University Seminar in the History and Philosophy of Science: Mackenzie Cooley (Hamilton College)

The rapid transformation of nature in the early modern Spanish empire worried observers. As now-extinct zebros disappeared from the plains of Iberia, colonists in New Spain warned European readers about the haunting cry of the tlacuatzin, an unsightly animal that played dead, carried her babies on her back, and whose tail held medical powers. This talk uses new methods of juxtapositional reading of the Relaciones geográficas and topográficas (surveys of the Americas and Iberia, respectively) to reveal early modern environments that underwent a patchwork transformation, rendering some areas of both eerily uniform whilst nearby natures remained incomparable.

Pre-registration is required. scr2165@columbia.edu