University of Iowa Professor Adriana Méndez Rodenas presented at an international conference at the University of London’s Institute of Latin American Studies on May 22. The conference, Nature and Knowledge in Latin America: New Historical Perspectives, was a one-day workshop that brought together different historical perspectives on the study of nature in Latin America from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It approached the topic of historical understandings of landscapes, environment, natural resources, flora and fauna from different interdisciplinary perspectives.
Professor Méndez Rodenas presented: “Re-enacting the Voyages of ‘Discovery’: Science, Nature, and the Politics of Sea-Faring.” This paper studies the account of a long sea voyage undertaken in 1987-88 by Cuban geographer Antonio Núñez Jiménez, along with an international crew of scientists, from the Orinoco to the Caribbean. Rowing on wooden canoes, the expedition retraced the Arawaks’ early migratory routes, and countered as well the colonialist aims of Columbus’ landfall in 1492. The account of this expedition, En canoa del Amazonas al Caribe (2008), recasts the voyages of 18th century scientific explorers. These re-enactments of previous journeys highlight the importance of sea-faring for a Caribbean historical imagination, contributing to a Latin American ecological consciousness.
Méndez Rodenas is a professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, part of the Division of World Languages, Literatures & Cultures in the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She joined the UI faculty in 1985, and specializes in nineteenth and twentieth century Latin American literature. Her trip to the University of London this summer was funded by the International Programs Faculty Travel award.