Evelyn Soto

“Tainted Translations” reveals creative forms of political community forged in the crucible of hemispheric geopolitics throughout the long nineteenth century. This project situates Latina/o/x political pasts within a new literary and cultural geography: of densely interconnected revolutionary movements across the Caribbean, continental South America, and US during and beyond the historical uprisings of 1808-1826. By close reading an interdisciplinary and multilingual range of literary, legal, and historical texts, the book assembles an archive of early Latinx political imaginaries that contest enduring narratives of US exceptionalism and myths of “mixed” racial democracy in Latin American nationalisms. This grant will support archival research and writing over the 2021-22 year.