Juan Pablo Ardila Falla

Juan Pablo Ardila is a historian of Latin America. His research studies the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from a cultural and social history perspective. He is currently working on a book project and finishing two articles. His book project studies the ways in which emotions, such as fear, confusion, guilt, and hope, gave meaning to people’s sense of reality, their memories, and their imagined futures in the territories of the former Viceroyalty of New Granada. The project focuses on the period between 1808, when the Spanish monarchical crisis broke out, and 1830, when the first Republic of Colombia dissolved. His research explores the role of emotions shaping political debates and both facilitating and hindering reforms. By doing so, he looks at the inner workings of emotions. He delves into questions concerning how emotions came about, how emotional experiences varied across society, and how individuals and social groups used emotional expressions strategically. One of the articles studies the life of a vagrant who travelled across Spain during the mid-18^th century. His idiosyncratic life challenged the Bourbons’ efforts to end idleness and bring about an imagined useful vassal. The second one explores the circulation of rumors and pamphlets during the Comunero Revolt in New Granada in 1781. The article examines the ways in which oral culture complemented written culture. The article claims that orality was a fundamental part of the political culture of the time.