UB professor Jorge Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra's work in re-examining historical thinking on 18th-century Hispanic culture has earned national accolades, as well as a chance to present a voice long diminished by cultural bias and popular misconceptions.
Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra's book, How to Write the History of the New World, was named one of the year's best books by the Times Literary Supplement, London's The Independent and the Economist, and earned numerous American Historical Association awards and the John E. Fagg Award for Spanish Latin-American literature.
The book examines the cultural forces in Northern Europe, the source of much of that period's history texts, that caused 18th-century scholars to diminish the validity of both Spanish and Latin-American primary sources. It also provides new insights into colonial history and popular misconceptions, some of which exist in slightly altered form today, according to Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra.
"The Hispanic aspect of the 'enlightenment' period has been overlooked many times, which has to do with a variety of biases and stereotypes," said the UB history professor. The prevailing "black legend" of 18th-century Spain as a rampant colonial force and bloody Inquistion instigator is addressed by Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra, who conducted research in five countries for 10 years to find important alternative archives for his book.
Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra was raised in Mexico and Colombia, graduating from medical school in Ecuador before arriving in the United States for post-graduate studies. His knowledge of Latin-American history, together with a fascination with colonialism, sparked his interest in researching his homeland's history from a different perspective, hopefully "bringing density and complexity to the people of these lands" for students and other readers.
"Many times, [Latin-American] culture is portrayed in the media as being nothing worth exploring beyond entertainment and exotic books," said Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra. "It's a far more complex society than most would believe . we have other things to do besides dance."
Many of the revolutionary Englightenment-era ideas on historical study attributed to Germany's scholars have their roots in Spanish studies that utilized many non-literary sources, such as Meso-American tracts and early colonial travel accounts, according to Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra.
Ca?+/-izares-Esquerra currently teaches both introductory and advanced courses in history and is an assistant professor at UB. His teachings emphasize a broad look at the racial, social and cultural aspects of Latin-American history.
"I value interdisciplinary approaches and avoid flattened narratives that present Latin America as a continent to itself," he said.
