Inter-American Notes

Jay T. Harrison, Catholic University of America: “The Formation and Pastoral Thought of Franciscan Missionaries to Texas from the Propaganda Fide Colleges of New Spain, 1690–1821” (Advisor: James D. Riley)

Erika R. Hosselkus, Tulane University: “Faith and Final Acts: Franciscans, Nahuas, and Death in Colonial Puebla and Tlaxcala” (Advisor: Susan Schroeder)

International Conferences

Perspectives on Paraguayan History

Between 16–18 April, 2008 the Universidad de Montevideo hosted the first of what promises to be a regular series of international conferences focusing on “Nuevas Perspectivas sobre la Historia Paraguaya.” This year’s presentations mostly dealt with the historical, literary, and cinematographic interpretations of the 1864–70 Triple Alliance War. Thomas Whigham (University of Georgia) opened with a paper that described how the war served as a catalyst in spurring a popular Guaraní-based nationalism in Paraguay. Juan Manuel Casal (Universidad de Montevideo) then examined the role played by Uruguay during the fighting, stressing how the Oriental contribution to the war effort should be understood in terms of ongoing friction between the Blanco and Colorado Parties in the Banda Oriental. Jerry W. Cooney (emeritus, University of Louisville) provided an analysis of U.S.-Paraguayan diplomacy during the 1800s that showed how personal foibles shaped, and often twisted, what ought to have been correct relations into something rather more frustrating for both sides. In her presentation, Liliana Brezzo (CONICET, Argentina) discussed the development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of a specifically Paraguayan historiography on the war, with a classic Liberal school (established by Cecilio Báez), that sought to blame the war on the policies of Marshal Francisco Solano López, squaring off against a “revindicacionista” school (associated with Manuel Dominguez and Juan E. O’Leary) that sought to defend those policies. Alicia Fernández and Alberto de Pino Menck (Biblioteca Nacional, Montevideo) offered a power-point presentation on recent investigations into the photography of the Paraguayan War. This was followed by Jennifer French (Williams College), who analyzed the contradictory textualization of the conflict as developed in one twentieth-century Paraguayan novel, Teresa Lamas’s Tradiciones del hogar. Filmmaker Denis Wright (Rio de Janeiro) screened his still-unfinished documentary film Guerra do Paraguai. A Guerra Esquecida (currently undergoing final revision). This was followed by a panel discussion in which all participants had the opportunity to discuss other relevant aspects and interpretations of Paraguayan history; topics formally covered in the panel included the war writings of Juan Bautista Alberdi, the publication of a Spanish translation of the articles of the late Paraguayanist Harris Gaylord Warren, the impact of the war on the Paraguayan yerba mate trade, the recent decision of Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to rename an Argentine army battalion in honor of Francisco Solano López, and, in a particularly well-received presentation by Bridget Chesterton (Buffalo State University), the development of a non-elite nationalist discourse in Paraguay during the 1932–35 Chaco War. The Universidad de Montevideo plans to publish the various conference presentations as part of a special number of its Humanidades magazine or as a separate book. Work has already started on a second conference on Paraguayan history to be held in Montevideo in 2010.