British Ceramics in Indigenous, Colonial, and Post-Independence Latin America

"Spanish America is free, and if we do not mismanage out affairs sadly, she is English" -George Canning, British Foreign Secretary, 1824

During the 18th century, British ceramics became one of the first consumer goods that marked the increasingly global scale in the movement of peoples and products. British ceramics penetrated colonial frontiers and were used by indigenous societies while some vessels made their way to Spanish colonial sites, overcoming trade regulations designed to prevent British goods from reaching Latin America. This session asks participants to examine the role of British ceramics in Spanish, Afro-Latino, and indigenous sites across Latin America. By investigating the exchange and consumption of British ceramics throughout Latin America, this session offers a perspective on interaction between the British and Spanish imperial systems, the daily lives of subaltern groups within these empires, and the interplay between consumer demand, material culture, and early globalization in the Americas.