Navigating the Cross and Crossing the Sea: Collaborative Knowledge-Production, Visual Literacies, and Racial Formations Across the Spanish Empire

Abstract

This dissertation titled “Navigating the Cross and Crossing the Sea: Collaborative Knowledge-Production, Visual Literacies, and Racial Formations Across the Spanish Empire” puts indigenous codices, Spanish manuscripts—some translated from Portuguese and others integrating Chinese vocabularies—transcontinental correspondence, cartographic representations, illustrations, original archival research, and published literary works into conversation with each other to illuminate how colonial knowledge-production intersected each other in Spanish America and Spanish Asia during the Early Modern Period. The project underscores the interconnectedness of the early modern world and challenges the conventional narratives of colonial history by highlighting the collaborative and contested nature of knowledge creation and dissemination. This work contributes to the historical understanding and enriches the appreciation of the cultural, political, and intellectual exchanges that shaped the modern world. It is a testament to the impact of visual and written culture in bridging diverse civilizations under the expansive umbrella of the Spanish Empire, revealing a world where boundaries were both drawn and blurred through the acts of seeing, writing, and mapping.