THE IDEA AND BUILDING OF A TOWN IN THE EARLY MODERN SPANISH WORLD

In his 1976 book, Joseph Rykwert examined “the idea of a town" in the ancient Roman world, an anthropology of urban form. Rykwert focused particular attention on the rituals for narrating and performing city foundations, examining ancient texts and considering ancient Roman patterns of town founding as the embodiment of mythical narratives. The early modern Spanish world saw an abrupt increase in the founding of new towns, whether on the peninsula during the last campaigns of the Reconquista in Granada, in the Canary Islands as part of the early Castilian expeditions and colonization, in the Americas as colonial enterprise, or as part of the Bourbon program of economic stimulation in the eighteenth century.

This session examines the relationship between narrative, architecture and urban form in the early modern Spanish world and the rituals and concepts of town founding. Among others the Bourbon Nuevas Poblaciones and the eighteenth-century writings that accompanied the founding of “new towns” are good examples of the literature, urbanism and architecture that this session would like to discuss. Papers that address, whether in Spain or in its colonial territories, the interplay between the town or city's purpose and function; economic, social, and political situations; and the tension between imperial narratives and local realities are particularly welcome. The session also encourages views of interaction between European and American narratives of town founding in relation to the colonial body politic. Please submit proposals to one of the following session chairs: Paul Niell, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305100, Denton, TX 76203-5017, phone: 940-368-1856, paul.niell@unt.edu; Luis J. Gordo-Peláez, University of Texas at Austin, 9801 Stonelake Blvd Apt 324, Austin, TX 78759, phone: 678-879-2029, pelaezluis@mail.utexas.edu.