The “Counterfeit, Materiality, and Colonial Governance in New Spain’s Cochineal Trade, 1555–1599” workshop is an academic event at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, March 9, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM, where Postdoctoral Fellow Diana Heredia-López discusses her research on how cochineal—a highly valuable red dye from Colonial Mexico—was regulated, contested, and produced for global trade under colonial governance, including clashes over quality, extraction, and interpretation of materials in the sixteenth century. The session highlights the role of material qualities in early modern commerce and how colonial law and specialized judges shaped cochineal into a global commodity at the intersection of Indigenous practice and colonial regulation. This in-person workshop, part of the Institute for Historical Studies series, is intended for fellows and UT faculty and students and explores the historical significance of one of New Spain’s most important export products.
