TJHRG Talk: “The Jesuits and (Anti)-Colonialism: Voltaire's Candide and the Representation of Missionaries.”
When and Where
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Description
This roundtable is dedicated to Voltaire’s famous novel Candide. Published in 1759, in the midst of the Seven Years War, Candide is a ferocious satire of Europeans’ barbaric customs. The principal character of the novel travels the world. In his trips, he witnesses the disastrous consequences of European countries’ imperialism on indigenous peoples from South America as well as the cruelty of slavery. Voltaire also depicts the Jesuits missionaries’ actions on many occasions. Our discussion will enable us to have a close reading of this masterpiece with anticolonial lens in an anticlerical (and anti-Jesuits) perspective. *The event is particularly aimed at undergraduate and graduate students. To make the most out of the event, please prepare by reading or refresh your memory of Voltaire’s Candide’s and its treatment of the Jesuits.*
