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The Road Ahead / Iberian Soundscapes

Friday, October 6 - Saturday, October 7

THE ROAD AHEAD / IBERIAN SOUNDSCAPES is a collaborative conference joining Columbia and Yale Universities to explore the cultural legacy of Iberian expansion in the Americas, Africa, and South Asia. Luso-Hispanic trade relations, religious orders, settlements, and sounds constituted a critical dynamic of colonial expansion. We are especially keen to understand how Portuguese presence in South Asia markedly reshaped social and legal structures of caste, race, gender, and religion, even as new mixed-race communities would emerge there, along coastal Africa, and in Brazil. We aim to bring a unique focus to histories of music and performance by debating the ongoing impact of Iberian seaborne expansion in shaping identities, social distinctions, and cultural expressions. Scholars, musicians, journalists, and other cultural producers will participate in a series of panel discussions and concerts at Yale over two days, October 6 and 7, 2023.