This conference will bring together scholars whose work exemplifies the range of political options and choices available to popular sectors in the revolutionary Atlantic, such as native and Afro-descendant peoples, peasants and artisans. From a truly Atlantic perspective we will put in dialogue case studies from the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe that illustrate the logic and dynamism of popular royalism. We aim to probe the ways in which concepts such as freedom and citizenship were central to popular engagement with monarchical institutions and politics.
The conference will establish regional comparisons structuring the discussion around five themes: revolution/counterrevolution; alliances; politics and religion; legality and monarchical legitimacy; military organization and violence.