Paraguay, but historically have contributed to the depoliticization of indigenous peoples in colonial and postcolonial imaginaries. By comparing Azara’s career in the region with the content of his natural history, this article demonstrates how he sought the dispossession or disappearance of indigenous peoples and how his writings nonetheless revealed the persistence of indigenous political actions that belied naturalist logics.

Les obres de Félix d’Azara han estat unes de les principals fonts colonials
per a l’etnohistòria al Río de la Plata i el Paraguai, però també han ontribuït
a la despolitització indígena en els imaginaris colonials i postcolonials. Aquest article compara la carrera d’Azara a la regió amb el contingut de la seva història natural. Demostra que, mentre que Azara va buscar la despossessió o la desaparició indígena en les seves tasques i en les seves obres, els seus escrits també revelen accions polítiques d’agents indígenes que no encaixaven en la lògica naturalista.

History Compass, 2020

Since the 1990s, scholars of Latin America have rediscovered maps as historical documents and map... more Since the 1990s, scholars of Latin America have rediscovered maps as historical documents and mapping as a historically significant social practice. Inspired in part by theoretical developments in the broader history of cartography, particularly the notion of maps as cultural texts embedded in sociopolitical contexts that shape their production and meaning, cartographic histories of the region have flourished in recent decades, leading some to herald this development as a new direction in Latin American historiography. This essay examines the emergence and principal trends of this body of scholarship, assessing its contributions and limitations. Taking a broad approach that examines studies of both the colonial and modern periods from Patagonia to the Rio Grande, it argues that while critical map histories have transformed earlier notions of cartographic sources and deepened our understanding of traditional subjects such as colonialism and nation-building, they have yet to reach their full potential. More dialogue between scholars in this emerging subfield, more reflection on the spatial assumptions that undergird Latin American history as a whole, and more attention to the diversity of
maps available for study are needed to enhance the conceptual contributions of Latin American cartographic history and to expand its visibility both inside and outside the region.

Ethnohistory, 2019

This article examines relationships between archival records produced in borderland spaces and th... more This article examines relationships between archival records produced in borderland spaces and the histories of autonomous (non-subjugated and non-missionized) Indigenous peoples. Focusing on the Banda Oriental region of Southeastern South America, it argues that the geographical content, dispersion, and curation of colonial records have served to silence Native pasts. As Portuguese, Spanish, and Jesuit administrators sought possession of this borderland, they overstated the reach of their own settlements and strategically ascribed ethnic labels to Indigenous neighbors to appropriate their lands or delegitimize their sovereignty. The geographical dispersion of colonial records over time has masked the inconsistencies of such claims, and colonial ethnogeographic imaginations thus persist. By reading colonial sources from multiple settlements against one another, this article identifies contradictions in the geographic and ethnographic information they provide, laying a foundation for new ethnogeographic imaginations that center the spaces and agency of autonomous Indigenous communities.

Hispanic American Historical Review, 2016

During the second half of the eighteenth century, Portugal and Spain commissioned two mapping exp... more During the second half of the eighteenth century, Portugal and Spain commissioned two mapping expeditions to determine a border between Brazil and Spanish viceroyalties, agreeing for the first time to define territorial possession through collaborative cartographic efforts. These efforts were mediated by autonomous indigenous communities, who asserted their own land claims. This article explores this dynamic at the borderline’s southernmost portion, an area corresponding to present-day Uruguay, northeastern Argentina, and southern Brazil. I argue that native peoples known as Charrúas and Minuanes appropriated imperial border-making efforts for their own purposes. As royal officials sought to materialize a border in lands that they did not effectively control, they solicited native agents’ support. In response, Charru´as and Minuanes took up arms, crisscrossed the border to develop informal economies or elude imperial armies, or sought to incorporate new settlers into indigenous sociopolitical networks. These actions undermined imperial designs yet made the border a meaningful form of territorial organization.

Book Reviews by Jeffrey Erbig

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This collaborative Oxford Handbook of Borderlands in the Iberian World integrates interdisciplina... more This collaborative Oxford Handbook of Borderlands in the Iberian World integrates interdisciplinary approaches to illustrate the historical processes that produced borderlands in the Americas and connected them to global circuits of exchange and migration in the early modern world, extending from the fifteenth to the nineteenth-centuries. It brings together specialists in the Spanish and Portuguese imperial spheres, their geographic and cultural borderlands in both South and North America, and their maritime networks across the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Its objectives emphasize (1) scholarship published in Latin America as well as new research published in diverse academic communities; (2) transdisciplinary research in fields such as ecology, archaeology, art history, geography, musicology, and anthropology that inform the current field of borderlands scholarship; (3) accessible language and imagery to make this work appeal widely to students, teachers, and scholars. “...

The Americas, 2021