Speaker: Dr Joanna Page, 海角社区
Title: Expeditions through Time along the R铆o Paran谩: Decolonial Perspectives on Environmental Change
Date: Wednesday, 13th October
Time: 5pm
Venue: Zoom
Abstract:
Expeditions through Time along the R铆o Paran谩: Decolonial Perspectives on Environmental Change
The German explorer Ulrich Schmidl travelled with Pedro de Mendoza to conquer the R铆o de la Plata region for the Spanish crown. The route he took along the rivers Paran谩 and Paraguay in 1536-37 was to become the favoured point of entry for Europeans exploring the interior of the South American continent. Inspired by Schmidl鈥檚 account, around sixty artists, scientists and other researchers from Argentina, Paraguay and Spain set out in 2010 to retrace his journey from Buenos Aires to Asunci贸n. The texts and images they produced reflect on the multiple temporalities convened by a river that has been thoroughly transformed by colonialism and capitalist development, not least as the result of an ongoing mega-engineering project, the Hidrov铆a Paraguay-Paran谩-R铆o de La Plata. In my discussion of the Paran谩 Ra鈥檃nga expedition and its afterlives, I will explore how decolonial perspectives on environmental change may unfold in an attentiveness to temporalities that are often erased in the dominant (linear, reversible, and future-oriented) time of the Anthropocene.
