Objective
This two-year project is a contribution to the current post-colonial debates on orientalism and, more specifically, on the extent to which Hinduism was also a European construction. The aim is to analyze the representations that Catholic missionaries developed between the Seventeenth and the early Eighteenth centuries to interpret Hinduism. The period considered follows the end of the Portuguese monopoly on the sea route to India and precedes the emergence of secular indology. From the early seventeenth century, Jesuit missionaries as Giacomo Fenicio, Roberto Nobili and Gonçalo Fernandes composed detailed descriptions of Indian “heathenism” that were circulated in manuscript form and plagiarized extensively. Elementary notions of Hinduism were found in printed versions of Jesuit letters and in works published by members of other religious orders. Using archival material, printed works and visual sources, I will analyse how theology, antiquarianism and classical learning were deployed in order to understand a religion that the missionaries wanted to replace with Catholicism. By basing myself at the Warburg Institute, London, I will be trained in the study of the classical tradition and early modern scholarship; moreover, I will benefit substantially from the Institute’s world-renowned tradition of using visual sources as evidence of anthropological representations. My project will test the hypothesis of a specifically Catholic early modern representation of Hinduism by examining the tensions between a common Catholic framework and differences in national backgrounds and religious orders, as well as investigating the circulation of indological knowledge in Europe between Catholics and Protestants. The goal is a book that will contribute to a comprehensive history of the relations between Europe and India. Europe needs to be aware of these complex processes, as a multipolar world takes shape and India becomes a major economic, political and cultural actor.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
WC1E 7HU London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.