Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra
Professor — Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Professor; Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History

Contact
- E-mail: canizares-esguerra@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-475-7694
- Office: GAR 2.108
- Office Hours: Spring 2019: Mon and Wed 10:00am-12:00pm, and by appointment.
- Campus Mail Code: B7000
Biography
I am currently completing two books. Categories as Prisons (University Pennsylvania Press) explores how historiographical categories organize what questions about the past are permissible and therefore how archives and narratives are organized. The book explores how such categories as the Scientific Revolution, the Reformation, the Baroque, and the Enlightenment have rendered invisible entire chapters of the colonial history of the Americas. Coauthored with Adrian Masters, The Radical Spanish Empire (Harvard University Press), on the other hand, maintains that sixteenth-century Spanish America witnessed massive popular participation in the creation of new laws and radical forms of antislavery and abolitionism. The region also witnessed the creation of vast archives of new social and natural knowledge and the rise of systematic skepticism and philosophical pragmatism in governance. The book challenges the Anglo-American liberal notion that parliamentary democracy, humanitarianism, print culture, and the public sphere were the crucibles of modernity
The core of my intellectual project has been to demonstrate the deep formative role of "Latin America” to the colonial history of the USA and to the history of "Western" modernity as a whole, not just slavery, globalization, and capitalism but also science, abolitionism, and democracy. This for me is a central issue of our times, particularly since I consider that Trump’s wall has been made with bricks baked in the ovens of historiography.
I consider that historiographical categories such as the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the Atlantic Age of Revolutions not only illuminate but silence large areas of the human experience. The category of the Enlightenment, for example, assumes that modernity emerged out the "Republic of Letters" and a "public sphere" that readers and writers conducted vicariously in cafes through newspapers and print culture. Working in tandem, this set of categories have blocked our understanding of forms of radical modernity in Spanish America in which knowledge was generated through petitions in manuscript and often in secret, not as the result of horizontal conversations but vertical ones. Entire libraries of new anthropological, physical, geographical, mineralogical, and botanical knowledge that changed the world emerged this way. In numerous books and papers, I have explored how a host of historiographical categories have rendered invisible the intellectual communities of the global south.
I am the author of How to Write the History of the New World (Stanford 2001--translated into Spanish and Portuguese); Puritan Conquistadors (Stanford 2006; translated into Spanish); Nature, Empire, and Nation (Stanford 2007). I have edited or coedited the following books: Entangled Empires : Anglo-Iberian Atlantic Worlds 1500-1830; The Atlantic in Global History, 1500-2000, 2nd edition (with Erik Seeman); The Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade (with Jim Sidbury and Matt Childs); Princeton Handbook of Atlantic History (with Joseph C. Miller, general editor, Vincent Brown, Laurent Dubois & Karen Ordhal Kupperman, associate editors);As Américas na Primeira Modernidade (1492 - 1750) (with Luiz Estevam de O. Fernandes e Maria Cristina Bohn Martins);Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Asia and the Americas (with Robert Maryks and Ronnie Po-chia Hsia).
Courses
HIS 383M • Atlantic History-Wb
39585 • Spring 2021
Meets T 12:30PM-3:30PM
Internet; Synchronous
(also listed as LAS 386)
LAS 310 • Lat Ame Civ: Colonial Exp-Wb
39895 • Spring 2021
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM
Internet; Synchronous
GC
LAS 366 • Colnl Lat Am Thru Objs-Wb
38735 • Fall 2020
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM
Internet; Synchronous
GC
LAS 366 • Urban Slavery In Amers-Wb
38750 • Fall 2020
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM
Internet; Synchronous
CDIIWr
HIS 346J • Colonial Lat Amer Thru Objs
38700 • Spring 2020
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM GAR 1.126
GC
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 383M • New Approaches: Atlntc Wrlds
38925 • Spring 2020
Meets T 12:30PM-3:30PM GAR 1.122
HIS 383M • New Approaches: Atlntc Wrlds
39185 • Spring 2019
Meets M 12:00PM-3:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as LAS 386)
LAS 310 • Latin Amer Civ: Colonial Exp
39525 • Spring 2019
Meets MW 8:30AM-10:00AM GAR 2.112
GC
HIS 350L • Urban Slavery In The Americas
39192 • Fall 2018
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM PAR 208
CDIIWr
(also listed as AFR 374E, AMS 370, LAS 366)
HIS 394H • Intro To Historical Inquiry
39475 • Fall 2018
Meets M 9:00AM-12:00PM GAR 4.100
HIS 310K • Latin Amer Civ: Colonial Exp
38810 • Spring 2018
Meets MW 4:00PM-5:30PM GAR 2.112
GC
(also listed as LAS 310)
HIS 383M • New Approaches: Atlntc Wrlds
39300 • Spring 2018
Meets W 9:00AM-12:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as R S 392T)
HIS 346J • Colonial Lat Amer Thru Objs
39515 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 0.132
GC
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 350L • Urban Slavery In The Americas
39550 • Fall 2017
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 0.120
CDIIWr
(also listed as AFR 374E, AMS 370, LAS 366)
HIS 310K • Latin Amer Civ: Colonial Exp
39214 • Spring 2017
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM GAR 1.126
GC
(also listed as LAS 310)
HIS 383M • Atlantic History
39720 • Spring 2017
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as LAS 386)
HIS 346J • Colonial Lat Amer Thru Objs
39275 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GAR 0.132
GC
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 350L • Atlntc Slavery In The Amers
39300 • Fall 2016
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 0.132
IIWr
HIS 350L • Urban Slavery In The Americas
39850 • Fall 2013
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.122
IIWr
HIS 383M • Religion In The Atlantic World
40145 • Fall 2013
Meets M 2:00PM-5:00PM UTC 4.120
(also listed as LAS 386, R S 392T)
HIS 363K • Bible In Colonial Americas
39685 • Spring 2013
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM GAR 1.126
GC
(also listed as CTI 375, LAS 366, R S 366)
HIS 383M • Atlantic History
39705 • Fall 2012
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as LAS 386, R S 392T)
HIS 363K • The Bible In Colonial Americas
39505 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM GAR 1.126
GC
(also listed as CTI 375, R S 366)
HIS 383M • The Bible: Early Mod Atlantic
39655 • Fall 2011
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM GAR 1.122
(also listed as R S 392T)
HIS 363K • The Bible In Colonial Americas
39869 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM UTC 1.104
(also listed as R S 366)
HIS 363K • Colonial Lat Amer Thru Objects
39870 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM UTC 3.110
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 363K • Colonial Lat Amer Thru Objects
39800 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM UTC 3.102
(also listed as LAS 366)
T C 357 • Hist Of Early Mod Atlantic-W
43580 • Spring 2010
Meets T 2:00PM-5:00PM CRD 007A
C2
HIS 363K • Colonl Lat Amer Thru Objects-W
40166 • Fall 2009
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM MEZ 1.204
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 383M • The Atlantic In Global History
40292 • Fall 2009
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM CAL 22
HIS 383M • The Atlantic In Global History
40595 • Fall 2008
Meets M 5:00PM-8:00PM GAR 1.122
HIS 363K • Colonl Lat Amer Thru Objects-W
40315 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM GAR 0.132
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 383M • Intro To Atlantic History
40480 • Spring 2008
Meets M 2:00PM-5:00PM GAR 1.122
HIS 383M • Colonl Lat Amer Thru Objects
41203 • Fall 2007
Meets M 5:00PM-8:00PM BUR 554
HIS 363K • Colonl Lat Amer Thru Objects-W
39805 • Spring 2007
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 303
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 383M • Apoc/Milln/Colnz In Atl World
39965 • Spring 2007
Meets T 6:00PM-9:00PM WEL 3.260
(also listed as R S 383)
HIS 363K • Demonology And Colonization-W
40740 • Fall 2006
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM ESB 133
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
LAS 366 • Apocl/Milln/Colnz Atl World-W
41290 • Fall 2006
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM MEZ 1.122
C2
(also listed as R S 368)
HIS 363K • Colonl Lat Amer Thru Objects-W
38980 • Spring 2006
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 303
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
HIS 386L • Hist Of Book Col Spn/Brit Amer
39155 • Spring 2006
Meets TH 4:30PM-7:30PM BEN 1.106
HIS 363K • Intel Hist Atlantic Worlds-W
38755 • Fall 2005
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM GAR 7
C2
(also listed as LAS 366)
LAS 366 • Hist Of Book Early-Mod Colnl-W
39345 • Fall 2005
Meets M 6:00PM-9:00PM MEZ 1.122
C2
Publications
Online
Published in Not Even Past on February 4, 2014
Published in Apuntes, a Latino Journal on September 11, 2013
Published in Not Even Past on March 31, 2013
Los 500 años de Florida y el New York Times
Published in ABC España on April 6, 2013.
Published in 15-Minute History on February 3, 2013.
Published in The Appendix on Januay 23, 2013.
A Nineteenth Century Digital Humanities?
Published in The Appendix on December 10, 2012.
Re-Reading John Winthrop's "City Upon the Hill"
Published in Not Even Past on September 12, 2011.
Published in Not Even Past on May 1, 2011.
Bible and Empire: The Old Testament in the Spanish Monarchy, from Columbus to the Wars of Independence (work in progress)
America na Primeira Modernidade (1492-1750)
Coeditor with Luis Estevam de Oliveira Fernandes, (Rio de Janeiro: Global Editora, forthcoming)
Princeton Companion to Atlantic History
Coeditor with Joe Miller (general editor), Vincent Brown, Karen Kupperman, and Laurent Dubois. (Princeton, 2014)
The Black Urban Atlantic, in the Era of the Slave Trade
Coeditor with James Sidbury and Matt Childs. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013)
Catolicos y Puritanos en la Colonizacion de America
(Marcial Pons, 2008)
The Atlantic in Global History, 1500-2000
Coeditor with Erik R Seema. (Prentice Hall, 2006)
Puritan Conquistadors. Iberianizing the Atlantic, 1550-1700
(Stanford University Press, 2006)
Nature, Empire, and Nation. Explorations of the History of Science in the Iberian World
(Stanford University Press, 2006)
(Stanford University Press, 2001)
Videos
Silencing the Past: On Imperious Historical Categories
Silencing the Past: On Imperious Historical Categories
On Feb 14, 2013, Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra gave the 2013 George and Dorothy Carson Memorial Lecture at OSU. His talk attempts to look past the blinders that historiographical categories such as The Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, Puritanism, the Reformation, and the Renaissance have imposed on scholarship.
Los frontispicios de Guamán Poma
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra: Los frontispicios de Guamán Poma. "La cultura del libro" / BNP
Especialistas peruanos y extranjeros de alto nivel en el campo de las artes visuales e historia del arte precolombino y colonial así como en la historia del libro y la lectura, se reunieron en Lima los días 22 y 23 de agosto de 2013 en el Seminario Internacional "La cultura del libro: aproximaciones desde la historia y el arte", organizado por la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú.
Puritan Conquistadors
Jorge Canizares-Esguerra on Puritan Conquistadors
Prof Canizares-Esguerra discusses his book, Puritan Conquistadors.