The colloquium will convene in Cartagena (Colombia) a group of scholars and visual artists who are making important contributions to the study of the relationships between visuality, slavery, and memory in the Caribbean. We will discuss research related to images of slavery and the slave trade, as well as the creation and use of images and objects by enslaved peoples and slave holders. Our aim is to explore the multivalent relationship between slavery and visual cultures, examining themes such as the role of the gaze and surveillance in slave societies and societies with slaves; regional comparisons of visual regimes associated with slavery; visual culture’s connection to racialized regimes of slavery; and the roles played by self-fashioning and the accumulation of visual capital.

The format of the event will combine the discussion of pre-circulated individual research papers (in seminar-like settings), individual lectures, the discussion of selected objects, and study visits to sites associated with the memory of slavery in and around the city of Cartagena, including San Basilio de Palenque. The event will be organized in collaboration with colleagues at the Universidad de Cartagena.