Winter Lunchtime talk presents
Crossed Gazes: Seeing Lepanto in the Conquest of the Americas
with:
Professor Nicole T. Hughes
Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at UCI
In December of 1571, King Philip II of Spain ordered dozens of settlements in the Americas to celebrate his victory over the Ottoman Empire at Lepanto. This presentation uncovers how royal officials and the people of Guadalajara, Cuzco, and Mexico City organized festivities in which they touted the completion or promise of completing their conquests by depicting themselves beholding that battle. Their resolve to reflect Philip II’s idealized image of Lepanto back to him while keeping their sights on their own ambitions produced what Professor Hughes calls "crossed gazes."
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday, March 13, 2026
Humanities Gateway, Rm. 1010
Bio: Nicole T. Hughes is Assistant Professor in the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures (LAIC) at UC Irvine. She researches the early modern world with a special focus on New Spain and Brazil in the sixteenth century. Her first book, Staging History: New Spain, Brazil, and the Theater of the World (under contract, UPenn Press), analyzes dramatic performances in which missionaries, conquistadors, and Indigenous elites superimposed depictions of far-flung conflicts and interpretations of local struggles. Her research has appeared or is forthcoming in Representations, New Literary History, Word & Image, Colonial Latin American Review, where she has two articles, and Renaissance Quarterly, which awarded her honorable mention for the William Nelson Prize for best article published in 2023.