Emotions as Practice in the early modern Jesuit missions in the Asia-Pacific

Informazioni relative al progetto

EMOPractices

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101028277

DOI

10.3030/101028277

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 1 Aprile 2021

Data di avvio 1 Ottobre 2021

Data di completamento 30 Settembre 2024

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Costo totale

€ 257 209,92

Contributo UE

€ 257 209,92

Coordinato da

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EMOPractices (Emotions as Practice in the early modern Jesuit missions in the Asia-Pacific)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-10-01 al 2024-09-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

The project “Emotions as Practice in the early modern Jesuit missions in the Asia-Pacific” (EMOPractices) analyses the sixteenth-eighteenth century writings of Jesuit missionaries to shed new light on the encounters between European and Asian peoples and to uncover how their emotional practices normalized the subordination and stereotyping of Asian peoples.
To address the lack of research on the role of emotions in the early emergence of stereotypes in the context of the first modern contacts between European and Asian people, EMOPractices analyses manuscript texts by key actors and cultural brokers in these exchanges, the Catholic missionaries of the Society of Jesus. Asserting the higher rationality of Christianity, Jesuits strove to present it as the basis of their policies. Still, the analysis of Jesuit textual production shows that the emotional dimensions of missions were not less essential and could sensibly impact missionary policies and the image of the Other produced by missionary literature. EMOPractices approaches Jesuit enterprises through the lens of emotions to reveal the previously disregarded role of Jesuit emotional practices and their impact on the creation of stereotypes of peoples of the Asia-Pacific region.
(Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, "Arrival of the 'Southern Barbarians'," detail, c. 1600; Japan, Momoyama period (1573-1615))

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

During the outgoing phase, I have determined some of the emotional typologies used by early modern Jesuit missionaries to classify Asian people, focusing especially on Japanese and Tibetan people. I have identified the emotional practices created and implemented by the Jesuits to attempt bridging cultural divides, to further evangelization, and to build new emotional communities. This process allowed the missionaries to offer new models to foster behavior among their Japanese catechumens, that the Jesuits found more desirable. I have presented part of the results of this research in a book chapter that focused on seventeenth-century models of martyrdom that circulated, were accepted, and modified by Japanese Catholics; and in various papers presented in international conferences and workshops. A workshop on emotions and gender has been organised to further the study of these interconnected aspects of the Japanese pre-modern Catholic mission.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

I have progressed beyond the state of the art by analyzing the impact and use of emotional practices in the Jesuit missions in early modern Japan. In the future, I expect to compare more extensively this mission with others in Asia, to unveil the emotional elements of their depictions by Europeans and understand the historical roots of stereotypes of Asian people that are tied to European understandings of emotions. The final monograph will develop the research on Japan according to specific themes to fruitfully understand the way in which Japanese Christians adapted and embodied emotional practices, modeled by the missionaries, in their daily lives.

cleveland-museum-of-art-arrival-of-the-southern-barbarians.png