[1] The Material Text in Latin America
From: Jeanne-Marie Musto, musto.jeannemariegmail.com
Date: July 17, 2024

This session, sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America, is to explore textual artifacts that have originated or been adapted for use in one or more Latin American cultures. The interplay between cultures, including relationships between different Latin American cultures or between Latin American and other cultures, will be a particular focus. Papers that address any period up to 1914 will be prioritized. A variety of media will be considered, including painted pottery, carved stucco, coins and other metalwork, engraved stone, and manuscripts or printed materials. Examples include the use and reuse of items bearing Indigenous or European script; the reinterpretation of imagery from elsewhere to illustrate Latin American texts; the early European historiography of indigenous Latin American ideographs and pictographs. While attending to the specificity of local traditions, the session will consider the significance of these textual artifacts in intercultural and historiographic perspective. The geographical definition of “Latin America” is open.

Submission:
Please send proposals (title and 250-word maximum abstract) and your CV to:
Jeanne-Marie Musto (Bibliographical Society of America liaison to the College Art Association): musto.jeannemariegmail.com.

If you are a current CAA member, please include your CAA member number with your proposal.

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[2] Revivalism, Labor, and Discourses on Craft in Indigenous Arts of Southwest Asia and North Africa: Then and Now

From: Lacy Murphy, acy.murphywustl.edu
Date: July 19, 2024

Beginning in the early twentieth century, British and French colonial administrations across Southwest Asia (Middle East) and North Africa embarked on campaigns to “revive” local decorative arts and craft traditions. These campaigns were a response to the increasing anxiety that indigenous handicraft traditions were in a state of decline. While often framed as a form of paternalistic care and protectionism, the regulation of local arts and crafts enabled the integration of artisanal production into western commercial markets. Building on a rich body of secondary scholarship concerning the modernization and regulation of textile, ceramic, carpet-making, and woodworking production regionally, this panel explores colonial discourses of craft through the offices, schools, workshops, societies, and supporting bodies that were established to oversee the documentation, preservation, and revival of local artistic traditions, then and now. Inasmuch as this panel examines how paternalism masked the economic exploitation at the heart of these projects, the panel also mines the historical record and reportage that asserts autochthonous peoples' voices and labor. How did colonial art infrastructures radically change, challenge, or undermine local artistry and craftsmanship? What were the long-term effects of colonial artistic interventions and what are the legacies of those incursions today? How did/do artists and artisans resist the restrictive frameworks placed upon them? How can we understand artists and artisans as engaging with a decolonial or anticolonial politics, broadly?

Before submitting to a session by clicking its button on this page or on the session page:
- Have a CAA account. Membership not required at this step, if you aren't a member right now create an account at this link, skip the payment/joining step.
- Prepare your Presentation title and Abstract (250 word limit) and a shortened CV (close to 2 pages).
- (Optional) Images or Documentation of work; limit to five images that support your proposal.

The submission portal opens July 22, 2024.
To submit visit: https://caa.confex.com/caa/2025/webprogrampreliminary/meeting.html
Chairs will notify submitters directly of their decision by September 16, 2024