[ISHMap-List] Terrae Incognitae - CALL FOR PAPERS

[Thomas Sander]

Dear readers of postings to the International Society for the History of the
Map,

 

Terrae Incognitae
<http://www.sochistdisc.org/terrae_incognitae/terrae-incognitae.htm>  is the
journal of the Society for the History of Discoveries
<http://www.sochistdisc.org/index.htm> .  

CALL FOR PAPERS: 

EXCHANGES ABOUT DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION.

Terrae Incognitae 47.2 (2015), 48.1/2 (2016), and 49.1/2 (2017)

 

Columbus’s contemporary, Oviedo, credited the man for being the “first
discoverer” of the Americas; Columbus had “found” “new” lands, cities and
peoples (Historia general de las Indias [Seville: Cromberger, 1535], fol.
1v). Las Casas later linked this attribution to his own criticism that
Columbus “had made taxpayers of the Indians there.” (Brevíssima relación
[Seville: Trugillo, 1552], fol. 192r) The verbs associated with Columbus’s
conduct evolved away from ones that either celebrated or affirmed Spanish
possession of the New World to include ones like destroyed, devastated,
exterminated and ruined in the subsequent tomes authored by William
Robertson, Abbé Raynal, and Washington Irving. By the twentieth century,
important works by Tzvetan Todorov and José Rabasa—to name just two of deep
field of scholars—prefer “invention” rather than “discovery,” “the other”
rather than “the savage,” and so on. As this example demonstrates scholars
writing in any period reconsider past historical events according to the
paradigms of the age; the approach to and conclusions drawn from research
into the history of discovery and exploration vary remarkably depending upon
the timeframe and the socio-cultural perspective in which that scholarship
is conducted.

 

Is contemporary scholarship moving away from an establishment of the facts
concerning the European exploration of the world—how they traveled, where
and when, and what they encountered—and toward an interest in the variety of
narratives and perspectives afforded by an entire world that at one point or
another discovered other parts of itself? How do we navigate the realities
and dystopias, ethnocentricities and lack of understandings, inherent to the
act of discovery conducted by men such as Columbus whose narratives and the
history books they have engendered we rely upon for our own research? Do we
answer these specific challenges by identifying and asserting new voices as
well as counter-perspectives? What new consciousness might we possess today
that requires us to revisit past scholarship so that we can reap new
knowledge from these historical contexts? And, finally, what is the state of
our discipline today; how and why does it remain relevant?

 

Essays and position papers are invited for a special series devoted to
reflecting upon the scholarship of discovery and exploration. Early- and
late-career scholars, graduate students, collectors as well as members of
our association are encouraged to prepare article-length contributions
(4000-6000 words) that will be peer reviewed about the state of our
discipline. Specific topics might also include examples of new directions,
epistemological and theoretical approaches, and trends in scholarship.
Proposals for innovative ways of answering this Call for Papers are also
welcome.


Please send inquiries, proposals, or completed manuscripts to the editor,
Lauren Beck (  <mailto:lbeck at mta.ca> lbeck at mta.ca ); submissions will be
considered on a rolling basis for inclusion in the next five issues of
Terrae Incognitae.

 

Posted by:

Thomas Sander

SHD Web Content Manager

 

Please excuse cross postings.

 

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