This WP focuses on cultural dissent in the context of the two Iberian monarchies and their colonial spheres. It focuses on people from popular and segregated backgrounds in Iberian societies and the ways they understood, represented and expressed their opposition against the established order. It will also examine the discourse produced by the dominant groups about insurgents and their disputes. Research within this WP will therefore explore each of these two “sources” of discursive practice, as well as the interplay between them. Our aim is to contribute to a cultural and intellectual history of resistance and the place of cultural dissent in the erosion of social structures. Additionally, this WP intends to provide an understanding of how these discursive practices shaped present-day perceptions and the conventional wisdom about resistance in the past.

This WP is based on three assumptions:

1. Resistance could be expressed through different means, some types of which were known to the dominant and the dominated alike, while other means were known only to the dominated, and therefore needed cultural translation;

2. Conflicting discourses about society coexisted in the same time and space;

3. Discursive expressions of resistance persisted in time, depending on power relations, communication constraints, and archive practices.

Through the careful and creative research of sources, the main goal of WP3 is to identify the different means used by the dominated to express their discontentment with social and political order. In order to achieve this goal it is essential: firstly, to trace the networking, information flow and control systems that operated in early-modern Iberia; secondly, to study in depth the narratives of resistance by people from lower groups, and also other discursive expressions of resistance, expressed through other available means of communication. These could include the resources available in the language of the dominant, like books, pamphlets, petitions, paintings, engravings, and ephemeral sculptures, as well as their encyclopedia of topoi. They could also include local means of communication, such as voodoo, ritual dances, the worship of local gods, and so forth. By engaging with this type of inquiry, WP3 will be able to expand the observation of living experiences of resistance, how they related to each other and to what extent these narratives defied the discourses of the dominant. Through a micro-politics of resistance discourses, research will also gauge the empowerment effect of such practices in the longue-durée. What power relations existed between the various resistance discourses? Did these discourses enable the creation of new postures, new subjectivities, new ideologies? Were marginalized voices able to challenge dominant discourses? Did the knowledge produced by low-status groups influence the norms and institutions of the dominant? This WP will also focus on the discourse of the dominant and its effects, such as the silencing of some voices and the dismissal of non-dominant discourses, aiming at investigating how these discursive practices were co-opted by dominant and dominated discourses, fueling further cultural battles. By focusing on a set of multiethnic societies, this survey will make it possible to assess the role of race, religion, gender components, culture, and condition, in the way dissension and resistance were understood and expressed.

Work Package Leaders

Ana María Sixto Barcia

António Correia e Silva

Joana Ribeirete Fraga

Susana Aguirre