Des carêmes après le Carâme stratégies de conversion et fonctions politiques des missions intérieures en Espagne et au Portugal (1540–1650)

The paucity of works on internal Jesuit missions in Spain and Portugal does not correspond to the abundance of accounts that attest to a strong activity from the second half ofxvith century. The fundamentally quadragesimal character of the initial activity in this field would determine the penitential sense of the Iberian missions, and, as a consequence, the missionary strategies themselves. The «self-presentation» of Jesuits and the type of preaching that they made to the faithful are examples of such strategies, devoted to the ultimate objective of the penitential missions to lead the people to «conversion». In any case, this idea of conversion takes on a political sense, which is demonstrated most evidently in their peace-making activity. In this regard, the action undertaken by Jesuits in theAlmadrabas of Conil and Zahara demonstrates the role played by internal missions with regard to the means of articulation of society, according to the patterns of behaviour and the models of political organization of this period.     

La question de l’intériorité mentale à l’âge classique

This paper looks into the notion of mental interiority in the early-modern age and, more specifically, into the Cartesian conception of the mind as an “inner theater”. The main claim emphasizes a close connexion at work between the representative theory of the mind, associated with internalism, on the one hand, and a “neuropsychological” view on the other hand. Cartesian mentalism, in so far as it is based upon a disjunction between representation and resemblance, can therefore not be separated from the general project, already at work in the Dioptrique, of an intra-cerebral localization of the mental.     

Caciques as Placeholders in the Guaraní Missions of Eighteenth Century Paraguay

This essay uses census data from the eighteenth century to examine the leadership role of caciques in the Guaraní missions. Cacique succession between 1735 and 1759 confirms that the position of cacique transitioned from the Guaraníes’ flexible interpretation of hereditary succession to the Jesuits’ rigid idea of primogenitor (father to eldest son) succession. This essay argues that scholars overstate the caciques’ leadership role in the Guaraní missions. Adherence to primogenitor succession did not take into account a candidate's leadership qualities, and thus, some caciques functioned as placeholders for organizing the mission population and calculating tribute and not as active leaders. An assortment of other Guaraní leadership positions compensated for this weakness by providing both access to leadership roles for non-caciques who possessed leadership qualities but not the proper bloodline and additional leadership opportunities for more capable caciques. By taking into account leadership qualities and not just descent, these positions provided flexibility and reflected continuity with pre-contact Guaraní ideas about leadership.     

Fédération et/ou confédération

A concern to pin ideological labels on Morris has obscured the continuing importance of romanticism and Protestantism for his socialist politics. Romanticism led him to seek self-realisation in an art based on naturalness and harmony, and Protestantism led him to do so in the everyday worlds of work and domestic life. From Ruskin, he took a sociology linking the quality of art to the extent of such self-realisation in daily life. Even after he turned to Marxism, he still defined his socialist vision in terms of good art produced and enjoyed within daily life. Moreover, his over-riding concern to promote a new spirit of art, not his dislike of Hyndman, led him to a purist politics, that is, to look with suspicion on almost all forms of political action.