Masters and students : Jesuit mission ethnography in seventeenth-century New France / Micah True.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

True, Micah, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jesuits--Missions--Canada--History--17th century.

Jesuits.

Indians of North America--Missions--Canada--History--17th century.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Canada--History--17th century.

Canada--History--To 1763 (New France).

Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal & Kingston, Canada ; London, [England] : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The word "mission" can suggest a distant and dangerous attempt to obtain information for the benefit of the home left behind. However, the term also applies to the movement of information in the opposite direction, as the primary motivation of those on religious missions is not to learn about another culture, but rather to teach their own particular worldview. In Masters and Students, Micah True considers the famous Jesuit Relations (1632-73) from New France as the product of two simultaneous missions, in which the Jesuit priests both extracted information from the poorly understood inhabitants of New France and attempted to deliver Europe's religious knowledge to potential Amerindian converts. This dual position of student and master provides the framework for the author’s reflection on the nature of the Jesuits’ "facts" about Amerindian languages, customs, and beliefs that are recorded in the Relations. Following the missionaries through the process of gaining access to New France, interacting with Amerindian groups, and communicating with Europe about the results of their efforts, Masters and Students explores how the Relations were shaped by the distinct nature of the Jesuit approach to their mission - in both senses of the word.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction : Jesuit mission ethnography

Amerindian languages and the beginning of the Jesuit mission to New France

Very rich and very poor : Jesuit missionary linguistics in New France

Religious conversion and Amerindian cruelty in the Jesuit relations

Messou the great restorer : questioning Montagnais religious knowledge

Travelling texts : toward a decentred reading of Jesuit mission ethnography

Conclusion : the end(s) of Jesuit mission ethnography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed March 05, 2015).

ISBN:

9780773582002

0773582002

9780773581999

0773581995

OCLC:

913977471