Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Christopher Schmidt-Nowara (1966–2015)

2017; Duke University Press; Volume: 97; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-3727479

1527-1900

Dale Tomich,

Latin American and Latino Studies

Christopher Schmidt-Nowara passed away suddenly in Paris on June 27, 2015, while visiting his daughter. Only 48 years old, he had already established himself as a significant scholar of the Spanish Atlantic.Born in Boston, Chris was raised in New Mexico. There he was surrounded by the complex legacy of Spain's conquest and colonization of the Americas. His intellectual engagement with Spain and the Americas began as a child when he took a summer course in Spanish. It is perhaps not surprising that Spain and the Americas became the focus of his intellectual interests as an undergraduate at Kenyon College, which included a year in Spain as a student in NYU's program in Madrid. These experiences led him to pursue his doctoral studies in history at the University of Michigan under the direction of Rebecca Scott. In that rich interdisciplinary environment his interests became increasingly focused on questions of slavery and antislavery in Spanish America. He returned to Spain to do archival research with Fulbright and Mellon fellowships. There he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Spanish abolitionism. Upon receiving his doctorate, Chris joined the history department at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. There he directed the Latin American and Latino Studies Institute and was appointed Magis Distinguished Professor of History in 2005. In 2011 he joined the history department at Tufts University and was appointed Prince of Asturias Chair in Spanish Culture and Civilization, the position that he held at the time of his death. In addition, he also held fellowships or had visiting appointments at Princeton, the University of Arizona, the University of São Paulo, and the University of Puerto Rico.Chris was humble, unassuming, generous, at once soft-spoken and gregarious. His passion for Latin American history fused with his warm personality to make him an exceptional colleague and teacher. He is remembered with affection by students and colleagues at both Fordham and Tufts. Chris was a gifted teacher. His curiosity, irony, and sense of humor creatively engaged students, as he simultaneously challenged them intellectually and drew them into the topic they were studying. He encouraged them to think independently and gave them the tools to do so. He was also exceptionally supportive of colleagues and students, including not only graduate students in his own department but also those from other institutions. He was an invaluable interlocutor and source of encouragement. A cup of coffee, an informal chat, or a meal with Chris invariably left one refocused and eager to follow up on some new insight or direction for inquiry that he had suggested. In particular, he encouraged younger scholars through careful and critical reading of their work and by providing opportunities for them to participate in conferences, research projects, and collective publications.Chris was, of course, a wonderful historian. He was not afraid to ask big questions and to take intellectual risks. He worked at the edge of his own thinking and pushed himself to rethink old problems and to open new paths of inquiry. A careful and tireless researcher, Chris possessed a broad cosmopolitan intellectual culture and was at home on both sides of the Atlantic. His work is marked by his curiosity and empathy but also by a rich historical imagination. He interrogated and synthesized the work of Spanish, Cuban, and Puerto Rican historians as well as that of US scholars of slavery. His work presents a broad integrated vision of Spain and Spanish America within the framework of Atlantic history. In his view, Spain and Spanish America were distinct, yet each could only be understood through its relation with the other. In his first major book, Empire and Antislavery: Spain, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, 1833–1874 (1999), he skillfully traced the interactions and mutual formation of the politics and discourses of antislavery, liberalism, nation, and empire in Spain, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. His focus was not Spain in the Atlantic but rather the Atlantic that Spain and Spanish America made. Chris's subsequent work moves back and forth between politics, economy and diplomacy, intellectual history, political parties, social movements, and popular culture on both sides of the Atlantic. He weaves these diverse currents into a coherent and meaningful framework that delineates what he suggestively referred to as Spain's “second empire.” His approach to the Spanish Atlantic opens the way for an Atlantic history that is only beginning to be written.Chris published widely in the United States, Spain, the Caribbean, and South America, often in collaboration with scholars from those regions; he actively contributed to editorial boards and research groups in all three regions. He had a particular talent for organizing small conferences and collaborative projects that were enormously productive because he was able to bring just the right combination of people together to discuss the topic at hand.Chris's love of history was inseparable from his love of life. This was no more evident than when he was abroad. He was especially fond of Madrid and spent a considerable amount of time there beginning from his days as an undergraduate student. Although he was an assiduous researcher, he did not lose himself in the archives. For him it was impossible to understand history without understanding culture, place, and people. He integrated himself into the life of Madrid and spent time following the rhythms of the city and getting to know its neighborhoods, cafés, and bars as well as its libraries and museums. Food, cooking, and sports were as important to him as bookstores and cinema. As his dear friend Luis Miguel García Mora said, “Soy lo que se conoce como un madrileño de pura cepa. Chris también lo es. Me descubrió muchas cosas de mi ciudad. Era un placer caminar con él.” His immersion in the life of Madrid produced one trait that perplexed most of his friends: his support for Real Madrid Football Club, decidedly not their team of preference. His friends tolerated this enthusiasm. (Josep Fradera said that everyone is entitled to one fault.) For his part, Chris, with typical humor and goodwill, handled the situation gracefully.Chris touched a wide circle of people. He connected with people not only as scholars but at a personal level. His passion for sports, food, detective novels, and just the pleasure of talking or hanging out together enabled him to quickly establish lasting friendships. His work enriched scholarship, but more importantly he created a community of scholars. He was a key member of our slavery research network. There, as in the other things he did, he enthusiastically gave of himself and had a remarkable capacity for making everyone feel that they were part of a collective effort. Common intellectual interests brought all of us together, but in many ways they had little to do with our friendship. Chris was instrumental in forming a deeper bond among us. We have lost a tremendous human being. Most of us are fortunate to have two or three close friends in our lives. It is altogether remarkable how many people count Chris among those two or three friends.