Numerous questions arise and are the impetus for this edited collection. For example, how has the image or name of “Bolívar” come to signify in multiple temporal moments or national cultures as a sign of “liberation” or hegemonic discourse? How has Bolívar’s signification metamorphosed contingent upon historically specific conceptions of “liberty,” “freedom,” or “nation”? When and how has Manuela Sáenz become a sign of female agency or gender as performance? How have Hipolita, Precipitacion, Nicanor, José Pedilla (the Afro-Peruvian general) or other African or Incan figures in the liberation narrative been reconfigured or re-imagined? Where does Haiti figure in the imaginary of Bolívarian emancipation? In addition, we welcome critical engagements with these themes as well as those not articulated here.

We are a musicologist and two art historians of modern and contemporary Latin American and European culture. We seek contributions of 5000-6000 words. We will consider previously published articles only if they have not previously appeared in English. Please email a 500-word proposal and c.v. to the editors: Maureen G. Shanahan (shanahmg@jmu.edu); Pedro Aponte (aponte@jmu.edu); and Ana María Reyes (areyes@uchicago.edu). Please consider coming to our panel at the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco in May 2012. Proposals are due by September 1, 2012.