Laura Dierksmeier | Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (original) (raw)
Books by Laura Dierksmeier
Interestingly, in this corpus there is strong evidence of a Zapotec 'three-tiered cosmos with nin... more Interestingly, in this corpus there is strong evidence of a Zapotec 'three-tiered cosmos with nine levels above and nine below earth' (181), as well as of their distinct correlations with the feasts in the 260-day ritual calendar. The conclusion of Tavárez, singular in the context of the volume, is that the vertical layers of this colonial Zapotec cosmos most likely have pre-Hispanic origins. The volume also includes the descriptions of two living Mesoamerican cosmos. In his chapter, Kerry Hull studies the universe according to the Ch'orti Maya of southern Guatemala, for whom the common Mesoamerican quincunx, with its four universal directions and a center, is composed of five seas of different colors, and where, not surprisingly, all celestial events are 'causative forces with ramifications for humans on earth' (238). The volume closes with a study of the Wixarika, the famous 'Huichol' people of northern Mexico. According to Johannes Neurath, the Wixarika cosmos is in constant creation; following Konrad Preuss he argues that 'ritual is not a repetition, but a unique event' in which the cosmos is created by its performers. Thus, the life of the cosmos depends on its ritual union with the Wixarika distinctive 'dividual personhood' (337). Reshaping the world is a rigorous intellectual adventure that presents us with nuanced and diverse ways of understanding Mesoamerican cosmologies. It should be mentioned, however, that the idea of a Mesoamerican cosmos shifting in colonial times from a predominantly horizontal representation towards a more vertical, Christian one, is one of the main insights of La cruz mesiánica by Enrique Marroquín, published as early as 1989. Regardless of this minor caveat, the volume gifts the English reader with some of the most exciting developments in the historical and ethnographic study of the still elusive Mesoamerican cosmologies.
by Laura Dierksmeier, Frerich Schön, Anna Kouremenos, Annika Condit, Helen Dawson, Erica Angliker, David Hill, Kyle Jazwa, Zeynep Yelce, Ela Bozok, Sergios Menelaou, Alexander J Smith, Francesca Bonzano, Dunja Brozović Rončević, Katrin Dautel, and Beate M W Ratter
University of Tübingen Press, 2021
The three maps at the beginning of this book have been produced by Cartographer Richard Szydlak, ... more The three maps at the beginning of this book have been produced by Cartographer Richard Szydlak, who gracefully accepted the challenge to map very many islands, some very small, others imaginary. We are very grateful for the high quality of his work.
Tübingen University Press, 2021
Academy of American Franciscan History and University of Oklahoma Press, 2020
Franciscan confraternities were indispensable charitable institutions in early colonial Mexico. C... more Franciscan confraternities were indispensable charitable institutions in early colonial Mexico. Confraternities encouraged Indigenous self-governance within Catholic spheres, and, most notably, they built social structures where the poor were not only recipients of assistance but also, through their voluntary participation, providers of community care. While the Franciscans saw the potential of confraternities as a vehicle for evangelization, indigenous people themselves used them as a tool for their own protection and survival. Whether it be in their hospital work or economic transactions, Indigenous people ultimately became advocates of their own hybrid forms of Christianity to advance their social status and power, and to negotiate their community positions.
Based on a long tradition of confraternities in Europe, Franciscan missionaries built an extensive network of indigenous confraternities in early colonial Mexico (Chapter 1: The Context of Confraternal Charity). Laura Dierksmeier investigates these confraternities within the religious context of their founders’ goals and strategies (Chapter 2: Franciscan Missionary Strategies), through an analysis of their constitutions, finances, and record books, as well as lawsuits, last wills, missionary correspondence, catechisms, visitor reports, and parish records.
As confraternities were largely self-run, they provided opportunities of inclusion, voluntary participation, and self-governance (Chapter 3: Confraternity Aims, Self-governance, and Operations). Despite attempts by Church authorities to control confraternal life, especially following the Council of Trent, indigenous customs were by no means completely eradicated, and evidence of hybrid practices can be seen in confraternal activities (Chapter 4: Religious Autonomy and Local Religion in Confraternities). Throughout colonial Mexico, confraternities established an extensive network of hospitals and orphanages to protect, aid, and comfort the growing number of people affected by epidemics (Chapter 5: Confraternal Hospital Care). Confraternities also contributed to the ‘moral economy,’ providing small loans for times of adversity and aiding people imprisoned for the inability to pay off debts by paying for their release via confraternity funds (Chapter 6: Cofrades and the Moral Economy). This book ends with conclusions on the role of indigenous confraternities for colonial Mexican society at large, in addition to providing extensive suggestions for future research.
DFG Island Studies Network by Laura Dierksmeier
Water Research on Islands A glimpse on the entanglement of human communities and water resources ... more Water Research on Islands A glimpse on the entanglement of human communities and water resources on islands / Un bref aperçu sur la géohistoire "des Hommes et des Eaux" dans les Îles From immemorial time on, islands have been constrained spaces, particularly in terms of water resources and the communities that depend on them. This assertion must be nuanced according to the size and location of the islands, the local climate, the periods considered and the needs of the populations. The management of climatic hazards and the resulting risks become crucial here because of the impossibility of externalizing the resource. Thus, island contexts are prime case studies for understanding the sharp entanglement between environments and societies since the Neolithic period; de facto, the Mediterranean space offers a sampling of "îles-laboratoire" in the long time of their past and recent history.
Registration This conference is open to network members, as well as guests invited by them.
The island as 'watery' land: water-land interfaces in island discourses, experiences and practice... more The island as 'watery' land: water-land interfaces in island discourses, experiences and practices. Ecocritical, political and cultural perspectives Etymologically, island means 'watery land', going back to Old English íeg, 'of or pertaining to water', 'watery', 'watered' (OED), and land. Linguistically, then, islands transgress the binary opposition between land and water, rather than just being land surrounded by water; they are characterised by water, inseparable from it. Island studies have long emphasised the close connection between terrestrial and aquatic spaces and turned to the study of the multifarious interrelations between islands and water, for instance with the concept of aquapelago (Hayward 2012). This proposed thematic section invites contributions from all disciplines of island studies such as historical and archaeological analyses, ecocritical or geographical approaches as well as literary and linguistic analyses of the construction of island-water relations.
Attempto!, 2022
Bilingual (German/English) magazine article for a general audience about island research and the ... more Bilingual (German/English) magazine article for a general audience about island research and the work of our DFG Island Studies Network.
by Laura Dierksmeier, Stefano Cespa, Anastasia Christophilopoulou, Valerie Elena Palmowski, Frerich Schön, Miriam Kroiher, Helen Dawson, Katrin Dautel, Kathrin Schödel, David Hill, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, and Matteo Cantisani
The line drawing is a depiction of an Early Cycladic boat on a marble fragment found in Naxos, da... more The line drawing is a depiction of an Early Cycladic boat on a marble fragment found in Naxos, dated ca. 2500-2000 BC. The photo (courtesy of the Centro Studi Ustica) is of cattle being exported from the small island of Ustica to Sicily in the 1950s. Registration This conference is free and open to networks members and guests invited by them.
Funded by the German Research Foundation since Feb. 2021
Awards by Laura Dierksmeier
for the best book , published in 2021 that illumines the diversit y of global Christianit y, issu... more for the best book , published in 2021 that illumines the diversit y of global Christianit y, issues of Christian unit y and disunit y, or the interactions between Christianity and other religions, in any period and area of the histor y of Christianity.
Articles by Laura Dierksmeier
Confraternitas, 2024
This article compares sixteenth-century Mexican confraternities (est. since 1527) with the utopia... more This article compares sixteenth-century Mexican confraternities (est. since 1527) with the utopian hospital-towns of Vasco de Quiroga, established in 1530 and 1533–4. Although likewise oriented towards the Christian moral ideals of charity and solidarity, and driven by kindred utopian aspirations and missionizing zeal, both institutions displayed notable differences in their daily operations and governing structures. These differences, the article shows, can be explained by a diverging understanding of the ideal of equality. Whereas Mexican confraternities embraced extant ethnic and individual diversity, aspiring only to as much equality as necessary for the execution of their charitable mission, the vision behind Quiroga’s hospitales espoused civilizational homogeneity, aiming to accomplish as much equality as possible. Consequently, confraternal institutions were run largely “bottom-up” and in a much more open and inclusive manner than the paternalistic “top-down” style of administration characteristic of Quiroga’s hospitales.
Shima, 2022
Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nes... more Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nesiotikà, peripli) were predominately written by authors of the Mediterranean region from the 7th century BCE to the 17th century CE.2 In this article, we first present an overview of these sources geared towards an Island Studies readership and next consider two main questions: First, how was knowledge about islands produced in the past? And second, can these historical sources motivate new questions for future research? The Balearic Islands have been selected to investigate these questions due to their long history of settlements and trade networks, which prompted their inclusion in many encyclopaedias. In addition, local archaeological and historical sources permit a comparison of emic and etic perspectives. Topics of analysis include descriptions of geography, cultural customs and resource use (including oil, wine, animals, salt, and freshwater), each selected with a view to future comparative studies.
Colonial Latin American Review, 2020
In a newspaper article from 1772, Mexican natural historian and priest José Antonio Alzate y Ramí... more In a newspaper article from 1772, Mexican natural historian and priest José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez identified the herb pipilzitzintlis as cannabis. Drawing on empirical evidence, he argued in favor of its medicinal use, its prohibition by the Inquisition notwithstanding. Ranging from his own admitted first-hand experience to second-hand accounts to medical encyclopedias, Alzate employed a wide array of sources to argue pipilzitzintlis was a narcotic with beneficial and natural, rather than harmful and demonic effects. Treatments for cough, burns, tumors, depression, and melancholy, among many others, he avers as legitimate medicinal uses of the herb. This example sheds light on the epistemic value bestowed on different sources of scientific evidence during the Latin American Enlightenment, as well as on the role that censorship played in the circulation of scientific knowledge.
Shima: The International Journal of Research Into Island Studies, 2020
This article aims to provide readers with content suggestions for teaching insularity from archae... more This article aims to provide readers with content suggestions for teaching insularity from archaeological and historical perspectives. The authors base this overview on two courses they taught at the University of Tübingen in 2019 (Insularity and Identity in the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity and Mediterranean Island History and Archaeology, Long-Term Perspectives) for bachelor- and masters-level students. As both authors have conducted extensive fieldwork on Mediterranean islands, these courses were their attempt to engage students critically with their research findings, considering the larger frame of island studies. In addition, both courses were interdisciplinary, and this article reflects on the challenges and opportunities such methodologies present. As the authors' research areas focus on Crete and the Aegean (Kouremenos), and the Canarian and Balearic archipelagoes (Dierksmeier), this paper reflects primarily those research experiences and is by no means a comprehensive guide. Nonetheless, this survey may assist individuals who are considering teaching this subject, and we aim to create more interdisciplinary dialogue with our island studies colleagues as to their experiences teaching insularity.
Interestingly, in this corpus there is strong evidence of a Zapotec 'three-tiered cosmos with nin... more Interestingly, in this corpus there is strong evidence of a Zapotec 'three-tiered cosmos with nine levels above and nine below earth' (181), as well as of their distinct correlations with the feasts in the 260-day ritual calendar. The conclusion of Tavárez, singular in the context of the volume, is that the vertical layers of this colonial Zapotec cosmos most likely have pre-Hispanic origins. The volume also includes the descriptions of two living Mesoamerican cosmos. In his chapter, Kerry Hull studies the universe according to the Ch'orti Maya of southern Guatemala, for whom the common Mesoamerican quincunx, with its four universal directions and a center, is composed of five seas of different colors, and where, not surprisingly, all celestial events are 'causative forces with ramifications for humans on earth' (238). The volume closes with a study of the Wixarika, the famous 'Huichol' people of northern Mexico. According to Johannes Neurath, the Wixarika cosmos is in constant creation; following Konrad Preuss he argues that 'ritual is not a repetition, but a unique event' in which the cosmos is created by its performers. Thus, the life of the cosmos depends on its ritual union with the Wixarika distinctive 'dividual personhood' (337). Reshaping the world is a rigorous intellectual adventure that presents us with nuanced and diverse ways of understanding Mesoamerican cosmologies. It should be mentioned, however, that the idea of a Mesoamerican cosmos shifting in colonial times from a predominantly horizontal representation towards a more vertical, Christian one, is one of the main insights of La cruz mesiánica by Enrique Marroquín, published as early as 1989. Regardless of this minor caveat, the volume gifts the English reader with some of the most exciting developments in the historical and ethnographic study of the still elusive Mesoamerican cosmologies.
by Laura Dierksmeier, Frerich Schön, Anna Kouremenos, Annika Condit, Helen Dawson, Erica Angliker, David Hill, Kyle Jazwa, Zeynep Yelce, Ela Bozok, Sergios Menelaou, Alexander J Smith, Francesca Bonzano, Dunja Brozović Rončević, Katrin Dautel, and Beate M W Ratter
University of Tübingen Press, 2021
The three maps at the beginning of this book have been produced by Cartographer Richard Szydlak, ... more The three maps at the beginning of this book have been produced by Cartographer Richard Szydlak, who gracefully accepted the challenge to map very many islands, some very small, others imaginary. We are very grateful for the high quality of his work.
Tübingen University Press, 2021
Academy of American Franciscan History and University of Oklahoma Press, 2020
Franciscan confraternities were indispensable charitable institutions in early colonial Mexico. C... more Franciscan confraternities were indispensable charitable institutions in early colonial Mexico. Confraternities encouraged Indigenous self-governance within Catholic spheres, and, most notably, they built social structures where the poor were not only recipients of assistance but also, through their voluntary participation, providers of community care. While the Franciscans saw the potential of confraternities as a vehicle for evangelization, indigenous people themselves used them as a tool for their own protection and survival. Whether it be in their hospital work or economic transactions, Indigenous people ultimately became advocates of their own hybrid forms of Christianity to advance their social status and power, and to negotiate their community positions.
Based on a long tradition of confraternities in Europe, Franciscan missionaries built an extensive network of indigenous confraternities in early colonial Mexico (Chapter 1: The Context of Confraternal Charity). Laura Dierksmeier investigates these confraternities within the religious context of their founders’ goals and strategies (Chapter 2: Franciscan Missionary Strategies), through an analysis of their constitutions, finances, and record books, as well as lawsuits, last wills, missionary correspondence, catechisms, visitor reports, and parish records.
As confraternities were largely self-run, they provided opportunities of inclusion, voluntary participation, and self-governance (Chapter 3: Confraternity Aims, Self-governance, and Operations). Despite attempts by Church authorities to control confraternal life, especially following the Council of Trent, indigenous customs were by no means completely eradicated, and evidence of hybrid practices can be seen in confraternal activities (Chapter 4: Religious Autonomy and Local Religion in Confraternities). Throughout colonial Mexico, confraternities established an extensive network of hospitals and orphanages to protect, aid, and comfort the growing number of people affected by epidemics (Chapter 5: Confraternal Hospital Care). Confraternities also contributed to the ‘moral economy,’ providing small loans for times of adversity and aiding people imprisoned for the inability to pay off debts by paying for their release via confraternity funds (Chapter 6: Cofrades and the Moral Economy). This book ends with conclusions on the role of indigenous confraternities for colonial Mexican society at large, in addition to providing extensive suggestions for future research.
Water Research on Islands A glimpse on the entanglement of human communities and water resources ... more Water Research on Islands A glimpse on the entanglement of human communities and water resources on islands / Un bref aperçu sur la géohistoire "des Hommes et des Eaux" dans les Îles From immemorial time on, islands have been constrained spaces, particularly in terms of water resources and the communities that depend on them. This assertion must be nuanced according to the size and location of the islands, the local climate, the periods considered and the needs of the populations. The management of climatic hazards and the resulting risks become crucial here because of the impossibility of externalizing the resource. Thus, island contexts are prime case studies for understanding the sharp entanglement between environments and societies since the Neolithic period; de facto, the Mediterranean space offers a sampling of "îles-laboratoire" in the long time of their past and recent history.
Registration This conference is open to network members, as well as guests invited by them.
The island as 'watery' land: water-land interfaces in island discourses, experiences and practice... more The island as 'watery' land: water-land interfaces in island discourses, experiences and practices. Ecocritical, political and cultural perspectives Etymologically, island means 'watery land', going back to Old English íeg, 'of or pertaining to water', 'watery', 'watered' (OED), and land. Linguistically, then, islands transgress the binary opposition between land and water, rather than just being land surrounded by water; they are characterised by water, inseparable from it. Island studies have long emphasised the close connection between terrestrial and aquatic spaces and turned to the study of the multifarious interrelations between islands and water, for instance with the concept of aquapelago (Hayward 2012). This proposed thematic section invites contributions from all disciplines of island studies such as historical and archaeological analyses, ecocritical or geographical approaches as well as literary and linguistic analyses of the construction of island-water relations.
Attempto!, 2022
Bilingual (German/English) magazine article for a general audience about island research and the ... more Bilingual (German/English) magazine article for a general audience about island research and the work of our DFG Island Studies Network.
by Laura Dierksmeier, Stefano Cespa, Anastasia Christophilopoulou, Valerie Elena Palmowski, Frerich Schön, Miriam Kroiher, Helen Dawson, Katrin Dautel, Kathrin Schödel, David Hill, Marta Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, and Matteo Cantisani
The line drawing is a depiction of an Early Cycladic boat on a marble fragment found in Naxos, da... more The line drawing is a depiction of an Early Cycladic boat on a marble fragment found in Naxos, dated ca. 2500-2000 BC. The photo (courtesy of the Centro Studi Ustica) is of cattle being exported from the small island of Ustica to Sicily in the 1950s. Registration This conference is free and open to networks members and guests invited by them.
Funded by the German Research Foundation since Feb. 2021
for the best book , published in 2021 that illumines the diversit y of global Christianit y, issu... more for the best book , published in 2021 that illumines the diversit y of global Christianit y, issues of Christian unit y and disunit y, or the interactions between Christianity and other religions, in any period and area of the histor y of Christianity.
Confraternitas, 2024
This article compares sixteenth-century Mexican confraternities (est. since 1527) with the utopia... more This article compares sixteenth-century Mexican confraternities (est. since 1527) with the utopian hospital-towns of Vasco de Quiroga, established in 1530 and 1533–4. Although likewise oriented towards the Christian moral ideals of charity and solidarity, and driven by kindred utopian aspirations and missionizing zeal, both institutions displayed notable differences in their daily operations and governing structures. These differences, the article shows, can be explained by a diverging understanding of the ideal of equality. Whereas Mexican confraternities embraced extant ethnic and individual diversity, aspiring only to as much equality as necessary for the execution of their charitable mission, the vision behind Quiroga’s hospitales espoused civilizational homogeneity, aiming to accomplish as much equality as possible. Consequently, confraternal institutions were run largely “bottom-up” and in a much more open and inclusive manner than the paternalistic “top-down” style of administration characteristic of Quiroga’s hospitales.
Shima, 2022
Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nes... more Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nesiotikà, peripli) were predominately written by authors of the Mediterranean region from the 7th century BCE to the 17th century CE.2 In this article, we first present an overview of these sources geared towards an Island Studies readership and next consider two main questions: First, how was knowledge about islands produced in the past? And second, can these historical sources motivate new questions for future research? The Balearic Islands have been selected to investigate these questions due to their long history of settlements and trade networks, which prompted their inclusion in many encyclopaedias. In addition, local archaeological and historical sources permit a comparison of emic and etic perspectives. Topics of analysis include descriptions of geography, cultural customs and resource use (including oil, wine, animals, salt, and freshwater), each selected with a view to future comparative studies.
Colonial Latin American Review, 2020
In a newspaper article from 1772, Mexican natural historian and priest José Antonio Alzate y Ramí... more In a newspaper article from 1772, Mexican natural historian and priest José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez identified the herb pipilzitzintlis as cannabis. Drawing on empirical evidence, he argued in favor of its medicinal use, its prohibition by the Inquisition notwithstanding. Ranging from his own admitted first-hand experience to second-hand accounts to medical encyclopedias, Alzate employed a wide array of sources to argue pipilzitzintlis was a narcotic with beneficial and natural, rather than harmful and demonic effects. Treatments for cough, burns, tumors, depression, and melancholy, among many others, he avers as legitimate medicinal uses of the herb. This example sheds light on the epistemic value bestowed on different sources of scientific evidence during the Latin American Enlightenment, as well as on the role that censorship played in the circulation of scientific knowledge.
Shima: The International Journal of Research Into Island Studies, 2020
This article aims to provide readers with content suggestions for teaching insularity from archae... more This article aims to provide readers with content suggestions for teaching insularity from archaeological and historical perspectives. The authors base this overview on two courses they taught at the University of Tübingen in 2019 (Insularity and Identity in the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity and Mediterranean Island History and Archaeology, Long-Term Perspectives) for bachelor- and masters-level students. As both authors have conducted extensive fieldwork on Mediterranean islands, these courses were their attempt to engage students critically with their research findings, considering the larger frame of island studies. In addition, both courses were interdisciplinary, and this article reflects on the challenges and opportunities such methodologies present. As the authors' research areas focus on Crete and the Aegean (Kouremenos), and the Canarian and Balearic archipelagoes (Dierksmeier), this paper reflects primarily those research experiences and is by no means a comprehensive guide. Nonetheless, this survey may assist individuals who are considering teaching this subject, and we aim to create more interdisciplinary dialogue with our island studies colleagues as to their experiences teaching insularity.
Tübingen University Press, 2021
During both the Punic-Roman and the Spanish period, settlement locations, knowledge of weather, r... more During both the Punic-Roman and the Spanish period, settlement locations, knowledge of weather, religious
traditions and sanctuaries evolved from islanders’ dependence on carefully collecting and preserving
water from fog, rain, and springs.
SFB 1070 Resource Cultures Edited Book "Waters", 2020
This essay focuses on historical strategies to manage water scarcity on the Canary Islands. Volca... more This essay focuses on historical strategies to manage water scarcity on the Canary Islands. Volcanic islands are an ideal location to study the history of freshwater management, since a lack of clean groundwater often stimulated solutions not found on the mainland. During the early modern period, approximately 1500-1800 AD, the Canary Islands connected the main trade routes from the Spanish peninsula to the 'New World', serving as supply stations for food and water. Effective water management was indispensable, directly for the islanders themselves, and indirectly for the economy of the Spanish Empire and its trade partners. To maximize water supplies, infrastructure improvements (e.g. canal repairs), community controls (e.g. a water police force), as well as religious and cultural traditions (e.g. public processions praying for rain) were employed simultaneously.
Silex, 2020
Confraternities in New Spain before and after Trent - Book Chapter in: Fermín Labarga (ed.) Para ... more Confraternities in New Spain before and after Trent - Book Chapter in: Fermín Labarga (ed.) Para la reforma del clero y pueblo cristiano… El concilio de Trento y la renovación católica en el mundo hispánico" (Silex), 2020.
Bartolomé de Las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion. Eds. Rady Roldán-Figueroa and David Orique, O.P., Brill, 2018
In 1555, Franciscan missionary Toribio de Motolinia wrote a letter to the King of Spain critici... more In 1555, Franciscan missionary Toribio de Motolinia wrote a letter to the King of Spain criticizing his contemporary, Dominican Bartolomé de las Casas. Motolinia’s coarse letter accentuated tensions between the reformed Franciscan millennialism of Motolinia and the Dominican intellectualist missiology of Las Casas, such as with disputes over the proper administration of baptism and disparate indigenous language-learning policies for the friars. Yet, Motolinia’s letter not only highlights differences, but also reveals many similarities between Motolinia and Las Casas. The moral faults for which Las Casas criticized the Spanish in his prolific works were also Motolinia’s frustrations with Las Casas. After discussing differences, this chapter matches arguments of Las Casas and Motolinia to show when and how they both condemned incorrect facts, unnecessary insults, an abandonment of their common cause, a failure to forgive, and the character flaws of hypocrisy, dishonesty, zeal, and pride.
Space, Place, and Motion: Locating Confraternities in the Late Medieval and Early Modern City, 2017
The Confraternitas journal, edited by Konrad Eisenbichler (University of Toronto) kindly publishe... more The Confraternitas journal, edited by Konrad Eisenbichler (University of Toronto) kindly published an announcement of my recent thesis defense with the dissertation abstract.
Charity for and by the Poor (AAFH and UOP), 2020
Sie betrieben Hospitäler, Waisenhäuser und Schulen, kümmerten sich um Arme, Alte und Kranke, kauf... more Sie betrieben Hospitäler, Waisenhäuser und Schulen, kümmerten sich um Arme, Alte und Kranke, kauften Menschen aus dem Schuldgefängnis frei und waren dabei komplett selbstverwaltet, inklusiv und demokratisch organisiert -Die franziskanischindigenen Bruderschaften im von der Kolonialmacht Spanien besetzten Mexiko zwischen 1527 und 1700.
University of Tuebingen PR Dept., 2020
Tübingen historian reconstructs a legalization discourse between the church and science of the 18... more Tübingen historian reconstructs a legalization discourse between the church and science of the 18th century
Universität Tübingen Hochschulkommunikation, 2020
Tübinger Historikerin rekonstruiert einen Legalisierungsdiskurs zwischen Wissenschaft und Kirche ... more Tübinger Historikerin rekonstruiert einen Legalisierungsdiskurs zwischen Wissenschaft und Kirche aus dem 18. Jahrhundert
University of Tuebingen, 2018
University of Tübingen researchers investigate past techniques for living with water scarcity Tüb... more University of Tübingen researchers investigate past techniques for living with water scarcity Tübingen, 24.09.2018 Forest and brush fires, water shortages and crop failurethese have been the effects of summer 2018 in large parts of Europe. Climate scientists are calling for new agricultural policies, saying farmers need to prepare for greater extremes of temperature and weather. Researchers at the Tübingen collaborative research center (SFB) ResourceCultures are investigating how agrarian societies in the past learned to deal with heat and aridity while still producing food.
University of Tuebingen, 2018
Seite 1/5 Pressemitteilung Mit traditionellen Methoden gegen extreme Trockenheit Wissenschaftler ... more Seite 1/5 Pressemitteilung Mit traditionellen Methoden gegen extreme Trockenheit Wissenschaftler der Universität Tübingen untersuchen Strategien zum Umgang mit wiederkehrenden Dürreperioden Tübingen, den 24.09.2018 Wald-und Feldbrände, Probleme mit der Trinkwasserversorgung und erhebliche Ernteausfälledas ist die bisherige Bilanz des Sommers 2018 in weiten Teilen Europas. Naturschutzverbände und Klimaforscher fordern in Reaktion auf die Dürre einen Kurswechsel in der Agrarpolitik. Die Landwirtschaft müsse sich besser als bisher auf Wetterextreme einstellen. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler des Tübinger Sonderforschungsbereichs (SFB) RessourcenKulturen haben erforscht, wie Agrargesellschaften in der Vergangenheit gelernt haben, mit Hitze und Trockenheit umzugehen und trotzdem erfolgreich zu wirtschaften. "Wassermangel ist ein Problem, für das es eine Vielzahl historischer Beispiele gibt", sagt Dr. Laura Dierksmeier, die im Rahmen des SFB Projektes C05 Inselökonomien der frühen Neuzeit erforscht: "Aber, wie die Geschichte zeigt, gibt es mindestens genauso viele Lösungen. Die Beschäftigung mit der Vergangenheit kann somit gute Ansätze für die Zukunft liefern." Die Ressource Wasser sei ein wichtiger Faktor, dessen Verfügbarkeit und gerechte Verteilung nicht zuletzt über sozialen Frieden und Kooperation entscheide. Als Beispiel für eine Kulturlandschaft, die bereits seit Jahrtausenden mit niederschlagsarmen Sommern zurechtkommt, gelten die Dehesas im Süden der Iberischen Halbinsel. Im interdisziplinären Projekt A02 analysieren Professor Martin Bartelheim, der Sprecher des SFB RessourcenKulturen, und ein Team aus Archäologen gemeinsam mit Ethnologen von der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt unter Leitung von Professor Roland Hardenberg Entstehung und Nutzung der Dehesas. Die charakteristischen Haine aus Eichen und Olivenbäumen wurden bereits vor etwa 2.800 bis 4.000 Jahren angelegt und haben in diesem Zeitraum sämtliche Klimaveränderungen überstanden. Seit der Bronzezeit grasen einheimische Nutztierrassen, wie Ibérico-Schweine, Merino-Schafe oder
Zoom link: https://zoom.univ-paris1.fr/j/92165454947?pwd=dTUyNDYyYmNDU2E4UkJ3SnU4cDZpQT09
This short list contains some of the many island studies programs, with websites, to help promote... more This short list contains some of the many island studies programs, with websites, to help promote the field of island studies and island research.
Maps appear at first glance to be neutral historical sources. But how we represent the world and ... more Maps appear at first glance to be neutral historical sources. But how we represent the world and our place in it is dependent on the cultural norms and political constellations of the person who produced or financed the maps. This course introduces students to a long-term history of cartography and sea navigation, revealing the informants, techniques, and navigational instruments (e.g. compass, nocturnal, astrolabe, etc.) employed, in addition to scrutinizing the worldviews implicit in maps. Geographers, atlas makers and astronomers renowned for their contributions to mapmaking, from Ptolemy to al-Idrisi, Fra Mauro, Abraham Ortelius, Gerardus Mercator, Piri Reis, and Matteo Ricci, as well as lesser known and anonymous mapmakers will be considered. The intended audiences and uses of maps will be deliberated alongside methodological debates, including the spatial turn and critical cartography.
As a geographical unit, the Mediterranean Sea with around 4,000 islands of varying sizes, configu... more As a geographical unit, the Mediterranean Sea with around 4,000 islands of varying sizes, configurations, and distances to the mainland or one another can be described as a world of islands. These islands present ideal case studies to explore not only social and cultural processes from historical and archaeological perspectives but also methodological questions, such as island terminology and attributes. This course will explore Mediterranean island history over the centuries from prehistory to early modern history, focusing on thematic topics including but not limited to: geology and geography, material culture from sacred and profane contexts, infrastructure, resource management, cartography, migration, and travel narratives.
In early modern Latin America, European missionaries were tasked with not only the conversion of ... more In early modern Latin America, European missionaries were tasked with not only the conversion of indigenous populations, but also with drawing flora and fauna, collecting herbal specimens with medicinal properties, drafting maps, and recording astronomical observations. As the Catholic church was at times both a stimulator and retractor for scientific investigations, students will be guided through specific case studies to study how, when, and why some missionaries were acclaimed for the dissemination of their scientific discoveries, while others faced Inquisition sentences for their work.
In early modern Spain and Latin America, confraternities were often the main administrators of ho... more In early modern Spain and Latin America, confraternities were often the main administrators of hospitals and orphanages, burying the dead, giving small loans, and paying to release prisoners jailed for small debts. The range of people assisted was large and included people with contagious diseases, widows, children, the deaf and blind, travelers, pilgrims, and the poverty-stricken. At a time when no welfare system yet existed, these local community groups were often the main providers of essential social services.
Course Description for Winter Semster Oct. 2017 - Feb. 2018
H-Soz-Kult, 2020
Report from Island Conference held in Tuebingen, Germany on Nov. 15-16, 2019. Written by Miriam K... more Report from Island Conference held in Tuebingen, Germany on Nov. 15-16, 2019. Written by Miriam Kroiher, Arnau Kuska, Vincent Laun, and Lorena Sturm. Conference Organized by Frerich Schön, Laura Dierksmeier, Annika Condit, Valerie Palmowski, and Anna Kouremenos
This pdf contains three sets of documents related to the conference "European Islands" hosted in ... more This pdf contains three sets of documents related to the conference "European Islands" hosted in Tuebingen on Nov. 15-16, 2019: 1. Biographies of Organizers and Panel Chairs, 2. Conceptual Framework of the Conference, and 3. Speaker Abstracts and Bios.
November 15-16, 2019, Tuebingen, Germany
The central question of this conference analyzes how islands in the waters around Europe were use... more The central question of this conference analyzes how islands in the waters around Europe were used and understood by past societies, considering the cultural practices, social norms, and solutions of island residents to the many opportunities and challenges they have faced from 3000 BC to 1800 AD. Island-specific factors will be examined to better understand the fragile equilibrium of island life between scarcity and excess, between local customs and global contracts, between dependence and independence, between security and insecurity, between control and power, and between physical, political, or social isolation and cross-regional or global maritime networks.
Since antiquity, knowledge has often been juxtaposed with opinion. Whereas opinion referred to su... more Since antiquity, knowledge has often been juxtaposed with opinion. Whereas opinion referred to subjective perceptions and viewpoints, knowledge was intended to represent objective and verifiable propositions. On this view, knowledge per se had a universal dimension in that it pretended to be approvable through the reason of everyone, everywhere. This universal aspect of the occidental concept of knowledge stands in marked contrast to cultures of local knowledge, where the generation of knowledge was dependent on specific times and places. One such example is the validity of indigenous knowledge contested by Europeans and likewise, indigenous challenges to European knowledge. Based on religious, linguistic, demographic, and cultural disparities, knowledge operative in one context was adapted, manipulated, reframed, or dismissed, as spurious or heretical in another framework. Focusing on the early modern period, this multidisciplinary workshop will focus on specific examples of global and local knowledge transmission, reception, and interaction between Europe and the Americas, including the Canary Islands and the Philippines. Among the broad range of possible topics and textual/pictorial/material sources are bilingual and pictorial catechisms, archive inventories, European natural histories, maps, commodity money, sources on indigenous medicine and nutrition, child-specific knowledge, and climate and the environment. We also encourage comparative perspectives on the knowledge dynamics and policies in the territories dominated by the Spanish and the Portuguese, such as from the English, French, Dutch and Nordic (e.g. Russian, Danish, Swedish) colonies in the Caribbean, North America, and the Guianas. In addition, ways in which indigenous knowledge was preserved or included in archives, libraries or manuals allows for further angles of inquiry. Last, historiographical discussions on 'indigenous knowledge' will examine to what extent the concept was manifested in early modern societies, or whether the concept is exclusively a modern analytical tool.
The universal aspect of the occidental concept of knowledge stands in marked contrast to cultures... more The universal aspect of the occidental concept of knowledge stands in marked contrast to cultures of local knowledge, where the generation of knowledge was dependent on specific times and places. One such example is the validity of indigenous knowledge contested by Europeans and likewise, indigenous challenges to European knowledge. Based on religious, linguistic, demographic, and cultural disparities, knowledge operative in one context was adapted, manipulated, reframed, or dismissed, as spurious or heretical in another framework. Focusing on the early modern period, this multidisciplinary workshop will focus on specific examples of global and local knowledge transmission, reception, and interaction between Europe and the Americas, including the Canary Islands and the Philippines.
El aspecto universal del concepto occidental de conocimiento contrasta notablemente con las cultu... more El aspecto universal del concepto occidental de conocimiento contrasta notablemente con las culturas de conocimiento local, donde la generación de conocimiento dependía de tiempos y lugares específicos. Un ejemplo de ello es la validez del conocimiento indígena impugnado por los europeos y, asimismo, los desafíos indígenas al conocimiento europeo. Con base en disparidades religiosas, lingüísticas, demográficas y culturales, el conocimiento operativo en un contexto fue adaptado, manipulado, reformulado o descartado, como falso o herético en otro marco. Centrándose en el período colonial, este taller multidisciplinario se centrará en ejemplos específicos de transmisión, recepción e interacción del conocimiento global y local entre Europa y las Américas, incluidas las Islas Canarias y Filipinas.
Island Monasteries and Water in South Asia Examples from Sri Lanka and Assam / India Buddhism has... more Island Monasteries and Water in South Asia Examples from Sri Lanka and Assam / India Buddhism has a vibrant monastic tradition that reaches well back into the medieval period and beyond. Much less known is that also Hinduism has monastic sites from the late medieval period. In both traditions, islands have had a special role in the great epics (e.g. Ramayana) as well as locations for sacred congregation and communities. Experts from South Asia will introduce two very different and yet deeply intertwined sites: the early Buddhist monasteries on the island of Sri Lanka and the late medieval Hindu monasteries on the island of Majuli in the river Brahmaputra in Assam in the Northeast of India. The role water plays in these communities, as a manageable resource, as a sacred element and as a threat, will be a focus in both presentations.
SFB 1070 RESOURCECULTURES: Sociocultural Dynamics and the Use of Resources
Resource Cultures Dialogue - SFB1070
For many people, there is magic to small islands as hideaways, paradisiac places in a sea of blue... more For many people, there is magic to small islands as hideaways, paradisiac places in a sea of blue, often immersed in an almost childish excitement about utopia. But at the same time, small islands have been pawns in the game of international interests and territorial powers, outposts of geopolitics from the colonial period to the modern international law of the sea. For geographers there exist two very different strands of geographic inquiry: place and space. The former tends to focus on a distinctive location defined by the lived experience of people, which is fundamental to providing a sense of belonging for those who live on islands. The latter emphasise the importance of space as socially produced and consumed, operating in a global “space of flows” and constantly transformed by external influences. Small islands are both space and place, made and remade through networks that involve people, practices, languages, and representations. In this presentation, I address this dichotomy by drawing from different examples and discuss the island’s spatiality from inside and outside island communities.
With an introduction by Prof. Dr. Thomas Scholten
The University of Tuebingen SFB1070 work group "Insularitäten" hosts Helen Dawson as a guest spea... more The University of Tuebingen SFB1070 work group "Insularitäten" hosts Helen Dawson as a guest speaker on May 14, 2019 in the Castle in Tuebingen. Everyone is invited to attend. Reception will follow.
Itinerario (2024), 1–12, 2024
Islands have played a much larger role in global history than their small size may suggest. The s... more Islands have played a much larger role in global history than their small size may suggest. The study of islands, once a part of maritime history, has since 2006 grown into its own interdisciplinary field of "island studies." The three books analysed in this review all stand to contribute to the new field. The books under review are The Boundless Sea (2019), A World at Sea (2020), and África y sus islas (2021). Island-specific topics advanced by these books include islands as nodes in trade networks, the detrimental influence of colonisation on island environments, the use of islands as locations to escape from slavery, ethnographic descriptions of islands, and indigenous knowledge produced by islanders.
Cuadernos de Historia Moderna (Madrid), 2023
This workshop, held in Tuebingen (Germany) in September 2016, focused on the global dimensions of... more This workshop, held in Tuebingen (Germany) in September 2016, focused on the global dimensions of early modern history studied by scholars from Cambridge University and the University of Tuebingen.
Knowledge transfer, materiality of religious objects, global trade, entangled histories, comparative perspectives, and " global micro history " were considered in the contexts of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, and across the Atlantic and Mediterrean Exchange Networks.
Historians, Art Historians, and Sinologists gathered in Tübingen to deliberate whether or not map... more Historians, Art Historians, and Sinologists gathered in Tübingen to deliberate whether or not maps originating from different missionary contexts had specific common characteristics. Spanning from Latin America to China, India and Africa, the political and religious strategies of mapmaking were analyzed in conjunction with techniques of geographical knowledge generation, map production, and the use of symbology. In their introduction, IRINA PAWLOWSKY (Tübingen) and FABIAN FECHNER (Hagen) discussed pertinent research questions, including: How was indigenous knowledge incorporated into mapmaking? What was the function of missionary maps inside and outside the mission? How were missionary worldviews incorporated into these maps? How were failures in the mission itself and geographical mistakes handled? How do maps and other documents, such as travel logs, natural histories, or coordinate tables, relate to one another?
![Research paper thumbnail of Book Reivew of The Collapse of Time: The Martyrdom of Diego Ortiz (1571) by Antonio de la Calancha [1638]. (De Gruyter, 2016). Review translated into German by Lena Moser.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/56146769/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 2018
Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 2019
Book Review of Beute und Conquista: Die politische Ökonomie der Eroberung Neuspaniens hrsg. V. Vi... more Book Review of Beute und Conquista: Die politische Ökonomie der Eroberung Neuspaniens hrsg. V. Vitus Huber, Frankfurt am Main, Campus Verlag GmbH, 432 S.
Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 2017
Die „spirituelle Eroberung“ Mexikos und die Reaktionen der indigenen Bevölkerung darauf stellen ... more Die „spirituelle Eroberung“ Mexikos und die Reaktionen der indigenen Bevölkerung
darauf stellen seit langem ein fesselndesThemader historischenundinterdisziplinären
Forschung dar. Zunächst befasste sich die auf der Nahuatl-Sprache basierende Forschungsrichtung der „new philology“ damit, später folgte ihr die „new conquest history“, die sich in besonderem Maße der intellektuellen (z. B. Übersetzung), wissenschaftlichen (z. B. Kartographie), künstlerischen (z. B. Theater) und ökonomischen (z. B. Geldverleih) Rolle der Indigenen in religiösen Kontexten widmete. Eine weitere
Säule der „new conquest history“ ist die Lektüre und Neuinterpretation bekannter
Primärquellen aus neuen, interdisziplinären Blickrichtungen. Diesen Ansatz verwendet
auch Ran Tene in seiner unter dem Titel „Changes in Ethical Worldviews“
veröffentlichten Dissertation.
Consideraciones para la investigación de la circulación del conocimiento local: Las interacciones... more Consideraciones para la investigación de la circulación del conocimiento local: Las interacciones entre Europa y las Américas en la temprana modernidad
This symposium seeks to explore how indigenous knowledge was preserved, disputed, challenged, inc... more This symposium seeks to explore how indigenous knowledge was preserved, disputed, challenged, incorporated, refuted, reframed, and subsumed by European knowledge.
The early modern global empires were built upon the extensive movement of people, goods, and idea... more The early modern global empires were built upon the extensive movement of people, goods, and ideas across the world. Thousands of people migrated and crossed the oceans seeking for a better future, but many other men and women moved against their will. Moreover, this era saw the development of complex global networks of trade through which American silver poured into European and Asian markets. Visual images and works of art also moved with extreme ease throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Last, but not least, prejudices, stereotypes, expertise, and knowledge circulated profusely, shaping people's understanding of their own regions and the wider world. This symposium aims to study the latter kind of movement in order to explore the ways in which knowledge that was operative in one context was adapted, manipulated, reframed, or dismissed, as spurious or heretical in another framework. Particularly, it seeks to analyse the role of indigenous knowledge, from the Americas, but also from other areas such as the Canaries or the Philippine Islands. We seek to explore how indigenous knowledge was preserved, disputed, challenged, incorporated, refuted, reframed, and subsumed by European knowledge. Moreover, we expect to discuss how historians can unveil and recover such knowledge.
In the last decade, the term ‘local knowledge’ has gained a certain importance as an analytical c... more In the last decade, the term ‘local knowledge’ has gained a certain importance as an analytical concept, due to the rise of the history of knowledge and growing historiographical research into the micro-analysis of globalizing processes. This panel explores the analytical power of the term ‘local knowledge,’ based on recent results of the historiography of knowledge.
Session Organizers: Giovanna Montenegro (Binghamton) & Nicole Legnani (Princeton) Of the relation... more Session Organizers: Giovanna Montenegro (Binghamton) & Nicole Legnani (Princeton) Of the relationship between entrepreneurs and empire, Octavio Paz wrote, " The conquistadors undertook the Conquest at their own risk; in a way, it was a private undertaking. But it was also an imperial enterprise. " Since Columbus, the Spanish Conquest of the Americas was often carried out by private financiers and a mercantile economy that bordered on " venture capital. " Crónica writers such as Bartolomé de Las Casas were often critical of the private, " foreign " capital with which the conquest was financed. Anxiety about foreign agents (Genoese and German bankers, for example) was often more complicated when those agents were considered heretical (as in the case of the Welser bankers from Augsburg). Moving beyond the economic history presented in Ramón Carande Thobar's 1949 Carlos V y sus Banqueros this panel seeks new approaches to old economic problems. How can we view the conquest of the Americas through private capital? How did indigenous groups handle and create wealth after the conquest? What metaphors and symbols appear for money and the finances in canonical crónicas and relaciones? What is the value of taking a Marxist perspective in reevaluating old problems? This panel seeks papers that respond to these (and other) questions and take new cultural approaches to the financing of conquest.
Religion, Culture, and Society in the Early Modern World - St. John's College - September 18-19, ... more Religion, Culture, and Society in the Early Modern World - St. John's College - September 18-19, 2017.
Program(me) for the upcoming conference hosted by Renate Dürr and Lionel Laborie in Tübingen, Ger... more Program(me) for the upcoming conference hosted by Renate Dürr and Lionel Laborie in Tübingen, Germany on Feb. 9-10th.
May 30, 2015 San Juan, Puerto Rico Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Panel: Cofradías in ... more May 30, 2015
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Panel: Cofradías in Colonial Latin America
Indigenous and Black Confraternities in Colonial Latin America, 2022
Employing a transregional and interdisciplinary approach, this volume explores indigenous and bla... more Employing a transregional and interdisciplinary approach, this volume explores indigenous and black confraternities –or lay Catholic brotherhoods– founded in colonial Spanish America and Brazil between the sixteenth and eighteenth century. It presents a varied group of cases of religious confraternities founded by subaltern subjects, both in rural and urban spaces of colonial Latin America, to understand the dynamics and relations between the peripheral and central areas of colonial society, underlying the ways in which colonialized subjects navigated the colonial domain with forms of social organization and cultural and religious practices. The book analyzes indigenous and black confraternal cultural practices as forms of negotiation and resistance shaped by local devotional identities that also transgressed imperial religious and racial hierarchies. The analysis of these practices explores the intersections between ethnic identity and ritual devotion, as well as how the establishm...
Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures
Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nes... more Historical ‘island encyclopaedias’ (isolarii, islarios, ‘de insulis’) and their predecessors (Nesiotikà, peripli) were predominately written by authors of the Mediterranean region from the 7th century BCE to the 17th century CE. In this article, we first present an overview of these sources geared towards an Island Studies readership and next consider two main questions: First, how was knowledge about islands produced in the past? And second, can these historical sources motivate new questions for future research? The Balearic Islands have been selected to investigate these questions due to their long history of settlements and trade networks, which prompted their inclusion in many encyclopaedias. In addition, local archaeological and historical sources permit a comparison of emic and etic perspectives. Topics of analysis include descriptions of geography, cultural customs and resource use (including oil, wine, animals, salt, and freshwater), each selected with a view to future comp...
Indigenous and Black Confraternities in Colonial Latin America, 2022
Indigenous and Black Confraternities in Colonial Latin America, 2022
Since antiquity, knowledge has often been juxtaposed with opinion. Whereas opinion commonly refer... more Since antiquity, knowledge has often been juxtaposed with opinion. Whereas opinion commonly refers to subjective perceptions and viewpoints, knowledge is typically intended to represent objective and verifiable propositions. On this view, knowledge per se claims a universal dimension in that it pretends to be approvable through the reason of everyone, everywhere. This universal aspect of the concept of knowledge stands in marked contrast to cultures of local knowledge, where the generation of knowledge is dependent on specific times and places. These divergent aspects came into conflict when Indigenous knowledge was contested by Europeans and likewise, Indigenous challenges to European knowledge occurred. Based on religious, linguistic, demographic, and cultural disparities, knowledge operative in one context was adapted, manipulated, reframed, or dismissed as spurious or heretical in another framework. This book focuses on historical examples of Indigenous knowledge from 1492 until circa 1800, with contributions from the fields of history, art history, geography, anthropology, and archaeology. Among the wide range of sources employed are Indigenous letters, last wills, missionary sermons, bilingual catechisms, archive inventories, natural histories, census records, maps, herbal catalogues of remedies, pottery, and stone carvings. These sources originate from Brazil, the Río de la Plata basin (parts of current-day Argentina, lowland Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay), the Andean region, New Spain (current-day Mexico), the Canary Islands, and Europe. The 14 chapters in this book are clustered into five main sections: (1) Medical Knowledge; (2) Languages, Texts, and Terminology; (3) Cartography and Geographical Knowledge; (4) Material and Visual Culture; and (5) Missionary Perceptions.
Colonial Latin American Review, 2020
In a 1772 newspaper article, José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez (1737–1799) defended the medicinal ben... more In a 1772 newspaper article, José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez (1737–1799) defended the medicinal benefits of cannabis against the prohibition of the Inquisition. Alzate concluded that the indigenous herb pipiltzintzintlis was ‘nothing else but cannabis.’ As Spanish physician Juan de Cárdenas contended almost two centuries earlier, Alzate argued for a disassociation of the plant’s narcotic or hallucinogenic properties and effects from its potential demonic influence. In the following pages, I investigate the Church’s prohibition of the herb pipiltzintzintlis. I analyze Alzate’s evidence in support of medicinal cannabis use, ranging from firsthand experience to second-hand accounts to medical encyclopedias, thereby exposing the range of eighteenth-century sources supporting medicinal marijuana use. I end with conclusions on the epistemic value bestowed on different sources of scientific evidence in eighteenth-century Mexico and on the role that censorship played in the circulation of scientific knowledge.
During both the Punic-Roman and the Spanish period, settlement locations, knowledge of weather, r... more During both the Punic-Roman and the Spanish period, settlement locations, knowledge of weather, religious traditions and sanctuaries evolved from islanders’ dependence on carefully collecting and preserving water from fog, rain, and springs.
If the ferry cannot run due to inclement weather, alternatives will be provided.