News in Jesuit Studies
The following are notices of significant events related to the field of Jesuit Studies.
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A call for papers has been released for an international workshop to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ming Qing Yanjiu journal.
The workshop’s theme is “China in the 17th century. Trauma, Transition and Global Transformations.” Abstracts are due by April 25, and the workshop will take place on October 20 and 21. The University of Naples “L’Orientale” will host the online workshop unless travel permits a hybrid format.
A full call for papers appears below.
CHINA IN THE 17TH CENTURY:
TRAUMA, TRANSITION AND GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS
An International Workshop to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the journal Ming Qing Yanjiu
20-21 October 2021
Organized by:
Prof. Donatella Guida, Dr. Federico Brusadelli (University of Naples “L’Orientale”)
Keynote Lecture:
Prof. Timothy Brook (University of British Columbia)
Deadline for Abstract Proposals: April 25th, 2021
Notification of Acceptance: May 25th, 2021
mingqing@unior.it
This will be an online workshop hosted by the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. Should the global situation allow it, it will be held as a hybrid event.
CONCEPT:
Within the “global crisis” of the 17th century (Parker 2013), that put under severe pressure political and social orders across Eurasia, China possibly experienced the most traumatic rupture, as the Manchu “barbarians” took possession of the Empire. The Ming dynasty, founded in 1368, came to an end in 1644, as the armies of the Qing dynasty entered the Imperial Palace in Beijing.
The complete subjugation of China’s heartland proved to be not an easy task for the new emperors. The resilience of Ming loyalists, the rebellion of allied generals, the diffidence of the bureaucratic élite, the pressure of Russians and Mongols: the “pacification” required four decades – and more than one bloodshed – to be completed. The seventeenth century can therefore be considered as “one of the most trying periods in Chinese history”, if not a “cataclysm” (Struve 1993).
This political transition, culminating with the creation of an immense multi-ethnic Empire, intertwined the much longer social and cultural transition that had been transforming China from the mid-16th century. The emergence of new social classes – merchants, urban elites, independent literati – and the contact with Western traders and missionaries in the “South China Sea world-economy” (Brook 2010) – contributed to the irremediable alteration of the tightly structured society engineered by the founder of the Ming. In those decades of economic growth and political decline, of philosophical crisis and political violence, “the intellectual class initiated a comprehensive rethinking of traditional society” (Wang Jinmin, 2006).
This workshop, by which the University of Naples “L’Orientale” intends to celebrate (in cooperation with Brill) the 25th anniversary of the journal Ming Qing Yanjiu (https://brill.com/view/journals/mqyj/mqyj-overview.xml), wishes to explore this turbulent Chinese century in its many aspects: political, intellectual, diplomatic, economic, artistic, cultural, environmental, social, with a special attention to global entanglements, transfers/circulations, and comparative perspectives.
The event will consist of keynotes, panels, and roundtables, while also favoring (albeit “virtually”) informal discussions and networking.
Presenters will be encouraged to submit their papers to a special issue of Ming Qing Yanjiu to be published in 2022.
Please submit your abstract/panel proposal (max 300 words) by sending an email to mingqing@unior.it by 4pm CET, April 25, 2021. Panel proposal should consist of a general abstract of max 300 words followed by individual abstracts. Please include the following information in your submitted proposal: name, title/position, email address and institutional affiliation.
The Institute of Humanities at Seoul National University is collaborating with the university’s Institute of Greco-Roman Studies to host an international workshop entitled “Aristoteles Asianus: Aristotle’s works, the Coimbra texts, and Jesuits’ Chinese translations in the seventeenth century.” The three-day event takes place online from February 1-3.
More on the unique educational influence of the Coimbra Jesuit Aristotelian instruction that stretched from Portugal to Asia and South America between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries — including peer-reviewed encyclopedia entries and free access to digitized versions of the most important documents related to the topic — can be found at Conimbricenses.org. The project is a collaborator with the Portal to Jesuit Studies and with the Jesuit Online Bibliography.
A full program and details on accessing the virtual meeting are available online. A copy of the program also appears below.
Program (all times KST)
February 1, Monday
18:00-18:10 (KST) Opening ceremony
Chair: AHN, Jaewon/Seoul National University
18:10-19:00
CARVALHO, Mário Santiago de (The University of Coimbra), “Couto’s Dialectics: From its Portuguese Setting to its Eastern”
19:00-19:10 Break
19:10-20:00
HUH, Min Jun (Seoul National University), “About the differences (殊) in Wugong (Isagoge) and their historical background”
20:00-20:10 Break
20:10-21:00
ZHANG, Yijing (Nankai University), “Is Mingli tan a ‘good’ translation?”
February 2, Tuesday
(Chair: AHN, Jaewon/Seoul National University)
18:00-18:50
MOON, Sujeong (Seoul National University), “How Isagoge was translated into Chinese? – Focusing on the
first paragraph of ‘Lunshu[論殊]’ of Minglitan-Wugongpian [名理探-五公篇]”
18:50-19:00 Break
19:00-19:50
JIANG, Lu (Sun Yat-sen University), “The treatment of ‘ens rationis’ in Mingli tan”
19:50-20:00 Break
20:00-20:50
SOH, Jeanhyoung (Seoul National University), “What God was not: A Portuguese Jesuit’s Chinese translation of geometric terminology”
February 3, Wednesday
Chair: KANG, Sung-Hoon/Seoul National University
18:00-18:50
MEYNARD, Thierry (Sun Yat-sen University), “A Thomistic argumentation on creationism in Late Ming
China: The first juan of the Explanation of the Cosmic Reality (Huanyou quan)”
18:50-19:00 Break
19:00-19:50
STROB, Anna (Tuebingen University), “Mission Impossible? The Translation of Aristotelian Natural Philosophy to Late Ming China: The Example of Alfonso Vagnone’s Kongji gezhi 空際格致?”
19:50-20:00 Break
20:00-21:00 Round table and closing ceremony
Chair: AHN, Jaewon
The Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History at the University of San Francisco welcomes applications for its two fellowship programs in the summer of 2021. The application deadline for both programs is February 28.
The institute’s three-month Doctoral Research Fellowships are open to scholars “who have completed all course work and have defined their specific research topic.” The purpose of this program is to help scholars conduct research related to their dissertations at the institute’s extensive archival and library holdings.
The institute’s Luce Post-doctoral Research Fellowships, supported by the the Henry Luce Foundation in New York, are open to “post-doctoral level applicants, including Junior Faculty members and researchers (i.e. normally within five years of having received the PhD degree).” The purpose of this program is for scholars to conduct research and to prepare books for publication.
For both fellowships, the institute identifies the relevant topics of study as: “Chinese-Western cultural history, history of Christianity in East Asia (China, Japan, and/or Korea), comparative studies of Christianity and cultures in China, Japan, and Korea, and Vietnam.”
The Ricci Institute describes itself as “a premier global resource for the study of Chinese-Western cultural exchange with a core focus on the social and cultural history of Christianity in China. Besides its more than 80,000 volumes of books in Chinese and Western languages, its library also includes (1) a digital copy of the Japonica-Sinica Manuscript Collection from the Roman Archives of the Society of Jesus (ARSI); (2) the Francis A. Rouleau Microfilm / Digital Archival Collections; (3) the Canton Diocese Archival Collection; (4) a digital copy of the Passionist China Collection; (5) the Anthony E. Clark Collection; (6) Pre-Modern Japanese & Korean Christian Materials; and (7) other archival materials.”
More information is available at the institute’s website: http://www.ricci-institute.org/.