CFP: Latin American Indigenous Print Cultures Workshop: Call for papers 31st January 2023
CFP: Latin American Indigenous Print Cultures Workshop
Friday August 25th 2023
Centre for Amerindian, Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CAS)
University of St Andrews
Organisers: Patrick O’Hare (University of St Andrews)
Natalia Buitron (University of Cambridge)
In recent years, there have been a growing number of academic publications exploring alternative forms of publishing and book-making in Latin America, including cartonera/cardboard publishing (Bell, Flynn and O’Hare 2022), autonomous publishing (Rabasa 2019) and public reading (Schwartz 2018). One aspect of this wider ecosystem that has only marginally been attended to, however, is that of indigenous publishing and its intersections with alternative print forms. Despite or perhaps in tandem with digital technologies, the demand for material forms of indigenous print culture has grown, fuelled in part by the increase in intercultural education initiatives (Hugh-Jones 1997, 2010, 2019; Buitron & Deshoulliere 2019).
This workshop seeks contributions that address different aspects of indigenous book and print cultures, including the following questions:
What interplay between oral and written modalities occurs through the writing and publishing of indigenous texts?
- How does self-publishing in indigenous communities contribute to and transform ideas of autonomy?
- What types and genres of texts are given preference in indigenous publishing by their authors and allies (political manifestos, cultural myths, contemporary poetry, autobiographical writing, etc.)?
- To what extent do these different genres respond to sociocultural differences and/or divergent positionalities (gender, class, urban/rural divides, individual experience?)
- What are the imagined and real publics for indigenous texts and how does this affect the choice of publication language, format (book/pamphlet/institutional document), and model (self/institutionally published)?
- How do contemporary indigenous texts and book objects dialogue with the use of pictographic forms such as murals?
In order to submit a paper proposal, please send a 250 word abstract to [email protected] that includes a title and the name, affiliation and short bio of the presenter. Proposals from institutionally affiliated and non-affiliated indigenous writers and publishers are particularly welcome. Deadline: 31st January 2023.
The workshop will be hybrid in nature, with accommodation provided and a small subsidy for transport possibly available for successful in-person presenters without institutional funding. The workshop will also feature a presentation and display of khipus that are held at the University of St Andrews in the collection of Prof Sabine Hyland, as way of dialoguing with other forms of indigenous ‘writing’.