Conference: Rethinking Paraguayan History

From June 11 through June 15, 2012, the Universidad de Montevideo hosted the Terceras Jornadas Internacionales de Historia del Paraguay. This year's conference, which mirrored the success of the previous meetings on Paraguayan history held in Montevideo in 2008 and 2010, included over 40 participants who came to the capital from the United States, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina to join their Uruguayan hosts. The conference was attended by over 100 observers, including some 50 history students from the Universidad Católica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción and the Universidad Nacional de Asunción. The conference saw the participation of many first-time participants, including Julia Sarreal of Arizona State University, who spoke on cacique leadership in the missions of Santa Ana y Corpus Christi; Carla Giaudrone (Rutgers University), who gave a timely piece on the portrayal of Indians during the centennial celebrations of 1911; Peter Lambert (University of Bath), who discussed nationalism and political violence in twentieth- century Paraguay; and Javier Uriarte of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who offered a unique perspective on the work of Augusto Roa Bastos. Las Jornadas also benefited from the participation of Ignacio Telesca of CONICET/Universitaet zu Köln, who discussed recent historiographical interpretations of the Jesuit missions, and Francisco Doratioto of the Universidade de Brasilia, who explained how visiting Brazilian diplomats helped dictator Alfredo Stroessner consolidate power. Other participants included the founding members of Las Jornadas: Thomas Whigham (University of Georgia), who gave a paper concerning the use of observation balloons during the War of the Triple Alliance; Bridget Chesterton (Buffalo State College), who offered new insight into Paraguayan environmental history in the early twentieth century; Liliana Brezzo (CONICET/Universidad Católica de Rosario), who examined Juan E. O'Leary's contributions to Paraguayan intellectual history; and Juan Manuel Casal (Universidad de Montevideo), who traced Uruguayan perceptions of Paraguayan politics during the mid-twentieth century. The various talks are due to be published next year by Editorial Tiempo de Historia in Asunción. Organizers are already making plans for a fourth conference in 2014, also to be held in Montevideo.