History Brown Bag talk: Dr Sarah Walsh on Martial Strength and Race in Republican Chile
Schedule
Thu, 06 Mar, 2025 at 01:00 pm
UTC+11:00Location
Cussonia Court Room 1, G17, University of Melbourne | Melbourne, VI
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Dr Sarah Walsh (Hansen Lecturer in Global History), 'Hero's Legacy: Martial Strength and Race in Republican Chile'History Brown Bag talk
This presentation examines the Roto Chileno war memorial in downtown Santiago as a complex site of Chilean identity-making in the Republican Era. Conflating two separate nineteenth-century military victories over the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru, the memorial was a physical manifestation of an intricate process of identity construction that celebrated the mestizo heritage of average citizen-soldiers while also emphasizing the idea that Chileans were racially superior compared to other South American nations. The memorial being dedicated specifically to el roto, a mercurial term that can be perceived as pejorative even in the present, is therefore an especially evocative example of how this conceptual combination was visually rendered to access elements of white identity. Using fine art media coverage, this presentation highlights the entangled relationship between memory, nationalism, and race in late nineteenth century Latin America to consider the role that militarism and masculinity play in the construction of whiteness.
Dr. Sarah Walsh received her BA from Boston College and both her MA and PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. She was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Race and Ethnicity in the Global South ARC Project at the University of Sydney between 2013 and 2017. The following year she served as a Research Fellow in the COLOUR OF LABOUR Project at the Universidade de Lisboa. Most recently, she was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Roots of Contemporary Issues Program at Washington State University. Her first book, The Religion of Life: Eugenics, Race, and Catholicism in Chile, was published by University of Pittsburgh Press in December 2021. She has also published articles in the Hispanic American Historical Review, Catholic Historical Review, History of Science, and the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies.
Enquiries: [email protected]
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Where is it happening?
Cussonia Court Room 1, G17, University of Melbourne, Old Arts, Medical Rd, Parkville VIC 3052, Australia,Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
