The atrocities committed in the Spanish invasion of the Americas and the staggering loss of Indigenous American lives in the sixteenth century triggered a decades-long campaign for Indigenous rights by the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas (1484–1566). In his vast written output and in speeches to multiple courts, he argued for the dignity and rationality of Indigenous cultures, based on over thirty years’ experience of living in the Americas. He asserted that war against Indigenous peoples and the use of force in evangelization were illegal and sinful, thus directly challenging the political, economic, moral, and theological bases of Spanish colonialism. His campaigns resulted in some reforms, and in 1542 the Spanish crown outlawed all enslavement of Indigenous Americans. Although these laws were not extended to enslaved Africans, Las Casas’ views underwent a profound transformation over the course of his life, and he ultimately argued for equal freedoms for Indigenous Americans and Africans alike.
The place of music in Las Casas’ voluminous writings has been largely overlooked by musicologists and ethnomusicologists. While some scholars have cited several of Las Casas’ observations on Indigenous performing arts, there remain many other musical references that appear in fleeting and abstract ways throughout his historical, philosophical, and comparative-ethnographic oeuvre. This colloquium aims to bring new musicological attention to Las Casas and interrogate how he used music in his legal, theological, and philosophical arguments for the common humanity and rationality of Indigenous Americans, as part of the earliest debates about global human rights.
Contact Prof. Michael Silvers for access via Zoom.
