Professor Rebecca Earle

Today's Potato Quote:

'For the nonfiction film seminar, we watched Man of Aran, a silent movie from the 1930s, set on an Irish island. First, a woman rocked a baby in a cradle. This went on for a long time. Next, a man harpooned a whale and then scraped something with a knife. The intertitle read: "Making soap." Finally, the man and woman dug in the ground with sticks: "the people of Aran must farm for potatoes in inhospitable soil." Never in my life had I seen such a boring movie.'

Elif Batuman, The Idiot (2017).

For more potato quotes click here.

Contact Details

Room 3.68, third floor, Faculty of Arts Building, University of 糖心TV, Coventry CV4 7AL

Telephone: 024 765 23466 (outside UK: 44 24 765 23466)

Email: r.earle@warwick.ac.uk

personal website:

Office Hours

On leave Autumn 2025

Academic Profile

Ph.D 1994 University of 糖心TV, Department of History

M.A. 1990 University of 糖心TV, Department of History

M.Sc. 1987 University of 糖心TV, Mathematics Institute

B.A. 1986 Bryn Mawr College (major in Mathematics, minors in German and History of Art)

Research Interests

I am a historian of food. I have also written about the cultural history of Spanish America and early modern Europe. I am interested in how ordinary, every-day activities such as eating or dressing shape how we think about the world and how others view us.

My early work was rooted in a very specific part of the world (southern Colombia). These days I tend to study the movement of ideas and practices across larger geographies.

My first book, Spain and the Independence of Colombia, tried to explain the collapse of Spanish colonialism in early nineteenth-century Colombia. Subsequent work took on ampler time-spans and broader geographies. My second monograph, The Return of the Native, offered a hemispheric interpretation of elite nationalism in post-colonial Spanish America, based on both written texts and also visual and material culture. It won the Conference on Latin American History's Bolton-Johnson Prize Honorable Mention. My third book, The Body of the Conquistador, examined the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, again from a broadly hemispheric perspective. It explored how food, and eating, shaped the experience of colonialism in Spanish America. It won the Conference on Latin American History's Bolton-Johnson Prize.

My most recent book is FIt offers a a global history of the potato, and grew out of my interest in the cultural significance of food. Potatoes originated in the South American Andes, but they are now ubiquitous in virtually all parts of the world. I'm interested in the potato's success as a global food, and also in its spread in eighteenth-century Europe in particular. During Europe's eighteenth century food became central to the exercise of political power. Thinking about potatoes is thus a way of understanding the dramatic changes in ideas about populations, political economy and the state ushered in by the Enlightenment. You can listen to me discuss these ideas .

I have also written about clothing, letter-writing, and a range of other topics including the distinctive Spanish American pictorial genre known as 'casta painting'. An example appears below. My article 'The Pleasures of Taxonomy' (73:3, July 2016) situates these paintings in the sentimental world of the colonial romance, as well as in the debates about human nature and mankind that typified eighteenth-century enlightened science. Delightfully, that article won two prizes!

paez

Jos茅 de Paez, De Espa帽ol, y Negra, Produce Mulato

Curriculum Vitae

Earle CV

Selected Publications

Monographs

F, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2020). Winner of Gourmand Food Culture 2021 Best in the World Award.

, Object Lessons, Bloosmbury (London, 2019)

Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2012). Winner of the Conference on Latin America History 2013 Bolton-Johnson Prize.

, Duke University Press (Durham, 2008). Winner of the Conference on Latin American History's 2008 Bolton-Johnson Prize Honorable Mention.

Spain and the Independence of Colombia, University of Exeter Press (Exeter, 2000). Spanish Translation: , Banco de la Rep煤blica (Bogot谩, 2014).

Edited Collections and Special Editions

Edited Dossier: 鈥楨uropean Cuisine and the Columbian Exchange鈥�, Food and History, vol. 7:1 (2010).

Rumours of War: Civil Conflict in Nineteenth Century Latin America , University of London/Institute of Latin American Studies (London, 2000).

, Ashgate Press (Aldershot, 1999).

Articles

鈥楾he World of Jacob de Pinna, Notary and Culture-Broker鈥�, Journal of Early Modern History (2025), 1-31.

(with Susan Deans-Smith), 鈥樷€淪panish鈥� Casta Paintings in Nineteenth-Century Britain鈥�, Art Bulletin 106:2 (2024), 65-91.

鈥楶otatoes, Population and States鈥�, Early American Studies 19:2 (2021), special issue: 鈥楨mpowering Appetites: The Political Economy and Culture of Food in the Early Atlantic World鈥�, eds. Jennifer Anderson and Anya Zilberstein, 393-417.

鈥楶otatoes and the Pursuit of Happiness鈥�, 19:1 (2019), 14-32. Sophie Coe Prize 2020 Commendation.

鈥楾he Political Economy of Nutrition in the Eighteenth Century鈥�, 242 (2019), 79-117.

鈥楶otatoes and the Hispanic Enlightenment鈥�, 75:4 (2018), 639-60.

Rebecca Earle, 'Promoting Potatoes in Eighteenth-Century Europe', Eighteenth-Century Studies 51:2 (2017).

鈥楩ood, Colonialism and the Quantum of Happiness鈥�, 84 (2017).

鈥楾he Pleasures of Taxonomy: Casta Paintings, Classification and Colonialism鈥�, 73:3 (2016). Winner of the William and Mary Quarterly's 2018 Douglass Adair Award and the William and Mary Quarterly's 2017 Lester J. Cappon Prize.

鈥楨uropean Cuisine and the Columbian Exchange: Introduction鈥�, Food and History, vol. 7:1 (2010).

鈥樷€業f You Eat Their Food . . .鈥�: Diets and Bodies in Early Colonial Spanish America鈥�, American Historical Review, vol. 115:3 (2010). Winner of the Agricultural History Society's 2011 Wayne D. Rasmussen Award.

鈥楢lgunos Pensamientos sobre 鈥渆l indio borracho鈥� en el imaginario criollo鈥�, (Colombia), vol. 29 (2008).

'Sobre H茅roes y Tumbas: National Symbols in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America', Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 85:3 (2005).

鈥楶adres de la Patria and the Ancestral Past: Celebrations of Independence in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America鈥�, Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 34:4 (2002).

鈥樷€楾wo Pairs of Pink Satin Shoes!!鈥�: Clothing, Race and Identity in the Americas, 17^th-19^th 颁别苍迟耻谤颈别蝉鈥�, History Workshop Journal, issue 52 (2001).

鈥楥reole Patriotism and the Myth of the Loyal Indian鈥�, Past & Present, vol. 172 (2001).

鈥業nformation and Disinformation in Late Colonial New Granada鈥�, The Americas, vol. 54:2 (1997).

鈥楢 Grave for Europeans?鈥�: Disease, Death, and the Spanish-American Revolutions鈥�, War in History, vol. 3:2 (1996).

鈥業ndian Rebellion and Bourbon Reform in New Granada: Riots in Pasto, 1780-1800鈥�, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 73:1 (1993).

Book Chapters

鈥楤read and Fruit: Food in Carletti鈥檚 Ragionamenti鈥�, Trading at the Edge of Empire: Francesco Carletti鈥檚 World, c. 1600, eds Brian Brege, Paula Findlan, Luca Mol脿 and Giorgio Riello, I Tatti Research Series 9 (Florence, 2025), 423-438.

鈥楩rom the Caribs to Carmen Miranda: Pineapples Across Time and Space鈥�, Proceedings of the British Academy, special issue: The Pineapple from Domestication to Commodification: Re-Presenting a Global Fruit, eds. Melissa Calaresu and Victoria Avery, Liverpool University Press (Liverpool, 2025), 43-54.

鈥楩ood and Health鈥�, A Cultural History of Medicine, ed. Roger Cooter, volume 3: The Renaissance, eds. Elaine Leong and Claudia Stein, Bloomsbury (London, 2021), 45-62.

鈥楽paniards, Cannibals and the Eucharist鈥�, To Feast on Us as their Prey: Cannibalism in the Early Modern Atlantic, ed. Rachel Herrmann, University of Arkansas Press (Fayetteville, 2019), 81-96. Volume awarded the Association for the Study of Food and Society鈥檚 2020 Book Award.

鈥楽umptuary Laws in the Early Modern Hispanic World鈥�, The Right to Dress: Sumptuary Legislation in Comparative and Global Perspective, eds. Giorgio Riello and Ulinka Rublack, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2019), 325-45.

鈥楥hocolate in the Historical Imagination鈥�, Luxury and the Ethics of Greed in Early Modern Italy, eds. Catherine Kovesi and Lino Pertile, Brepols (Turnhout, 2018), 95-118.

鈥楥limate, Travel and Colonialism in the Early Modern World鈥�, Governing the Environment in the Early Modern World: Theory and Practice, eds. Sara Miglietti and John Morgan, Routledge (Abingdon, 2017).

鈥業ndians and Drunkenness in Spanish America鈥�, Cultures of Intoxication, ed. Phil Withington and Angela McShane, Past & Present Supplement 9, Oxford University Press (Oxford, 2014).

鈥楧iet, Travel and Colonialism in the Early Modern World鈥�, Global Goods and the Spanish Empire, 1492-1824. Circulation, Resistance and Diversity, eds. Bethany Aram and Bartolom茅 Yun-Casalilla, Palgrave Macmillan (Basingstoke 2014).

鈥楾he Columbian Exchange鈥�, The Oxford Handbook of Food History, ed. Jeffrey Pilcher, Oxford University Press (Oxford, 2012).

鈥楲a iconograf铆a de la independencia en Cartagena y la Nueva Granada鈥�, Cartagena de Indias en la Independencia, eds. Haroldo Calvo Stevenson and Adolfo Meisel Roca, Banco de la Rep煤blica (Cartagena, 2011).

鈥楾he French Revolution in the Spanish American Imagination, 1789-1830鈥�, War, Empire and Slavery, 1770-1830, eds. Richard Bessel, Nick Guyatt and Jane Rendall, Palgrave (London, 2010).

鈥楥lothing and Ethnicity in Colonial Spanish America鈥�, The Fashion History Reader: Global Perspectives, eds. Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeill, Routledge (London, 2010).

鈥楴ationalism and National Costume in Spanish America鈥�, The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas, eds. Mina Roces and Louise Edwards, Sussex Academic Press (Eastbourne, 2007).

鈥楥onsumption and Excess in Colonial and Early-Independent Spanish America鈥�, mported Modernity in Post-Colonial State-Formation: The Appropriation of Political, Educational and Cultural Models in Nineteenth-Century Latin America, eds. Marcelo Caruso and Eugenia Rold谩n Vera, Peter Lang (Frankfurt am Main, 2007).

'Monumentos y museos: La nacionalizaci贸n del pasado precolombino en la Hispanoamerica decimon贸nica', Galerias del progreso: museos, exposiciones y cultura visual en America Latina, eds. Beatriz Gonzalez Stephan and Jens Andermann, Beatriz Viterbo Editora : Colecci贸n Estudios Culturales (Buenos Aires, 2006).

鈥楲uxury, Clothing and Race in Colonial Spanish America鈥�, Luxury in the Eighteenth Century: Debates, Desires and Delectable Goods, eds. Maxine Berg and Elizabeth Eger, Palgrave (London, 2003).

鈥楾he Role of Print in the Spanish-American Wars of Independence鈥�, he Political Power of the Word, ed. Ivan Jaksic, University of London/Institute of Latin American Studies (London, 2002).

鈥楻ape and the Anxious Republic. Revolutionary Colombia, 1810-1830鈥�, Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America , eds. Maxine Molyneux and Elizabeth Dore, Duke University Press (Durham, 2000).

Order

Recent and Current Research Topics Supervised

I am happy to consider postgraduate supervisions on topics concerned with the cultural history of food, as well as the history of colonial and nineteenth-century Spanish America. Here are some of the topics and students I have supervised, co-supervised and advised:

Doctoral Students

Mar铆a Reyes Bazt谩n, 'A Global History of Basque Nationalism' (co-supervised with Kirsty Hooper, Hispanic Studies)

Valentina Tommasetti, 'Naked and Shameless: Shame and its Embodiment in Early Modern European Art'.

Holly Winter, 'Militaristic Masculinity, Material Culture and the Armies in India, 1799-1900' (co-supervised with Maxine Berg, History)

Hannah Dennett, '鈥淔orgotten Foundlings鈥�: Black Lives and the Eighteenth-Century Foundling Hospital' (Co-supervised with Maxine Berg, History).

Jos茅-Ricardo Aguilar Gonz谩lez, 'Food culture in sixteenth-century Relaciones geograficas of the New Spain'.

Camilo Uribe, 'The Hunting of the Odontoglossum Crispum: Colombian Orchids in the Nineteenth Century British 鈥淥rchid Craze鈥�'.

Suzanne Bardgett 'Leading the creation of the IWM鈥檚 Holocaust Exhibition and other exhibitions on genocide' (PhD by publication, co-supervised with Carolyn Steedman, History)

Desiree Arbo, 'The uses of Jesuit Classical Learning in the Rio de la Plata, c. 1750-1815' (co-supervised with Andrew Laird, Classics)

Andrea Cadelo, 'Luxury, Sensibility, Climate and Taste in the Eighteenth-Century Worldwide Racialisation of Difference'.

Helen Cowie, 'Naturalistas sin Fronteras': Conquering Nature in the Spanish Empire (1750-1850)' (co-supervised with Anthony McFarlane, History)

Mar铆a Estrada Fuentes, 'Performative Reintegration: Ex-combatants' Transitions Towards Civilian Identities in Colombia' (co-supervised with Silvija Jestrovic, Theatre Studies)

Marcos Estrada, 'Everyday Practices of Transnational Living: Making Sense of Brasiguaio Identities' (co-supervised with Anton Popov, Sociology, Aston University)

Rebecca Griffin, 'Marriage and Courtship in Slave Culture in Antebellum North Carolina' (co-supervised with Cecily Jones, Sociology)

Sergio Lussana, 'Band of Brothers: Enslaved Men of the Antebellum South' (co-supervised with Tim Lockley, History)

Rebecca Noble, 'Madness and Governance: Creating 鈥楧ocile Cassals鈥� in Bourbon Mexico' (co-supervised with Hilary Marland, History)

Deborah Toner, ''What's Wrong with a Little Drinking?' Alcohol and Nation-Building in Nineteenth-Century Mexican Fiction'.

Cecilia Tossounian, 'The Body Beautiful and the Beauty of Nation: Representing Gender and Modernity (Buenos Aires 1918-1940)' (co-supervised wtih the European University Institute, Florence)

Anastasia Styliano, 'Martyrs' Blood in Reformation England' (co-supervised with Peter Marshall, History)

MA Students

Sergio Lussana, 'Band of Brothers: Enslaved African-American Masculinity in the Antebellum United States'

Kim Patrick, 'Why a Million Men Marched: An Analysis of Politics, Identity and the Million Man March'

Emma Rhodes-Brown, '"Know First Who You Are, Then Deck Yourself Out Accordingly": Dress and Adornment As a Form of Expression under Slavery in the American South'

Lewis Smith, 'Eating Indig猫ne: Food, Hunger and (Post)-Colonial Governance in France and North Africa 1830-2011'

Hannah Stephenson, 'Symbolising Slavery: The Narrative of Sojourner Truth and the Female Slave Experience'

Deborah Toner, 'Maize, Alcohol and Cultural Identity in Colonial Mexico'

Christopher Zacharia, 'Drool Britannia: Cookbooks, the Imagined Community and Identity in Contemporary Britain'

Rebecca Earle

bread cover jpg

Earle book cover

For information about the 糖心TV-Essex-Los Andes Leverhulme Trust Academic Collaboration International Research Network visit

糖心TV