2022–23 Core Program

2022–23

The Forgotten Canopy: Ecology, Ephemeral Architecture, and Imperialism in the Caribbean, South American, and Transatlantic Worlds

–organized by Stella Nair (UCLA) and Paul Niell (Florida State University)

Co-sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Decorative image of View of a hut, and a dance of the Yuracares Indians, Bolivia. (Yuracare (also called Yurujare, Yurucare) are South American indigenous people living on 2,500 square kilometres along the Chapare River watershed in Cochabamba Department and Beni Department, in the Bolivian Lowlands of the Amazon Basin) [Vue d'une hutte, et danse des Indiens Yuracares. (Bolivia.)] From the book 'Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale' [Journey to South America: (Brazil, the eastern republic of Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, Patagonia, the republic of Chile, the republic of Bolivia, the republic of Peru)
View of a hut, and a dance of the Yuracares Indians, Bolivia. (Yuracare (also called Yurujare, Yurucare) are South American indigenous people living on 2,500 square kilometres along the Chapare River watershed in Cochabamba Department and Beni Department, in the Bolivian Lowlands of the Amazon Basin) [Vue d’une hutte, et danse des Indiens Yuracares. (Bolivia.)] From the book ‘Voyage dans l’Amerique Meridionale’ [Journey to South America: (Brazil, the eastern republic of Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, Patagonia, the republic of Chile, the republic of Bolivia, the republic of Peru)
The core conference program to be held by the Center for 17th– & 18th-Century Studies at UCLA’s Clark Library (2022–2023) will convene scholars around the topics of “Ecology,” “Ephemeral Architecture,” and “Imperialism” in the early modern (16th–19th-century) world. The circum-Caribbean is our starting point, specifically we use this term to refer to the deep connections between the peoples and places of the Caribbean and South America, along with parts of North America. Due to national politics, language barriers, and scholarly divisions that have their roots in the European colonization of the Americas, the long and complex history of exchange among these regions and peoples have been greatly understudied. In truth, this history of entanglement across water and land stretches back millennia, resulting in a rich and diverse built environment that is deeply tied to ecological change. This dynamic did not end with the invasion of 1492, but rather continued to expand and accelerate when people, plants, and empires came from across the Atlantic. Using ephemeral architecture, in particular the complex and exquisite creation of thatch roofs as the leading thread in these tapestries of exchange, this series of conferences highlight the profound ways in which environmental practices, botanical knowledge, technological development, architectural innovation, and creative expression were deeply tied across these distinct regions and peoples, and shaped by imperial actions. This conference series brings an unusually diverse number of disciplines together in order to unpack these complex dynamics, which challenge how we understand the built environment, the early modern Atlantic World, and the intersections between the local and the global.

The Forgotten Canopy: Ecology, Ephemeral Architecture, and Imperialism in the Caribbean, South American, and Transatlantic Worlds

Conference 1: Ecology
November 4–5, 2022

Ephemeral architecture has been long overlooked by scholars, with few exceptions, because of its relatively short life span, the lack of extant structures, and most importantly, the need to understand its complex ecological context.  Our first conference, “Ecologies” (November 4–5, 2022), seeks to address this lacuna by exploring the complex and dynamic ecologies from which ephemeral architecture arises in the Indigenous Caribbean and South America worlds, and their transformation with the arrival of Africans and Europeans (with their flora, fauna and technologies). Scholars from a diversity of disciplines and countries are brought together to explore and challenge a variety of perspectives and theoretical approaches to local and cross regional ecologies and histories, from unique plants and cultural knowledge, to complex ecosystems and critical human interventions. In the case of thatched roofs, which often drew upon short-lived grasses and had to be remade regularly, even slight ecological changes would have had profound impacts. It is precisely the material condition of this ephemeral architecture that ties its existence to even subtle changes in local ecologies, while also revealing overlooked histories and silenced voices of the early modern world.

Conference 2: Ephemeral Architecture
February 10–11, 2023

Having explored the dynamic conditions, complexities, and perspectives of ecology in the first gathering, the second conference “Ephemeral Architectures” (Feb. 10–11, 2023) will bring into focus the ways in which distinct peoples, regions, and states used their local ecology to design, shape, and transform their built environments–often in the face of threats from imperial states. By shining a critical light on the fascinating but fleeting (and often overlooked) ephemeral architecture, in particular, thatch roofs, we will begin to see how ecologies and architectures became deeply entangled, such as in the form of technological, cultural, and environmental knowledge as well as artistic innovation. Scholars from multiple disciplines along with builders will come together to share and discuss a strikingly diverse and dynamic corpus from across the Americas and West Africa. These scholars will explore these “forgotten canopies” in all their material complexities, including the larger structures (built of out of wood, adobe, wattle and daub, brick, and stone), spaces (single, multi-room, rectangular, round, etc.), functions (political, religious, and domestic) and environments (tropical island, dry deserts, highland mountain, etc., as well as urban and rural landscapes) of which they were a part.

Conference 3: Imperialism
April 14–15, 2023

Critical consideration of the interrelationships between ecologies and ephemeral architectures sets the stage for the theme of the third conference “Imperialism” (April 14-15, 2023) which will address the imperial transformations of the Caribbean and South America and their impact on and entanglement with the larger early modern Atlantic world. Participating scholars in this conference will use studies of ephemeral architecture, especially thatched roofs, to focus attention on processes of imperialism and landscape transformation relating to Indigenous and Black Americans.  In particular, this conference will highlight the complex ways in which Imperial authorities impacted, transformed, and were transformed by, long standing ecological practices and ephemeral architectural knowledge. In doing so, the conference underscores the vital role of ephemeral architecture, such as thatched roofs, in telling histories, even that of global empires, and thus is a reminder of the critical need for the study and preservation of this “Forgotten Canopy.”