A NOSTRO MODO: THE TRANSNATIONAL INFLUENCES OF EARLY JESUIT SCHOLARS AND EXPLORERS GLOBALLY FROM 1560-1700
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
History
Minor
Gender and Diversity Studies
List all Project Mentors & Advisor(s)
Dr. David Pizzo
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Expansion and exploration of foreign territories such as the New World and the Far East by Europeans grew rapidly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Exploration of these new area lead to developments in understanding of the new places, and the Society of Jesus was one of the forces that facilitated this worldwide social exchange. The Society of Jesus has been studied repeatedly from a Eurocentric point of view, but to fully understand the Society one should study it as a transnational phenomenon in which “[t]he state as both the basic unit of analysis and the main agent is replaced by intergovernmental institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and transnational non-state actors”. When the Jesuits were sanctioned as a legitimate religious order by the Papacy in 1540, they began a unique path that allowed them a certain fluidity within the global setting under the leadership of their founder Ignatius Loyola. My thesis will explore how the Jesuits initial independence, specific pedagogical developments, and emphasis on accommodation within their missionary work provided them with the foundation to create a transnational exchange of knowledge between Europe, New France, China, and New Spain during the late 16th and 17th centuries. This paper will be a comparative work between the three different geographic areas and the missionary work done by the Jesuits within those areas. The paper will work to be done in three sections which will internally compare the three separate areas. Those sections will be: the advances made within the Jesuit missions by the Jesuits, how those advances affected the indigenous populations, and how those advances affected Europe. All three of these sections will show a complete picture of how the Society of Jesus stepped outside the realm of religious missionary work to, instead, became some of the earliest proponents of worldwide scientific exchange. The goal of this paper will be to show how the Society of Jesus’s devotion to cultural exchange had lasting impacts on global awareness of other societies and led to an exponential growth in transnational relations and some of the earliest forms of globalization.
Spring Scholars Week 2019 Event
Honors College Senior Thesis
A NOSTRO MODO: THE TRANSNATIONAL INFLUENCES OF EARLY JESUIT SCHOLARS AND EXPLORERS GLOBALLY FROM 1560-1700
Expansion and exploration of foreign territories such as the New World and the Far East by Europeans grew rapidly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Exploration of these new area lead to developments in understanding of the new places, and the Society of Jesus was one of the forces that facilitated this worldwide social exchange. The Society of Jesus has been studied repeatedly from a Eurocentric point of view, but to fully understand the Society one should study it as a transnational phenomenon in which “[t]he state as both the basic unit of analysis and the main agent is replaced by intergovernmental institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and transnational non-state actors”. When the Jesuits were sanctioned as a legitimate religious order by the Papacy in 1540, they began a unique path that allowed them a certain fluidity within the global setting under the leadership of their founder Ignatius Loyola. My thesis will explore how the Jesuits initial independence, specific pedagogical developments, and emphasis on accommodation within their missionary work provided them with the foundation to create a transnational exchange of knowledge between Europe, New France, China, and New Spain during the late 16th and 17th centuries. This paper will be a comparative work between the three different geographic areas and the missionary work done by the Jesuits within those areas. The paper will work to be done in three sections which will internally compare the three separate areas. Those sections will be: the advances made within the Jesuit missions by the Jesuits, how those advances affected the indigenous populations, and how those advances affected Europe. All three of these sections will show a complete picture of how the Society of Jesus stepped outside the realm of religious missionary work to, instead, became some of the earliest proponents of worldwide scientific exchange. The goal of this paper will be to show how the Society of Jesus’s devotion to cultural exchange had lasting impacts on global awareness of other societies and led to an exponential growth in transnational relations and some of the earliest forms of globalization.