Jesuit Tradition and the Rise of South American Nationalism

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Jesuit Tradition and the Rise of South American Nationalism chapter 23 Jesuit Tradition and the Rise of South American Nationalism Andrés I. Prieto In the introduction to his 1789 Saggio sulla storia naturale della provincia del Gran Chaco, the former Jesuit José Jolís explained that he had composed his book in response to the “patronizing and unflattering image that some authors present of [America] by describing its climate as so noxious that not only men degenerate, but also the animals, plants, and trees brought from Europe.” Jolís’s intent was not only to correct the distorted ideas about the nature of the Americas that were circulating in Europe, but also to defend “the insulted honor of innumerable American nations and of the Europeans who are still living there.”1 Jolís was responding to the claims of American inferiority in the natural and moral realms advanced by enlightened philosophes such as Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, William Robertson, and especially Cornelius de Pauw, whose Recherches Philosophiques sur les Américains came off the presses in 1769, the year in which 2,267 Jesuits who had been banished from Spanish America arrived in Europe.2 Jolís’s attitude was characteristic of the exiled Jesuit writers, who published numerous defenses of their patrias between 1776 and 1810. Jolís accused De Pauw of basing his work on unreliable informants who had never spent any significant length of time in America; people who did not take the time to observe its nature or learn the native languages.3 These objections to the armchair brand of natural history practiced by European philosophers were common among the exiled Jesuits.4 They felt aggrieved by what they considered calumnies against their 1 José Jolís, Ensayo sobre la historia natural del Gran Chaco, trans. María Luisa Acuña (Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Facultad de Humanidades, Instituto de Historia: Resistencia, Chaco, 1972), 37. 2 Jonathan Wright, God’s Soldiers, 187. 3 Jolís, Ensayo, 42. 4 Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, How to Write the History of the New World. Histories, Epistemologies, and Identities in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (Stanford University Press: Stanford, ca, 2001), 208; Silvia Navia Méndez-Bonito, “Las historias naturales de Francisco Javier Clavijero, Juan Ignacio de Molina y Juan de Velasco,” in El saber de los jesuitas, historias natu- rales y el Nuevo Mundo, eds. Luis Millones Figueroa and Domingo Ledezma (Iberoamericana Vervuert: Madrid and Frankfurt am Main, 2005), 241–242. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004283879_025 <UN> 400 Prieto patrias disguised as science. The same year Jolís’s Saggio appeared, the Quiteño Juan de Velasco published his Historia de Quito “to give this poor present to the Nation and the Patria offended by some rival pens intent on obscuring their glo- ries.”5 According to Antonello Gerbi, these feelings of attachment to their native lands explained the fact that, whereas most Jesuit writers exiled from Spain were prepared to accept De Pauw’s arguments, the Jesuits removed from America were adamant in their condemnation of De Pauw’s ideas.6 Even though love and nostalgic pining for their patrias was a prominent feature of the texts published by the former Spanish American Jesuits in the late eighteenth century, I argue here that both their content and their passion- ate defense of New World territories was ultimately the product of a long his- toriographical tradition that reached back to the seventeenth century. As will become clear, the banishment and suppression of the Jesuit order brought a Jesuit historiographical tradition from the New World to Europe: a tradition whose language and rhetoric helped define the claims to the territories and spaces, both cultural and natural, as well as the language deployed by the nationalistic movements of the first half of the nineteenth century. I illustrate the importance of this tradition in the writings of Creole Jesuits by discussing Juan Ignacio de Molina’s Saggio sulla storia naturalle del Chili (1782) and Juan de Velasco’s Historia del Reino de Quito (1789). The Jesuits and Creole Proto-Nationalism The Jesuits’ spirited defense of their patrias was the product of local traditions that harked back to the early seventeenth century. With the notable exception of Bernabé Cobo’s Historia del Nuevo Mundo (1653), most seventeenth-century Jesuit writers in South America shunned totalizing descriptions of the conti- nent and restricted themselves to writing regional histories. By and large, their books focused on the missionary enterprises of the Society of Jesus, emphasiz- ing the hardships encountered by Jesuit missionaries in isolated areas of the continent, while showcasing their role in the political and economic success of the territories in which they worked. The fact that Jesuit writers considered the history of their order and the his- tory of conquest and colonization as part of the same narrative can be explained by two factors. On a general level, the nature of Spanish rule encouraged a 5 Velasco, Historia del Reino de Quito, 1:5–6. 6 Antonello Gerbi, The Dispute of the New World (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973), 191–192. <UN>.
Recommended publications
  • Cornelius De Pauw and the Degenerate Americas
    4 Cornelius de Pauw and the Degenerate Americas Helen Piel Introduction The journals of travellers, or their reports back home, have always offered fascinating insights into the unknown for those left behind. But they are not the only source about exotic places that have been available to the interested reader. As there have been travel accounts, there also always have been books and analyses by writers who had never left their home country. This chapter will deal with one of these books. First published in two volumes in 1768 and 1769, Les Recherches Philosophiques sur les Américains, ou Mémoires Intéressante pour servir à l’Histoire de l’Espèce Humaine made its formerly unknown author almost instantly into one of the most-discussed writers of his time. The Dutch- born clergyman Cornelius de Pauw was going to be the centre of cultural attention for the rest of his lifetime, to be translated almost immediately into German and Dutch, and to be asked to contribute to the Encyclopédie. His fame was not only due to his early work: two more philosophical dissertations followed, first on the Egyptians and Chinese (1773) and then on the Greek (1787/88). His second work again caused great discussion, which epitomised in Voltaire writing his Lettres chinoises, indiennes et tartares à M. Pauw, par un bénédictin (1776) in defence of the Asian nations against de Pauw’s polemic. Today, however, Cornelius de Pauw is as good as forgotten and in my opinion wrongly so. Despite what one scholar called an “exceedingly uneventful” life (Church, 1936, p.181), the clergyman is a fascinating character, which admittedly is probably revealed more through Cornelius de Pauw and the Degenerate Americas By Helen Piel 73 his writing than his acting.
    [Show full text]
  • Cornelius De Pauw
    BIBLIOTECA UNIVERSITARIA DI GENOVA – PERCORSI TEMATICI UNIVERSALITAS & PERVASIVITAS IL COSTITUIRSI E DIFFONDERSI DELLA S.J. E SUOI ECHI (1540 - 1773) DI A. PISANI Schede autori Sotto attacco Cornelius de Pauw Cornelius de Pauw[1], ricco canonico di Xanten nel ducato prussiano di Clèves, aveva fatto irruzione ventinovenne nel 1768 sulla scena letteraria con delle poderose Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains, frutto di nove anni di accanito lavoro. Quest'opera lo aveva subito collocato al centro di un dibattito interminabile di dimensioni non soltanto europee sulla natura delle Indie nuove e dei suoi primitivi abitatori. Nel marzo del 1770 aveva egli stesso replicato al primo dei suoi contraddittori, Dom Pernetty, con una asciutta Défense. Aveva soltanto voluto - vi diceva - non denigrare il nuovo continente, ma colorire un ritratto veridico dell'America al momento della sua deprecabile scoperta. Deprecabile, s'intende, per il fatto che gli Europei avevano fatto di quei selvaggi orrenda strage. E poiché sembrava che essi fossero portati sempre a abusare della propria superiorità, c'era da augurarsi che non andassero a segno i tanti piani d'invasione delle terre australi che in quegli anni i “politiques à projets” andavano caldeggiando: “ne massacrons pas - esclamava - les Papous pour connoître, au thermomètre de Réaumur, le climat de la Nouvelle Guinée”. Lasciamo vegetare in pace quei selvaggi, visto che non sappiamo far altro che aumentare le loro miserie.[2] La vita selvaggia non era certo preferibile, come voleva Pernetty, alla
    [Show full text]
  • Clavijero's Perception of the America and American's from the Exile Perspective1
    Clavijero’s Perception of the America and American’s from the exile perspective1 A percepção de Clavijero sobre a América e os Americanos sob a perspectiva do exílio. Beatriz Helena Domingues2 Artigo recebido em 04 de agosto de 2006 aprovado em 26 de outubro de 2006 Resumo Este artigo se propõe a avaliar a importância da Geração Mexicana de 1750, exilada na Itália em função da expulsão da Companhia de Jesus da Nova Espanha em 1767, ilustrada pelos escritos do jesuíta Francisco Javier Clavijero. Quer-se mostrar a abertura deste grupo em relação às idéias modernas e ilustradas, que combinaram com a tradição escolástica: isso foi facilitado pelo uso do ecletismo que já vinha caracterizando o pensamento jesuítico desde o século XVI, mas que assume contornos singulares no “Século das Luzes” Palavras chaves: Clavijero, Ilustração e Jesuítas, Geração Jesuítica Mexicana de 1750 Abstract: This article focuses on the signficance of the Mexican Jesuit Generation of 1750, which was exiled to Italy after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from New Spain in 1767, as illustrated in the writings of the Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero. It attempts to show the openmindedness of this group towards modern and enlightened ideas that they combined with the scholastic tradition. This was facilitated by the use of eclecticism that had come to characterize Jesuit thought since the sixteenth century but that was assuming singular shape in the”Century of Lights.” Keywords: Clavijero, Enlightenment and Jesuits, Mexican Jesuit Generation of 1750 1 This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the 2003 International Society for Intellectual History in November 2003 thanks to the support of Woodstock Theological Center, at Georgetown University, Washington DC, where the author was an International Visiting Researcher from October 2003 to July 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Americanism and Americanophobia : a French Perspective
    ANTI-AMERICANISM AND AMERICANOPHOBIA : A FRENCH PERSPECTIVE Denis Lacorne CERI/FNSP French anti-Americanism has never been as much the focus of debate as it is today. This is true both in France, where a crop of books has appeared on the subject, and in the United States, for reasons linked to the French refusal to support the American invasion of Iraq. Some authors have underlined the unchanging nature of the phenomenon, defining anti- Americanism as a historical “constant” since the 18th century, or again an endlessly repetitive “semantic block” to use Philippe Roger’s expression. Others, like Jean-François Revel, have tried to show what lay hidden behind such a fashionable ideology: a deep-rooted critique of economic liberalism and American democracy. Yet others, while rejecting the anti-American label, like Emmanuel Todd, have attempted to lift the veil and lay bare the weaknesses of American democracy and the extreme economic fragility of an American empire “in decline,” despite appearances.1 Contradictions and swings in public opinion What I propose to do here, rather than pick out historical constants, defend the virtues of the liberal model, or pontificate upon the inevitable decline of great empires, is to take a closer look at the contradictions of what I view as a changing and ambiguous phenomenon, a subject of frequent swings in public opinion. In The Rise and Fall of Anti-Americanism (1990) Jacques Rupnik and I pointed out that France is a heterogeneous country made up of countless different groups, every one of which has its “own” image of America, which frequently changes in the light of circumstances or political events.
    [Show full text]
  • Circulaciones Del Saber. Cornelius De Pauw I La Disputa Por Un Mundo
    CIRCULACIONES DEL SABER. CORNELIUS DE PAUW Y LA DISPUTA POR UN MUNDO NUEVO Ottmar Ette Universidad de Postdam Palabras n una de aquellas figuras que Roland Barthes no incluyera en E sus Fragments d’un discours amoureux1 tan aclamados des- pués de su publicación en 1977, se encuentra un microtexto titula- do «D’autres racismes», en el que de entrada se ponen de relieve los mecanismos de exclusión existentes entre los «viejos» y los «jóve- nes»: Je vis d’images sociales. Le «vieux», c’est l’age apposé par un «jeune», qui, à partir de là, se voit lui-même «jeune». Ce mouve- ment met en marche un racisme: je m’exclus d’une exclusion que je pose, et c’est ainsi que j’exclus et que je consiste. Je puis être décla- rativement anti-raciste, mais si je me constitue tel à partir d’une exclusion que je renvoie, je deviens à mon tour raciste; j’ai, dans un petit coin de moi, le racisme de l’anti-racisme. On rapporte ce mot d’une étudiante à son professeur: «Tu n’es ni nègre, ni juif, ni femme, alors tais-toi». Alors tais-toi: mot de tous les racismes. Tu es jeune / tu es vieux, alors tais-toi (attends, débarrasse, n’entre pas, paye plus cher, moins cher, etc.): il y a un racisme des âges, de tous les âges. (Tous les racismes se tiennent. A la limite, pour qu’il n’y ait plus de racisme, il faudrait qu’il n’ait plus de langue: le racisme fait partie de la servilité de la langue.) 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Americanism, U.S. Foreign Policy, and the War on Terrorism
    Hoover Press : Garfinkle/Terrorism DP0 HGARWT1600 rev1 page 195 Last Exhibit Hoover Press : Garfinkle/Terrorism DP0 HGARWT1600 rev1 page 197 Anti-Americanism, 16 U.S. Foreign Policy, and the War on Terrorism Adam Garfinkle To the extent that those who do not like America admit the fact, nearly all contend that the reason lies not with them but with and within America. A few such persons go beyond dis- like to hatred, and a few of those go from passive to active expressions of that hatred. A few of those active expressions are violent, and a few of those, if they randomly target civil- ians, are terrorist. And a very few of those, if they cross trend lines with WMD proliferation, are arguably the most danger- ous national security threat facing America today. Now, if anti-Americanism is really the fault of the United States, if American policies justify the hatred of others toward the United States, then it follows logically that we can elimi- nate the terrorist threat if and only if we change our policies. If that is true, then all our exertions at public diplomacy, all our efforts to understand the sociology of the Arab and Mus- This chapter reflects the author’s own views and does not represent the views of the U.S. government or the Department of State. Hoover Press : Garfinkle/Terrorism DP0 HGARWT1600 rev1 page 198 198 Adam Garfinkle lim worlds, all our labors to liberalize the political cultures of the Middle East are pointless and futile. If such a view were true, it would be very important to know it, because such knowledge could save us an enormous amount of time, money, and misplaced expectations.
    [Show full text]
  • ROGERS-DOCUMENT-2018.Pdf
    Abstract Jefferson’s Sons: Notes on the State of Virginia and Virginian Antislavery, 1760–1832 by Cara J. Rogers This dissertation examines the fascinating early life of Thomas Jefferson’s book, Notes on the State of Virginia, from its innocuous composition in the early 1780s to its appropriation as a political weapon by both pro and antislavery forces in the early nineteenth century. Initially written as a statistical introduction to Virginia for French readers, Jefferson’s book evolved into an intellectual tour de force that covered almost all facets of the state’s natural and political realms. As part of an antislavery education strategy, Jefferson also decided to include a treatise on the nature of racial difference, as well as a manifesto on the corrupting power of slavery in a republic and a plan for emancipation and colonization. In consequence, his book—for better or worse—defined the boundaries of future debates over the place of black people in American society. Although historians have rightly criticized Jefferson for his racism and failure to free his own slaves, his antislavery intentions for the Notes have received only cursory notice, partly because the original manuscript was not available for detailed examination until recently. By analyzing Jefferson’s complex revision process, this dissertation traces the ways in which his views on race and slavery evolved as he considered how best to persuade younger slaveholders to embrace emancipation. It then moves beyond Jefferson to examine contemporary responses to the Notes from white and black intellectuals and politicians, concluding with an attempt by Jefferson’s grandson to implement elements of the Notes’ emancipation plan during Virginia’s 1831-32 slavery debates.
    [Show full text]
  • The Enlightenment and the Idea of America
    www.senado2010.gob.mx THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE IDEA OF AMERICA MAX SAVELLE FREPATORY REMARK My interest in ex~loringtlie thoughts of the men of tlie Enlightenment aboiit Amcrica was aroused, over a period of many years, by my reading of the documents pertinent to the international history of Aiigloamerica in the colonial period. For as 1 studied the more or less petty bickerings between European nations over boundaries, islands, larids, trade, or the freedom of tlie seas, and the treaties witli regard to America that issued from them, 1 was led into an interest in tlie larger assumptions and ideas that lay behind those activities in the minds of the European statesmen. One was led niost obviously and directly from diplomacy to the study of international law and its principles relative to America in tlie writings of the great legal theorists from Pufendorf to Vattel and beyond. From the stiidy of international law one moved into the schemes for international peace -of Willian penn, of the Abbe St. Picrre, the great Kant himself, and tlie part America played in the tliouglit and in the Iiopcs of those idealists. And from ideas in international law one moved, perforce, into the writings of the more general political theorists, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Franklin, Condorcet. But one did not stop there; one must study the ideas of the economists, the geographers, the anthropologists, the Iiistorians, the theorists of religion, especially o£ Christian missions, the litterateurs, and the philosophers. Obviously, any project to isolate, to master, and to analyze the thinking witli regard to America of al1 or most of the important men of the Enlightenment would be a project beside which the "moon walk" would be hardly more than a mathemiitical paseo.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anxiety of Discovery: the Italian Interest in Native American Studies (*)
    FEDORA GIORDANO The Anxiety of Discovery: The Italian Interest in Native American Studies (*) i remember that in websters dictionary the word genoa is just above genocide Lance Henson In the meetings of the American Indian Workshop,1 a map of the various aspects of a specifically European vision of Indians has been tentatively drawn. An exemplary answer to the many questions raised is this statement made by Christian F. Feest: A simple explanation of the special relationship between Europeans and the Native populations of North America is that no-such relationship exists. Under close scrutiny it becomes apparent that all that interested and still interests Europeans is "Indians," a wholly fictional population inhabiting the Old World mind rather than the New World land. (609) The subject of this enquiry is the border, the "in-between" space where cultures meet (Bhaba), and the history of the border through which Native Americans, as objects of a specifically Italian découverte de l'Autre, have abandoned the liminal status of invented Indians to enter the reality of a dialogical discourse. A map of Italian publications in Native American studies (Giordano 1987, 1989, 1990) has revealed cycles of epiphanic first discoveries and of total eclypses. It is no wonder that the controversial quincentenary of the discovery of America was anticipated by events such as "Rediscovering Native American Peoples," a photographic exhibit held in Genoa in 1989; "Rediscovering America," a photographic exhibit and a workshop attended by Louise Erdrich, Michael Dorris, Joe Sando, and Ted Jojola, 82 Giordano held in Treviso in 1991; and "Discovering American Indians," featuring the American Indian Dance Theatre, Robert Mirabal and Mud Ponies in concert, and Jake Swamp, David Archambault, John Pretty on Top, and Cindy Kenny-Gilday in Rome in July 1992.
    [Show full text]
  • Responsabilidad Y Compromiso En El Pensamiento De Leopoldo Zea
    Responsabilidad y compromiso en el pensamiento de Leopoldo Zea Por Roberto COLONNA* Donde no hay responsabilidad no puede haber libertad. Leopoldo Zea, La filosofía como compromiso NO DE LOS ASPECTOS más importantes para comprender el pen- Usamiento de Leopoldo Zea es la cuestión de la originalidad de una cultura respecto de otra. En muchas de sus obras el filósofo mexicano ha tratado de analizar y comprender la difícil relación que al mismo tiempo une y separa América Latina y Occidente. Dicha cuestión caracteriza desde hace tiempo el debate cultural de este continente; Zea incluso la remonta a la controversia entre Las Casas y Sepúlveda.1 En este sentido, uno de los primeros textos que ha tomado posiciones muy valientes e innovadoras sobre el tema es, * Profesor de la Università degli Studi di Napoli, Federico II, Italia; e-mail: <[email protected]>. 1 Como es bien sabido, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, quien fue nombrado cronista oficial del reino en 1536 por el emperador Carlos V de España, escribió Democrates secundus. De iustis belli causis apud Indos, en donde se defendía la tesis de que, debido a su barbarie, algunos pueblos eran esclavos por naturaleza. El dominico Bartolomé de Las Casas obstaculizó la publicación del manuscrito apelando a la Santa Sede, y Sepúlveda reaccionó pidiendo una discusión pública de sus tesis. El duelo oratorio se celebró en Valladolid en 1550 y al final los jueces no fueron capaces de promulgar un veredicto; pero Sepúlveda no obtuvo la autorización para publicar su libro. El filósofo español basaba sus ideas en el hecho de que, en el momento del encuentro con los europeos, los nativos americanos no sabían leer ni escribir, iban desnudos, practicaban la idolatría y los sacrificios humanos.
    [Show full text]
  • Plantae Des États-Unis Rediscovered Pages from Alexander Von Humboldt’S United States Diary
    Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt-Studien International Review for Humboldt Studies Revista international de estudios humboldtianos Revue internationale d’études humboldtiennes ISSN: 1617–5239 HiN HiN XVIII, 35 (2017) Von Humboldts Hand Ulrich Päßler Plantae des États-Unis Rediscovered Pages from Alexander von Humboldt’s United States Diary ZUSAMMENFASSUNG botanist G. H. E. Mühlenberg. Humboldt also col- Ein jüngst im Nachlass Alexander von Humboldts lected information on useful and medicinal plants, aufgefundenes Manuskript enthält Aufzeichnun- listed North American naturalists and documented gen über seinen Aufenthalt in den USA im Jahr consumer prices. 1804. Auf nur vier Seiten finden sich Notizen über Gespräche mit Präsident Thomas Jefferson und RÉSUMÉ dem Botaniker G. H. E. Mühlenberg, Angaben über Un manuscrit découvert récemment jette un Nutz- und Heilpflanzen, eine Auflistung nordame- nouvel éclairage sur le séjour d’Alexander von rikanischer Naturforscher sowie Informationen Humboldt aux États-Unis en 1804. Le document über Verbraucherpreise. contient ses notes sur des conversations avec le président Thomas Jefferson et le botaniste G. H. ABSTRACT E. Mühlenberg, des informations sur les plantes A recently discovered manuscript sheds a new utiles et médicinales, une liste de naturalistes light on Alexander von Humboldt’s stay in the USA nord-américains et des informations sur des prix in 1804. The document contains his notes on con- à la consommation. versations with President Thomas Jefferson and © Ulrich Päßler URL http://www.hin-online.de Dieses Werk ist lizenziert unter einer URL http://dx.doi.org/10.18443/265 Creative Commons Namensnennung-Nicht DOI 10.18443/265 kommerziell 4.0 International Lizenz. Introduction – Humboldt’s travel diaries The complexities that Alexander von Humboldt’s American travel diaries pose for the research- er have been pointed out repeatedly: The journals do not consist of a simple day by day account of incidents and observations.
    [Show full text]
  • Catholic Civilization and the Evil Savage: Juan Nuix Facing the Spanish Conquista of the New World
    Catholic civilization and the evil savage: Juan Nuix facing the Spanish Conquista of the New World Niccolò Guasti I. This contribution is focussed on the Riflessioni imparziali sopra l’Umanità degli Spagnuoli nell’Indie, published in 1780 by the exiled Spanish Jesuit Juan Nuix1. My aim is twofold: first of all, I will try to analyze some issues debated in late eighteenth century Spanish culture; secondly, I would like to grasp Nuix’s peculiar point of view on ‘otherness’ in relation to the Spanish Conquista of America. In other words I wish to study his ideological framework and how an eighteenth century European Jesuit evaluated pre-Columbian civilizations and cultures. Starting from some biographical information, Juan Nuix y de Perpinyà was one of the about five thousand Spanish Jesuits expelled by Charles III in 1767. Reaching Italy during the following years, this large colony of ecclesiastics concentrated itself mainly in the North Center region of Emilia-Romagna, within the Papal States, till 1814, when the Pope restored the Society of Jesus (which had been suppressed in 1773). Nuix was born in Cervera in 1740; in 1754 he joined the Aragonese Province of the Society; with his provincial group he lived in Ferrara until he died on 15 July 1783, at the age of 43 years. 1 Juan Nuix y de Perpinyà, Riflessioni imparziali sopra l’Umanità degli Spagnuoli nell’Indie, contro i pretesi Filosofi e Politici, per servire di lume alle storie de’ signori Raynal e Robertson (Venezia: Francesco Pezzana, 1780). catholic civilization and the evil savage 285 Within the Spanish Assistance in exile, the Aragonese Province, even before the expulsion, distinguished itself for humanistic studies and a strong interest in philosophical debates: contemporary historiography, starting from Miguel Batllori and Antonio Mestre, has explained this fact with the local erudite tradition and with the current of novatores, like Gregorio Mayans, born in the Reign of Valencia.
    [Show full text]