Supplicant Empires

This volume is a collection of reflections from leading senior and junior historians regarding the merits of historical comparativism in the field of Iberian history. The first purpose of the book is to encourage a dialogue between scholars of the Iberian Empires and to foster a reconsider how they see the broader history of the early modern world in light of recent historiography. The second aim of the book is to prompt scholars of other regions in global history to consider the recent literature on the Iberian Empires anew, to move beyond the tropes of the Black Legend and narrative of growth, splendour, and decline, and to study those imbrications had connected disparate parts of the world and which the postcolonial turn has unearthed. In a series of articles and interviews, contributors were encouraged to consider the role of linguistic divides in the growth of historiographical strands, and to speak plainly about the possible siloes that have emerged in the field. Contributors discuss the Atlantic turn, corporative cultures, the Catholic adoption of Protestant ideals, gender and race, all while drawing on insights from scholars who work on early modern nuns, the material history of sugar and coffee, or those who are exploring the uses of the concept of barbarity in borderlands.